Six Flags Darien Lake Trip Report 9/22/19

Coming from insanely packed Cedar Fair parks Cedar Point Friday night and Canada's Wonderland Saturday evening for my 550 coaster of Yukon Striker, I had renewed my gold pass from Six Flags America so I'm ready to take on this park Sunday afternoon on my way back to Central PA.
Since my previous visit 2 years ago, I arrived to Darien Lake around 1pm. I pulled out my season pass card for the parking gate attendant to scan I noticed they had an ipad device out but they didn't bother scanning and motioned me to proceed into the park! I got a decent empty spot near the gate where the couple rows had a yellow rope divider but I don't think there is any preferred parking here. I made it up to the front gate where there were only two lanes running but no security checkpoint/metal detectors to get in! the person who was scanning the passes/collecting tickets was also doing the bag check which kind of slowed the process down there when they scanned my pass using their ipad I guess my photo is in the system and they let me in. I attempted to stop by the Hornets Nest to see if I could snap their flying scooters but Rowdy's Ridge was gated off due to short staffing for the fall season. I made my way to Tantrum their most recent coaster I had not ridden which way over by Mind Eraser they midway was nice and empty I didn't have to walk around guests crowding the midways like I did at the previous two Cedar Fair parks. When I arrived at Tantrum it was currently down for maintenance but the line was open there was no attendant at the front entrance so I walked right in there were about 10 people or so waiting for them to fix whatever was wrong maybe after 5 min or so at least 5 people in front of me left the line and looks like the ride is about to reopen by then a line had formed behind me. They had two cars operating 2 rows of 4, there was a group of 3 kids taking the front row I asked the attendant if I can take the empty seat and he let me so I got in the front left seat and crossed in front of the kids where you enter from the right. It was a very fun but short ride I had ridden Hydrus over by Seaside Heights, NJ and felt that to be a bit better probably due to the beach setting. It had retractable Intamin style seatbelt clips and a lapbar with shin guard not bothersome at all for me. I also noticed it had a 76 inch max height restriction but there was no one there to height check.
Speaking of which, I made my way over to Ride of Steel and there was an attendant stationed at the entrance who did a height check of me and I was just under the 76 inch mark! I walked right into the station with 1 train operations of course and noticed 1 person waiting for the front seat. When the train came back in the station I was able to get on with him and boy the ride was amazing so smooth and I felt that extreme ejector on that third hill and the last hills. I got off and came back around and tried an open seat near the back, the ride didn't have much ejector but I did feel the lap bar get my thighs in that angle on the last hills. I noticed they did not have the retractable seatbelts anymore from my previous visit but it did have plenty of room still NO SHIN GUARDS! They also stapled my lapbar in and I noticed they kept looking at the back of the station while they did it, turns out there was an oversized person sitting nearby and they kept stapling him in too not before they stapled me in already! This reminds me too much of how they do it on El Toro! But once its cleared the blinking light at the end of the station stops and is dispatched. I then went over to Predator and was able to get on the front right seat since only 1 person was waiting for the front car. I got plenty of airtime and noticed the roughest part was the second turnaround with some bumpy spots here and there but not that bad as many would say, I wouldn't try this again in the back! I also noticed on Ride of Steel and Predator they had two middle rows roped off probably for ADA pass and if there isn't any of them around they let people waiting fill in those seats after. I ended my visit with a large iced cappuccino from Tim Horton's at the front of the park for 4.85, the reentry hand stamps are invisible ink. I bumped into some Buffalo Bills fans entering the park because there's a home game going on where they ended up winning which could be why the park was so empty and got my 551 on Tantrum glad I enjoyed my brief visit!

* This post was modified at 9/23/19 5:19:14 PM *