SaraAB87

I don't think they will get another kiddie only ride. The ones that they have already are not too popular since they operate on a rotating basis. A family ride that adults and kids can ride is a possibility though.

Don't know what you all are talking about but the last 2 times I have been to the park, in 2012 and 2013 ROS has had no less than a 2 hour or longer wait each time. I am not in a physical position to wait over 2 hours for a single ride anywhere nor will I ever be. I max out on about 30-45 min of standing before I start feeling pain in my legs and that is on a good day. Plus spending over 2 hours in line for one ride.... That's like half my day at the park... No matter which way you look at it.. It's not worth it. A 45 min wait would be a huge improvement. I could understand if it's the newest and hottest thing but this coaster has been around forever and shouldn't have that long of a line. There is NO excuse for not having 2 train operation on busy coasters like ROS. I have been to Waldameer twice now and they run 2 trains on the comet and ravine flyer and multiple cars on the mouse coaster. You wouldn't believe the difference it makes in ride experience and guest experience in general. Wait times top off at 15 min even the premium seats at peak time. You only have to wait like 2-3 cycles which is nothing on ravine flyer even for the best seats. If you want any seat it's almost a walk on. Waiting too long makes people frustrated and angry and short wait times drastically improve the guest experience so much so in ways that I can't even describe. So much so that I am willing to drive the 2 hours to Erie and pay for a hotel to go to Waldameer rather than the 45 min it takes to get to DL. Especially since DL promised in an email that was posted here that there would be 2 train operation. Making false promises is THE WORST!! This is obviously a park that does not care about guest experience in the least and just wants to make money off families starving for entertainment since they are the only game in town if you want to go to a big park and there is little to do in the WNY area. With all these rides they have to take out now they should at least make a point of replacing each flat with a new flat even if it's a used flat from another park for the following season. Scrambler and the drop tower are a start but DL can't really afford to be down a ride. Even though I have barely seen anyone ride ranger due to the fact that no one even knows it's there since it's location is so out of the way of everything else. Did they actually take out the ranger or just shut it down for good? Seems like it would take a long time to actually remove the ride.

The pirate is cool and it's probably the best pirate ride I have ridden, though the water you look into while riding is very dirty and gross. DL's strength is clearly in their flats and family rides, they have a few rides you can't ride anywhere else and some other very unique and uncommon flats. These are also permanent, big rides and not just a ground mount on what is otherwise the same ride you see at a carnival (which is basically what the other area parks have in terms of flats). Not that there is anything wrong with that, but DL's flats just have the "I was built for this park" look.

From my experience with things in the past as soon as a company says "we have no plans to do something" that means they are seriously considering doing it soon and it WILL happen. I have seen this multiple times in different industries and it always holds true. Now I obviously can't 100% guarantee it but I am just saying this is what I have seen happen in the past. With this situation they wouldn't want to release info early because guests who are coming to the park may wait until next year in order to visit for the new ride. If they announced a new ride now and I was planning an august trip to the park I know I would wait until next year for the new or redone ride. That brings down attendance for this year.

If the karts were bringing in a lot of money with constant lines then it would be ok even if it cost money to run and maintain but that is not the case because when I was there, there was no line at all. I seem to remember these karts being 2 rides for $5 but the price has increased exponentially for them. DL has to remember that this is WNY and their park isn't exactly world class like CP and $60 for a skycoaster ride and $8-10 per kid per gokart ride is well out of reach of most WNY'ers who can barely afford admission to the park.

Considering DL made and broke a BIG promise to all the guests this year by announcing 2 train operation then never following through with that they owe it to the guests of this park to remove at least 1 of the up charge attractions and put in another ride that can be ridden without having to pay extra. If they started removing up charge attractions and putting in regular attractions that would make the park look really good in the guest's eyes! Seriously who is paying to ride the slingshot, skycoaster or some old gokarts, I sure am not. Assuming they are the same karts I ride those karts when I was like 14 and I am 32 now. I am not sure what the life span of a gokart is but something tells me they are getting a little old

The gokarts are pretty old from what I understand so perhaps they are set for removal soon. It has to be getting expensive to run and maintain them. They are also expensive to ride so the last 2 times I was at the park there was almost no one on them so they can't be too profitable. Most places like pole position raceway use the newer electric karts which are no doubt cheaper to run and don't smell or smell very little. I would like to see the park remove some of the up charge attractions and put in some things that can be ridden with regular gate admission instead and this would be a good start. I also can't believe how much DL charges for a skycoaster ride... Insane

