Darien Lake Planning for a New Roller Coaster in 2018

© Darien Lake

We already knew that Darien Lake was planning something significant for the park's 2018 season, but now due to planning documents submitted we know exactly what is is.  If final approvals are granted, it is expected that the park will announce the roller coaster seen here, a compact Euro-Fighter design from Gerstlauer.

If you look closely at the ride's layout, you might notice that it is nearly identical to Iron Shark, at Galveston Pleasure Pier. (video of that ride can be found here)

© Darien Lake

Various news stories picked up the planning documents, which show the layout even closer in this photo.  Sadly they are all reporting that the documents say that the park will remove their log flume in order to add the coaster - I think that would be three classic log flumes gone in one year.  Still, once park goers ride the new coaster I'm sure they'll be pleased at the replacement.

If the layout does end up being nearly identical to Iron Shark, then we can expect the coaster to be right around 100 feet tall, feature a beyond vertical drop of 95 degrees, have around 1,200 feet of track and reach speeds of 52 miles per hour.  The ride's layout includes several inversions, including an Immelmann that feeds directly into a twisted dive loop, and over banked turn, and a tilted loop.

If the ride receives all permissions to be built, we can expect a formal announcement within a few weeks.