Marineland Theme Park

Visited: July 30, 2023

Attending: Brian, Allison, Mullet, Marc, Meg

I figured I could do one small park on Sunday on my way home, and I’d planned for that to be Darien Lake. However, Allison talked me into coming with a small group to do Marineland as well. If you don’t know the history of Marineland, watch a video, because I can’t really do it justice. It’s gigantic, mostly empty, and has the feel of an abandoned park that’s not quite abandoned yet. The primary goal, in fact the only goal, was Dragon Mountain, a storied old Arrow, but it’s a long walk to get there, and we got distracted by some kiddie rides and animal exhibits on the way. Eventually, we found the elaborate entrance.

Dragon Mountain

The queue for this thing is absurdly long, both inside and outside of the fake mountain, but has no switchbacks. There were also no people, so we didn’t get much time to appreciate it all. The station itself was very dimly lit, and there was only one train operator, plus the one at the panel. The boarding process was naturally quite slow, but it’s not like we were holding up the line at all. The operator was kind about letting us sit wherever we wanted, so Mullet, Allison, and I took the back, with Meg and Marc in the front, and off we went. The lift hill felt something like an alpine coaster, because it was technically on the ground, but the ground is an absurdly steel slope. The two vertical loops felt pretty much like Arrow loops, with odd forces because we were sitting in the back. Then there’s an absurd amount of straight track as we made our way into the mountain. The only thing inside is two loops of helix, which isn’t particularly exciting. There’s one point where the track visibly drops to a lower level, and we thought that would be janky, but it wasn’t, at least not in the back. The batwing again had those odd forces, but we had so little speed left, I wondered if we were going to valley. For all that it was odd, it was unexpectedly pleasant for an old Arrow.

Of course, since there was no line, we asked for another round, which was no problem. We all swapped ends of the train, and I was joined by an enthusiast we didn’t know in the front. Sadly, the experience was much worse up there. The train had a pronounced shuffle, even on the straight track, which made the whole thing kind of unpleasant. The forces were still weird, but in the opposite direction, as we were in the front. I’d say the back ride was quirky and odd, but fun, whereas the front ride was just bad.

And that was it. Normally I wouldn’t go to a park for just a single coaster, but there’s a strong sense that the coaster and the park may not be around too much longer, so you want to get it while you can. It’s an unusual credit, and an unusual story. I’m glad I went with friends, or I wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much.

Once we left, unfortunately, it was rather later than we’d all planned, so I made the choice to skip Darien Lake so I could get home in daylight. So I guess I’ll have to head up that way again in the future.