The last 2 times I went to the park in 2012 and 2013 on a weekend the kids area was pretty dead to the point of half the rides not running especially the ones that only seat small children which I am guessing your toddler would be the most interested in. I am guessing they have a couple ops for the less popular kiddie rides and rotate the ops from ride to ride. So be aware that if you go not all the kids rides might be open or they may open on a rotating basis even on the weekend. The family rides that can seat adults and kids will be more popular but I wouldn't expect huge waits for these rides.

The problem I see with Darien is that it's in the middle of nowhere and the area around the park is not developed. Yes there is the campground but that is not everyone's thing. In comparison I can go to Waldameer park and be minutes from a ton of restaurants and some of the best and cheapest shopping I have ever seen which makes for an enjoyable weekend and is more to do than just go to the park. They also have splash lagoon in Erie which means you can stay at a hotel and possibly visit 2 parks during one vacation. While Waldameer doesn't have a campground like Darien does and doesn't have as big of a park as Darien they have other things to do in the area while Darien simply has nothing. If the area was more developed with a large mall nearby and some restaurants I would be more apt to make a visit and more people would stay at the hotel and more people would be willing to take a weekend trip for the park and shopping thus increasing the park attendance. Darien is the park that is over an hour away that I want to stay at for half the day then go home since there is nothing else in the area to do, it's not something I can make a 2 day trip out of.

I have been to Waldameer and it's worlds ahead of any park in this area, I will be returning this year. Almost everything is rideable, they have thrilling, clean rides, the view of Lake Erie, Free Admission, free parking and extremely reasonably priced food, tons of shade (literately shade everywhere except in a few tiny spots) and benches everywhere to sit down. Did I also mention one of the best wooden coasters anywhere.. I would have to dig really deep to find a complaint about this park, there is none. MFI now has a very expensive and thrilling ride if you are into that, they also have a very diverse selection of unique flats which basically no other park has. MFI is just a little expensive on admission and food, and they have a very restrictive no glasses policy on their rides the last time I checked ( may have changed) even if you wear them with a secure strap. The rides are carnival rides which some may criticize them for but I don't see it as a problem, the rides are clean and well kept. They are good on the benches and shade as far as I can remember. Neither of these 2 parks have the 60-90 second ride cycles that Darien seems to have on their rides which is the worst. With Darien's extremely restrictive weight limits in place I might never go back, I may reach 198- 200lbs some day but that will take me at least another year and that depends on when and if my body decides it wants to stop dropping weight. As of right now I might be better off at CP which is known to be one of the least fat friendly parks out there ... But somehow they seem to be less restrictive than Darien as of now. Given the fact that there are plenty of people that go to DL that are much larger than myself and larger than 200lbs they are only shooting themselves in the foot by posting arbitrary weight limits for their rides on their website. Whether these limits are enforced in the park or not they are posted on their website as a maximum and when people see it they won't come to the park because when they see it on the website they will assume they won't be able to ride. Less people coming to a park is a bad thing. Why would people pay $34.99 or more plus parking when they think a lot of the rides will be unavailable to them? The customer will just go elsewhere, as far as I know there isn't a single weight limit posted at other local parks, and I have never felt like rides were unavailable to me because of my size. I can ride everything at the Erie county fair including the aka at fireball without question same with Waldameer and probably Seabreeze. In fact when I went to Waldameer I felt like most of the rides there could probably hold someone much larger than myself. I have been to Seabreeze but it's been a long time, I don't see any problems with it though.

