Leaderboard

Wow...sure hope this is bullshit clickbait type rumor, if not poor Darien Lake. This was their only really good coaster for near 20 years, so if this was to be axed...if I was local I'd throw quite a tantrum .........I'll see myself out

I kind of hate the Kraken color!!! I mean, I don't really care and I'm sure I'll get used to it, but first glance I don't like it! So weird to see them have given up on Antarctica, but I do like the random penguins just set up in the ride path, probably better than the ride!

Really enjoyed this report. Had no idea Antartica was still closed and never to reopen? It wasn't great but I didn't think it was beyond help. I quite like Kraken on the Leash's new colourscheme.

I feel like there are a lot of uncovered stations in California. I always figured it was some weird flex about their good weather?

oh. . I mentioned Dr Diabolical's Cliffhanger construction tour and didn't supply pics? ah.. you want those? ok. . . they have already started construction, and the maintenance / transfer track is already starting to go in place.

in the park yesterday for an event - where many parks presented their 2022 plans (and beyond) which was a lot of fun, and I'll get up a report on that at some point (hopefully). . . .tho we did manage to get two walk on rides to Iron Rattler Back Seat, Superman, and a walk on to DareDevilDive (which broke down for 10 minutes as we were about to get on it. . . .but once reset, we got a ride, and it *IS* now going back up to the top of the tower before it starts flipping the planes so yay for that). Guess it paid to go to the park on a cold and overcast day - and everything was operating despite the weather and the light crowds, *except* for Poltergeist. we were inside Zaragoza theater almost the entire operating day tho. . so didn't get to get into the park itself until ~4pm when it closed at 6. . and take out for the time watching the Parade (which was full on and fun, even with the light crowd due to weather), and a backstage tour of construction on Dr. Diabolical Cliffhanger. So that's not a bad ride count considering we really only spent ~1 hour available to do "rides". . . . We got an hour after close to ride WonderWoman tho and taste lots of the MardiGras food offerings. but. . what I think is some of the bigger news? Skyscreamer is still offering the "Harness" option. (it was supposed to only run for 3 weeks and be gone as of 1/6/22). I asked a few of the Mgmt folks on the construction tour, as I noticed the harnesses on it. Most of them were cagey about it. . . "yeah, we're still offering it until we dont". . . but i did get someone to kind of admit that (and take this with a grain of salt, but it's from a horse's mouth, if not THE horse's mouth (ie: not from Park President): "it will continue running for free as an option thru the end of this week" (which I guess means today), "and then will be offered as a pay option" no idea how much it will cost, but I guess they have the infrastructure in place to support it as a paid option (separate line for it, and area to get in the harness). . i I suspect this will be a true statement. so there ya go . and to give you an idea of how crowds were yesterday ~4:30 pm: post parade bert: (and no you dirty minds. . I didn't have to show anything to get all these beads - it was too cold to anyways - but if you want lots of beads? catch the parade on a day without much crowd. . every float will have folks tossing beads to you) and can't post pics from SFFT without including the incredible Park President: Mr. Jeffrey Siebert

^ Honestly, I think this ride should never have been aimed at the thrill seeking crowd with the marketing focusing on the steepest drop even if it was planned before VelociCoaster. With just a normal back-spike and potentially a different manufacturer you could have had a much lower height restriction and focused on the 4 potentially slow accelerating launches aiming to pull in groups of families with younger kids as a gap between the smallest coasters and the bigger launch rides of Cheetah Hunt and Hagrids.

They're both multi-launch coasters with top hats and twisty layouts, both right next to the water, installed at the same time, opened not even a year apart and they're less than 10 minutes down the street from each other. I don't know if there is a more fair pair of coasters to compare outside of Skyrush/Candymonium.

There's a few employees on a SFDL Facebook group im in that say these rumors are straight garbage, so theres that. Time will tell of course.

they presented today at Winterfest - hosted by SFFT this year. they showed what new things were announced to the Big Rivers Waterpark in 2022, including the 11 rides as part of the Fairgrounds that Larry mentioned in that post late last year. It was reiterated - that adding rides the waterpark, is simply a way to keep the Waterpark able to operate in colder months, and help with cashflow. . but that the owners are *absolutely* set on the creation of the Grand Texas Theme Park. and that a lot of the "groundwork" has been completed, or is in process. They showed off some concept art, and asked those in attendance to keep the faith, and that they realize it was announced a long time ago. . and tho he cannot give any kind of "planned opening date". but they absolutely still have the plans to open this Theme Park in the future.

