The 1st of July, 2022, that's when the grand renovation of Valdaria officially began. After almost 4 years of development, the area has finally officially reopened on February 28th 2026! In this blog post, we will take you along the journey of this massive project, including the plans, changes, issues along the way and more.

 

Construction on the original Valdaria area began in 2017, together with the second and current public map. At this time, three rides were present; Wapiti, Quaderang and Tipas. While all rides had a major overhaul regarding layout, system, models and more, Tipas has only now opened for the first time in its existence. Mainly the systems of these rides were the main cause of the lengthy development. Minecraft's features have been updated rapidly over the last years, constantly allowing for ways to make our systems more efficient.

Storytelling

To start things off, we need to talk about the new storytelling of this area. While originally there wasn't really a properly thought out concept, we've decided to make the new area revolve almost entirely around it. We've also attempted to tie up a lot of loose ends, linking certain build choices closely to the story.

 

The main player in the new concept is the Mysterious Anomalies at Geisers and Mountains Association, M.A.G.M.A. for short, which (like the name suggests) focuses on capturing mysterious anomalies within the area. The concept is inspired by the Phalanx during Alton Towers' Nemesis Reborn campaign, though of course slightly altered to fit our idea. Their new headquarters is based within Valdaria, but, according to the story, construction was taking longer than expected due to an anomaly that had to be taken care of first. This made the construction of Valdaria part of the storyline as well.

 

The main idea is that Valdaria's volcano is entirely artificial, acting as a beacon of attraction for monsters within the area so they can be captured more easily. This also explains why the volcano and area look natural on the outside but is entirely hollow on the inside. But why do they want to capture these anomalies? That's for you to find out in the area...

Area layout

At the start of the renovation, we decided to rip out the original area and redo it entirely.  Only Tiki Vaka (now Crocowhirl) remained available at a time, as the pathway next to it formed a connection to the Zermatt area. The main reason for this choice was the fact that all coasters in the area were still handbuilt, rather than imported through NoLimits 2. For both Wapiti and Quaderang, we even went the extra mile to create the new layouts in FVD++ to enhance realism regarding ride forces and flow. Of course, this choice came with a price; because the layouts vastly changed compared to before, a lot of time had to be spent building the surrounding environment and new pathways. Because we didn't want to spend a lot of time on just rerouting pathways and redoing terrain, we used these changes to our advantage.

 

A lot of the changes in the area layout resulted in more space for new content, especially within and under the volcano itself. We were able to better integrate ride queues regarding the interaction with the area and rides, but were also able to drastically upgrade the elements and effects of Tipas. Originally, we planned on adding more content around the volcano as well, but this was scrapped and replaced with nature later on to prevent overstuffing. Mainly the old Tidal Wave, a new NebulaZ and a dive show did not make it to the final product, though it's not excluded that these rides will make a return elsewhere.

 

One major addition is M.A.G.M.A. Headquarters, which more than doubled the amount of explorable path within the area. Besides additional content, the HQ's central hub also acts as a connection point between the different sides of Valdaria, allowing for a faster connection between them.

Rides - Old & New

As mentioned before, every ride within the area has received a massive overhaul. We'll give you a short overview of the most important changes compared to the original versions.

Wapiti

 

Wapiti has always been Valdaria's main ride. While the original layout also went through most of the area, it didn't interact nearly as much with it as the new version. Everything apart from the location of the station building and lifthill has changed, resulting in a longer, but also more realistic layout:

- Station is now dual-load rather than single

- Clockwise helix pre-lift section added

- First helix after lift hill now clockwise instead of counterclockwise

- First main drop now to the left instead of to the right

- Mid-course brake run (MCBR) is now where the first airtime hill originally was

- Section after main drop and MCBR no longer goes around the volcano, but through it

- Further redirections to lengthen layout

 

Besides these changes, the queue has also received a massive overhaul. Originally, the entrance of Wapiti was found in a cave at the back end of the area. This was of course not ideal, as it wasn't clear at all that this was the entrance to the roller coaster. Now, the entrance can be found at the left side of the area close to the station, while the queue was extended to it in an updated form. This, however, came with an issue; the queue was now incredibly long. To fix this, we decided to split up the queue into a long scenic route and a shorter one, allowing guests to make the choice themselves.

 

Next, some time was spent on the storytelling aspect of the ride. While it was originally a vague concept about an abandonned volcano mining company, it is now more linked to the M.A.G.M.A. storyline. Throughout the ride, multiple new animatronics/show scenes have been added; a dropping elevator, reaching monster, falling boulder, lavaflows and water effects are all brand new additions to the ride.

 

Last but not least, the entire system for Wapiti has been massively updated. While originally working with redstone and TrainCarts (TC) signs throughout the ride, it now functions almost entirely through our core datapack and, while still using TC, runs with realistic physics. This system has been redone 3-4 times throughout the renovation, as new techniques were constantly discovered to make the system more reliable and efficient. This was absolutely necessary, as we wanted to make sure the ride was future proof as well. For example, it allowed us to more easily implement a ride panel in the station, allowing for VIP operation once these ranks are available.

