SaraAB87

Yeah, Cedar point is clearly in a league by itself and if I lived closer to it I would be making a visit for sure, its just that the on site hotels are a bit out of my price range and I would have to stay a couple nights to really make it worthwhile so that is kind of out of the question for now. I know for many people driving a long distance is not an issue but for me its a large problem. The NY state fair seems to be significantly cheaper than the Erie County Fair and is arguably a larger event, but from what I understand Wade just signed a huge contract there and they probably had specials due to being the new provider, based on this I expect the price to creep up to match the Erie County Fair in a couple years. A local park Martin's Fantasy Island had $18 admission this year if you bought your tickets from one of many local workplaces. That is cheap, and they have free parking, but also this park will be changing ownership next year, it is early but I expect the prices to change significantly next season.

I am wondering what everyone in the USA is paying for carnival rides if you choose to go to carnivals? In my area which is Western NY (Buffalo) we are paying what I feel are outrageous prices for carnival rides... I want to know if I am wrong to think this is too expensive or if prices are like this all over the nation, which would make it the norm. One company over here was charging $6.25 for a single ride, rides were 5 tickets and tickets were $1.25 each.. This is for something like a scrambler or flying bobs, and not anything out of the ordinary. Most companies here charge $5 per adult ride and at least $3 for kiddie rides. You rarely find an adult ride for $4 or under. Pay one price deals are always at least $20 per lot with a lot consisting of 5-10 rides, sometimes there are only 2-3 adult rides and the rest are kiddie rides. Larger fairs have more rides, but the price stays the same. Larger fairs like the erie county fair charge $40 for pay one price on the midway for an all day one-day ride pass on the weekends, which is more than most theme parks in the area charge for admission even with parking, plus you have to pay admission and parking on top of that ride pass, if you go during the weekdays you still have to pay $25 pre-sale or $30 when you get there for an all day one day ride pass, and again you have to pay admission and parking on top of that. Some companies do not sell single tickets on the midway, they only sell inconvenient bundles... one company here sells tickets $5 for 4 tickets with only bigger options for bundles of tickets, they do not sell single tickets... so if you want to go on a ride that takes 5 tickets you have to pay $10 to get 2 bundles of 4 tickets...and then you are left holding the extras. Yes, we do have events with discount ride tickets, however you have to buy these in bulk and the price is usually $20 or more for a book of discounted tickets valid for one ride each, given the on-midway price it is not a bad deal however there is no way I will be able to use up all these tickets so it becomes a waste for me to buy these discounted tickets. Some places these tickets are not widely advertised and it can be difficult finding a place to buy them. For some events discounted tickets are only available at certain places often not easy for me to get to and only between the hours of 10am-4pm on weekdays for example, exactly when everyone in my area is working and cannot get to the place to get the discounted tickets. I have found out you are also taking a risk when buying these tickets as you have to get them ahead of time.... as weather in my area is unpredictable and we had one event that totally washed out last year leaving everyone holding expensive tickets... luckily they let them use last years tickets for next year's event but I don't expect every event to be that generous. Also you are taking a risk since you don't know what rides will be there... there was an event with discount tickets here and it turned out to have exactly 5 rides at it, only 2 adult rides, and the bungee jump was an upcharge which did not accept the discount tickets. I obviously wouldn't be riding much if this happened again and I bought the tickets..... really glad I didn't buy the tickets for this one. Based on these prices, I have chosen to stop paying them because I think they are totally outrageous.... or am I wrong and is this the norm across the country?

If you hit a day where there isn't much of a wait then its not really an issue however again it depends on the crowds, if the park is massively crowded everything goes to pot. The last time I went the ROS wait was posted at 25 min so it was not an issue and this was with being directed to the overflow lot for parking, times before that, ROS wait was well over an hour. You can't really judge the crowd by the parking lot when you pull in, the parking lots at DL are a complete disaster with a very confusing layout and things get stolen frequently from cars there, in fact I wouldn't recommend going if you have a nice vehicle and you don't want it broken into. This is common sense but DO NOT leave anything in plain view at this park in your car, this includes an open charger port on a vehicle and marks from a GPS unit, wipe them off before locking your vehicle, yes you really need to be this paranoid there. Absolutely avoid any concerts at the park unless its someone who you are dying to see and you have no other options for seeing them, it will take you 3-4 hours just to get out of the lot after the concert, you WILL get stuck in a 3-4 hour traffic jam that flat our does not move at all. If you are going to a concert, plan on leaving early, like in the middle of the concert early, or tailgating after it to avoid the crowds. Eat or drink before the concert because on the concert grounds everything is $10 or more including a single beer. Or stay at the campgrounds or hotel to avoid this situation completely so you can just head back after the concert.

