SaraAB87

Darien lake will re-theme rides based on video games. The gokarts will become mario kart speedway and the bumper cars will become crash bandicoot's bumper cars. Nintendo will set up booths in the park and you will be able to play their latest games and Microsoft will take over one of the arcade buildings and turn it into kinect o rama. In addition Nintendo and Sony will have download stations throughout the park and you will be able to download exclusive games to your vita or 3ds handhelds along with interactive maps of the park and facts and trivia about the park.

Just a question, I am not that familiar with the DL waterpark, which was the slides that you had different color mats to go down on where they would call out a mat color and all the people with that color had to go to the back of the line.

A return of an old ride won't bring up attendance either, people want to see a new ride, regardless of the small minority who would want the old ride back. Since this is about making money they have to bring In new rides regardless, even if they are rides that are previously used it will still be new to most people who visit the park. If they do refurbishment of a ride, I doubt too many people of the GP would notice, and that is something that is considered more standard for a park and just happens without a major announcement. Really can they advertise, new 2 train operation for ride of steel! In a commercial and bring in more guests, I doubt it... New for 2014 come ride our newly refurbished sleigh ride... Don't think that would work too well...

I meant that they should buy one of the new Mack sea storm rides, it's on the website. Replace the sleigh with this. Then they could market it as a new version of an old favorite is coming back.. Realistically Speaking that most likely will not happen, but it would be cool. I imagine it would be quite expensive to import a new Mack sea storm and they could probably buy something from an American ride manufacturer that would replace the sleigh for a lot less money and that would be equally pleasing to the guests.

Those are some good thoughts but its probably cheaper to refurbish a ride rather than to replace it with a new ride. Maybe when they refurbish it they could make some modification or update to it so that the height requirement could be lower. Also you have to remember Canada's wonderland is in another country and such they probably have different restrictions for rides than NY state does. But obviously there haven't been any incidents on CW's UFO that I know of at least. Parks and carnivals can set height requirements that are higher than the manufacturers recommendation. I lIke sleigh ride and I wouldn't want to see it go but they need to fix it up. If it was replaced with a flying bobs style ride with the same type of ride experience I would not object however. But if it was replaced it would have to be replaced with the same type of ride. Or it would be cool if they replaced it with one of the new sea storm rides from Mack's website (ok but that is a bit far fetched). The highest minimum I have seen most park rides at is 58 inches, so if they got it down to 58 inches then that might go over better with the crowds.

I just want to ride a Bayern Kurve

I am the jerk who likes to inform my fellow line mates about various ride accidents in line, bonus points if you can tell a story about a ride in the same park you are in or the same type of ride! I like telling the story of the coaster that killed 5 people in Canada. I also strike up random conversation with people, then I pull out the accident stories ( only true ones).

The Tim Horton's itself is fine, definitely don't want to see that removed. The only thing I was complaining about is the tables. I really don't like to complain, and I wish I didn't have to, but it's justified in this case. Seriously, you can barely sit on them they are so run down. It wouldn't take much time to install new tables, heck 4-5 new tables and chairs from the Walmart furniture section would be a huge upgrade here. They could also just put in some benches in that area, tables aren't really needed. The bathrooms need serious work, just the one at the entrance was the worst, the nastiest Thruway bathrooms are better than these. I think the problem is there aren't any rest stops on the thruway on the way to DL from the buffalo niagara area so everyone rushes to the bathroom the second they get to the park and I don't blame them! Also I think the park needs more restrooms, every time I use them there is a long line no matter which restroom I use. The entrance area needs more work (the inside the park entrance area), but lets start with replacing the tables and chairs and fixing up the entrance bathrooms. As far as rides, they should just fix up what they have, and worry about keeping the rides running the whole season, I understand things happen but having several rides/ attractions down by the end of the season at a smaller park where having more rides open helps to distribute the lines is a bad thing. I would also like to see the scrambler return, but again it's not a priority. Though a coat of paint doesn't matter as much to me as having clean, modern restrooms and not having 4-5 rides down per visit. Please don't touch my precious silver bullet, this ride is my reason for visiting this park, enterprise type rides are my favorite and this one definitely offers a unique take on the experience. Much different from the Huss enterprise that strates owns and brings to the erie county fair Also the sleigh ride, what happened here, I was disappointed in this ride and I usually love it, but this year it just felt, old, bumpy and rickety. I know it was refurbed but it still needs some help, unless that is just the way it always was and I never noticed it.

