The Predator (roller coaster)

The Predator is one of the largest wooden roller coasters in New York State, located at Darien Lake. The custom design takes advantage of the traditional wooden coaster element of large amounts of "air" time while also giving a modern twist by additions of sharp banking turns during the circuit.

Design

The coaster is a double out-and-back design, and does so in a fairly confined space. The main section of the coaster runs along the lake to its north.

Renovations/Upgrades

At the end of the summer of 2006, the last year of Darien Lake being owned by Six Flags, a major re-tracking took place and some wood was replaced on the ride to help make it more enjoyable for guests. In 2001 during an earlier tracking job, part of the queue line was removed to make way for a expanded seating area for the nearby food stand. It is believed that the old queue line for Predator was added to the Grizzly Run to make way for a bigger capacity for the queue line.

In 2010, Darien Lake purchased 12 PTC articulated cars from Holiday World, where they were used on The Voyage.^[1] These trains replaced the original PTC trailer-style trains which were known to have an extremely rough ride. With the closure of Raging Wolf Bobs at Geauga Lake in 2007, The Predator was the last roller coaster to operate with PTC trailered trains.^[2]

References