- August 12th, 2010, 11:12 pm
#42342
59 photos from Darien Lake http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhawkins/s ... 698708638/
33 photos from Niagara Falls http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhawkins/s ... 579066717/
40 photos from Martin's Fantasy Island http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhawkins/s ... 574607787/
First overnight trip from Sandusky, and an adventurous one, with over 600 miles and three stops in one day and two nights. I got a head start on Wednesday night, staying in Erie, PA and arriving at Waldameer around an hour before closing where I was able to get eleven rides in on one of my favorite coasters, Ravine Flyer II. Then it was a welcome change from the awful Cedar Point dorms with a night at a hotel. Thursday morning brought an early wake up call and a two hour drive to near Buffalo, NY.
The start to this dreary day, Darien Lake, a former Six Flags park. It looked like it was going to be a rainout, but turned more promising later. It also appeared that I would not be taking photos, as my camera stopped functioning multiple times, but it survived the day and as of this writing (August) continues to work perfectly.
The one and only reason this park is worth coming to. The mirror image twin to Superman: Ride of Steel at Six Flags America, which is among my favorite steel coasters.
Frustratingly, Darien Lake has had the second train on Ride of Steel dismantled for some time, but luckily the park was not crowded enough for one train operation to matter too much on this day.
Ride of Steel runs just like its clone in Maryland, but has a slightly more interesting setting with the lake. Six Flags America's version gets the edge for me though thanks to the rides I had on it during an ERT session at night in 2003 before the dreaded shin bars were installed.
One of the most evil restraint devices in existance. After the accident on Superman: Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England in 2004, all of the Six Flags Intamin hypers were retrofitted with these terrible shin bars. New England has since replaced theirs with more comfortable restraints, but Six Flags America and Darien Lake continue to use these torture devices. There is very little padding, so if you are not careful to allow room to slide your feet back, the relatively unprotected bone in your shin will get a nice painful workout against this bar.
I still love this ride very much, but it is important to make sure the restraint is not tightened so far that the shin bars become a major problem.
I know a lot of people are not fans of these rides because of the long straightaways and the helixes, but I actually like the pacing of the ride a lot and enjoy both of the helixes. The hill after the first helix has one of the best airtime moments of any coaster.
I actually think the Ride of Steel name works better than the full Superman: Ride of Steel.
I was definitely glad I made the trip just for this coaster, but it was time to move on to the rest of what is a fairly mundane park.
The next coaster was one that I had heard a wide variety of opinions on, and I was prepared for a brutal ride.
I was incredibly surprised when I walked into the station and saw the trains, which were quite clearly the old trains from The Voyage at Holiday World. I later found out that they did indeed purchase two of the PTC trains from Holiday World this year while The Voyage adds new Timberliner trains. The colors of the logo on the front don't exactly match, but I imagine the ride tracks a bit better than it did before.
I rode Predator once in the front seat, and really enjoyed it. It was fairly smooth with several really good moments of airtime and an interesting layout. It seemed like the potential was there for it to be really rough in the back cars, though. I did not find out as only one train was running and I needed to keep moving.
Begrudgingly, I rode the Boomerang. Brutal and terrible as they always are to me.
Set in the back of the park was the newest coaster at Darien Lake, and a new experience for me.
Moto Coaster was the first Zamperla MotoCoaster installed in the United States in 2008, although it was followed by the second just a few weeks later at Knott's Berry Farm.
Though the coaster was extremely short, I thought it was great. I expected the cars to be uncomfortable, but that was not the case at all, and it is a concept that works really well and is different from anything out there. I would not complain if some larger versions were built.
Another ride I was not looking forward to, Viper, an old Arrow looper.
As expected, it was really rough. Oh well, add it to the count.
At least the rain clouds were finally gone, for a little while at least.
Painful coaster number three, Mind Eraser. Notice a trend with this park? It's never good to have to face a Vekoma Boomerang, SLC, and Arrow looper in one day.
Did not have time to ride this, but it looked fun.
Since I was spending the summer working on Ripcord at Cedar Point, I was eager to check out Darien Lake's Skycoaster.
