Valhalla (Pleasure Beach Resort)

Valhalla
Boats enter the ride underneath a skull figure
Pleasure Beach Blackpool
Status	Operating
Cost	£15,000,000
Opening date	14 June 2000
General statistics
Type	Dark ride
Manufacturer	Intamin
Designer	Sarner Ltd
Lift system	Two lift hills
Length	610 m (2,000 ft)
Speed	70 km/h (43 mph)
Max vertical angle	60°
Capacity	2,000 riders per hour
Duration	Approximately 6 minutes
Restraint style	None; grabrails only
Height restriction	117 cm (3 ft 10 in)

Valhalla is one of the flagship rides at the theme park Pleasure Beach Blackpool in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. It was opened on 14 June 2000 at a cost of £15 million (the most expensive water ride to be built in the world at that time) and from then until this day has remained the largest indoor dark ride in the world. Both a dark ride and a water ride, Valhalla uses special effects which incorporate fire, water, snow, thunder and lightning.

Design

Valhalla was designed by Sarner, a creative company based in the United Kingdom which is responsible for ride effects and electronics. The vehicle and track elements were provided by Intamin. It is based on Valhalla from Norse mythology and covers sixteen different scenes.

It is based on a similar ride, Viking Toktet, found in Norway's Tusenfryd, which was also designed by Sarner. Both rides use elements of a traditional log flume ride combined with the design of a traditional dark ride with additional special effects to dramatize the ride experience. Valhalla uses physical effects- such as a dramatic change in temperature and artificial snow. Riders experience extremes of temperature from -20°C to 110°C. There are various water effects during the ride course, including a water vortex and track elements include a turntable (where the boat is turned around thus facing backwards).

More than 100,000 imperial gallons (450,000 L; 120,000 US gal) of water are recycled per minute, and roughly 35,000 cubic feet (990 m³) of gas is used an hour to provide the flame effects. The ride has a capacity of 2,000 per hour and each journey lasts approximately six minutes covering almost half a mile.

The ride is housed inside a building around 80 feet tall. The front is covered with artificial rock effect and a huge waterfall flows down the frontface dispensing 12,000 gallons of water per minute. The boarding station is situated on the outside of the building, at the bottom the waterfall.

Opening

Valhalla was opened by TV and radio host Jonathan Ross on 14 June 2000.

Ride experience

Due to the extremely wet nature of the ride, warning signs are positioned at the entrance saying "you will get wet" and "you may get SOAKING wet". Clear plastic rain capes are also available to buy at the ride's entrance at a cost of £1.50.

In the Viking-themed station, riders climb aboard a Viking-style longship. The boats can seat up to eight people, having four rows of two-seater benches. Despite the ride featuring several drops, they feature no lap bars, only padded grab rails. The boats can become filled with several inches of water during a typical day of operation and a ride operator is usually seen with a pump removing excessive water in the floor of the boats as they pass through the station.

Viking chanting music plays in the station and throughout the ride, although is not clearly audible in all parts.

The boat travels in the same way as a traditional log flume and is carried from the station to the left into the entrance via the mouth of a large skull figure. A waterfall from the mouth is stopped via infrared sensor just as you are about to pass through it. The boat then continues to veer round to the left once inside and begins to climb the first lift hill underneath two live fire torches. A holographic face appears above and shouts "ENTER VALHALLA" as the boat reaches the summit of the hill.

The boat then enters an area where the outside is exposed and the theme park can be seen, the boat moves towards this window and gives the impression that it may not stop and go over the edge. The boat suddenly and sharply stops and is the then rotated clockwise approximately 90 degrees via a turntable before beginning to move backwards into complete darkness. There is then a small drop into another turntable where the boat is rotated 180 degrees and begins to move forward again. Powerful wind effects are utilised during this rotation.

An icy room featuring temperatures of around -20°C and artificial snow is then passed through.

The boat proceeds forward and there is then a severe drop of some 60 feet. Around half way down the drop there is a blanket of mist and lighting effects which lead the rider to believe that the ride is above to level off before it eventually plunges into water below. A tunnel of water jets is then passed through, which deposits extreme amounts of cold water over the boat, particularly for those sitting on the left hand side of the longship.

A room is then entered featuring two gigantic hammers which swoop down and appear to be heading to sandwich crush the boat but simply create a huge splash, further drenching those on board.

Another lift hill is then ascended before a large double drop into a final fiery inferno with longships ablaze and temperatures briefly up to 110°C when fireballs are ejected.

The boat then veers around to the left and out of the building where a photograph is taken of the typically drenched riders and later available to purchase at a cost of £7. The longship then re-enters the station where riders disembark and the use of a stand-in drying machine can be acquired at a cost of £1 for two minutes.

Reduction in effects

At its opening and during its early years of operation, Valhalla was laden with additional effects such as lightning/sparks, explosions and more fire features. These have gradually become more unreliable, removed or rotated after a decade of operation. The above ride experience description is typical of what one will experience when riding today.

The ride still attracts very large queues, particularly during the summer.

Miscellaneous

In May 2004, a fire which damaged the Grand National rollercoaster and the Alice in Wonderland dark ride was extinguished using some of Valhalla's huge water content.

It is today sponsored by the Daily Star, a British tabloid newspaper.