Superman: Ride of Steel

Six Flags Darien Lake, Darien Center, New York

 Faster than a speeding bullet. You'll think so, anyway. Superman: Ride of Steel at Six Flags Darien Lake is HUGE, even compared to the Predator wooden coaster that sits beside it. The 200+ft hill is visible in the upstate New York countryside well before you get to the park. From the top of the lift, you can see forever... unless you look down. Then all you'll see is the fog. SFDLake has covered the trackage at the bottom of the first drop with fog machines to obscure the track from the riders. You aren't always sure what's down there, but you know it will be fast.

The fog hides the fact that the bottom of the drop is a high-speed 90° banked turn that leads you right into an enormous camelback hill (see picture below--- yes, that's the second hill) that you just fly over like it wasn't even there. Don't expect your butt to be anywhere near your seat, either!

Then comes a big, big, BIG helix that you'd think would sap all the speed from the ride. It doesn't. In fact, you exit the helix and head for another camelback. Even though this hill, too, is large, the train rockets over the top, sending riders into their lapbars for the duration (picture below).

 After this, there's another helix (see picture below) and some outrageous bunnyhops back to the station with serious airtime. Superman at Darien Lake is smooth, intense, fast, and fun. It's one of those rare coasters that offers both serious thrills with loads of fun in a package that you can ride over and over. Bravo!