SbSteveZ

Because I'm a dork, along with the Trip Report, I also put up a full length video of their nighttime "spectacular" Ignite the Night on youtube: Enjoy!

I almost felt bad for posting that one, but the guy in that picture said he'd be fine if I were to just post it on TPR Gotta love it!

So as promised, I took a little trip down to Darien, and despite the rain in the morning (and up until 3), had a pretty good time. To the general public, it is a generally nice park with big rides and fun shows, but to an enthusiast, or to anyone who pays attention... the park still needs some work done to it. Now, that's not to say they aren't trying. I noticed many little things they've done that have helped to bring up the general look of the park, but still, a lot is in need of fixing. Now, I said they fixed a lot of little things, but I also noticed a few tiny details that were off as well. one of which is a sign by the right of the Emporium reads "Laserblast, laser light show" Where as the show is now Ignite the Night. But that's just me being OCD about things. RAIN POLICY This blew me away. While in the parking lot, enjoying lunch in the rain, I noticed that the Ride of Steel, Blast Off, Viper, and the Mind Eraser, were all running! and it wasn't light rain either, it was steady rain. When it started to pour, the rides did all close down, and Darien offered their return tickets at 3:15, but we decided to stick around past that. The only thing I was surprised at Ride wise, was they closed down the water park, and all In-Park water rides immediately following the showers. Thunder canyon was even drained out, as a matter of fact. I would've never expected that, from rain. Score Card Ride of Steel x8 Viper x3 Mind Eraser x3 Boomerang x4 Predator x1 Blast-Off x3 Silver Bullet x1 Big Wheel x1 Shows Nik Wallenda Beyond the Falls - Pleasantly surprised by the show itself Ignite the Night - Always loved the Laser Show, and I think its latest upgrade is amazing. And now for the pictures! We start off with the nicely upgraded (and by upgrade I mean new paint and a "welcome Back!" sign) main gate! I do believe the gift shop in the main entrance plaza got a bit of a face-lift. it appears to me that it was re-painted and received some new signage Blast-Off asserting dominance over the Redhawk and Big Wheel in the skyline Another shot of Blast-Off. I really wish they had put a topper of some sort on this thing... it appears incomplete to me. The first ride of the day. As you can see, we were fighting with the rain in the morning - but with rain comes less crowds! So the lines were practically non-existent! This was right after the rain stopped (the first time), so they had just sent up an empty train. I do believe this fine establishment that seems dreadfully out of place in this dead end plaza got a makeover LAST year. it looks nice and all but this plaza needs more than the RoS and a little food place... There she is in all of her glory! And I noticed they re-painted the camel backs, but they never continued on to paint any more of the ride. Shame, but it's still fantastic in my opinion regardless of the color. #TypicalCoasterShot The lines were cringe worthy... So. Many. People... The sign has a topper, why cant the ride?! Nice little drop tower, but when I looked up at it I couldn't help but think it was missing 3 other towers and a large topper that said "Power Tower" on it... My bad Ah yes, the esteemed Predator. Couldn't pass up the opportunity to see how rough this thing was. Though it's still very rough, I did enjoy the ride as it didn't totally beat me up and leave me bruised the way it did last year. I love spotting the old logo in the park. I assume this is just old merchandise that never made the cut? Remember when they tried to change the logo and failed? Here's whats left of that! The fountain! Slingshot looking... like a slingshot Another shot of the new sign for the gift shop "Please don't leave forever! We'll try more next time, I promise!" Mind eraser in its faded glory... Vekoma did make a pretty nice LOOKING ride ;P NERD SHOT These lines were just terrible... Just look at all of those people! The only closed ride in the park. (Which actually opened up at like 5) The station appears full, but the ride had about a 3 train wait. and by the way, not to be offensive, but I call BS on the "6 minute cycle" thing, with the station like this, it took maybe 5 minutes to get on the coaster. 3 cycles took maybe 5 or 6 minutes. 'NOTHER NERD SHOT Lasso, very fun ride. Attempt 2 at a Vekoma. Honestly, it isn't really that rough, and the color from when they repainted it in 2010 seems to be holding out nicely. The new-er signage for Silver Bullet, which also got a make over Some new signage for the games And here is the newly opened up area in the front of the park. not much in the means of activity going on here but hopefully we'll see signs of something soon It isn't ENTIRELY clear... Boomerang Motocoaster NERD SHOT Very beautiful during the day, barely visible at night... Some of the new signage from last year Hey look! The wheel has lights in the picture! MAKE IT HAPPEN DARIEN Hm, seems familiar... I noticed they have some more selection in the means of apparel. I wasn't very impressed however at the selection in the Moto-coaster gift shop. which no longer has anything to do with the Moto-coaster. Good to see they take care of the behind the scenes stuff on their biggest coaster... It would be nice if the red train were here or at least on the transfers... Taking in all that Intamin goodness - Okay, I was just being lame taking shots of the components in the track. Who wouldn't? It would appear the show is now free with general admission, curious, we went to see what it was all about They could've probably done a *little* better with the front of the building... just black is rather upsetting and bland... They also kept calling it the "Nik Wallenda Theater" Which I refuse to call it - I knew it as the Galaxy Theater therefore, it shall remain the Galaxy Theater in my mind. Some things never change... It looked nice inside I have to admit. But would it kill them to put backs on those sad excuses for theater seats? Comic relief. This guy came over and sat on us. twice. for no reason. It was pretty entertaining, but rather invasive. Human Juggling. Pretty amazing. Everything these guys did once that curtain fell, blew me away. SERIOUSLY HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK??? Skies opened up, making for a nice shot of the viper FOUND THE TRAIN! I really do enjoy the new sign. looks very nice and vibrant Here lies the forgotten put put that is blatantly obvious from the viper queue... This is just depressing... RoS at night! I wish the tower changed colors... I guess I'm just spoiled by Cedar Fair There is no excuse to why this cant even have some white flood lights on it or something. Seriously, if its a park icon, it shoudn't be left in the dark like this... One final shot of the Boardwalk. I enjoy the new style of the area, now lets hope to see some other changes throughout the park like this...

