SbSteveZ

^ last I was there it was down just about the entire day (August 19th). But I will be heading back again this Sunday and will check again for you!

I didnt ask you...

Okay, so I'm very new to Halloweekends. And I'm considering visiting since we won a free ticket thanks to the hidden flip flops, but I have no idea how to acquire more tickets for the rest of my party. Do they not go on sale until after the Halloweekends website is up? and also, where can one get a decent discount on them (if possible)? Thanks!

I agree, Darien Lake really needs more trash cans, and recycling bins for water and soda pop bottles. Didn't Darien Lake had more trash cans when Six Flags owned it? I would also appreciate some recycling bin style things in this park (Cedar Point has them, just saying). I hate throwing away perfectly recyclable bottles and cans! Besides, cant the park make some money off of the bottle returns anyways?

Could someone let me know which rides have photos on them? I'm assuming at least Leviathan and Behemoth do but I am clueless about any others

^ it doesn't look like there's anything wrong with that sign! I thought perhaps they took it down due to damage of some kind, now I'm all confused again! Maybe they just took it down for sh*ts and gigs. But even with that, why leave the other sign up? Also, why waste the time and money to take it down when you could be finishing the other jobs you've started a YEAR AGO! Hey look at that! I just realized this is yet another half done job DL has done this year! Only one of the two banner signs came down, and for no reason! At least they're sticking with the pattern

Motocoaster was down when I went July 22nd too. I wonder if its been down the whole time. I was there August 4th and it was open the entire day! I hope it was just a fluke that it wasn't open today.

I'll be headed to the park next monday, and I'm wondering how crowds are going to be. I'm not exactly sure when northern Ohio schools kick back up but I did realize it's the first day after Cedar Point Nights ends. When I was at the park earlier this year (July 17th- 18th) the lines were pretty manageable, 45 for Maverick, 20 for dragster, 15 for Raptor etc. would this trip being a month later do anything to the crowds? Thanks!

I think it would be pretty cool to see a little "local park competition". Even if FI is so much smaller, which indeed it is, if they start adding some larger attractione (granted the he said she said is true) then DL may be forced to either add some stuff too, or deal with the loss in either attendance, season pass purchases, or both. It's like a mini coaster war if this ever happens!!!

Sadly I agree. Seems like the economy is just not where it needs to be and they are going to ride things out until it is. Which is fine because it is still a great park. I just hope its not 10 years before the next good coaster. At least it's not like Darien Lake. We haven't received any sort of *major* Rollercoaster in 17 years! DL fanboys are dying for a new one!

DL is usually a Feb/March announcement, save Blast Off. This is where I feel like announcing a roller coaster is a lot different than announcing a used drop tower. It probably takes a lot less work to install a single column over an entire coaster layout. I wish we had some sort of recent coaster addition that we could base a time frame for anew announcement out of, but we don't (it's been 8 years since motocoaster, 17 since RoS, both of which - I believe - were under two Seperate managements than were under now). BUT, to be realistic, I don't expect any sort of large attraction at this park at all for at least a few years. They're already tentatively putting a second train on RoS, that probably doesn't leave them with a lot of funds to add something else large to the park in 2017 at least. I'd expect maybe a show or two (after all we do have the SBNO Gazebo Stage and dare I say it, Galaxy Theatre). What I would recommend though for hopeful enthusiasts, is to focus on Fantasy Island this off season. As crazy as it sounds, they are now under new management and it's been speculated that they will be adding a large attraction to celebrate the new aquirement (perhaps something like Steel Hawg at Indiana Beach??). As I've said millions of times, I'm a DL fanboy, but considering their past, I don't see a large attraction in their near future

^ I second that

First off, thanks for the compliment! It's really appreciated Secondly, they've been adding a lot of new merchandise over the past two years, I've seen some pretty top notch magnets, bumper stickers and some awesome shirts too. Then there's some novelty tees that are likely aimed towards teens with the words "relationship goals" and "squad goals" on them, featuring the DL name on them too, even if they have nothing to do with the park. Merchandise is merchandise I suppose. I know they aren't new, but I'm pretty fond of the stuffed animals with the old(ish) DL logo on them, you can buy stuffed animals just about anywhere but only here can you buy awesome Darien Lake ones! (Same with their rainbow colored basket balls!) I'm a sucker for Theme Park branding on merchandise, if it isn't obvious... Though I have yet to buy any apparel this season, I did get some shirts last year and as I may have said on here, they are starting to look almost like apparel you would find at a large world class theme park. I love that, because in my mind it shows the potential the park can have. I've even seen some shirt designs (like the pie chart shirt in the emporium that has the ride speeds, lengths and times on them) that exist within other parks aswell (the pie chart one I've also seen at CP, with different coasters, of course ) so to shorten up my long answer, it may not all be new, but a lot of it is pretty awesome.

