Valravn



Valravn is a steel roller coaster at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. Built and designed by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M), it opened on May 7, 2016, as the tallest, fastest, and longest Dive Coaster model in the world, and the first in the Cedar Fair chain. Valravn is also the first of its kind to use vest-style over-the-shoulder restraints and the third Dive Coaster overall to open in the United States. The installation marked the hundredth roller coaster from B&M, which dates back to the company's founding in 1988.

Following on the heels of Rougarou, which opened at Cedar Point in 2015, Valravn also takes its name from cultural folklore. The ride's theme is based on a mythological bird from Danish folklore called the valravn, which means "raven of the slain".

History
In January 2015, the Sandusky Register obtained a memo from Swiss manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) announcing the arrival of a record-breaking Dive Coaster at Cedar Point for the 2016 season. The memo stated that the ride may be installed on land formerly occupied by the Good Time Theatre, which was demolished a few months earlier. The park's spokesman, Bryan Edwards, later confirmed that the Dive Coaster was one of several possibilities the park was considering.

Site preparation began in late 2014, when the Dodgems and Calypso rides were relocated to the Wicked Twister midway section of the park. The Good Time Theatre and Turnpike Cars were demolished and removed as well in early 2015. In May 2015, interest in the new ride grew when Cedar Point trademarked the name Valravn, which in Danish folklore stands for a mythological bird known as the "raven of the slain", describing a raven that feasts on the dead bodies of those who perish in battle. In early August of the same year, images showing the layout of the new roller coaster and its logo appeared in the amusement park's smartphone app. Responding to the leak, Cedar Point temporarily disabled the app on Google Play and announced that details would be revealed on August 18, 2015. However, the park decided to postpone the announcement following an incident in which a park visitor was struck and killed when entering a restricted area underneath Raptor. Visitors began to report seeing pieces of new roller coaster track being stored on park property. On September 9, 2015, Cedar Point officially unveiled plans for Valravn.

The roller coaster is based on the Dive Coaster model developed by B&M and represents the company's hundredth roller coaster installation. Its trains will be the first on this model to use a "vest" style over-the-shoulder restraint system, similar to the design used on Cedar Point's GateKeeper and other B&M Wing Coasters. Each train consists of three cars, each of which has a single row holding eight passengers, for a total of 24 riders per train. Construction finished as Valravn's last piece of track was put in place on March 2, 2016. Video showing the ride being tested was released in early April 2016.