Predator at Darien Lake....Anyone else see improvement?

A couple weeks ago I ventured to Darien Lake for a day. My visit was not worthy of a trip report, but my rides (it was reridable) on Predator were actually very good. The hills actually had some good airtime, shuffling was minimal on straight sections, and the second time I was confident to not ride defensively and put my hands up. Most importantly, it wasn't painfully rough at all. The only spot to be aware of is the first turn. The lateral g's give you quite a jolt. I do have to mention that these rides were in the front seat. The other two people in my group who rode later hated it, but they sat towards the back. However, they have no tolerance to anything less than B&M smooth. Overall, the Predator in my opinion soared up my favorite list with these two rides. Not a top woodie but definately a very good coaster when ridden the front.

So is there anyone else out there who found Predator to be improved?

Wow. I've never been to Darien, but that's got to be the first positive commentary I've heard regarding Predator in about a decade. Good for them if they've improved it at all.

We were just at Darien Lake on Satruday 7/4/2009. Predator while not nearly as bad a Hurler at KD was quite rough IMO. We did 2 rides and while there was quite a bit of air the rest of the time was quite jolting. Of course the night before we did 11 laps on RFII so my judgment might have been a bit biased.

Last year with AV Matt, we took two rides on Predator - having ridden it before, expectations were low. The first ride was in the very back of the train and was super. I mean, quite smooth, furious, fun, a seriously great ride. Shame is we moved on in a futile attempt to ride MotoCoaster, then got back to Predator a few hours later only to find the the back car roped off, and the ride had returned to "Predator normal" - still fast, but honestly, too rough for me...and I kinda like some aggression in my woodies. I think the back end might have had something faulty that made the last car unrideable and sent "bad vibrations" forward into the train. Very un-Beach Boys.

My take is that even a broken clock is right twice a day, and you can get good rides on bad wood more often than you get bad rides on good wood. Or something like that... ;)

Predator's count with me over several trips is now about 6-7 quite poor, overly rough rides, and 2 really good rides (one front row, one back row). If it were a news article, I'd give it 1.8 stars out of five. :)

Last edited by rollergator,

You still have Zoidberg.... You ALL have Zoidberg! (V) (;,,;) (V)

Have they replaced the train on Predator yet? Or is it still one of perhaps two coasters still running with a PTC trailered train?

The thing is, all the trackwork in the world won't help that ride long-term unless they also get rid of or modify that trailered train that beats the living crap out of the curves.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

    /X\        _      *** Respect rides. They do not respect you. ***
   /XXX\      /X\     /X\_      _     /X\__      _     _        _____
  /XXXXX\    /XXX\   /XXXX\_   /X\   /XXXXX\    /X\   /X\      /XXXXX
_/XXXXXXX\__/XXXXX\/XXXXXXXX\_/XXX\_/XXXXXXX\__/XXX\_/XXX\_/\_/XXXXXX

Did someone mention a Predator?

What no MJ link?

Too soon?

Raven-Phile said:
Did someone mention a Predator?

It's just me & you, man.

coasterimage - lordgonchar

I knew what it was and I clicked anyways...haha!

-Travis
www.youtube.com/TSVisits

Lord Gonchar said:
It's just me & you, man.

Even with that being the case, it still makes me laugh like hell. :)

Damn. I totally got taken. Nice timing, it's been a while. :)

Well played, young sir.

Hobbes: "What's the point of attaching a number to everything you do?"
Calvin: "If your numbers go up, it means you're having more fun."