Had a good time at the park this summer as it was my first visit, hopefully I can go back to get on the rides I missed. The park is tightly packed but there is a lot of things to do in a small area and a lot of seating which is good. You don't have to go far to get to the next ride. Food prices were good and the food was decent. I would buy food in the park again without question. It's possible to walk back to the car easily. The only problem was it took well over an hour just to get into the park after getting off the thruway and getting to the road the park is on which was extremely aggravating and frustrating especially for someone who doesn't know the area well. I am not sure if this is due to construction in the area or if it's just normal park traffic. This is not necessarily the park's fault. Perhaps there is a better way to get to the park off the highway that I don't know about. Wally cards were not a problem, I just saved my prepaid gift cards that I win in online contests and used those to pay for food and drink. The ravine flyer 3 was insane, but this was good, everyone was happy on this ride. When I was done I ran right back to get in line again! The music express is just downright painful, I also saw someone's glasses fly right off while on it, mine didn't fall off though. I got whipped on this ride so badly that I barely was able to ride any of the other rides. I won't be going on this again. But that again is personal preference, the others on this thread seem to like the ride. The other rides were all good. 2 trains on each coaster makes lines nonexistent or very very short, it's amazing what 2 train operations and properly trained ride staff can do for a park. No problems with ride ops or park operations here. You can't see the coasters because of the woods so that adds an element of mystery because you don't know what the coaster will be like when you get on it. Overall I would definitely go back to the park, a much better experience than other parks.

This park needs help, I visited in late august and unlike last year I was very disappointed with the park. Many of the attractions were down, including corn popper, twister and there was at least a 2 hour wait for superman. Sorry but waiting that long for one ride is out of the question for me. Sadly when a few attractions are down this park starts to suffer since it really does seem to make a big impact. Last year I had a good time, but not this year. The front of the park where you walk in is extremely dirty, would it really hurt to put in some new tables by the Tim Horton's instead of those old rickety ones? That is something I would expect at a park I pay $10-20 to get into. Don't get me started on the entrance bathrooms, as they just need to flat out be replaced with a much larger and cleaner bathroom building. This bathroom building is just no where adequate enough for a park of this size. The park just seemed a lot worse than last year overall. Some of the areas of the park look great but the entrance is really suffering since it is the first thing you see when you get to the park it should be the focus of rehab. This is a more personal question and has no effect on my opinion of the park whatsoever but I am trying to figure out what caused it, I got a bad rash on my right thigh right after I visited this park, it did not happen last year when I went. The rash lasted more than 3 weeks before it was completely gone. Now this could very well be my own fault or my clothing I was wearing that day, even though my shorts completely covered the area in question and i have never received irritation due to clothing before. In that case I am willing to own up to wearing the wrong type of clothing. I am just wondering if there is poison ivy or some sort of other irritant in the park, I am only talking about the park area and the company picnic grove, I didn't go in the water at all or the campgrounds. I have been to other parks this year, and never a problem.

I heard from a very reliable source that UFO is only out for a refurb, it will be back!

Don't the other 2 closest parks have spinner coaster? MFI has a mouse as well. I see no reason to put one in Darien if the other parks in the area have them. Waldameer, MFI and sea breeze are well within driving distance of DL if someone wants to ride a spinning coaster or a mouse so bad. I am satisfied with what the park has, sure the coasters aren't the best but if I didn't like the park I simply would not visit and take my money elsewhere.

Could it have possibly been in the center of the raging seas?

I think I would rather spend the 70+ parking it would cost me to get 2 people to DL at this point rather then spend about $50 to get into MFI where I would be bored since I don't like all their rides. Or I could drive the 2 hours to Waldameer and get my one non rider in for free and pay for a wristband for myself for about $25 but there is gas and time costs to consider there. I haven't been to Waldameer yet but I like all of their rides so I can't imagine the trip going bad so I will be going this summer. The last couple times I went to MFI I ended up doing silver comet marathons since there wasn't much else for me to do, one time I ended up with 60 rides on the comet. I went to Darien lake last year and had a fantastic time, I would go back.

I will be going for the first time this summer as well and I am looking forward to it, Waldameer looks like it has a great selection of rides.

