On a recent trip to New York I had a chance to experience the newer Vekoma vest restraints on both an SLC and a Boomerang. I rode the SLC Mind Eraser at Darien Lake and the Boomerang Flashback at Darien Lake. For me they offered a sincerely improved ride on both attractions. The difference was especially noticeable for my 10 year old son on Mind Eraser as he is much more prone to head-banging with his barely 54” height. These restraints were comfortable and also look great on the new trains. I had ridden Boomerang at Darien Lake as well (which has the classic over the shoulder restraints) and the difference between it and Flashback at Great Escape were quite noticeable. Boomerang wasn’t bad, but the new trains and restraints on Flashback made for a better experience.

Predator at Six Flags Darien Lake is a shockingly great wood coaster. Although it’s more of a hybrid coaster today with the installation of Titan Track on about 80% of the course. However, the Titan Track makes the train run like butter and the bumpy last 20% without it actually serves as a reminder of what a great decision the retrofit was. The retrofit has been a 5 year process with the remainder of the conversion scheduled to happen the offseason. Once that is complete this could be one of the best wood hybrid rides anywhere.

THRILLZ, the indoor adventure amusement park, has opened in Atlanta and with it comes a new coaster credit for Georgia. TRILLZ is located in the Doraville area in Northwest Atlanta near the intersection of Interstate 85 and 285 and joins the company’s other parks in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. The new indoor coaster is an SBF Visa, so nothing intense, but still a lot of fun. The 56,000 square foot park also has several other rides including a 40 foot drop tower, the Rush 360 inverting pendulum ride, a VR coaster and numerous slides and obstacles.

When most people think “launch coaster” they think LSM (Linear Synchronous Motor) or magnetic launch. However, before this there was another system that was ingenious for its time and worked almost as well, a flywheel launch. A flywheel is a heavy, rapidly spinning wheel that can store kinetic energy and release it in a quick burst. In the case of a roller coaster, this allows a slingshotting of the train with rapid acceleration. There aren’t too many of these out there anymore, but one of the best is Motocoaster at Six Flags Darien Lake.o