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Anywho, anyone notice that over the last few days or so, Darien Lake has been posting a lot more than usual on their social media pages? I wonder if there's any rhyme or reason as to why?

ala Tony Look at that turn! What a nice turn!

^ Watching that train leave the station is going to look fantastic. I love the dip and turn before the lift!

^plus, wouldn't they have to revamp the entire station to accommodate larger trains? And what about those entrances and/or exits to the helixes? Is there enough clearance there for larger trains? I'm sure there's probably something to do with stress on the track too considering it's so narrow (compared to millennium force for example). I don't think it would be worth it. But if they do get larger trains like that, I'm under the assumption that if they were to get larger trains though, they'd know all that information and not blindly make larger trains for the coaster.

^ What about that whole "new train" talk? Didn't someone on here claim to be talking to the big guys in management and say they were in the works with intamin? I know, it really isn't proof, its just talk... But is everyone on the consensus that there won't be new trains anymore? Just in my opinion, I like my shins and the current trains don't seem to realize that. Whereas Millennium and Dragster (per say) realize that shins are very important and they do their best not to hurt them. Catch my drift?

This is fun. Have they won this before?

^

So I'm assuming now we're in a holding position waiting for any management news? Where should I be looking to find out more on this? Would CNL have something on their website? Or is there some legal page I should be browsing?

^ The last picture is my favorite - I love watching people's reactions as they reach the end of the ride! In other news:

Darien Lake Closing Day 2015 The final few leftovers from my Trip Report! Some more land by the Mind Eraser/Grizzly Run I like where rolling thunder sits. it looks quite nice. Corn Popper Poppin' away! I noticed that the Big ol' hill had some grass maintained, and some not maintained. I wonder if thats soley due to the fact that theres a fire hydrant and some sort of power generator on it or if its something else aswell. Look at that nice skyline! Not CP quality but still fun! Where'd the rest of the fountain go!!!!???? I was pretty proud to notice this on the side of the steel city building. Looks like a certain superhero has over-stayed his welcome! Such a beauty People dont really seem phased by the tiny fence Even the older peeps. Still walk right over it! I know it isnt deemed "restricted" but still. One last ride! Until Next Year!

Darien Lake Closing Day 2015 The first 99 pictures from my Trip Report. The rest (18 pictures) will be in a second post. Enjoy! Mind Eraser welcomes us! I do like its placement right on the pond/lake/whatever they call it A Nice little entrance plaza. Too bad there's no B&M protector of the gate Some of the fall decor. It was minimal. Oh wait, there's a Fall event going on on this lovely Summer day? The bridge that leads off to nowhere welcomes us! They had a nice big stage where the Fountain usually stands. This was a neat little feature of the new Harvest Fest Behind this "Beer Sliders" stand, they had a band called "the Frankfurters" Playing music youd expect to hear at Busch Gardens' Oktoberfest. FOOD TRUCKS! Predator is nice to look at. I like how it goes over the path to RoS Off they go! I wonder, was this ever accurate? Aside from the picture at the end of the ride... were there ever really any strobes? Up up up! Not sure if they did it last year or this year, but for the most part all the gates look like this now, no more of the white plexi glass. (There is still some of it visible though in between the corrals) As I said back in July, this is a very Cedar Fair-esque shirt. It also reminds me of a 5X The Fury shirt I got at Busch Gardens in May The American Flag is on this one for some reason. Interesting. No peeps in the seats! I like the colors of this one I'm Sorry, but did the new RoS theme leak early? ( XD ) Iron Moose or BatMoose, which will it be?! Star Moose! Comical t-shirt in Steel City New for 2012! How cool! - seriously, I wish they'd keep the biggest ride's exit station a little more up to date... This looks like its been sitting in this gift shop for YEARS theres a whole BUCKET full of them!!! (For those of you whom are unaware, these are supposed to be bouncy and they have glitter in them and what not.) Another stage, just below the Darien Square gate. For all the criticism Vekoma gets, Boomerang is quite fun and not all that rough in my mind. They were raising the screen randomly during the day I found out a little later that they were taking the screen down. Which made sense The line was about a 35 minute wait when I got to this, I felt it wasnt all that worth it. Most of the in park signage was empty This dreaded gate, I wish it were open. Same with the bridge. If you arent going to allow the public to use the bridge, and it serves little to no purpose to the employees, then get rid of it! Nice big open plot of land next to twister! Which, was down today. No surprise there. I figured it would be interesting to look into Ye Olde Golfe Coursee. It seems to be much more overgrown than last year! Viper actually had a bit of a wait today This is what gets on my nerves... lets look at the line... it was pretty far out... but they didnt use both trains... REALLY clear view of putt putt here Maybe next year. I found it interesting though that they labeled this train #3. I mean, If the old yellow train was retired, why not just name the two remaining trains 1&2 instead of 2&3? Man, the roof in the Viper station was all kinds of gross! I love this view you get while leaving the Viper! our SBNO friend. I think its called ranger... if only they hadn't removed most of the signage... I can't be totally sure anymore what its called! The old queue for Ranger, now a Smoking Area, conveniently located upwind from a childrens area! Pretty fun! It's nice to see a superloop that isnt held up by cables and that doesnt shake upon operation Viper looks awesome I used to love the one by the RoS that would say "208 Feet? Piece of Cake!" Now it says "Superhero" or something like that and it just isnt the same... This ride was open when I got to the park, but when I walked past it, it was closed. Got this for $5 from the food trucks. Bacon Mac N Cheese. I didn't expect it to be so good! Perhaps this is new. Perhaps not. But this is the first time I noticed they did this to the old Subway a fun little drop tower. We saw this earlier today, But I discovered it was just a marking for a pipeline. I wish I had taken a picture but there was also another 2" pipeline flag right by the Predators restricted area entrance gate... Which I thought was interesting I didnt realize they had cut down the size of Predators queue. Was this recent? If I remember correctly, these werent on here when DL first received these trains. I dont usually make it out to Predator - usually because I dont want to. So does anyone know when they put these back on the front of the trains? You're welcome Darien! A very clouded award. for when Predator was voted 9th best coaster in the world. Maintenance Bay by the Predator. Did anyone ever figure out what those blue things were for? part of the fall decorating. as I said, it was minimal This poor theater is falling apart. Just by looking at the front of it... the signage is split and uneven... some more decor A list of the musical happenings for the day Haymaker in full swing A view at the water ride whom shall not be named's old plot o' land a new angle. Nice to know Darien uses some energy efficient lighting where it can Shoot! My main man for new ride info wasnt there today! I have let you down, TPR... Grizzly Run was all drained out. It was interesting to see. Though I had originally assumed that all the supports were to be finished by halfway through the season, it appears there are a few stragglers. The supports that are finished though, look MUCH nicer! Some empty pallets with an empty crate that has the initials M.E. on it. I wonder what these used to have in/on them. You can really see the fading and nastyness of the track. It stands out much more now thanks to the supports. Hopefully the track will be complete by 2016

