Darien Laker

I knew something wasn't right when the article was using present tense when talking about the Paramount Parks in North America. Sigh, this looks like it would have been cool, too.... Too bad Cedar Fair can't pick up and build it.

Oh, things do change. Cedar Point has taken over my number one spot since I last answered this thread.

^Most Morgan hypers have trims.

I'm probably going to have to say Six Flags America '04. Granted, the coaster line-up in that park absolutely blows many other parks i've been to away (Especially Darien Lake), but that's about all it had. The park seemed dirty and run-down, with workers going as slowly as they possibly could. It didn't even have a park atmosphere. Especially the area by Batwing and S:ROS. It was like just the coasters and nothing else. I did have a good time though, like I said, that park has a great coaster line-up.

Wow looks like the same Darien Lake we're all used to! Half of the coasters closed....but at least it wasn't the better half. As long as you got on Ride of Steel and Viper, you've ridden the only two coasters in the park even worth riding. Missing out on Predator and Boomerang isn't a bad thing at all lol. Too bad you didn't get to ride Twister, Darien Lake's decent flat ride. Nice pics and report!

Chippewa Lake Park has always really intrigued me. That coaster looks like it would have been short but sweet, and there were some other interesting looking rides. Also, Opryland and Old Indiana.

My last ride at Cedar Point last summer, which was Magnum, at sunset. I knew the amazing two-day trip was coming to an end, and I knew that would be an absolutely perfect way to end it. I sure was right. The veiw at the tops of the big hills was absolutely gorgeous in the day time, but the veiw as the sun was going down was just amazing.

I've never been on T2, but i've been on three other SLCs. I found them all to be rough, but not unbearable. SFA's seemed to be the shakiest, but probably because the rest of the park's coaster line-up is totally solid, making it seem worse by comparison. Mind Eraser is the roughest steel coaster at Darien Lake, but it's not too far off from most of the other coasters in the park (Boomerang, Arrow Looper, Summers/Dinn woodie....yeah). About the same could be said for Top Gun at Canada's Wonderland.

Nice Trip Report. I plan to go to Gadv later this year, and this sounds like a sign of hope for the park to be in good shape. I can't wait to ride especially Medusa, Chiller, and ET especially.

I really don't like the traditional loops on Vekoma flyers. I've only done Batwing, but you spend too much time on your back and not a lot in the "flying" position. I almost think of it more as a "lay-down" coaster (ala RCT2) than a "flying" coaster. Don't get me wrong though, I think I still think it's a cool ride.

Nightmare at Darien Lake. It's been moved to The Great Escape where it still operates, so I know it's not gone for good (yet), but I still miss it. That was such a fun little coaster, despite the horrible capacity. I was so mad to see it was replaced with a show. It had such fun little drops and you had absolutely no clue where you were going. I've been on better indoor coasters since, but I thought that was the coolest thing ever back in 1997, to have a ride indoors. They just couldn't have taken Predator instead

Wow, the mixed reviews for the ride leave me not knowing what to expect. I can't wait to ride El Toro this summer. It really does look like it's got everything it needs to become my number one wood coaster....the current which is Wild One at SFA. Also, Quantum Loop wasn't even the worst coaster in WNY I can think of 3 coasters at Darien Lake worse than Quantum Loop....two of them being Vekomas and the other being a wood coaster

^^It's just you, they're actually not smooth. Anyway, that sucks that Joker's Jinx was down. That was actually a very fun ride, I thought. That last corkscrew caught me out of nowhere. Glad to see you had fun.

1.Cedar Point 2.Epcot 3.Hersheypark 4.Magic Kingdom 5.MGM 6.Six Flags Great America 7.Animal Kingdom 8.Darien Lake 9.Canada's Wonderland 10.Marineland The only other parks i've been to are Six Flags America and the little parks around WNY, unless i'm forgetting some.

(The Awesome Group) 1.Millennium Force 2.Magnum 3.Raptor 4.Wicked Twister 5.Dragster (The Pretty Cool Group) 6.Gemini 7.Blue Streak 8.Mantis 9.Wildcat (The Meh Group) 10.Iron Dragon 11.Mine Ride 12.Corkscrew (The Ugh Group) 13.Mean Streak 14.Disaster Transport

Steel: Mind Eraser at Darien Lake Wood: Predator at Darien Lake OVERALL: Predator Honorable Mentions would be Mean Streak (Which was more boring than rough, but still very rough) and Shockwave at SFGAm (RIP).

Haha Viper's video is actually footage of it's sibling out in California. I didn't think they'd still be able to use that footage. A lot of this is copy pasted from the Six Flags site. "Ride of Steel". Oh well, at least it's not like a confusing name change. I didn't think they'd be able to keep Mind Eraser's name either, but I guess they can.

Well, I can say that this logo is no better or no worse than the past ones. I wonder how much better or worse this new management will be.

Nice pics. Those Batman pics really make me wish I had one of those nearby. I haven't been on a Batman since I was 11 (SFGAm), and I loved it, but don't completely remember it.

Well I think this is a great move for Disney. Not only does it respect the Gay community, but it will probably benefit Disney too. Yes, this will anger the conservatives, but they're just going to have to realize that times are changing. Even half a century ago, Homosexuality was almost completely Taboo. Look at how things are now. Yes, there's still a struggle, but it's become MUCH more accepted socially. I wonder how it will be in another 50 years.

Yeah, it really could be unsafe to have employees talking on phones while operating rides. The ride should have 100% of the employees' attention. According to ASO's "bottom five", the only park less safe than Six Flags Magic Mountain is Kings Dominion. I know, ASO has absolutely no credentials and bases everything on consensus, but is Kings Dominion even bad? I just wonder i've never been there, but I haven't read the bad reviews about it that i've read about other parks mentioned. On the other hand, ASO also says the other major Virginia park (Busch) seems to be the Safest park.

Mantis's loop is only slow because of the very noticible brake on the first drop. You can really feel it take away the speed as it hits, and it's probably a good thing. Not only did I really enjoy the hangtime, but the ride was very forceful with the brake, I can imagine people blacking out without it. The other one i've ridden was Iron Wolf back in 1999, and I don't remember much about details but it I do remember the inversions being very forceful.

It's an improvement, definitely. I agree that it's very RCT-ish though. Haha and not very family friendly, though that was a really good thrill seeker commercial.

Great Photos! This park has turned around even better than I thought. I hope that all the parks get unique themes to this extent. It really looks like for once, a Six Flags park is being made individual rather than made to be like the rest of the parks in the chain.

I gotta say, I really did like the open-ness of Top Thrill Dragster's restraints. It was actually kinda scary, but in a good way, especially at the top of the hill. I've never been on one with OTSR's. I can't imagine it taking too much away from the ride, but on Kingda Ka there is an air-time hill, so it probably takes away from that element.