Worst operations is Darien Lake, it seems they intentionally make lines longer and slower than they need to be. The park has no shade and very few places to cool down. One train on all coasters including ROS unless that changes by next season if they get another train. Now most days they don't need more than one train on each coaster except for ROS, which absolutely needs 2 trains, but you get those occasional horridly crowded days where everything that goes wrong on a park visit that can go wrong happen and having one train operations just makes it all that much more painful. Its on these days when you do not want to be anywhere near this park, problem is you don't know when those days will happen. This park also has staffing issues especially when the kids go back to college so if you go in late August or during September you will have problems. If you utilize the kiddie rides (under 48 inches only) at the park then there is usually one operator to staff a few rides, so your kids will have to go on rides in the order they are being run instead of being able to ride what they want when they want. The locals just don't know any better, they don't know there are better parks out there since DL is pretty much the only option in the area for a park that at least acts like a mega-park, once you experience 2 train operation on a coaster you realize how much faster the line moves and how much smoother things go and you think to yourself my if this park only had this it might actually be worth what I paid to get in and park at this park.

I think the weather is the main reason and it is a valid reason, you never know what kind of weather you are going to get, if its in the 30's, the event will flop and the park will lose money, this is bad. Even if its well attended, is it really worth it... if you get a nice weekend the whole thing will be so packed you won't even be able to move. If they can't keep all the rides open because they have no staff then its pointless even if the park does come at a reduced price, the park doesn't have that many attractions to begin with so you are already cutting it by closing off the water park, which is obviously necessary during the season. The haunts would never be able to compete with what the larger parks do anyways, and the area already has several places to go for haunted houses all of which are very busy from what I understand. Its just potentially a very big loss for the park and I think they don't really need that right now.

Hello Justin its nice to have you here and I appreciate your contribution. Please be careful what you share as I don't want anyone to lose their job. I love arcade games and I come from a group of arcade game collectors so my questions would be related to that. I am not sure if you will be able to answer but my question would be if you guys have any old arcade games in storage at the park? Second, in the past perhaps during the 1990's did the park ever operate any virtual reality arcade games? These games are made by a company called virtuality and would look like a pod that you stand in and put a headset on and play. You may have to ask this to someone who has worked at the park for a long time. The games are gray in color and have large numbers 1-4 on them. There is another, more modern model of the games that are more dark gray in color and use a lighter headset than the first model. They usually charged something like $3-5 per play at the various places around the USA that had them and the game had to have an attendant.

Yeah Tim Horton's is insanely popular here, despite the economy, you can't even get near them in the morning, there will be a massive line unlike anything you have ever seen, actually they are busy any time of the day, but if you go in and order food its not so bad, at least when I have done that in the afternoons. Starbucks isn't as entrenched as Tim's is that is for sure, but perhaps that is just because there are way more Tim's than there are Starbucks. If you haven't yet I suggest you find a full service Tim Horton's if you are staying in the area for a while, the one at Darien only serves a few of their products but there are other larger stores that have a full menu plus tons of baked goods.

