On the subject of Valhalla, am I the only one who’s not a huge fan of it?
While I’ll admit it is/was a very impressive ride, it was just far, far too wet for my liking; it was 30 degrees the day I did it, and I still came off feeling like a block of ice! I was certainly desperate to warm up, and the ride felt like more of an endurance test for me than something I especially enjoyed.
Also, while I won’t deny that the ride’s effects were very impressive in places, it was quite different to what I was expecting in terms of storytelling, and didn’t strike me as the most immersive attraction; I was under the impression it was an immersive, story-driven dark water ride, with a story that was clearly told through the ride’s effects and various scenes, but I was never entirely sure what was going on, and even now, I’m still not entirely sure what the story of Valhalla is actually supposed to be. I know a big, thrilling water ride like Valhalla will never be the most cohesive in terms of storytelling, but prior to riding, I was under the impression it would be akin to Disney’s Splash Mountain, where the long, slower sections were used to tell a story through animatronics and special effects, and the drops were merely thrills in the middle. I don’t know if I’m just being ignorant here, so I apologise if I am, but Valhalla’s slower sections just seemed like a lot of stretches of darkness and jumpy, ghost train style moments that didn’t really blend together or make any sense? Perhaps I was just expecting the wrong type of thing from Valhalla, in fairness; after all, I guess Blackpool Pleasure Beach isn’t really a park that does theming and storytelling.
Personally, I haven’t even done that many water rides (some in the UK & most of the major Florida ones), and it definitely isn’t among my personal top 5 water rides. To be honest, I’m unsure if Valhalla would even make the top 10 for me based on my 2019 ride, but I know I am in a substantial minority in terms of not being a massive fan of Valhalla.
In terms of the GTA, however, I can certainly understand it; I’m clearly wrong about Valhalla, as everyone else seems to absolutely love it!