Aerial Antics: Darien Lake

Welcome to Darien Lake - the focus of this week's Aerial Antics.

Darien Lake has had a busy past decade, having seen the park expanded greatly under the ownership of the Premier and later Six Flags folks. Above is Mind Eraser, a Vekoma SLC ride that was added back in 1997 under the Premier era.

Viper was the first coaster to have 5 inversions when it opened in 1982, and it hasn't stopped banging heads since. Arrow created the ride, and although it's certainly showing it's age at this point, it was a rather big deal back when it opened.

This is the park's latest coaster addition - the OCC Motocoaster. The launched Zamperla ride features neat looking trains where rides sit atop their own motorcycle styled car.

I think Predator is one of the most beautiful wooden rides around, with it's perfect location alongside a lake. The ride it provides, however, isn't quite so beautiful. I don't like to be overly down about rides, but Predator is just too rough to be fun!

While Predator certainly has some drawbacks, Ride of Steel does not. This Intamin hyper coaster gives one heck of a ride, as many of you well know. Just driving up to the park and seeing it towering over the landscape lets you know you're in for a good time!

Here's a coaster that's stored at the park, but doesn't look like its opening any time soon. It's the former Batman Escape from Six Flags AstroWorld. It was shipped here after that park closed, but hasn't seen much action since.

These last two shots are just for fun, I found that if you play with the Bing aerials you can see this giant waterslide (also from AstroWorld, I believe) under construction...

And then completed!

To see the Darien Lake aerials, click here.