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Day 12 - Wednesday 17th June 2009 Trip Report from Darien Lake |
Day 12 - Darien Lake, NY. An early start at 07:00 today for the 50 mile journey to Darien Lake. We arrived at about 08:00 and were let in at 08:30 for a 2 ride combined ERS on both Ride of Steel (formerly Superman) and the Orange County Choppers Moto Coaster, which is a Zamperla launch coaster. The ERS began on Ride of Steel, which is similar to Bizarro we rode previously but without as many gimmicks and a more simple track layout. Once everyone had had several goes on the front, back and middle, people headed for the OCC Moto Coaster. This is a great little launch ride which is built by Zamperla and themed on motorbikes. It is very re-rideable and fun for a small footprint coaster. Nev asked the ride ops and the management team who were handling our ERS if there was a record for riding, and they didn't think there was. So Nev and me (Matt) set a new one. 20 consecutive goes in an hour - thats how re-rideable it is.
Following on from the ERS we left the ride through the Moto Coaster gift shop. In the shop on display are 2 American Chopper motorbikes built by Orange County Choppers. This chopper is themed on a Darien Lake theme park and has some unique features. There is chrome coaster track on the rear fender and fuel tank, the air filter is shaped like one of those funnel things you get in waterparks, and the front wheel has spinners in it which light up with LED's to represent the giant ferris wheel to name a few. This bike build was featured on the TV series American Chopper which is shown on the Discovery Channel in the UK. The bike was commissioned by Parc Management following the purchase of Darien Lake off Six Flags, and to coincide with the launch of the new Moto Coaster ride, which was opened by the guys who built the bike. The series is always repeated on the Discovery channels, so if you get chance, have a view. After the ERS the group all split up to do various other rides, of which the coasters on offer were The Viper, The Boomerang, The Predator (Woodie) and another painful Mind Eraser.
Brunch was provided today in the Beaver Cafe which is excellently themed like a log cabin, and being a brunch, we had a change from the regular burgers, hot dogs and fried chicken, and instead provided, fruit, bacon, sausage, bagels etc. which was very nice and a great change. Following lunch we were invited to the "Survivor Live" show at 13:00 which Nev had entered for. Pete was also picked from the audience with 2 other members of the public. After the first round, one of the public was out, and the second round which involved holding large numbers of coconuts ended up as sudden death due to the skill of Nev, Pete and the other guy who didn't drop any so they ran out!!! Unfortunately Nev lost this round as he picked the one black stone out of the bag, thus went out through chance, not skill....Not to worry, we all had Pete still in.... both finalists did very well, but Pete won it based on a much bigger fanbase audience cheer than the other guy. So a bit of fun there.
At 16:00 we all boarded the bus again having had more time in the park for riding, and headed towards Pennsylvania for the 120 mile drive towards Waldameer (which is German for Wood near Water according to Nev). Just after we crossed the state line in PA the bus stopped for a confort break where Nev checked with Waldameer that everything is on track for tomorrow, and learned that the park has been closed for most of the day due to rain - but it's now 18:23 as i write this, and we've got an evening ERS on Ravine Flyer II!!!! We'll be there in a few minutes... so time for me to stop this report for today, and do some more riding! More tomorrow as I suspect we'll be getting stuck into beer again this evening :-)
Please Note: All on ride photographs were taken WITH PERMISSION of the theme park and ride management. Under no circumstances should any member of the public or club member attempt to take photographs on rides without express permission from the theme park. Safety comes first - follow the rules!
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| Picture in Picture, an RCCGB Tradition | Group Photo | Well, The RCCGB is a Coaster Club and is from Europe! | Ride of Steel ERS | Ride of Steel ERS |
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| Moto Coaster ERS | Boomerang | VIP Audience for Survivor | Our very own Pete beats Nev to the title | Viper |
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| Ravine Flyer II ERS | Ravine Flyer II ERS | Ravine Flyer II ERS | Ravine Flyer II ERS | Nev, Waldameer's Boss Steve & The Ride Ops who gave us a great ERS |