I thought Cedar Point was overpriced at $30, $22, and $15, but Darien Lake was even worse.
I had just recently passed the Skycoaster site controller test, so I was excited to use my card to get a free ride on Darien Lake's version, which is 30 feet taller than the Cedar Point model and over water. It was not to be, though, as only three person flights were being allowed due to high winds, and I was informed that only the site controller could ride free and not guests (this is counter to the policy at pretty much every park, including Cedar Point). Hopefully Cedar Point Ripcord and other Skycoaster operators will note this when Darien Lake site controllers come to fly at their park with friends.
Before leaving, I headed back over to Ride of Steel for a few more rides.
One of my rides was in a huge downpour, making it the most miserable coaster ride since my first ride of the season on Millennium Force in similar conditions.
As I left, the weather cleared up for good, and the rest of the day was wonderful.
Driving out of the park, I was surprised to find the track from the former Batman The Escape standup at Six Flags Astroworld sitting in a field across the street. I doubt anyone will be too broken up if it never gets rebuilt.
Next stop... so close to Canada. I forgot to bring my passport to Ohio, so I did not cross the border. There have been multiple occassions when I have been within sight of Canada but I have yet to actually step foot in the country.
What's that I see? It is the S&S Tower at Marineland in Canada, which can only mean I am in one place.
To be so close and not go here would be a bit dumb.
Unfortunately, the best views of the larger Horseshoe Falls are on the Canadian side, so I was fairly limited to the American Falls, which are 75 feet shorter and almost half as wide, but still incredibly impressive.
Looking across at Niagara Falls, Canada.
The Maid of the Mist boats offer an up close view of both falls. I would not mind returning one day to do things like this.
Linking the USA and Canada is the Rainbow Bridge.
It is possible to get very close to the American Falls.
It gets very wet down here when the wind starts blowing the right direction.
A boat of tourists heads for the Horseshoe Falls.
The power of the falls is pretty wild to see in person. The mist kicking up can be seen from many miles away as well.
It would be the wildest waterslide of all time.
The view from the opposite side of the American Falls on Goat Island.
One final shot of both falls from the American side.
Final stop of the day, a small park just a few minutes from Niagara Falls.
The highlight of Martin's Fantasy Island is Silver Comet, an often overlooked CCI woodie.
Silver Comet is a double out and back coaster that is more about laterals than airtime, although there are a few nice moments of air, especially on the first few hills.
No lines made for a great day, and it helped that re-rides were allowed, including moving from seat to seat.
Oh, and did I mention hand slapping? I was impressed right off the bat by the park and staff.
Although I am more into airtime than laterals, I am still a big fan of Silver Comet. I got a lot of rides on it and liked it more with each one, which is really the sign of a great coaster to me. I was not ready to leave at the end of the evening.
I was excited to ride the Star Flyer as I had never been on one, and have always wanted to ride one since I first saw the concept. Even though the up and down motion does not really generate any forces, I still really liked the ride.
The other coaster at Martin's is a standard spinning Crazy Mouse.
The park had a lot more character than I had been expecting.
Some areas were really nice, and at times the park can even resemble a mini-Knoebels.
I am actually a bit surprised that more is not said about this park; hopefully they can continue to expand in the future.
The train ride at Martin's is quite long, traveling the distance of the entire park with two stops.
It provides some nice up close views of Silver Comet.
I think Silver Comet just sneaks in near the bottom of my top 20 favorite wooden coasters list.
There are certainly enough rules for Silver Comet.
It was neat that the gift shop was selling old wood from Silver Comet, but at around $30 (as I recall) it was a bit too expensive for a souvenir.
I expected this park to be like so many small parks in the US with an assortment of portable rides slapped down on a parking lot, but it is more than that. There are some nice wooded and landscaped areas, and this western town area complete with a fairly amusing gun fight show. It reminded me of Ghost Town in the Sky.
Overall it was a pretty intense trip, with Martin's Fantasy Island being a great way to end it. It is a gem of a park with an underrated coaster, and it will be fantastic if they can build off what they have to become even greater.
