Ride of Steel is the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the New York.
This ride is not only significant for its respective park in Six Flags Darien Lake,
but it was also an important ride for both the amusement industry and the Six Flags chain
as a whole.
Many people know that this was the prototype Intamin hyper coaster, but this was also the
first hyper coaster at a Six Flags park.
So how does this ride stack up to newer hypers?
Find out in this review!
Darien Lake was acquired by Premier Parks in the mid-1990s.
This chain went on to acquire Six Flags in 1998.
This New York park was officially rebranded as Six Flags Darien Lake for the 1999 season
and the park celebrated by adding Superman: Ride of Steel.
This was the first in a series of hyper coasters Six Flags would purchase over the next decade.
Six Flags would use a variety of manufacturers, but they would reuse Intamin for two others
just 1 year later in 2000, both of which were also named Superman.
One would go to Six Flags America and be a mirror clone.
The other would go to Six Flags New England, but that one received a custom layout due
to the park’s space constraints.
Superman would be the tallest coaster in New York, reaching heights of 208 feet or 63 meters.
This ride commands the skyline at Darien Lake.
The ride features the iconic red and blue paint scheme featured on the other Superman
coasters.
While locals still refer to this coaster as Superman, it hasn’t officially gone by that
name in nearly 15 years.
In 2006, Six Flags sold Darien Lake to Parc Management.
This caused the park to lose the DC branding.
Superman: Ride of Steel was lazily renamed Ride of Steel.
The giant S was ripped off the steel station and the logo was removed from the train.
Many people thought this would be a temporary name, but it stuck.
Most interestingly, Six Flags reacquired the park back in 2018, yet the name still hasn’t
been changed back to Superman.
Ride of Steel is located towards the back of Darien Lake.
This ride’s placement is quite eye-catching.
The ride’s colossal lift towers above the ride’s entry plaza.
Then the drops and first few hills run along the main roadway to attract prospective customers.
Honestly, that’s where you’ll get the best views of this coaster!
Then the coaster also travels out over the water.
Intamin decided to use some straight track to give riders the sensation they were skimming
across the surface of the water, which is an admittedly neat visual.
This moment feels much more out-of-place on Six Flags America’s Superman when you’re
whizzing across an open field.
Ride of Steel bans bags and loose articles from being stored on the ride platform.
Guests can either purchase a nearby locker or the park offers complimentary cubbies in
the ride plaza.
I don’t really like the security of the latter since you can’t watch over it while
you’re waiting and riding, but a lot of people preferred to use this.
This often has the longest wait at Darien Lake.
Not only is the park’s most popular coaster, but it has a dreadful throughput.
It’s exceedingly rare to find a hyper coaster running just one train, but that’s what
you get at Ride of Steel everyday.
It’s not like the park has two trains and chooses to run one.
No, they only have one train.
The train at least holds 32 riders across 8 cars, and each car has 2 rows of 2.
The one train ops mean a station wait can still take 20ish minutes between this ride’s
lengthy cycle time and dispatch speeds.
And if the line extends into the switchbacks, you’ll be waiting much longer.
I’ve had to wait an hour for this on a weekday before when everything else was basically
a walk-on, which wasn’t particularly enjoyable.
Therefore, I’d recommend starting your day at Ride of Steel to get some laps in while
the line is short.
The coaster does need some time to warm up, so you still should return later in the day
to ride it in peak conditions.
Ride of Steel is included on the park’s skip-the-line pass.
But unlike most Six Flags parks where you merge into the station, Ride of Steel sends
you up the exit ramp.
The crew will then assign you a random seat.
You will not be able to choose.
If you want to pick you’re on seat, you need to use the standby queue.
While you get some good airtime regardless of where you’re sitting, the front and back
cars offer the best ride.
I’m torn which I prefer.
I think the front is smoother and allows you to feel all that speed, but I think the back
has better airtime.
Smoother?
Aren’t all Intimins hypers really smooth?
Ride of Steel has a very noticeable rattle on the helixes in the back car.
You can see the train shimmying as you’re spiraling about.
While it’s not pleasant, it’s not too big of an issue.
The only thing you need to watch out for is your calves banging into the center pole for
the t-bar.
Yes, Ride of Steel still has the simplistic Intamin t-bar restraints.
These leave you very exposed and offer some sweet airtime.
The ride originally opened without seatbelts, but on just the ride’s second day of operation,
a guest was thrown from the train on the final bunny hills and luckily survived.
When this coaster reopened, seatbelts were added.
Sadly, that’s not the only time this coaster has ejected a guest.
In 2011, a war veteran with two missing legs fell from the coaster and unfortunately died.
He should not have been allowed to ride, but wasn’t height checked and the operators
missed he was a double amputee.
Because of these two incidents, I’m surprised the restraints aren’t more restrictive.
Six Flags America’s Superman had it’s t-bars modified.
They received metal bars on the side, basically turning it into a W restraint, plus shin guards.
The latter can definitely be an annoyance for taller guests.
Six Flags New England’s Superman also threw a guest from the train in 2004.