I think they should revamp Hoot N' Holler so adults can ride it. Who's with me? If hoot & holler is the same ladybug coaster they have at marineland I am pretty sure adults can physically ride it as I have personally ridden it as an adult unless they changed something to make it so only smaller bodies will fit. There is also the infamous commercial with King Waldorf riding the coaster. The no adults thing would just be a park imposed restriction in this case. They won't let anyone taller than 54" to ride Hoot 'N Holler, unless you're a small adult who's shorter than 54", but MarineLand's ladybug they just have the 36" or taller rule. So I think Hoot 'N Holler is smaller sized Zierer Tivoli model that was made for small bodies only. I think Darien Lake is better off with another kiddie coaster for riders 36" and taller with no restrictions for adults. This could be true, as I don't seem to remember a time when adults were allowed to ride this coaster but the one at marineland adults were always able to ride. Darien definitely could use another family coaster, but I guess motocoaster is the sort of family coaster of the park now.

Martins fantasy island is definitely not ghetto, it does have carnival rides but the owner was a former carnival worker so he brought his rides to the park, you have to expect that from this park. It is also a small park, not a big park so again you have to expect that it will not be the greatest. It does have the small park feel and IMO I do get bored at this park since there aren't enough adult rides and I don't do waterparks. This park is for the inbetween kids who are still small enough to go on some kiddie rides but big enough to go on the adult rides as well. This park was way worse in the 80s and 90s lots of old rides, tons of rust, again, old rides that barely ran, a carousel with tons of missing paint etc. Now it has newer updated rides that at least look new and presentable although they are carnival rides.

I can't take my shoes off for a long period of time so I won't be going on any water slides any time soon but I will say that I hate them anyways because every time I got on one as a kid I would hit my head even though they were just tiny twisty slides.

I think they should revamp Hoot N' Holler so adults can ride it. Who's with me? If hoot & holler is the same ladybug coaster they have at marineland I am pretty sure adults can physically ride it as I have personally ridden it as an adult unless they changed something to make it so only smaller bodies will fit. There is also the infamous commercial with King Waldorf riding the coaster. The no adults thing would just be a park imposed restriction in this case.

Yeah I don't even think they should do fright fest, the park is fine during a normal operating day but fright fest is a disaster. Also it's too cold here in Oct. some rides can't run in the cold weather, it's hard because the weather sucks this time of year in WNY and one rainy weekend could kill it for the park, not to mention it could be rainy every weekend. It's not even worth it to be open IMO. Honestly what is even there that is different, they have 1-2 Halloween attractions, put up some decor and call it a Halloween event.

Their fright fest is pretty horrible, it's usually insanely crowded and rides have super long lines because there aren't enough rides open. Also $24.99 is expensive, you can get in during the regular season for just a bit more after promo's and you get the whole park. The actual fright fest stuff leaves a lot to be desired.

Sadly I think the drop tower would be an improvement over raging seas. DL doesn't have a drop tower yet and raging seas right now is in a very bad state of disrepair and doesn't give a good ride at all. If you are concerned about rarity Mack still makes this ride and there is the same ride at Marineland unless there is something about Darien's that would make it special and unique from the new models that I don't know about. Overall I don't think it's that rare, not like the silver bullet where there is only one left in the whole world I think, and boy what a ride it is. Also the sleigh ride is very similar to raging seas so they have that base covered. The drop tower would bring more variety to the park and would remove what I hate to say is an eyesore, plus they would have a new ride to advertise. It's a no brain-er really, I would rather ride a nice condition drop tower than a bad condition flat. I know raging seas is still running, and when I was there it ran the same as it did 10 years ago with the same what feels like 30 second ride cycle as far as I can remember. So as my previous thoughts its not that bad in that it still runs but maintenance is likely becoming an issue and it might not pass inspection next year without a serious overhaul. At least they didn't let it get to the SBNO point. I would REALLY love to ride a troika and I do think DL needs to bring back the scrambler. I will probably return to the park next year at some point since l had a really good time the year.

I used to love the rainbow but from what I can remember about it there was some kind of incident and all of the rainbow's were taken out of service. I have no idea what they did with them all or if this applies worldwide but something tells me we will never see a rainbow operated again. If anyone knows of an actual Huss rainbow operating somewhere in the world speak up! Besides that it is definitely the enterprise for me, might just be my favorite flat ride ever.

I like the enterprise, I like both the huss enterprise and I like the fahtze enterprise at Darien lake though it is quite a bit different than the Huss one. I need to try the shwartzkopf one

Finally a video game themed area in a park, something I have been dying to see for YEARS! I am not a kid or a teen either but I have just thought for a long time that parks should be capitalizing on children's love of video games in order to attract more guests. Hopefully it will be a smash hit so we will see more of this expanding to other parks.