It seems they want to shuttle in tourists from the falls and make that their main market. The shootout is a nostalgic throwback for the older folks, who probably bring their grandchildren as well.. again keeping it in the family. Many families will leave after the park becomes over-run with tourists if this happens, especially if they remove the shootout, remove other things and raise prices. The tourists have Marineland... which is closer for them, Wonderland and the entire overpriced place known as Clifton hill so I am not sure why they would want to come to FI, they already come to FI and I am fine with that, but making it a tourist only destination is a bad idea and is just doing what everything else in WNY does, take things away from the people who like them. I know how many times as a kid I just longed and longed for that one summer visit to FI that my family could afford. My friend and I would make detailed plans about which rides we would go on first, last and in the middle, and the order of rides and everything. We were obsessed! We waited all summer for it. We didn't have internet access to know this is called making a trip report. If I could have made trip reports after the park visits I had as a kid I could probably have written several books. We would obsess about the past rides, rumors of incidents on the old devil's hole, pretend to drive the antique cars faster, save up our allowance so we could get some penny candy out of the candy shop and perhaps buy something in the gift shop.. and just have a good time. We had no idea there were better parks out there, we just knew that we liked FI. I wasn't taken to Darien lake until I was around 8-10 years old and that was one time until I was in high school and I was able to go one more time. I have to advocate for having something to do in WNY that is just fun for kids and doesn't cost and arm and a leg because of how overpriced every entertainment option is in this area. I would hate to see families in Niagara Falls get priced out of one of the last things left near this city that is actually reasonably priced and fun to do, especially given the fact that there is nothing to do here in the winter unless you like winter sports. Yes there are free events here but parking is not free downtown anymore (again, money grab) and lets face it a free concert or free event doesn't have the allure that a theme park does to a child. We have to remember even if the park is not the greatest, even if they don't add rides every year someone out there is longing to go to it and likes it. I wouldn't want them to have the experience that I had as a kid taken away from them due to it suddenly becoming more expensive overnight. The Erie county fair has turned into a complete money grab with $40 wristbands on the weekend, more expensive than any park in the area, but if you can make it during a weekday the wristband is $25 if you buy ahead of time however that does not include admission or parking, every carnival charges $3-5 per ride or $20-25 for a wristband (this actually makes the ECF look good because they have more rides than most), most games at the carnivals are $5 a play and last less than 60 seconds, don't get me started on food prices. Everyone laments these local festivals we have but I just see money grabs, some of them have reasonably priced food, there is some limited reasonably priced food at the Erie county fair but of course there is always the option to bring your own and with all the coolers scattered around the fairgrounds many families are clearly going this route, but when I get to a place, oh have fun on the rides and awesome food, yeah $5 bottles of water, $9 turkey legs, $5 for a slice of pizza, $10 for everything else and most of it is mediocre is not fun or entertaining for me. Some carnivals don't sell single tickets and force you to buy something like 4 tickets for $5 when the adult rides are 5 tickets or more, forcing you to buy more tickets just to go on a couple rides. Why go if its so expensive that most people literately can't afford to eat the food or ride the rides? Basically if you live here in the falls, you either work at the outlet mall, walmart or some other retail place, if you are so lucky to have one of 2 last names then you have a job in the school system. I forget which factory it is here but one is closing and its going to leave 200-400 people without work by the holidays, these people have families and they certainly won't be able to afford to pay more to take their kids to the park next year. Exchange rate is not good so the Canadians aren't coming over and spending in our stores like they used to. Back to school costs are now a major thing for families with several pages of items to buy per kid instead of the $10 worth of school supplies I needed as a kid to go back to school. I am not sure how we are supposed to pay more for parks when this is the situation where I live.