Looks to me like it isn't anything fun...

I will also be in the park on Sunday taking TONS of pictures for a well past due TR. I was hoping the park would do some fun closing events for the end of the year like a laser show on the final day. But I noticed that the park is only doing it on Saturdays and if I'm not mistaken it's just the show from the rest of the year. I thought way back when - laser Spooktacular was kinda cool but I'm not sure when that was put to a stop. I never really made it out to Fright Fest. Hopefully the operations won't be terrible for the last day.

...did... Did I really just read that..?

Fantasy Island removing their Ferris Wheel makes for the most exciting news I've heard on here in over a month... Darien could easily be getting some free publicity by digging a few holes in the ground or putting up some survey markers. They could've even had a "Say Goodbye to Ranger!" Type thing before it closed. Although with the signage down, and it being SBNO for about two years now, it's just a matter of time before it's gone. New trains on RoS would be awesome, but in the end would it attract more people? I mean, a re paint would defiantly catch people's attention, but mainly just the people who visit the park on a regular basis. I have to give them credit though. Since Six Flags left they've repainted Boomerang, Viper and have been working on Mind Eraser. If they paint RoS, that would mean in 6 years they've painted all 4 applicable major roller coasters! That in itself is pretty spectacular. For the future they probably will eventually focus on the hydraulics issue on Boomerang, the put put monstrosity under Viper, the hydraulics on Twister (if they are as bad as people on here have been saying), and maybe if we're lucky they'll start to do away with some of that Asphalt soon? Good things can happen. But patience is a virtue as well that us DL fans don't all have.. Myself included

Just for fun, here's some construction photos from both CPRundown and CPFansite. Those footers and the holes in the ground look HUGE!

These things do look pretty awesome - and it differs from Ranger and Rollong Thunder. Slightly, but enough for it to be a nice addition From the State Fair this summer

Consider yourself lucky then. I think that my brain still hasn't quite recovered from a lot of the posts that have been made since the rumors began circulating about Valravn all the way through the Raptor incident and the official announcement of Valravn. It's possible that mental scars could have been left. At times, I had to hit the back button & pinch myself to make sure that I wasn't trapped inside the Darien Lake thread. I think CP should buy Darien Lake's old Barracuda Bay slide complex! Who cares if th supports were custom fit and the slides were 20+ years old! It's the DarienLaker way of things! (But seriously... TPR needs a Barracuda Bay filter)

For all you color haters out there:

Anyone know what the private event at the park is today? It must cost a fortune to rent out a place like CP for a whole day!

Is there a place to eat Onion Rings near Full Throttle? Perhaps near the lockers ? (Some one on the Darien Lake thread kept accidentally discovering all these filters and s/he was getting pretty mad, this is just like that, but more fun!)

Is there a place to eat Onion Rings near Full Throttle? Perhaps near the lockers ? (Some one on the Darien Lake thread kept accidentally discovering all these filters and s/he was getting pretty mad, this is just like that, but more fun!)

... Complaining about the ride less than 12 hours after it was announced... That's a little sad... I think it looks awesome. I like the colors and I think the name is unique. Maybe if it was named Flight Deck 223 or something and it was all white or whatever I'd be a little upset... But the renderings look awesome to me. Theming or not it looks amazing to me. This isn't Disney or Busch, it's an AMUSEMENT park and we all know that, if this opened at a THEME park, then it would be different.

Am I the only one hoping they'll release the announcement video? I really wanna see it in HQ

This countdown is starting to confuse me. The announcement is on the 9th, this countdown won't be over until the 10th. Maybe they're gonna count Valravn as coaster 18 on the 11th (coaster appreciation day)? I thought they were going to double up on coasters a few days here and there, but then they announced Wilderness Run and Woodstock Express on their own... I'm almost thinking unless they announce three coasters on Tuesday or two tomorrow and two Thursday, then maybe it's just a countdown for that coaster appreciation day and they'll add Valravn on the 11th