JonnyRCT3

Tuesday, June 25, 1995 Shawn Laird - local resident Valley Hills's parent company, Premiere Parks Inc., has brought about some wonderful & much needed changes the park. 1990 saw the renovation of the outdated entrance plaza, and in 1991 we finally received a world class woodie. 1993 was when the park added the family friendly Barrel Blast, and 1994 was the year Kid Town received some much needed love. The company has really turned this park into something quite special, and I'm even more excited to try out the new 1995 attraction. Arriving through the front gates, my attention was immediately drawn to this new figure on the horizon. Blackwater Falls! An all new water ride! The splash created from these boats is quite impressive. The ride is named after West Virginia's iconic "Great Falls" widely known as Blackwater Falls. Riders plunge down the 82 foot drop at 52°.... ...and then splash down at 41 mph. Blackwater Falls is the worlds tallest (85'), fastest (41 mph), and steepest (52°) water ride! Blackwater Falls also features water hoses, operated by onlookers, to drench riders even further. Blackwater Lodge is also new this year. It's your typical fish & chips joint. Guests enjoying their fish & chips at Blackwater Lodge can catch great views of Blackwater Fall's splashdown. Thankfully, Valley Hills now offers two separate water attractions. Wild Waters(pictured here) is a more tame & lengthy excursion, where you get mildly wet. Blackwater Falls completely drenches you. Rest assure, you will get wet! Due to the new midway expansion I can catch some new views of RattleSnake. Cool. Phoenix is STILL closed. The entrance has been closed off and the thing looks like it hasn't moved in months. Barrel Blast, the last major attraction added, is still going strong. It is a must when I visit with groups. All in all, my day at Valley Hills was quite enjoyable. Blackwater Falls was a great escape from the summer heat, and the fish & chips at Blackwater Lodge were quite tasty, and cheap too. Premiere Parks is really turning this place into something special. -Shawn Laird

Hm...sounds interesting. Morgan is never really mentioned. Yes, I think a hypercoaster would do well for this park. However, it takes MUCH more than coasters to make a great park.

Corkscrew @ CP. Pleasant: That airtime hill provides some awesome negative G's. Arrow's first ever vertical loop packs a punch as well. Exterminator @ Kennywood My favorite Wild Mouse, ever! Those sudden drops in the dark were great. Unpleasant: Blue Streak @ CP. The airtime was great, but my back was NOT having it. This is coming from a person that LOVES Mean Streak & Mantis.

^He touched the but!

Thursday, September 1, 1994 Devin Smith - park spokesperson Valley Hills has already begun preparing for the 1995 season! Peeking over the barrier, you'll notice some busy site preparation. Whatever could this be? Hint: ^% -Devin Smith

Ah okay, thank you. I thought Kid Town could use a more "kid friendly" centerpiece. Thank you.

This looks REALLY good! This could easily pass as a real park promo. That water tower support is wonky, yet realistic. My inner coaster nerd loves seeing things like that. Question. Will catwalks be added to the lift?

I've noticed that to. B&M Dive coasters have brakes before the holding brake to limit the trains speed and to also limit forces. I've also noticed that the vertical angle isn't reached until about 10 meters down from the holding brake. So the vertical section is only about 1/4 of the drop. cache.rcdb.com/3ds0u5302000ijmi220800.jpg

^Exactly! Ban same-sex marriage, but I can marry a Ferris wheel!

Lets not turn this into a fanboy massacre. Both parks offer great coasters (X2, Tatsu, Maverick, Millennium Force). Other than coasters the parks vary, heavily.

^That's how it was last time I visited (July 2012). Exterminator had at least a 20 minute wait all day. PR was usually no more than 10 minutes (give or take) and was only busy for about two or three hours, with a 30min+ queue. And the dark rides were packed constantly. It's just that this time Highmark is renting out the entire park for Highmark & Highmark subcontractor employees & families. So I have no idea what to expect for crowds.

I've heard Highmark is renting out the park sometime in May. I'm planning on going with a Highmark group and was wondering what types of crowds I should expect. I'm assuming an average weekday crowd. Anyone have more info on this?

Post of the year! I see this all over the place, people nitpicking at everything. "No ejector air?" "2.5 gs? I want 5 gs!!!" I go to amusement parks for the fun, not as a judge.

This thing still looks awful.

Even if this does turn out to be another forceless B&M, it still has a great mix of elements. So the ride experience shouldn't suffer.

That would work if most of the parks with Windseekers didn't already have drop towers... Demon Drop - Power Tower Behemoth - Leviathan

I might take a day trip down here sometime. Has a great selection or flat rides, and a decent waterpark. I'm glad this place is being revitalized, it would've been such a waste.

Alpengeist's cobra roll would like to have a word with you. Griffon, Alepengeist, Apollos Chariot & Verbolten.... all excellent attractions.

^^ That post speaks so much truth. Every word.

I was referring to how B&M was during the 90's, when they were taking the spotlight away from Arrow, and doing new things. The same could be said here. I do agree that B&M has really lost it's spark. Thankfully, Raptor was built pre 2000s

RMC is becoming the B&M of the wood coaster industry. While GCI will probably end up like Arrow, old and used up. I'm sure they will still sell coasters, but RMC will be the first company parks will look towards when it comes to wood coasters. That I have no doubt about. GCI is going to have to step it up to compete, even though their is no competition.

I'm really looking forward to the full release.... of the game.

^^IIRC, Intamin once said in an interview that they don't do inversions on wood coasters. And try to keep them traditional. (one of Robb's IAAP videos) Costumer: "we want this" Intamin: "no, it's nontraditional" RMC: "we can do that" Costumer: "take my money" Intamin: (you just look stupid now) Goliath's only records are the first 5 seconds. Sure, go ahead and claim them.

Sometime down the road, possibly 10-25 years (guesstimate). I can see CF converting the WindSeekers to drop towers.

Zero Gravity, hence the name " zero gravity stall". The track inverts while still rising, creating positive G's. However, the force of gravity is also at the same time acting against this. For a brief moment, the opposing forces will meet at a near equilibrium, creating a sense of zero gravity.