Honestly given the area and the situation here in the falls where I live with money, one of their main markets obviously; they might be better off keeping what they have, improving operations, guest service, fixing up the park and keeping prices low. If they are going to jack prices and add a parking fee people will not like that and they will be in danger. I have no problem with a place that adds a bunch of stuff and increases prices, that is normal, but the market may not be able to bear it and the park will be in trouble, while I am fine with price increases if new attractions arise even small price increases will price out the clientele of Niagara Falls. Unless they get a shuttle for tourists from the falls, advertise like mad and do something in conjunction with hotel packages in the falls to draw the more lucrative tourist market and bring them directly to the park. This would then price out families from Niagara falls and the place will be known as another tourist trap and the locals will no longer support it and they will have to rely on tourists all the time for business. The market here cannot support a big thrill park because there simply is not enough money for families to pay for each kid, parking, food and drink, especially when most people here have families of 5-6 kids. If this is the case then you are right, the families will just make the jump to Darien when there is a deal or sale on tickets because it comes out close to the same price or better anyways and you get 5 coasters and an awesome water park. FI only has 2 coasters and a kiddie coaster. A lot of people go just for the water park, especially when its hot out, I personally don't go in the water park, but its clear that is where the business is. I don't understand why FI spent millions on a thrill ride that barely ran from what I hear and all that custom themeing, plus it was a terrible capacity ride it just wasn't worth it. I think this is what killed them. I think they removed the log flume because it was very very old and was in very bad condition, so it had to go. However since people were very very angry about that one if that was the case they could have just replaced it with another flume, I know if you listen to the customer all the time that may not be a good idea and its not possible to please everyone however I think they had no business putting in that thrill ride that essentially wasn't any better than adding 1-2 family or everyone flat rides. They could have put in 2 smaller flats for the cost of that thing and the crowds would have enjoyed them more and they would have gotten more ridership than that thing. FI should stick to the family park and low price model and not try to become a carbon copy of DL. They should try to have rides that DL doesn't have, aka putting in a scrambler or a super loop as a family/thrill ride would not do much good as DL already has one. If the new owners put in a new flume then I think that would be a winner with the locals, they could bring back what was missing and that would go over well. The shootout is so iconic in this area that I think people would flee from the park in droves if that was to be removed. The actors from what I know have been there for years and they do an amazing job. Its also something you don't see very often at parks anymore, an old fashioned shoot out. In fact its so popular that I think the park should build on it if possible, maybe get some western themed rides. It doesn't matter if its cheesy if the kids and the crowds like it then keep it! This park is geared towards families on a budget so if the kids like it then keep it. This park is iconic and it would be a shame if they removed the things that make it iconic. People still talk about the original devils hole and the rides of the past from this park, this park is iconically entrenched in the area of Niagara falls, the parents that grew up with the devil's hole, the wildcat are still talking about this park and those are the people that are bringing their kids to the park and telling them about how good it was back in the day. They did a good thing by getting a gravitron and theming it as devil's hole. I am all about the past and bringing back things from my childhood yes I know things can't last forever but I can imagine that other people in my age group share the same feelings so they should focus on something like that since the parents are more likely to bring their kids to the park to show them the place they went as a kid if they do something that will spark the parents imagination like bring back the log flume. The parents are customers as well and they have to do something to bring the parents in as well as the kids.

People seem to pitch a fit whatever FI does, they restrict food and beverages in May, people pitch a fit, even though you can still eat at your car. Parking better still remain free, or again, people will not like that. People really pitched a fit when the log flume was removed. This park seems to get a lot more hate than DL for some reason. Obviously if a large new ride is added then admission will go up, but they need to keep the low costs of other options, Seabreeze and Waldameer do not charge for parking either. Seabreeze also has senior day on Mondays which means adult non riders can get in for free and Waldameer doesn't charge for admission at all and they do just fine at least the last time I checked. They would do better to charge more for admission than to charge a parking fee. Right now you can get into FI for $18 with tickets from many local businesses which is CHEAP for a whole park. We live in an area where it costs $20-25 minimum to go to a parking lot carnival with a rides wristband or $3-6 per ride once you get there and some of those only have 6-10 rides that does not include admission and parking (which are free some of the time). DL is doing buy one get one free tickets at Tops which is cheap, but they do charge for parking, however the admission price is all inclusive and again you get the whole park for the whole day. FI has the local budget market, I cannot tell you how many struggling families there are in Niagara Falls that go to this park and simply cannot afford more, if it becomes out of their price range or policies change for the worse, such as no outside food or drink in the park, or they institute a parking fee it may price out its main clientele and see a decline in attendance. Its not downtown Niagara Falls, so tourists won't flock to it unless they go out of their way or there is a shuttle. Regardless of how bad these parks are, they are pretty low cost for what you get vs. other entertainment options in the area. I really appreciate the tips on here about which rides are in bad condition, I definitely feel safer knowing inside information about these rides especially with the recent accidents, as a customer I would never know that the wheel had been welded together (this might be something I want to know before getting on it), and in NY state amusement parks are only inspected once a year so the park is left to their own devices for the rest of the year. I wish there was a definitive place to find out things like this, as in when a repair is made to a ride it is documented, I know about the Ride Safe NY website however it doesn't always provide that kind of information as cited in a recent news story. An accident is more likely to happen on something that has been cobbled together.. Now I know not to go on the wheel at MFI because its in bad condition and may have a problem and that the boomerang at DL has problems, that the customer may or may not see.