33 photos from Niagara Falls http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhawkins/s ... 579066717/
40 photos from Martin's Fantasy Island http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhawkins/s ... 574607787/
First overnight trip from Sandusky, and an adventurous one, with over 600 miles and three stops in one day and two nights. I got a head start on Wednesday night, staying in Erie, PA and arriving at Waldameer around an hour before closing where I was able to get eleven rides in on one of my favorite coasters, Ravine Flyer II. Then it was a welcome change from the awful Cedar Point dorms with a night at a hotel. Thursday morning brought an early wake up call and a two hour drive to near Buffalo, NY.
The start to this dreary day, Darien Lake, a former Six Flags park. It looked like it was going to be a rainout, but turned more promising later. It also appeared that I would not be taking photos, as my camera stopped functioning multiple times, but it survived the day and as of this writing (August) continues to work perfectly.
The one and only reason this park is worth coming to. The mirror image twin to Superman: Ride of Steel at Six Flags America, which is among my favorite steel coasters.
Frustratingly, Darien Lake has had the second train on Ride of Steel dismantled for some time, but luckily the park was not crowded enough for one train operation to matter too much on this day.
Ride of Steel runs just like its clone in Maryland, but has a slightly more interesting setting with the lake. Six Flags America's version gets the edge for me though thanks to the rides I had on it during an ERT session at night in 2003 before the dreaded shin bars were installed.
One of the most evil restraint devices in existance. After the accident on Superman: Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England in 2004, all of the Six Flags Intamin hypers were retrofitted with these terrible shin bars. New England has since replaced theirs with more comfortable restraints, but Six Flags America and Darien Lake continue to use these torture devices. There is very little padding, so if you are not careful to allow room to slide your feet back, the relatively unprotected bone in your shin will get a nice painful workout against this bar.
I still love this ride very much, but it is important to make sure the restraint is not tightened so far that the shin bars become a major problem.
I know a lot of people are not fans of these rides because of the long straightaways and the helixes, but I actually like the pacing of the ride a lot and enjoy both of the helixes. The hill after the first helix has one of the best airtime moments of any coaster.
I actually think the Ride of Steel name works better than the full Superman: Ride of Steel.
I was definitely glad I made the trip just for this coaster, but it was time to move on to the rest of what is a fairly mundane park.
The next coaster was one that I had heard a wide variety of opinions on, and I was prepared for a brutal ride.
I was incredibly surprised when I walked into the station and saw the trains, which were quite clearly the old trains from The Voyage at Holiday World. I later found out that they did indeed purchase two of the PTC trains from Holiday World this year while The Voyage adds new Timberliner trains. The colors of the logo on the front don't exactly match, but I imagine the ride tracks a bit better than it did before.
I rode Predator once in the front seat, and really enjoyed it. It was fairly smooth with several really good moments of airtime and an interesting layout. It seemed like the potential was there for it to be really rough in the back cars, though. I did not find out as only one train was running and I needed to keep moving.
Begrudgingly, I rode the Boomerang. Brutal and terrible as they always are to me.
Set in the back of the park was the newest coaster at Darien Lake, and a new experience for me.
Moto Coaster was the first Zamperla MotoCoaster installed in the United States in 2008, although it was followed by the second just a few weeks later at Knott's Berry Farm.
Though the coaster was extremely short, I thought it was great. I expected the cars to be uncomfortable, but that was not the case at all, and it is a concept that works really well and is different from anything out there. I would not complain if some larger versions were built.
Another ride I was not looking forward to, Viper, an old Arrow looper.
As expected, it was really rough. Oh well, add it to the count.
At least the rain clouds were finally gone, for a little while at least.
Painful coaster number three, Mind Eraser. Notice a trend with this park? It's never good to have to face a Vekoma Boomerang, SLC, and Arrow looper in one day.
Did not have time to ride this, but it looked fun.
Since I was spending the summer working on Ripcord at Cedar Point, I was eager to check out Darien Lake's Skycoaster.
