Six Flags Darien Lake (SFDL) Discussion Thread

[abovethesink]

I was at the park for the first time in years on June 1st. We stopped the day before to get my son (15 this summer) the three credits at Seabreeze. It was in the 50s and windy, so that place was empty, and we were in and out in less than an hour. The spinner was as I remembered it and the two wood structure coasters were crawling in the cold. Not ideal, but the next day looked better for Darien Lake.

We were there at rope drop and headed to the back of the park like we always do. I apprehensively got in line with him to get his Mind Eraser credit first. We grabbed the front row and, with the new vest restraints, it wasn't too bad. It was no Great Nor'Easter, but it was better than the one they did the same thing on at SFA (RIP). 

Tantrum was closed and remained that way. I guess it has been down for a little while now. And of course it was as Tantrum is the only credit I don't have yet having grown up being taken to the park every summer. Oh well. We'll be back.

Viper was next and it was the same old gem I fondly remembered. By modern standards, this old Arrow looper is of course pretty tame. It runs through its course smoothly though with surprisingly little headbanging. I still approve. Viper has always been and remains one of my favorite Arrows.

Predator was up next and this was to be my first ride post-Titan track. Given that this was my absolute bottom coaster in any possible ranking with my last experiences with it, I still figured the non steel portions would be so horrible that it couldn't be redeemed. The ride was good though! The upgraded portions were smooth as silk and the layout got to shine, finally. The still wood sections were not as awful as I expected, either, though they were far from smooth too.

Superman, er, Ride of Steel followed for my son's 250. We had absolutely awesome rides on the clone down by the capital this summer in 104 degree heat, so this slow running original on a day barely warmer than half that number was pretty disappointing. Still fun, but it hardly had anything left for the bunny hills at the end that always used to be so great. I chalk it up to the cold day.

From there we walked over to Boomerang, which was a credit for him and I am not sure why I bothered to ride it to be honest. 

MotoCoaster capped the first rides. I remembered this one as having a punchy launch and then doing nothing. It indeed had a punchy launch, even stronger than I remembered, and I am happy to report that I remembered wrong. The swinging turns were taken at a good speed and I actually ended up liking this one a lot.

From there, we walked back to take another peak on Tantrum, grabbing another good ride on Viper on the way. We ate lunch and then gave not-Superman another go to similar results. Finally, to cap the day, we decided to take a last ride on Predator. This was our best decision. We waited for the front car (which took forever for like six trains -- I am not going to whine any more than this, but operations were horrible all day) and the ride was a rush. I don't know if it sped up a little or if the front is just where the airtime is at, but my old wooden nemesis was hitting almost every hill exactly right. This was a GREAT ride and easily our best of the two park trip. I really look forward to visiting Predator again in the future and a younger me would be very confused by that statement. 

Final note: Predator was running the purple train that I had read appeared recently. Even though it was a weekend and wait times were growing, they did not ever put a second train on. Nor did Mind Eraser. This park may be viewing having a second train as having a backup in case the main train breaks. There doesn't seem to be much intent of actually putting two trains on the track at once.