They need to do something about the bridge, its an eyesore and confusing to patrons, either remove or fix it. The mini golf area could be repaved and something done with it, but I am guessing that is quite expensive to do which is why they are not doing it and why I didn't say something about it. The money used for this could go towards something better. For the entrance I was talking about the inside park entrance by the bathrooms and Tim Horton's, have they replaced those horribly ugly tables over there, that is my main pet peeve right now about the entrance area, why keep such ugly tables when new ones wouldn't cost that much. Heck they could probably garbage pick better ones than what they had last year at least. The outside entrance looks fine.

I am not sure if I would like wonderland as its very, very busy and quite far away. Darien is a better choice, however I just feel like the park could be so much more if they just invested a serious amount of cash into it and rehabbed a lot of things in the park and got the operations up to speed in one season. Then they can run with it for a year and start adding and renovating old rides and attractions little by little. My personal favorites are Seabreeze and Waldameer which I feel are ths best semi local parks. Things that need to be done - Two trains on all coasters on busy days, this does not need further discussion Entrance rehab, seriously, its gross unless something was done between last year and this year, make it look good not run down when I enter the park. Rest room rehab, especially at the entrance Get rid of the gum wall, clean up the park in general so trash isnt everywhere Keep the restrooms clean for crying out loud, they were at least trying last year so I give them that Rehab on company picnic food, it was literately inedible the last couple years, I am not expecting much here but I expect at least McD's quality, which again isnt much. I would even eat a dollar store frozen pizza over this stuff and it would be better! Both of the companies I went with have quit DL and now have other options for the company picnic. Seriously the fruit I am not sure what was on it but it didnt taste like fruit.. it tasted like..I dont know what...the mac n cheese tasted like soup, and some sort of fake cheese sauce...and I wont even comment on the vegetables and the burgers because it was that bad. The only thing edible I have been served at DL picnics was the chicken and hot dogs, those were good, and so were the perry's treats, I suggest living off the ice cream bars if you ever get invited to a DL company picnic. This park is often the big outing for a lot of WNY'ers who dont have money to travel to hotels to get to better parks, and people scrape money together to get to DL once every year. With various festivals and the erie county fair now raising ride prices to astronomical, unaffordable levels DL is turning into a much better value than other events. With the ECF charging up to $40 for a wristband (and the ECF charges for parking and admission on top of rides) and most festivals and parking lot carnivals charging $20 per wristband for rides and $5 or more for a single ride again its not a bad value, you do get a whole park plus waterpark for the day for the price but I just wish they would clean up some of the little things and make it better. Season passes bought early if you live close enough are an awesome value! You can quickly eclipse the value of other events even with admission and parking at DL. I would even pay a bit more for admission if I got a better experience. Sent from my LGLS740 using Tapatalk

Waldameer is the only park I have ever been to where I have actually been able to afford the food! Some of it was cheaper than normal food in the city I live, I think I got a big ice cream for like $2 the last time I went which is $6 at a carnival here, I think I fed 2 people for under $13 (we didnt buy bottled water we bring our own) but that is still extremely impressive for a park as most food places here that arent even in parks you have to spend that on one person and there is no way around it. The average food truck meal here is $12-15 for one item. Sent from my LGLS740 using Tapatalk

The animals are in every WNY mall so I am not surprised they came to DL as well. Sent from my LGLS740 using Tapatalk

When people say something that is completely untrue... like... I am in line for a trabant at a carnival, person behind me, I rode this ride at Darien lake last week... Darien Lake does not have a Trabant and never did have one, ever. So I guess extreme stupidity would be the most annoying thing. I am no where near an expert on rides, but if you were at a park recently, the difference between a trabant and whatever other ride you mistaked it for is very obvious. People who do nothing but complain about the park they are in, heard this so many times, if you don't like it then why are you there? Especially if you don't like it so much that you are complaining in every single line. Tell your kids no, and go somewhere else. Save up your money to go to another park and stay in a hotel if you hate your local that much. Stop making everyone else's day miserable, the guests are there to have a good time and yes some people might actually like the place for different reasons. Yes theme parks are expensive, all of them are, if you can't afford it don't go. Yes they have expensive food, all of them do, bring your own food if you don't like the food, all parks in my area have the option to leave and re-enter and most allow food within the park so that is not a problem. Haven't really had a problem with the basketballs in my area thankfully.

