From fiery hell to frozen wastelands in just six minutes. (Valhalla (Blackpool Pleasure Beach))

Member Name: thebigc1690

Product:	Valhalla (Blackpool Pleasure Beach)
Date:	27/05/09 (194 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A great fun ride and an overall awesome experience .

Disadvantages: None unless you really do not want to get wet !

The year 2000 may be famous to most as the start of a new millennium, the year they told us our computers would all crash because they could not handle the date changes or the year they built so many pointless buildings and monuments worldwide but for me and many other Blackpool pleasure beach fans it will always be the year that Valhalla came to town.


Valhalla is the world's largest dark ride and it was officially opened on the 14th of June 2000 by Jonathan Ross. As well as being the largest dark ride in the world it was also Britain's biggest privately funded millennium investment, something Blackpool pleasure beach was very proud of.


The ride stands on the site of the once much loved Fun House, which was so sadly destroyed by fire in 1991, it can clearly be seen from the front gates and there are short cuts through to it but if you follow the natural path of the theme park it will be one of the last rides you encounter.


It is a very outstanding looking ride and it is just as outstanding to ride, the fenced of queuing area is all carved out of logs and looks very authentic and once you get close enough to the station you can see very clearly that it too is completely carved out of wood, not the usual steel and plastic surroundings that you get with today's modern rides.

The log boats you ride in also look and feel very authentic and this adds a lot to the ride and what you get from it.

The queues for this ride can be enormous during the parks busy times but as each boat holds eight people the queues do go down very quickly compared with some other rides. Whilst queuing you will be given the opportunity to buy a plastic poncho for £1.50 to help keep you dry because this is not only a dark ride it is also a water ride, basically it is an indoors log flume in the dark.


If it is not a bright sunshiny day which often in Blackpool it is not then a poncho might be a good idea because as the motto of the ride says "you will get wet, you might get soaked", usually you do get very wet and although at the end of the ride they have a big people drier you can put a pound in and get a blow dry, it is not going to dry out jeans or the likes so best stay dry with a poncho.


Many people who have ridden the ride and do not intend going back on will give you their poncho as they are passing or you can usually find them stuffed in the bins surrounding the ride if you do not mind looking like a cheap skate. Once you are in the boat, you are basically sitting on a wooden bench and there are no restraints as the gravity on the drops will keep you in your seat.


As the boat moves off from the station you are heading towards the giant skulls mouth which is the opening to the ride and there is water cascading down from the mouth, this stops just as your boat reaches it but as everyone knows, that much water falling will leave drips and this is the first but certainly not the last time you will get wet.


Once through the mouth you are on your way round the half a mile of track that will take you about 6 minutes to complete and already you are wet and in total darkness, you climb a huge hill and then you see a chink of light as you approach the top doors and as they swing open you are thrust forward onto a platform from which you can see the pleasure beach but you can also see there is nowhere to go but the boat has turned slightly and all of a sudden you hit your first big drop and this one is backwards and your journey through watery darkness is well underway.


Throughout your journey you will experience icy temperatures of minus 20 degrees C as you pass through the icy graveyard and frozen wasteland where dry ice is used to emulate snow storms and the water soaking into you sends a real chill through you but no sooner have you began to freeze you are thrust in to a fiery hell and temperatures rise to 110 degrees F and you look down as your boat hurtles down a huge drop towards a ring of fire which is put out by the water just as your boat arrives leaving a cloudy eerie mist above your heads as you carry on along the unforgiving track wetter now than ever before as the boat rocks and hits the sides allowing water to pour in, you are still in almost total darkness other than the lights from the effects on the walls as you pass mythical creatures such as a three headed dog and a fire breathing creature, half man half beast.


As you make your last climb then plummet earthwards you will get your final soaking before exiting the last doors and making your way back to the station and as you leave the ride you will be asked by your friends who did not ride, what it was like and what was in there but in truth you will have seen so much that you will only remember parts of what you saw.


I have ridden this ride dozens of times over the years and it took me at least half a dozen times before I had really taken it all in.

After the ride is over you exit it through a giant gift shop where the afore mentioned people drier can be found as well as many Valhalla orientated gifts and also some more random Viking related items. The shop has everything from key rings to T shirts and much more besides as well as the chance to buy a photo of yourself on the ride, most big rides now offer this opportunity and the photos tend to be of decent quality and they are a good reminder of the fun you had but they are not cheap at £3.99.


The cost of riding Valhalla could be enough to stop many people from doing so, Blackpool pleasure beach works on a ticket system with each ticket costing one pound and each ride requiring a certain amount of tickets to ride, Valhalla takes six tickets to ride and this will be seen as some as a rip off and in truth it probably is but if you intend to ride this and many of the other big rides then there is a solution, you can buy a wristband for a little over thirty pounds that entitles you to ride all the rides as often as you want throughout the day the band was purchased, these are great value and definitely the best way to enjoy Valhalla and all the rest of the rides the pleasure beach has to offer.


Valhalla honestly gives you an exhilarating six minutes and it is a ride you will never get bored of or at least I know I haven't and nor has my other half or my son who was finally big enough to ride it last year and loved it too. The height restriction for this ride is 46"/117cm and this as well as all the other height restrictions are available at the point you buy your wristband or tickets from so you do not purchase tickets or bands to ride rides that are unsuitable for you.


If you have a child who just reaches the height limit then I would suggest riding with them because it can be a bumpy and at sometimes rough ride and as some kids reach this height limit at a fairly young age they might get a bit scared or thrown about inside the ride, my son was only six when he first went on Valhalla but he loved it even though he was a bit scared at times, I would never have let him go on alone and I think he was pretty glad I was there.


Some people term this ride as a indoor roller coaster and some as an indoor log flume, I personally see it as the latter but no matter what you want to call it, if you are in Blackpool then you simply have to ride it, it is not only one of my favourite rides in Blackpool but it is one of my favourite rides anywhere and of all time, it really is that good!


VALHALLA FACTS

At a cost of £15million, it is Britain's biggest privately funded millennium investment.

Valhalla is built on the site of the famous Fun House, which was destroyed by fire in 1991.

Many of the specially-created 'show action' effects have never before been used on amusement park rides.

Valhalla incorporates fire, water, snow, thunder and lightning effects with riders experiencing extremes of temperature from minus 20C to 110F.
More than 100,000 gallons of water a minute is used to propel up to 2,000 riders per hour.

The man-made waterfall spanning 30 metres cascades at 12,000 gallons per minute and is continuously recycled.

Approximately 35,000 cubic feet of gas an hour is used to provide the flame effects.

The special effects have been created and installed by American firms Technifex and Attraction Services, Germany-based Heima and the UK's Farmer Studios as well as Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

The Valhalla station design takes its influence from a Scandinavian-style Stave Church and is made entirely of timber.

(these facts are courtesy of the Lancashire Evening telegraph).


Thanks for reading

© thebigc1690

Summary: A theme park ride with a bit of everything!