Specific Type: Wooden
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Cedar Fair. To any amusement park devotee, these two proper nouns have practically become an adjective to describe the type of thrills that will provoke the most finicky thrill ride fanatics to travel halfway across the world. At the start, this ever-growing juggernaut came about from a sistership of two parks formed in 1978. That alliance began when a Lake Erie resort building its reputation as the thrill park to top all others purchased a far more humble amusement hangout along the banks of the Minnesota River. With Cedar Point and Valleyfair united, Cedar Fair was conceived, then born five years later. As the years rolled along, so did the coasters - and every other type of thrill ride known to man. All of the towering, titanic thrills crammed the flagship Ohio park known as Cedar Point to the limits, with twisted steel sculptures rising in every shape and size a coaster lover could pray for. Meanwhile, the park that put the "Fair" in "Cedar Fair" achieved a somewhat less prestigious reputation for its second-rate rides that would occasionally follow in the footsteps of the exceedingly bigger sibling. The 1996 season brought the one major, unique, critically-acclaimed coaster track that Valleyfair would see in its first century when Wild Thing graced the local property line much as Magnum XL-200 had done at Cedar Point seven years earlier. Wild Thing built on the layout of Magnum, adding a new twister aspect to the rampaging track layout while retaining the same 200-foot heights - only, without the bragging rights of its older brother. During the next decade, a few more parallels to the flagship park's history would be drawn, like the freefall tower complex known as Power Tower in 1999; the U-shaped inverted coaster Steel Venom in 2003; and some playground equipment for all of the big kids, Xtreme Swing, in 2006. Now, the history of Valleyfair is taking another turn - seventeen turns, as a matter of fact, all wrapping themselves up in a 3,113-foot package named Renegade. For the first time, the Minnesota thrill spot will be going above and beyond its sister park upon completion of a ride quite unlike anything Cedar Point has been blessed with - and not just any ride, but a major roller coaster track. In 2007, the renown wooden coaster designers at Great Coasters International will usher the classic wooden charm back into a park long deprived of the fresh Southern Yellow Pine scent. Yet, this ride will severalize itself from the park's 1976 wooden creation High Roller - to the extreme. If you're familiar with Great Coasters at all, you'll know that these aren't the type to slap together out-and-back simplicity. In just ten years, the Sunbury, Pennsylvania masterminds have risen to the top of their game with some of the most twisted wooden rides known to the race of man - rides with famed names like Lightning Racer and Thunderhead.
Valleyfair's $6.5 million present will find itself situated in the 125-acre park's Northwestern wilderness - a slice of land wrapping around the Thunder Canyon white water rapids ride. As with Cedar Point's own 2007 attraction Maverick, the Northwestern counterpart will sport a Wild West theme. But with or without the theme, a layout far above the complexity of any otherValleyfair attraction will surely equal a wild ride any way you look at it. An S-curving first drop, highly-banked second S-curve, four fan curves, and six airtime hops are just a few of the treats that passengers will find themselves being hurled down, over, and around during the 2007 season at Valleyfair. But there's only one option for discovering just what a wild ride Great Coasters is preparing for Renegade riders. After taking the walk from Valleyfair's easterly gates to the opposite end of the park, thrill-seekers are rewarded with a sight to behold: undulating, sweeping hills of wood. Inside the station, eager future riders will get a small taste of the fun to come as they watch trainloads plow right through a small roofed section at the front of the station and arrive back on the platform a minute later. When the air gates open, the next two-dozen riders pile into old-fashioned open-sided trains two at a time and ride attendants sweep each side of the train in the lap-bar check. With a dip out of the station to get the ride moving, the train begins tackling the track and moving towards the lift hill. A slight bend to the left and the train crosses underneath the ride's final run of brakes, then another slight curve brings riders to the base of the lift hill. Just like its older brother High Roller, the lift carries the train skyward with the audible clinking of the great classic woodies. As the front car peeks over the top of the lift at 104 feet in the air, riders get their first look at one of the wooden coaster facets that makes Great Coasters famous: the sharply twisting first drop, plunging off to the side and to who knows where. The twisting drop begins carrying the train towards its low-elevation destination ninety-one feet below with a rightward curve, but then throws another curve in the opposite direction straight in thrill-seekers' faces before reaching the bottom. At a clip of just over fifty miles an hour, the train doesn't let up curving to the left just yet, going for a few more degrees of curvature as it banks into a speed hill. The airtime ends and the track veers to the right only to throw riders for a leftward fan curve turnaround. Heading back parallel to the first speed hill, the train leaps over a second such maneuver and then careens into one of Renegade's signature elements: a graceful S-curve tracing alongside the S-curving first drop, first banking heavily to the right, then to the left before crossing under the lift hill diagonally. On the other side of the lift, the train performs another fan curve, this time 180 counterclockwise degrees. With a dive towards the lift, the track begins curving to the right in a 270-degree carousel curve while climbing and then diving. The track climbs again into another speed hill throwing riders up towards the overhead structure and then banks just slightly to the left as it crosses back under the lift. A larger hop slows down the pace just a hair while the coaster aims towards the station building. With a diving curve to the right and left 180, the track lines itself up to cross through the front of the building. As the roof flies overhead, passengers are hurtled up out of their seats with another pop of airtime. With a slight right-hand bend, the ride flies into another hop, a dip, and a last banked turnaround onto the brakes to complete a two-minute ride. |
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