Yesterday I took my 7th trip of the season out to Darien Lake, and as usual, I had a pretty awesome time! For the first time in 7 visits, RoS was running ALL DAY! I was shocked! Otherwise, the park ops were just as fun as they have been my past few visits, the weather was great, and I look forward to my remaining visits this year. This visit's points: 1) for those of you who haven't seen American Rock, I recommend it highly. The actors do such a great job, they have a wonderful selection of songs and it's a nice way to kick back and relax for a little while. 2) Beaver Brother's Has some great food, but the service is slow. I don't think it's at the fault of the waiters though. It seemed like only one girl was waiting tables the entire time we were there. If they even had one or two more waitresses or waiters, I feel like the service would have been much faster. 3) Boomerang is starting to concern me with how slow it is going up that lift. It can't get much worse than it already is.. 4) The Bumper Cars ride op was fantastic. I didn't catch his name but he was allowing riders to ride 4 consecutive times. I've been saying for a while I think that the bumper cars at DL have too short of a ride cycle! Thank you to him for making the ride a little longer and a lot more enjoyable (we all know how guests love freebies!) 5) viper has been amazing this year. We did front row and back row just to compare and each side of the train had amazing speed, and force distributed throughout the ride. My favorite section in the front seat is the first loop, the best part in the back seat is the corkscrews. 6) at around 8:30, they started to do some testing of the fire effects at the laser stage, it was pretty cool to see them messing with the effects, and even cooler to watch people walking past the stage freaking out, likely because they haven't seen the show before (or at least not while it's had the fire effects) 7) last but not least, I decided to buy the glow with the show sticks, and they were actually really cool! Minus the fact that one of them failed to sync up with the show, the other three made the experience a LOT cooler than I was expecting them to. I recommend them highly! Enough of me blabbering, onto the pictures! As has been customary with my past trips, we start the day off on the Ride of Steel Such a crowd pleaser recently! Though it's probably just for the fence (looks like they've been trying to strengthen it recently) a stake at a theme park is always something that can peak curiousity. (See: Mean Streak) One more shot of the station As is pretty obvious, the station is just as bad as everyone has been saying, whether it's paint peeling or wood rotting, it isn't looking pretty... Next, we take a trip over to Viper to check out this station everyone is so worried about Though it's not a surprise, considering it's the first week of August, the 2nd train on viper is non existent Though the station looks terrible, the ride itself, looks great! What a skyline! I wish they'd work a little more on it though *cough* Starflyer *cough cough* The Hydration Station from the water main break issue was still set up, but the water tasted like sewer. Hopefully that wasn't the case when it was the only drinkable tap water in the park! Boomerang is seriously struggling. They need to do something for this ride before it isn't even able to ascend the first lift. Hey look! A sharp! If you look under the Viper lift in this picture, you can see the Ranger! (I tried to get up closer but the road was blocked off, from what I could tell) I do like the sign, it builds character. I seriously thought these were real! I thought it was so cool that they had all of these birdhouses! They're FAKE!! Well looky looky which ride is getting some attention! ... That's the boomerang on there, but okay, I suppose you can have the sign by the SBNO twister if you really want to I think it's time for a nice stroll across the bridge! I like that they're trying to get some cooler merchandise but what's up with that Ferris wheel? And what roller coaster is that on the far right?! (I'm such a critic, I know) Oh. I guess not. Our Ferris wheel looks really nice during the day, if only it had some lights on it at night... (CP Stlye would be appreciated.) I loved how RoS looked from this angle (taken near the fascination building) We sat in this building for easily 2 hours just playing nonstop. I highly recommend 35 for anyone wanting to have a lucky shot! Whenever we were in there that number was being called the most! Little bird friend by Mind Eraser sat there chirping at anyone who walked by. It was pretty adorable Silver Bullet and Haymaker happened to be running at the same time and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a picture. Also gotta love the RoS photobomb #ArtsyFartsy shot COLORBLAST is awesome, and these glow Wands made it even better. If you get a chance, please do try them out!! Thanks for another good day, DarienLake! This is what I was talking about earlier with the shortening of queue lines. Upon looking into it further, it looks like the Thunder Rapids line was also cut short at some point. (This is for predator) I don't know why I love this gum wall, but I do. It's getting crazy this year!