The restraint was originally modified identically to the version at Six Flags America, but when
the ride was transformed into Bizarro for the 2009 season, the center bar and shin guards
were removed.
The restraint was turned into a bulky u-bar.
Many people despise this restraint, although I’ve grown to like it.
I previously reviewed Six Flags America’s Superman and the ride experience I’m about
to describe is nearly identical.
The only thing I want to note is that I’ve only experienced Darien Lake’s hyper in
the summer months.
I’ve heard this coaster can run really slow on cooler days.
That surprised me since I’ve ridden Six Flags America’s Superman on cold spring
days and 40 degree nights and still gotten strong airtime.
Ride of Steel begins with a U-turn out of the station.
You then climb the giant chain lift.
Corfu, New York doesn’t have the most exciting visuals, but you do get a sweet view of the
park if you look behind you.
Once at the top, you head down the 68 degree first drop.
I’m used to New England’s Superman where you get a briefer but stronger surge of airtime.
The drop looks similar on Ride of Steel.
You reach your max angle of descent pretty quickly, but you still get good sustained
ejector on Ride of Steel.
And you reach your max speed of 73 mph or 117 kph at the bottom.
The drop pulls out over the water, which is a neat visual.
Then you rapidly twist 90 degrees to the left.
This is a fast and forceful turn that usually causes me to greyout.
It’s rare for a ride this large to turn after the largest drop, but it’s a fun display
of force.
You then fly over a giant camelback.
I know from Six Flags America’s Superman that this is the one element that needs time
to warm up.
When Ride of Steel is running fast, this hill gives decent sustained ejector up front.
In the back, the airtime is as sustained but it’s a bit weaker.
You then hop upwards, getting some weak floater airtime up front.
You may get a little lift in back, if any.
Then you navigate a 540 degree downwards helix.
You get a pinch of laterals into the element since it’s not banked as severely as you
may expect.
Then the helix seems to last forever.
You carry good speed through it; this thing just has a large diameter.
That speed makes it enjoyable up front, but it does suffer in the other seats since it’s
not the most forceful helix.
You just get some mild albeit sustained Gs.
Next is Ride of Steel’s infamous section of straight track.
While I would have preferred another hill, you do get the fun visual gliding over the
water.
And if you’re up front, you’re being blasted by the wind.
This leads into the ride’s best element, the third hill.
This is a much smaller camelback than the first.
It’s a perfectly parabolic hill and it delivers some wicked forces.
You get a blast of positive Gs at the base and then you’re violently launched skywards.
It’s some serious and sustained ejector airtime.
Then the pullout again hits riders with good positives.
I love how this element rapidly changes the forces like that.
This is followed by another helix.
This one starts with a nice headchopper.
Then the element is just as long as the first helix, but it’s instead an upwards one.
It’s very light on the forces and you’ll start to feel the coaster bleed off speed.
Ride of Steel thankfully has a great finale in store.
There’s a little dip out of the helix that gives some weak float for those in back.
Then everyone gets another brief surge of positive Gs.
You then rocket over an s-hill.
You get a good ejector pop up front, but this element is much better in back.
The airtime is stronger and semi-sustained too.
You then have two consecutive bunny hills.
The first gives good semi-sustained ejector airtime for all.
It does cut off a bit early in the back cars though since there’s a trim brake on the
descent.
This negatively impacts the second bunny hill up front.
You still get ejector airtime, but it’s much weaker.
Those in back get comparable ejector airtime to the prior hill on the descent.
I can only imagine how nuts this hill would be without the trim.
You then rapidly slow down.
I can’t believe how short this ride’s brake run is.
If you’re in back, you’re sort of thrown diagonally forwards since you’re still out
of your seat from the final hill’s airtime.
You then return to the station, ending the 5400 foot or 1600 meter long coaster.
Now what about this coaster’s pacing.
This is where Ride of Steel suffers compared to other hypers.
I think the airtime hills, particularly those in the second half, can compete with those
on the newer Intamin hypers.
However, this ride does not have the strongest middle section between the two helixes and
straight track.
I’m glad future hypers have gone more heavy on the airtime hills.
So what would I rate Ride of Steel?
I would give this coaster an 8 out of 10.
This ride’s airtime hills are great.
The ones in the second half are particularly good.
They have some nice and sustained ejector airtime.
This ride’s biggest flaw is its pacing.
Ride of Steel carries its speed well, but not all the elements towards the middle hit,
namely those two helixes and the straight track.
But this ride thankfully starts and finishes well.
I think Darien Lake’s version has a cool setting over the water and better restraints
than the one at Six Flags America, but I think the Maryland one runs a bit smoother, more
consistently, and night rides on that one are fantastic.
While there are certainly better Intamin hypers out there now, this may have been the world’s
best hyper coaster when it originally opened.
I think it’s still a good ride and the best attraction at Darien Lake.
So those are my thoughts on Ride of Steel.
What are your thoughts on the prototype Intamin hyper?
Do you prefer this one or the mirror clone at Six Flags America?
Let me know down in the comments.
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