I thought Cedar Point was overpriced at $30, $22, and $15, but Darien Lake was even worse.
I had just recently passed the Skycoaster site controller test, so I was excited to use my card to get a free ride on Darien Lake's version, which is 30 feet taller than the Cedar Point model and over water. It was not to be, though, as only three person flights were being allowed due to high winds, and I was informed that only the site controller could ride free and not guests (this is counter to the policy at pretty much every park, including Cedar Point). Hopefully Cedar Point Ripcord and other Skycoaster operators will note this when Darien Lake site controllers come to fly at their park with friends.
Before leaving, I headed back over to Ride of Steel for a few more rides.
One of my rides was in a huge downpour, making it the most miserable coaster ride since my first ride of the season on Millennium Force in similar conditions.
As I left, the weather cleared up for good, and the rest of the day was wonderful.
Driving out of the park, I was surprised to find the track from the former Batman The Escape standup at Six Flags Astroworld sitting in a field across the street. I doubt anyone will be too broken up if it never gets rebuilt.
Next stop... so close to Canada. I forgot to bring my passport to Ohio, so I did not cross the border. There have been multiple occassions when I have been within sight of Canada but I have yet to actually step foot in the country.
What's that I see? It is the S&S Tower at Marineland in Canada, which can only mean I am in one place.
To be so close and not go here would be a bit dumb.
Unfortunately, the best views of the larger Horseshoe Falls are on the Canadian side, so I was fairly limited to the American Falls, which are 75 feet shorter and almost half as wide, but still incredibly impressive.
Looking across at Niagara Falls, Canada.
The Maid of the Mist boats offer an up close view of both falls. I would not mind returning one day to do things like this.
Linking the USA and Canada is the Rainbow Bridge.
It is possible to get very close to the American Falls.
It gets very wet down here when the wind starts blowing the right direction.
A boat of tourists heads for the Horseshoe Falls.
The power of the falls is pretty wild to see in person. The mist kicking up can be seen from many miles away as well.
It would be the wildest waterslide of all time.
The view from the opposite side of the American Falls on Goat Island.
One final shot of both falls from the American side.
Final stop of the day, a small park just a few minutes from Niagara Falls.
The highlight of Martin's Fantasy Island is Silver Comet, an often overlooked CCI woodie.
Silver Comet is a double out and back coaster that is more about laterals than airtime, although there are a few nice moments of air, especially on the first few hills.
No lines made for a great day, and it helped that re-rides were allowed, including moving from seat to seat.
Oh, and did I mention hand slapping? I was impressed right off the bat by the park and staff.
Although I am more into airtime than laterals, I am still a big fan of Silver Comet. I got a lot of rides on it and liked it more with each one, which is really the sign of a great coaster to me. I was not ready to leave at the end of the evening.
I was excited to ride the Star Flyer as I had never been on one, and have always wanted to ride one since I first saw the concept. Even though the up and down motion does not really generate any forces, I still really liked the ride.
The other coaster at Martin's is a standard spinning Crazy Mouse.
The park had a lot more character than I had been expecting.
Some areas were really nice, and at times the park can even resemble a mini-Knoebels.
I am actually a bit surprised that more is not said about this park; hopefully they can continue to expand in the future.
The train ride at Martin's is quite long, traveling the distance of the entire park with two stops.
It provides some nice up close views of Silver Comet.
I think Silver Comet just sneaks in near the bottom of my top 20 favorite wooden coasters list.
There are certainly enough rules for Silver Comet.
It was neat that the gift shop was selling old wood from Silver Comet, but at around $30 (as I recall) it was a bit too expensive for a souvenir.
I expected this park to be like so many small parks in the US with an assortment of portable rides slapped down on a parking lot, but it is more than that. There are some nice wooded and landscaped areas, and this western town area complete with a fairly amusing gun fight show. It reminded me of Ghost Town in the Sky.
Overall it was a pretty intense trip, with Martin's Fantasy Island being a great way to end it. It is a gem of a park with an underrated coaster, and it will be fantastic if they can build off what they have to become even greater.
.