^ Call me crazy but I'd even like a star flyer or wind seeker type attraction. And I only say that because it seems a little unorthodox in my opinion for the park to add another drop tower. Up until Hershey's announcement this morning, I don't think any parks have added more than one drop tower. Especially in more than one spot in the park. (Yes, I understand those multiple tower structures exist, but I'm referring to the single shot towers, freestanding from one another.) And there's also rides like Canada's Wonderland's new Skyhawk. That seems like a fun one. The only issue is that Canada's Wonderland is so close, I'm not sure if having a clone ride would be a good idea (with the exception of a Windseeker/Starflyer. Because each park has different views to offer)

^ in my opinion I think the issue with the queue for viper is that it's too long of a line for a ride that quite often does not have more than a 5-10 minute wait. How does it make sense that everytime anyone wants to re ride the viper, not only do they have to walk all the way around the initial U-turn, the entire lift hill and the drop, but then they also have to walk the insanely long queue line that I've never seen much farther past the ramp just before you enter the station. I get it that they probably want to keep the length just incase they have to deal with insanely long lines, they would have the capability for it. But the issue lies in the fact that they don't typically have to deal with that at all. So why not cut down the length of the queue? Worst case, they put in some of those cow herder things (see RoS and Motocoaster) so JUST IN CASE, they can put a few chains up and boom. They have ample space for people to wait in line for the Classic DL Viper. I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time a theme park cut the queue length for a ride, and Darien Lake has done it before! Look at the predator queue. When you get to the stairs, you can clearly see they cut out a good chunk of the line area. I'm pretty sure that's a smoking spot now. And if not, it's a place where people can wait for their friends who are crazy enough to ride that beast. (Me and the Predator have a love hate relationship, I love to hate it. Yet, I do ride it whenever I'm at the park.) Not to totally rant about it, but it's not fair of you to be saying that it doesn't matter, when in fact, a reroute would absolutely matter. I think that even though the purple line would work the best, the red line would be the most realistic. However, even if they did just shorten it to the red length, it would be a lifesaver towards the end of the day when you're feet are starting to hurt! I'd love even that slight change so much!

My brother went a few days earlier and saw it by the barn. I would have snapped a photo but I found it out the day after I went. Question. How does one actually get to that area? And now frowned upon is it to go that way?

I think he'd just stop leaning forwards.

Hello, Gang! I'm planning a trip out to Canada's Wonderland on Saturday, August 20th and I'm looking for advice on what to ride when, and if fast lane plus is worth it or not. I'm a Buffalo local, so I'm used to Darien Lake's 15-30 minute max lines with one train on every Coaster, or CP, where you can expect to be waiting a LOT if you don't hit rides in the right order. Any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated! (Also, this is the first time anyone in my family has been out to CW since 2000. Pretty neat!)

^^ Also! It should be noted that (as of last Thursday) the "We Already Miss You!" Sign was still up on the reverse side of the entrance. So why they'd take down one and not the other is beyond me

^ what entrance plaza are you looking at? The one I've seen is pretty nice. It's the old entrance, but it's obvious they did some nice work on it. The old entrance, post Six Flags era The current entrance plaza. Though as of recently the Welcome Back sign disappeared...

It's like a weird mix of a Carp and a Shark. They have a sign next to it saying it lives in the lake, can be up to 30(?) pounds and it encourages people to look for it.

It's gonna be exactly like what happened to Mantis back in 2014. Remember? [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

^ your assumption is correct. Nothing on the transfer, and nothing in plain sight otherwise. All I know for sure about second trains is that Mind Eraser's is still on pallets by Grizzly Bear Run. If anything, it seems like they've moved them back a little bit. Otherwise, nothing.

Guess who took another impromptu trip to Darien Lake today?! None other than ME of course!! It's truly fascinating to be able to go back to the park and see how things change as the season progresses and being my 6th time, the place has definitely made some changes. One of the big changes of course, has to do with a certain ride in the back of the park that we've been talking about recently... So first, some comments. Then some pictures! 1) the "DL Sharp" sculpture is already cracking. while it was new and looked durable, it was a really cool thing to go and see and show gullable friends. Now that it's broken, it looks kind of shameful. If I put that sculpture out and saw it was damages id want to fix it ASAP because I'd personally be ashamed. But I realize money is a thing. I just hope they do something about it before it gets too bad, it's a pretty cool thing to go and see that you don't see in many parks. 2) it looks like Darien Lake personnel weren't big fans of people walking across the grass as a shortcut from the exit to the midways, they took care of that in a way that I will show off in the pictures. Very sneaky of them. 3) today, my favorite ride-op was the guy at the Lasso! I want to say his name was Parker. He was challenging all the riders to scream louder than he could while using the megaphone, the riders for the most part were playing along and it made the experience of a typical swing ride a LOT more fun! Props to him! Now let's get into some details with some pictures: I can't personally remember, but I think they recently took down the "welcome back" sign from the park entrance. What's up with that? It is true, there are more restraints on the twister now. Maybe it will operate this year Man! I love the interactivity! Good job DL! New theming by boomerang... Yes. This is actually at the front of the park. Welcome to 2016 Viper exit now comes with a new fence! Totally not ashamed that I went on moose on the loose. American Rock is a really fun show! I reccomdend it to anyone! I leave you with a fun picture of the Ferris Wheel! Until next time, it's been real Darien Lake! He even has a plump squirrel friend, same price! Anybody remember when they tried to make the new logo work and they decided to not do it? Well, there still are traces of it in the park. Interesting Look, at this amazingly plump bunny. Only $16