Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Cedar Point Tops Off Valravn!


© Cedar Point
Another early present, this time from Cedar Point.  The park has topped off Valravn, completing a complicated sequence of heavy lifting that required three separate cranes.  Above is a photo of when the coaster hit the official 223 feet above the ground, joining Wicked Twister, Top Thrill Dragster, Millennium Force and Magnum XL-200 as the park's 5th ride standing more than 200 feet tall.

As you can see the top of the lift actually has no support directly under it, instead one crane had to hold that piece in place while the turn that follows it was carefully lifted and installed.


Here is a shot of that operation, with the turn before the drop just started to the lifted and the other two cranes in place.  The park had to work well into the evening darkness to complete the task.


This is a shot from the park's live webcam from this afternoon, where you can see that the 90 degree right turn that leads to the drop was indeed installed last night.  I would assume that given good weather, Valravn's first drop will go in after the upcoming holiday.  It is amazing how these tall rides can have so few supports!

Cedar Point has also updated their construction gallery with a new set of photos, be sure not to miss them.  It's all downhill from here!


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