Got to Darien Lake around 1pm since I slept through my alarm for a long time, found the lot around 1/3 full. Bought a season parking pass. This is hands down the best idea the park has had in a long time. Headed straight for S:RoS, 2 trains running, took maybe 15 minutes for the front. AWESOME. I love this ride. The first drop is great, gets me every time. Next we headed over to Mind Eraser. I'd only ever ridden this in the front, so we decided to try the last seat as there was no line with both trains running. Bad idea... Now I think I know why they call these "Hang & Bangs!" Man, what a different ride, and not for the better. Got off, and went right back for the front seat. Much better... My faith in this ride has been restored. Side note: I noticed they were specifically mentioning no gum chewing during the preride speech. I asked the ride op if this was b/c what happened at SFGAm and Raging Bull, he says he didn't know, he just worked there. Great, very friendly, note the sarcasm. Walked around the whole park, remembering how nice the wooded camp sites are, and headed back to S:RoS. This time, back seat. As we went through the turnstyle there was a kid standing there trying to spin the turnstyle back on people to hit them in the you know what. I advised him against it, he tried to make tough, and then ran away. Pretty mature. Anyway, 10 minute wait, and TONS of airtime in the back seat.I forgot how fast the train accelerates when the front goes over the top of the hill!! Grabbed some food, then headed for Viper. Closed. This is where the jinx starts. When we were climbing the lift on Mind Eraser I wondered aloud to my girlfriend how they evacuate an inverted if it stalls on the lift. The stair well to the left cant slide over b/c the railing is too high and would hit the train. I said that luckily Darien Lake doesnt have too many breakdowns, unlike some of the TRs I read here on CoasterBuzz... Well, now Viper was down. Didn't come back up. We headed over towards Boomerang and there was a huge line. This thing is always a walk on! Turns out they were having trouble with the harnesses. So we head down the hill to S:RoS and its stalled on the lift hill!! We watched as they evacuated the train from about 1/3 up, pretty wild to watch. It wouldn't reopen. So I ask the girlfriend if she wants to hit Mind Eraser one last time or call it a day she says no way cuz its the only one that hasn't broken down. So that was that. Anyway, we had a ball, the weather was mid 70s and sunny, light crowd all afternoon. Here's hoping that Darien Lake gets something great for its 25th year next season, they need a new attraction. Maybe they could have the first 4D on the East Coast? I think that would be huge and really jack up the crowds on a park that needs it instead of straining an already very busy park, i.e. SFGAdv or SFGAm. Can't wait to go again though...