 

Fun facts:

- The name "Wapiti" originates from a trash can at the Planckendael Zoo

- Wapiti is a reincarnation of the previous map's "Silverado Express"

- Contrary to popular belief, Wapiti is NOT inspired by Craftventure's CCR, but by Mount Mara at Bobbejaanland

 

Tipas

 

Tipas has been one of the biggest headaches in the history of the resort. While it was planned to open with the rest of the park back in 2021, as it had already been in development since 2018, technical issues constantly prevented it from happening. The plans we had for the ride were, at the time, too advanced to properly implement. TC attachments and TC Coasters (TCC) didn't exist back then, so at one point we decided to let someone develop it for us. Unfortunately, and even after spending 20 euros on it, the ride system didn't work as intended and never received any further updates from the developer.

 

Luckily, with the current advancements in TC's features, we've been able to finally lift the ride to its full potential and open it for the first time in its existence. Both figuratively and literally, as TCC animations also allowed us to make a much better working elevator than before. While a lot of the layout remained pretty similar, a lot of changes were still made:

- Predrop was added before the elevator

- Elevator was moved more towards the right side of Valdaria to allow for a big first drop and less wasted space

- Vortex element now goes clockwise instead of counterclockwise

- The layout is now longer in general

 

Simimar to Wapiti, the ride's queue line and storytelling aspect have also received a massive upgrade. Whereas Wapiti is a guided tour from an external company, Tipas is operated by M.A.G.M.A. themselves. This is also why the entrance of the ride can be found in their headquarters, rather than outside. The location of the entrance remained similar, but the queue was drastically changed to better interact with the rest of the area.

 

During the ride, you'll notice some voicelines in the audio giving you instructions during your guided tour. This was added only a couple weeks before the grand reopening, as we thought some sections of the ride weren't as interesting as the others yet. These lines are separate audio files, allowing for some customizability in the future. We do plan on adding subtitles to these sections soon for accessibility purposes.

 

Fun fact: The lava monster of Tipas is cheeked up.

 

Quaderang

 

Quaderang was already one of the most unique rides in the resort, and with the new updates we've made it even more interesting. The layout of the coaster remained mostly the same, though it was updated with the NoLimits 2 treatment to allow for a smoother ride experience. The thing that changed the most about this ride is the station. Because, originally, this ride type made use of single-seat carts, capacity was absolutely dreadful due to the long ride cycle. Because Quaderang is a shuttle coaster, adding blockzones wouldn't have helped unless we added an entirely seperate layout for the return journey. Because we didn't want the ride to feel too crammed, we of course decided to not go this way.

 

Instead, we decided to allow for dual loading within the station. This came with a major challenge, as space limitations didn't allow us to just put two stations next to eachother for each side. Even if it did, we still had to make sure the trains were able to pass through at high speeds without it feeling janky or unrealistic. To fix this, the stations were put on top of eachother, with the pass-through happening on the level in between. A vertical elevator shifts each station either up or downwards to this level, and goes back down or up when both trains have returned. This makes it possible for players to already take a seat in the trains of the other station, allowing for a slightly better dispatch interval.

 

Fun fact: Quaderang's ride type was loosely inspired by Rollercoaster Tycoon 3's "Drift Coaster" model, though the idea for giving it quads came from both the Dynamic Attractions' Dual Powered Coaster concepts from 2018 and the VR experience on Mount Mara at Bobbejaanland.

 

M.A.G.M.A. Sub-Terra

 

M.A.G.M.A. Sub-Terra is, at least for now, the only fully new ride in the area. It is, in a way, a reincarnation of the previous map's "TNT-Drop". As the name suggests, this ride heavily revolves around the M.A.G.M.A. storyline. For this experience, you are in the training programme to be the next agent for the association. Unfortunately for you, they believe in learning on the job. This is also why every side is different; they each represent various locations within the area where you get dropped off to look for anomalies. By doing this, we attempted to make the ride more unique to other droptowers within the community utilizing the same underground pre-show concept.

 

While the ride itself works as intended, we originally wanted to add a pre-show as well, but, unfortunately, we had to put this idea in the freezer because of time constraints. We do plan on adding this in the near future to further clarify the concept of the ride.

 

Fun fact: Every time the ride vehicle reaches the highest point after a bounce, a fizz sound can be heard. This is because real shot and drop towers like M.A.G.M.A. Sub-Terra work on compressed air and make a similar sound when air is released from the tanks.

 

The future of Valdaria and the resort

Even though Valdaria has now officially reopened, we are far from done. Besides small bug fixes and tiny additions, there will be bigger projects within the area as well. We would've loved to open the area together with these additions, but of course content takes time, and we didn't want you to wait for the area much longer. The most notable plans for Valdaria are:

- Ridepanels for all rides in the area (except for Tipas)

- Additional content in M.A.G.M.A. Headquarters

- Ride preshows for Quaderang and M.A.G.M.A. Sub-Terra

- An ambiguous interactive darkride

 

Obviously, Valdaria isn't our only area. We promised ourselves that the next big project would be Apollox 2.0, as it is in desperate need of a retrack and updated area. We know how much some of you like this ride, which is why we will be working on this behind the scenes rather than ripping it out like Valdaria. If time allows for it, we hope to reopen the new version in this spring season together with a brand new darkride for Eranovum.

 

That being said, this isn't the only project planned for the spring season... But for that, you'll have to keep an eye out for our socials!

 

We want to thank you all very much for visiting us at the grand reopening of Valdaria and would love to see you soon again at the FantasieCraft Resort!