Park Experience
KISS was in town during my visit at Darien Lake. It made for some interesting people watching as I sat on the lift hill of the Predator for almost 15 minutes. This ho-hum park outside of Buffalo is where Western New Yorkers go for their thrills and chills. Anyone who's familiar with another mid-sized park Six Flags America will feel right at home at this mediocre park. They even share identical Mind Eraser and Superman rides. The main difference between the parks is that SFA got a boost in high-tech rides in past few years where this park seems suspiciously stagnant, with nothing new on the horizon. Either way here's my review of Six Flags Darien Lake.
Grade: C-

Theming and Atmosphere
KISS was in town during my visit at Darien Lake. It made for some interesting
people watching as I sat on the lift hill of the Predator for almost 15 minutes. This ho-hum park outside of Buffalo is where Western New Yorkers go for their thrills and chills. Anyone who's familiar with another mid-sized park Six Flags America will feel right at home at this mediocre park. They even share identical Mind Eraser and Superman rides. The main difference between the parks is that SFA got a boost in high-tech rides in past few years where this park seems suspiciously stagnant, with nothing new on the horizon. Either way here's my review of Six Flags Darien Lake.
Grade: D+

Coaster Reviews
Viper
Type: Steel Looping Coaster
Year Built: 1982
Length: 3100'
Height: 121'
Drop: 75'
Inversions: 5
You couldn't have asked for a better "kick-off" coaster back in 1982. The Viper was the first Darien Lake's first coaster when the park opened that year and more importantly was the first coaster in the world to have 5 inversions. Twenty-some years later pentuple-loopers are all over the country (By the way, the current record holder is Dragon Khan a B&M multi-looper in Spain with 9) but the Viper is by no means a bad ride, just a tad dated and not as original and timeless as the older Loch Ness Monster. Still the textbook steel coaster elements are marginally enjoyable and great for photo ops. The cobra roll, corkscrews by the cue line, and short-tunneled helix are the highlights.
Grade: C

Superman - Ride of Steel
Type: Steel Hyper Coaster
Year Built: 1999
Length: 5400'
Height: 208'
Drop: 205'
Speed: 73 mph
Duration: 3:20
One of the three Superman Ride of Steel hyper coasters (hyper coasters are steel coasters breaking the 200 foot barrier) is slightly taller and slightly longer than the SRoS at Six Flags America in Maryland. Aside from that it offers an identical layout, and had a long line so I skipped this one. For a complete review, see my Six Flags America review.
Grade: B (SFA Grade)

Predator
Type: Wooden Roller Coaster
Year Built: 1990
Length: 3400'
Height: 95'
Drop: 72'
Speed: 50 mph
Duration: 2:00
Definitely a memorable ride. The Predator located near the back of park near one of the lakes or large ponds. The layout looks interesting at first glance, so in line I was pretty excited. While in line I found this monument to park vandalism. The Great Gum Shrine of Darien Lake. Pretty gross. Even if it is kind of funny it shows the park's staff disregard for keeping their park clean. On to the ride, about three-quarters the way up the 95' lift hill the train came to an abrupt stop. Quite a few riders immediately freaked out. Having been in this situation before I was calm and figured the coaster would move in a few moments. It didn't. Finally, after a long 15 minutes the ride cranked back up and we were on our way. Quite a bumpy, sluggish, painful, terribly paced ride. Maybe one day in the past this was a great ride, but this ride has aged terribly. This ride has earned my "coveted" wrecking ball award as it has absolutely nothing positive to offer.
Grade: F

Mind Eraser
Type: Steel Inverted Roller Coaster
Year Built: 1997
Length: 2260'
Height: 109'
Inversions: 5
Darien Lake's twin brother of Six Flag America's inverted coaster by
the same name. Mind Eraser coasters are compact and don't tower into the upper-stratoshpere like say an Alpengeist but still packs quite a little punch as well as a Vekoma-exclusive Pretzel inversion. For a full review go to my Six Flags America review.
Grade: B

Boomerang Coast to Coaster
Type: Steel Boomerang Coaster
Year Built: 1997
Length: 875'
Height: 125'
Inversions: 3
Across the pond from the Giant Wheel in the back of the park, was the bright blue Boomerang Coaster - Coast to Coast. It was a generic boomerang coaster so I skipped this one. If you want to read about another boomerang coaster read about the Sea Serpent at Morey's Piers. As always, smaller coaster like this are great for beginners and newbies who are interested in "testing the waters" before they tackle a mega coaster.
Grade: N/A

Brain Teaser
Type: Steel Kiddie Roller Coaster
Year Built: 1955
Length: 197'
Height: 10'
My girlfriend's little sister loved this ride as you can tell from the picture. I'd think she'd give this one an A, but since I couldn't fit on this little ride for my own review it gets an N/A. Barely a coaster but the kids seemed to enjoy, Hayley rode it 5 times!
Grade: N/A

Other Rides and Attractions: Darien Lake has the usual stock of other rides and attractions. One notable is the Giant Ferris Wheel, the 3rd largest in North America.
Grade: C

Six Flags Darien Lake
Final Grade C-