Spent the day today at SFFT, which hosted Winterfest - a presentation from many parks around the Country (tho mainly from Texas), and COTALAND was one of the presenters. I'll get a more detailed report up in the next week or so, I think, but the big COTAland news that came out of Winterfeast? -- the Wildcat did open, but they had an issue with burning out some parts, so it's currently down - but expected to be back open fully by March 2022 (they had to completely rebuild a new control panel for it too. . so they've spent a lot of $$ on this ride getting it ready for Texas!) -- they have purchased several more rides (and a replacement Ferris Wheel for the one on site that they sold last week) including standards such as a Pirate Ship, Tilt A Whirl, and several others. . most of which are in transit or on site. -- tho a few of the existing rides are of the "carnival" variety (including the "claw" and the "drop tower") that was mostly due to the ride manufacturer's impacted by Covid, and unable to get new rides made in a needed timeframe. So the plan is to replace the "traveling"/"carnival" rides with more permanent Theme Park models, now that most of the manufacturers are back into the swing of things and are able to supply new rides when ordered. -- Palindrome (the new Gerstlauer) is planned - if all parts arrive when promised and they hit no snags in assembling - to open by October. -- and the "full park" planning to open by September (including the above Skyblazer, which will be the only one built in Texas per the contracts). -- it was noted that they plan to have the park open during events at the tracks (at least any rides available) later this year, but plan in 2023 to open the park as a year round, dedicated Theme Park. . with at least one more coaster coming in the future (a question was asked if a wooden coaster might be coming, and the answer was a bit evasive, but was NOT a "no"). I'm actually really excited about this park and how it's progressing! (oh, and they announced that next year? COTAland will be the host for Winterfest presentations)

The whole park will close before they decide to remove Ride of Steel (good news!). Or, if they do remove it ahead of its closure, then the whole park will be closing soon after anyways. Or maybe it will turn into a water park-only like Geauga Lake... Seriously though, it's in the middle of nowhere. They can't staff it. They can't maintain it. They can't afford anything in their budget. The lawsuits didn't help any. Relocating or selling the rides is probably their best option at this point. Honestly, I'd give them 2 more seasons max. Be sure to bookmark this post. I'm not glad about it, but there is no doubt this place is, and has been, dying.

While it may seem shocking at first that Darien Lake would get rid of ROS due to needing new trains and yet invest in new trains for Mind Eraser the more I thought about it and honestly the less shocking it is. Intamin rides built in the late 1990s and 2000s were incredible but on the same token it almost seems like it gets to the point where the costs to keep said ride open is just not worth it especially when it comes to a smaller park like Darien Lake. We have already seen a similar thing play out with Volcano where it just got to the point it was better from a financial point of view for the park to just scrap it and move on. In addition to Volcano, Perilous Plunge, Tower of Terror in Austrialia, and Wicked Twister all were Intamin rides from that era and they are all gone. Plus to my knowledge we don't know what is going to happen with TTD. With an SLC though, you hear a lot of negativity about them but one thing you rarely hear about is an SLC being plagued with maintenance problems. Yes there are a few here and there but I think a lot more of this is a reflection on the park. Darien Lake could get new trains for Mind Eraser and it would be a ride that is not going to cost loads of money down the road to keep open.

No, the land has no value as anything else. His ROS rumor is suspect because the ROS train is less than 10 years old. I would also assume a new train is cheaper than tearing out a coaster of that size.