The ride has signs up , that state it is a high thrill ride that basically not everyone will be able to ride. The information is on the sign so it's not like it isn't there. If the rider chooses not to believe it or read it then it is at least partially their responsibility regardless who the person is. If they are unsure then they need to ask the ride ops questions if something is not understood or to ask if it's safe for them to ride or not. Besides this really should be discussed with a patient's doctor if there is any doubt and someone has a severe disability that may prevent them from riding if that is something they want to do in life. As with any high thrill activity any person with a severe disability might want to engage in. But yes it is definitely the ride ops responsibility to decide who rides and who doesn't, regardless of what kind of story the rider pulls. If anyone seems unsure about anything then the answer should be that the guest does not ride. It's not really fair to the park that they have to take the heat and lose attendance because of an accident that clearly involved no mechanical failure especially since this was not a routine situation or a situation that occurs many times per shift. Like if a person jumps from a coaster by purposely removing a restraint or if someone jumps out of a Ferris wheel trying to commit suicide, it's not fair that the park should take the heat for this type of thing since there is nothing wrong with the ride itself. The ride is still safe for the millions of regular riders that come through the gate each seasons . Yes, they probably need to revise their operator procedures, training and possibly signs but this does not mean the ride is not safe for riders within the height size and weight limits set by the manufacturer.

Yeah, I think that is why all parks pretty much say... Some riders may not be able to ride.... On pretty much every ride, in the event that someone who is like 400lbs tries to get on a ride which is probably not a good idea in any situation but some people just assume they have the RIGHT to be on any ride in the park because they paid admission and they are there. Or if someone who has a 42 inch kid who is 200lbs and they try to get on an under 48 inch ride... Actually I don't think that is possible lol .. It's just that I have seen some really short and fat kids here so I imagine they would exceed a lot of rides made for a normal kid...So the park has to cover themselves by saying something like... Persons of size may not be able to ride for every ride.

The weight limits are posted directly on the website on the ride descriptions. I have been on the Strates top spin at 250lbs and I fit just fine, I do not weigh nearly that much now but, I don't know if they are the same model or have tighter restraints but based on that I don't think a top spin ride is something that really needs a weight limit. It's not a single seat like the lasso which I can understand, but 170lbs doesn't give an adult much to work with, and most normal sized men that aren't kids or teens weigh more than that easily. The kid rides I can also understand having a limit but my point is that DL services A LOT of guests that weigh more than 198 lbs and yet most of the rides seem to have a limit of 198lbs according to the website. The last time this came up I thought it wasn't legal to weigh the riders individually due to privacy issues. Some people are really sensitive about the scale too, I weigh myself weekly so I really wouldn't care if they throw me on the scale but there are a lot of people that would potentially be very, very turned off by this and they likely wouldn't return to the park or they would try to cause an uproar.

I just have a question, is Darien lake starting some kind of draconian weight limit thing or something? I was looking on their website and rides like twister have a limit per seat of 198 lbs and the lasso has a limit of 170lbs. If so how do they plan on enforcing these limits short of placing every rider on a scale before they get on each ride? I respect ride safety to the fullest extent but even Strates and cedar point do 230lbs for a wave swinger which is much more reasonable. I can vouch for the fact that I know many people much larger than these limits at least last year that have been on these rides. I am just saying that other than kids and teens there are a ton of adults that go to this park that are much, much larger than these limits. I wanted to find out the limit for ROS but the only thing I could find was 215lbs and under a 40 inch waist. The acessability guide I was reading also had some innaccuracies such as saying the silver bullet has seatbelts which it does not at least the last time I checked.

They definitely need a new water park.... Attraction of some sort.. The water park can get really crowded especially on hot days with Darien's lack of shade and places to cool off and more things to go on would help spread out the attendance. If the water park is too crowded then people will line up for the dry rides which makes the lines longer for everything. The public doesn't care if a ride is refurbed... They probably won't even notice Judging by fantasy island's Facebook you cannot please everyone, now people are complaining about the removal of the flume... Really.... You are complaining about the removal of a small flume ride that was built in 1984 and is wayyyy past it's time ... Do you really think they haven't done their research on what the guests want and would spend all that money on a new ride that everyone hates... I don't think so My point is if a ride is removed people will still complain that they want it back even if the most awesome new ride is put in its place... Lovely..