Remove the no glasses even with a strap policy at the now Apex run park and I will come back to the park.

I have heard of this one in Gran Canaria, one of my friends took pictures of it, however this was again, a very long time ago (we don't think its still there because the last time he went it was in very bad condition). We also found one in Spain, but again, we don't know if its still there. To the person who gave me the link from the R360 in Chile on Ebay I will check that out, thank you.

I don't think Joypolis has this machine, if they had it they probably got rid of it years ago, they do however have a new version of it. Sega spends a lot of money just developing new attractions for Joypolis.

It runs the Sega arcade games G-LOC and Wing War, but the Wing War version is very rare. It goes upside down when you play it. It also has a big emergency stop button outside and inside the machine. If you press the button while the ride is in motion it will stop instantly in whatever position its in. This means you can stop the ride upside-down to be mean to your friend who is inside of it. The machine will not go right side up until the attendant presses the button to make it go right side up.

I am desperate. I am looking for any location anywhere in the world that might have a working Sega R360? The R360 is a hybrid amusement ride/Video game simulator that turns you upside down and in all different directions. If you have seen one in your lifetime you will probably remember it as its an unusual thing. It was made by Sega in 1990 and was often seen in arcades and some theme parks during the 1990's. Popular former locations where the R360 was seen were: Las Vegas, Mall of America (MN), Les Galeries Laval Quebec, The 49th street galleria in Utah, Farmingdale, NY, Smiles Fun Center (CT), London Trocadero, Future Kid (Samiya Kuwait) and my personal location the Skylon Tower basement in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I run a group on facebook called "The Sega R360 Fan Club" and we are trying to find a working one somewhere. The R360 is my favorite machine ever as I have awesome memories of playing one. However finding a working one seems to be nearly impossible. It would have to be seen within the last year or so. I am looking for the original Sega R360, not the new Sega R360Z that is only in Joypolis in Japan (hey at least the machine lives on!). Also if anyone has any pictures/video/or other content of the machine from any location anywhere in the world from any time period that would be great as well. Please send a PM if you have content related to this machine, I also need permission to post it on my facebook group. This is a picture of what I am looking for:

Here in NY state inspections are very strict on carnival rides, like other states mentioned the ride has to be inspected every time it is set up and there can be other random inspections from what I know. The state also has a public database where you can view the inspection history of any amusement device or company and make your own conclusions. So you can see if a ride has incidents before you go on it, if a ride shows up in the database as having several recent incidents or if a company has lots of incidents you can see that. Also I remember an incident where a carnival that was known for having bad rides entered the state a few years ago, they shut down the whole show and would not let the rides operate. The rides were sitting there with no one on them, the event had to go on without rides. Its good to know that the state I live in has a good ride safety program. Sent from my LGLS740 using Tapatalk

I am pretty sure there was some kind of accident on a crazy quilt ride somewhere, don't remember the exact details but perhaps this is why the ride was removed. I love the crazy quilt and I think its super cool.

Logically speaking why would the park spend money to clean up something that is not used for the park and that 99.9% of the guests dont care about? Wouldn't you want to see the park put money into new attractions and overall improvements inside the park instead? If its in the park and on viable land like Ranger sure, but it takes money and manpower to remove junk at the very least.

There is no way DL is closing anytime soon, the park was packed most good weather days this summer and there is also the PAC and campgrounds to consider. Its just too big of a thing in WNY to close, in fact I can even argue DL is literately the hub of summer fun in WNY its the place EVERYONE wants to go at least once during the summer.

They are probably cutting halloween because its expensive to produce and most importantly the weather in this area can be very unpredictable in October, whats the use of having a Halloween event if it rains every weekend or its too cold for the rides to run. The halloween events have been poorly run in the past with most of the park being closed for the event plus if you get a nice weekend weather wise the park will be horribly crowded which makes for a horrible time especially with a good part of the park closed which makes lines even longer. I dont see other parks closing half of the park for a Halloween event, the waterpark is obvious to close but not major rides. They also probably cant get the staff to put on the event since the kids are back in school.