Ravine Flyer II

Everybody knows the amusement park Cedar Point, located at Lake Erie and well-known not only by fans for its many record-breaking roller coasters. If you follow the coastline to the east by about 150 miles however you will get to a small park which just recently also managed to draw the attention of roller coaster enthusiasts to itself. The name of that park is Waldameer (Erie, Pennsylvania). Since mid-May of 2008 their new roller coaster Ravine Flyer II is in operation - a young ride with an old history and a large project for a small park. But exactly what has the family park away from the beaten tracks of the roller coaster fan community taken inside their park with this ride? We set off to Erie to find out.

With over 100 years of history, Waldameer is among the oldest amusement parks of the USA. The Waldameer park of today was founded in 1896 and originated from a picnic place. Like with many traditional amusement parks of the USA the usage as a place for picnics has been maintained with designated large areas and shelters. Additionally the park has a rather classic collection of rides - it is exactly this though what makes the small family park at Lake Erie so charming. Especially worth noting are the spooky dark ride "Whacky Shack" and the fun house "Pirates Cove". Both had been made from the Amusement Display Associates of Cape May under supervision of Bill Tracy, the Werner Stengel of dark rides. The "Comet" wooden coaster has been in operation since 1951. In the meantime the trees around and inside the structure of that coaster have grown in such a way that the train often disappears completely behind the greenery. The park had three coasters before the Comet however. One of them was the Ravine Flyer which operated from 1922 until 1938. The construction of a Ravine Flyer 2 had been considered for a long time but the realization of the project always failed because of various reasons. So it came that in the year 2000 the Ravine Flyer 3 has been built first, a junior roller coaster. It took another eight years before the gap could finally be filled and the Ravine Flyer II can now fly over the ravine of Waldameer park. The origin of the park's name is from the German language, by the way. A book about the history of the family park describes that the German words "Wald am Meer" (forest at the sea) became the park name Wald-a-meer. And if you still want to sense some history in the park today you should plan a picnic in the Lakeview picnic shelter next to the station of Ravine Flyer II as this shelter served formerly as the station for the original Ravine Flyer.

The still quite young roller coaster manufacturer "The Gravity Group" had been assigned to realize the Ravine Flyer II project. The company which was founded in 2002 had instantly made itself a name with wooden coasters like "Hades" (Mt. Olympus Theme Park) and "Voyage" (Holiday World). This comes as no big surprise though as the engineers formerly worked at "Custom Coasters International" (CCI) which went bankrupt during that same year. The smallest coaster of that team to this date is now the fourth member of a still quite small family.

Despite the relatively low height of Ravine Flyer II it was built with a hybrid structure just like the previously named rides. The supports are thereby made out of metal while the track and catwalks remain wooden like on a classic wooden coaster. This combination guarantees a ride experience that is equal to a normal wooden coaster but at the same time lowers the maintenance costs as less wooden parts have to be regularly checked and replaced. The trains for the roller coaster are made by the "Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, Inc." which also produced the trains for every other coaster from the Gravity Group so far. They are the oldest roller coaster company in the world and are now specialized in manufacturing wooden coaster trains.

Admittedly you will not find a ravine anywhere in the rather flat landscape while strolling through the park. We can find the new attraction in the back part of the park in direction of Lake Erie. Little can be seen of the roller coaster's actual track layout though. The lifthill had been positioned in such a way that you can see it from any place on the park's main street if you want to call the broadest street of the park like that. We can watch the blue and red train alternately climbing the wood-metal structure and then disappearing in the woods. Up close we also discover a few banked turns which go flat on the ground. Only if you take a ride on the nearby Ferris wheel you can catch a glimpse of the full track layout in advance. The park's train ride also provides views of the ride you cannot get from the walkways. The station of Ravine Flyer II is best described as a simple wooden shack with open walls. It serves its purpose but manages to remain hidden behind the trees and other buildings. The queue line is relatively short and goes back and forth between the station and a flat camelback of the ride. While climbing the incline up to the station it is clearly visible that there is a slope in the terrain after this plain. The ravine mentioned in the ride's name has to be there somewhere. But we just won't be able to see much more here so we wait for one of the 24 seats of the train and go on a ride to the unknown.

The train leaves the station in a left turn and immediately starts to climb the rather small looking lifthill. Colorful banners wave in the wind on the 24 meters high top. Our train quickly reaches the highest point of the ride. Fascinated by the panorama of Lake Erie in front of us we don't look down. But suddenly the train picks up speed and rumbles down its given wooden path into the valley. The track makes a right turn during the drop and goes right into the first tunnel. It gets darker for a very brief moment before we dive into the broad daylight outside again and fly with a flat hill over the ravine. There it was, we managed to catch a glimpse of it during a split second. But the train continues to go its way on an unbelievable speed. A seemingly right turn throws itself to the left and we pass under a part of the following track. Again a directional change to a right turn which goes upwards. The train seems doesn't care about height differences as we just won't get much slower. And again we drop down and gain speed. Once more we have the chance to see the small ravine as the train crosses it for the second time. A broad public road leads under the arched bridge that we just now are rumbling over again. We disappear into another dark tunnel and loose our orientation for a short time. In the open again another camelback follows, leading into another short tunnel and a sharp left turn. Now we rattle over a slightly larger hill. It's the one we have watched from the queue area of the ride. Our train escapes from the eyes of the waiting park guests with a left turn of about 180 degrees and flies over another camelback which stays hidden behind the previous, larger one. What appears in front of us now looks like a wall of shelves. The train throws itself to the right and takes the 90° banked turn with ease. The high G-forces hold us firmly in our seats. The horizon slowly levels again and we rumble further down the hillside. Still in that same right turn we speed upwards again. A little bit further to the right and we fly over one last hill. Then, after the final right turn, our breathtaking ride comes to an end by the final brakes. Still out of breath we slowly roll around the turn and into the station again.

Anybody who expects a rather tame family roller coaster when watching Ravine Flyer II is in for a surprise. The ride's true nature remains invisible because of the small height and hidden track elements. The train chases over the track with a seemingly ever increasing speed while the twisted track layout promises some surprise moments even after several rides. Although the coaster has some short and intense moments of airtime they fall short of expectations. Apart from that the Ravine Flyer II shows its teeth and leaves no doubts that it is a child of the Gravity Group. One highlight of the ride is the 90 degrees banked turn which almost has become some kind of a trademark for the company's rides. And despite the sudden directional changes and seemingly randomly changing G-forces the PTC trains maintain a certain degree of ride comfort. You could argue that the Ravine Flyer II is already a bit too extreme for the family park at Lake Erie. The happy and thrilled faces of the riders of all ages tell something different though - they prove that Waldameer has made the right decision and built a new star attraction in their park.