Motocoaster is definitely a ride it once been there done it kind of thing... It pretty much just shakes you side to side Predator either needs a complete refurbishment or replacement.... And not a patch job either.... I am down with the whole lake monster idea since I love a good woodie as long as it turns out good

The whole thing about the front of the line passes is not good either, if everyone has one because the wait is over 2 hours on ROS then what is the point, the guests with them will never be able to ride right away since everyone will have them and will be trying to do the same thing. This will only lead to more chaos in the queue as if there isn't enough already and more unhappy guests. Then there will be people in the regular line who will never get to ride. Yes you can use it on another ride but let's face it everyone just wants to ride ROS. Doesn't seem to stop me from getting a free front of the line pass either, all I have to do is find out what line is the longest in the park and ask for the pass, even if I was never in that line to begin with. Let's look at the coaster lineup from my perspective: Predator - unrideable Mind eraser - unrideable Boomerang - unrideable Viper - passable, possibly rideable without significant pain ROS - rideable but you will wait all day, then have no time for anything else Moto coaster - rideable but boring and not worth the 45 min wait That does not mean there aren't other rides in the park that I enjoy because there are so I focus on those instead. However the coaster lineup needs serious help, yes they have them but 3 out if the 6 are not rideable unless you are masochist or something.. And as for predator the group I went with last year said it was horrible, so even the GP knows it's bad. When I talk about bad I don't mean boring or crappy I mean it as actually causing physical pain to your body. I have ridden over 60 laps on the silver comet in one day (so it's not like I haven't done my fair share of rides) not something I would do again at my age now but still I doubt that was nearly as bad as a couple spins on the predator, mind eraser or boomerang. I don't need the biggest, tallest or fastest, I just need a decent ride that won't kill me when I go on it. I am not picky so whatever they add would probably be fine. Fixing up the predator would be great, as long as it turned out good and rideable.

Guests who have a bad experience will not return. Every time I have gone there has been an over 2 hours wait for ROS which is unnacceptable. Putting 2 trains on would solve this problem. The worst is that they said they were going to do something and they are not doing it. If the park has no intentions of doing it then don't send out emails saying you will do it!!!!! The only thing I can think of is they are waiting till the schools let out, if it doesn't happen after then, then Darien is simply a park that tells lies to its guests to make them feel better about going to a crappy park with lackluster coasters.

Okkkk just go and spoil it for everyone now..... Just kidding, I have already ridden ravine flyer and yes, it was very good. Definitely exceeded my expectations. The Lake Erie view Definitly improves the drop tower and the coaster by a ton..

Yeah I have to agree, I prefer a smaller to medium size park where I can actually get on some rides instead of the endless waits at the big parks. Now I don't want a park that has little to nothing or just one coaster, Waldameer and sea breeze are also good, especially Waldameer.

Never had one at MFI, but I do remember my Dad's shop picnics at Waldameer where they would have kegs of beer and give out prizes like tv's, vcr's and Buffalo Bills tickets. Ahhh...the good old days! And to those wondering about alcohol sales at Dollywood, I don't believe that they sell any there either. I usually check the park maps upon entering to see where they might have a place that sells beer because a cold one always tastes good on those hot summer days...even if it sets me back about $10. I doubt MFI does kegs anymore and I am not sure if it's still there or the area has been cleaned up but the picnic shelter we used to have was right by a creek or some other small body of water with a hill ( it wasn't the one by the paddle boats pond) though and people would get drunk on the kegs and then fall down the hill into the water and get filthy and muddy. They also would bring funnels and everything. Mind you I was like 10 at the time, I turned out fine and I don't drink either. Not too many places are allowing alcohol at company picnics these days, or having company picnics at all...we have them now at DL and it only includes their lousy company picnic food and gross soda machines with bees all over them. Too much of a liability.

Ahem yeah I would be much more worried going to CP especially when I went to CP as a kid and our bus broke down in the worst possible area it could have in the middle of the night...... I went to Waldameer and did not see any unruly crowds last year, no I did not go on a holiday but if you are saying there are bad crowds there all the time...... there simply isn't ... If they took away free admission attendance would certainly decline for sure so I hope they don't do that.

I doubt they would remove alcohol from this park, it makes huge money for the park, I have seen a ton of people drink then go on rides, other parks in the area serve alcohol as well as far as I know. Anyone else remember the days of company picnics at MFI and watching your parents coworkers get hammered at company picnics as a kid because I sure do!

Living near fantasy island who had a rotor you would not believe the stories I heard about that thing, definitely not something with the best safety record. I also know people who worked there and on the rotor who have plenty of stories.

Could backfire if guests expect a guarantee for every ride, if it's select rides only, they need to print a list on the sign. Also if too many passes are handed out the lines will still be just as long. But hopefully those 2-3 hour waits for ROS will be gone this year. Does this mean no rides will be closed, that would be great since last year there were like 4 rides completely down when I was there.