Associated parks:
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Thursday, July 25th
Six Flags, Darien Lake, NY
We rose to the biggest surprise of our trip, SFDL. Entering the park with passes was a breeze, but the entrance hides the beauty that DL possesses. The landscaping was perfect and the kids were already lined up for the waterpark.......but, I think I was more excited than them....why? Superman was running two trains and the line was only 20 minutes. Where has this been? WOW! What a great coaster. The first hill leading into the hard banked turn through the mist made me forgetful of Phantom's 2nd hill the day before. Great air, with massive speed throught the course. This, my friends is a winner. I won the Line Wait betting game both times, so lunch was on Glen, where we grabbed a great Taco next door and headed to Predator. A couple of DL season vets told us not to ride Predator, saying it was too rough. I have never met a woodie that wasn't rough.......stop you sissies! And yes, it was rough, but a solid ride through the timbers was needed and had some good pops of air, but I really liked the turn arounds on this double out and back, especially the 2nd short helix turn by the station.
Next, we completely discombobulated ourselves on Boomerang, the standard Vekoma. I walked very slow toward Viper, shaking my head, asking myself, "why do you do that to yourself?" Viper was better than I thought, 5 inversions, with a great bommerang, which was even better in the back seat. Plus, the surprise helix through the tunnel ending made this a re-ride. We hit the Log Flume which had a large finishing hill, with a great splashdown and headed for our only disappointing problem of the day. Mind Eraser, Vekoma SLC clone, was only running one train and the ONE train had only 9 seats, not 10......30 minute wait.......back to Six Flags capacity problems again....and to boot, this was the most "herky, jerky" SLC I've ever ridden.
Two more outstanding laps on Superman and we drove to Cleveland.
SF WoA, Cleveland, OH
Last Sunday I rode Villian and was completely worried about my 2 laps, it was wayyyyyyyy too tame. Thank god for Thursday. Villian was back......and it took some Viagra with a shot of Jim Beam. Took a back seat ride on Batman, which was running better than ever, then headed up front.
And this is where I see why I visited the other 4 parks and saved this disaster for later. We walk to Superman, they shut it down at 8:50, we hustle to X-Flight and the attendants watch even says, 8:54 and they wouldn't let us on. Now, here's the complaint: If you say that the rides will be open until 9:00pm, then why won't you let anyone on before 9pm? THEN, have a frickin' sign on the front of your PILE amusement park that says,
"RIDES WILL CLOSE AT 8:55pm"
Ok, I'm finished, thanks for letting me vent.
Overall, the great thing about today was this: I was able to see the difference in two SF parks in one day. No matter how much I love Batman, Villian, S: UE and X-Flight, I wish the management of SFDL would be in Solon, OH! I have been to WoA 5 times this year and have had one great day and 4 crappy visits. Is it me? This place cannot be THIS bad! I, for one, will not patron this park the rest of the year. 3 reasons: Capacity, cleanliness and honesty. Put the proper amount of trains on your track to uphold attendance during that day, clean up your bathrooms all day (not just the first 6 hours) and let people onto your rides up to 9pm, not 8:55pm.
Thank goodness, Darien Lake held the good Six Flags name, or we will have to run a ton of threads about SF neglecting parks.......If you are in the Buffalo area, stop by, not only for its friendliness, but Superman was worth the drive alone.
Thanks for reading and I look forward to reading your reports in the future.
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There's nothing like a woodie...
I agree with you that the landscaping is great, and Viper is my favorite Arrow looper. I like the layout of it... right over a mini golf course.
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-Sean
*** This post was edited by SFgadvMAN on 7/30/2002. ***
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There's nothing like a woodie...
Nice TR, Woody! Man you're gettin' around this year.
We felt the same about SFDL. My wife actually said it "was the nicest Six Flags we have been to" (out of 6).
If you liked that S:ROS, you've got to make the trek across New York and do the SFNE version (like you've never heard that before, right?). But, it really is worth the trip.
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Without the chaindog, you'd never get up the lifthill...
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