Last weekend SeaWorld Orlando hosted another round of Inside Look, a special event that offers guests the chance to go behind the scenes of attractions, exhibits and experiences throughout the park. Some of these Inside Looks can only be experienced during this special event while others are typically reserved for paid tours and SeaWorld Camp. But instead Inside Look brings the access to all for what is a really fun and insightful event. I had experienced a few of the behind the scenes looks in previous years including the Manta aquarium and Shark Encounter, so my focus this time was to do offerings that were new to me. In the limited time I had, I was able to go through three Inside Looks, one for Orca Encounter, one for Wild Arctic and the last for Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin. While I was in the park, I was also able to see several of the recent or current efforts underway to update park elements with new paint, new decor and theming. It is nice to see updates happening throughout the park in advance of the opening of Ice Breaker next month, and it looks like this is only the start. Driving up to SeaWorld Orlando, guests are greeted by a new entrance sign. Gone is the former orca sculpture, replaced with a new rock structure. The Dolphin Nursery emerged from its recent refurbishment with an updated color scheme. Ice Breaker will officially open next month. The up-close look at the backstage side of Orca Stadium was clearly going to be popular so I went there first. The event started at 11:00 AM and this was the line about 15 minutes before that. This Inside Look had limited hours to allow the orcas to perform in the Orca Encounter show during the day. By the time 11:00 AM hit, the line for this experience ran all the way to The Waterfront. Once inside you are brought to the first of three stations in the back half of Orca Stadium... It is really neat to see just how expansive the complex is behind the stage. They weren't kidding when they said you got up close! Here we had a chance to see two orcas enjoying recreational activities while swimming between the three stations set up between three pools. One orca was tasked with taking this jello to a trainer at the third station's pool. Of the three stations, for me this was the best view I had. But as I experienced at the third station, it was all a matter of timing as the routing of these orcas was not being majorly altered for guests at Inside Look. Off they go! From the second station (the Medical Pool), I could see an orca doing a slide trick in front of the third station. The second station was the Medical Pool, where a rising floor can be lifted to raise orcas out of the water for treatment and inspections. We did get to see the orcas move through the Medical Pool to the third station. It was shared that much of the time orcas spend in the medical pool is recreational and comforting to build a familiarity with the space. This allows the orcas to be more at ease in the space, not having a purely negative association with the more stressful experiences that happen for medical or health needs. And yes, we learned how orcas know how to provide urine samples in the Medical Pool. We got a few swim-by's during our time at the third station, but nothing quite like I observed in the other two stations. At the edge of Sesame Street Land, the former Sea Carousel has reopened as the Sunny Day Carousel. A new construction fence on the Wild Arctic side of Sesame Street Land has gone up. Over by Wild Arctic there were some interactive stations presented by SeaWorld Camp. Headed towards the Inside Look entrance for Wild Arctic, it is hard not to admire the layout of Ice Breaker. I really can't wait to ride this one! From our walk to the Inside Look experience at Wild Arctic you could see even more of Ice Breaker. First stop for our Wild Arctic Inside Look was a peek at the enrichment items that the animals inside can play with. You don't realize just how much goes into a marine exhibit's water filtration until you see the system up close. We were able to see the food preparation kitchen for Wild Arctic. The science of how much food each resident of Wild Arctic gets is complex and incredibly interesting! The Inside Look ends by leading you out into the main Wild Arctic exhibit. Ice Breaker is looking ready to roll! Very cool. It was my first time seeing Kraken with its new paint scheme. The colors look pretty cool! A new Inside Look show, Seal of Fortune (a game show) was offered in the Nautilus Theater. The Inside Shark Encounter experience returned for this year's event. The Sky Tower has been undergoing a refurbishment including a new paint scheme. Turn right to go left. I was most eager to do the Inside Look for Antarctica, because it actually allowed us to walk the ride path of the former attraction. An open air penguin encounter had been set up in the final ride scene for Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin. It was kind of neat to be back in this space. Plus I'll never complain about a chance to see more penguins. We also had a chance to see the ride path's side of the penguin habitat. Quite a view! Puck from the former ride waved us on as we moved out towards the former ride's exit station. Looking back one more time... On the ride path of the exit station... I ended my dead with a quick stop by Kraken to check out the new paint job up close. The track and supports have been repainted with a new color scheme but the trains have not been updated. I still really like the new color scheme! Can't wait to come back and ride!

Yo mama so dumb she thought Iron Rattler was kept in her bedside drawer.

That pretty much sums it up.

Meh. Let it fail. What do they even have that's worth saving? All I see are Moto Coaster, Tantrum, Silver Bullet, and Corn Popper. All easily relocated, and one less park in the middle of nowhere that's a pain to visit.

Screamscape ( grain of salt required) said that it was because of the same reason that Mind Eraser might have to go SBNO. Needs a new train(s), and the parks true owner (EPR Properties) doesn't want to pay for it. I don't know how true the ROS rumor is, but it (and the overall decline of the park) makes me wonder if maybe EPR has other plans for the land long-term. I'm not familiar with the parks location, but is it in an area where redeveloping the land for condos or warehouses might be attractive? Maybe we should all get to Darien Lake while we can...