I'll be heading out to the park today to hopefully get a few rides in before/after the rain. We shall be putting the Happiness Guarantee to the ULTIMATE test today! I'll try to get some pictures and possibly post a mini TR when I get back!

So it would appear that Jason McClure gave a little teaser as to what next year's new ride is going to be: Do you think this would rule out the Dark Ride thing? Considering those are made more for families if I understand correctly (please correct me if I'm wrong). And I also don't really think a Dark Ride would be aimed towards "thrillsters" but again, I could be wrong. If I were to take a guess, I'd say its something along the lines of MaXair or SkyHawk. Both pretty awesome, huge thrill rides that offer great views, lots o' airtime, and they look stunning! (Especially when both arms work )

I didn't know the park was open past midnight. Just in case anyone wanted to see the sign - I myself prefer visuals and just figured I'd throw it out there

^ I've been saying that for quite some time now! Sure, some of the rides the park buys are on trailers and meant for fairs, but they're fun rides and they're thrilling! And not to mention MFI is adding something new EVERY SINGLE YEAR and if I remember correctly, its locally owned and operated. Ever since they built the Crazy Mouse, I've been heading out there to see what they had the potential for and in a matter of years they increased their ride collection massively! Full Tilt, Flight, Disk'o, Devil's Hole, Mind Warp, Nitro (Removed though), Dragster Drench, Rockin' Tug, Max's Doggy Dog Coaster, Over the Falls, and even Jack and the Giant Beanstalk! What has Darien added since (I believe) 2004? A motocoaster prototype, 3 kiddie rides, and a used drop tower? Since when is the "Largest Park in WNY" out done by a cute little park out on Grand Island that doesn't even stay open later than 7 (Which is a shame because the rides would probably look pretty cool at night...)? It's a shame if you ask me, but I'm not usually one to complain.

SO has anyone been in the park recently to check up on the whole "Two Train Operations" Darien "promised" on their facebook page? And on top of that, how bad is the line for Ride of Steel getting? Someone said there were like 6 minutes between dispatches, and I dont usually keep track of that, but is that similar to how it was last year? Because it was slow, but it wasn't terrible. I'll be going on the 13th and I'll probably get some pictures since we really haven't had a TR in a while that was very in depth... As well as some updates on the coasters unless someone else has that info

I know its a little far away, but I planned a trip up to Cedar Point on August 20th & 21st, which is a Wednesday and Thursday, and I was wondering, what should I expect crowd-wise considering it's in the middle of the week in late-ish August? We are staying at Castaway Bay so we get early entry - hopefully that will help us to get on more rides... Thanks guys!

Usually, I enjoy the Predator. the Only reason I didn't like it the last time, which was last year... Is probably because it was on/off raining for a good portion of the day. I'm assuming the track being wet did cause the ride to be a little more rough, but I wouldn't hesitate to ride it again during my next trip out to the park. Besides, if other people dont ride it because it's too rough... Less waiting for me!

Maybe it's just me, but when I read "Something World's Tallest like at Cedar Point" I thought of things like Gatekeeper, the "Worlds tallest" winged coaster, or Wicked Twister, the "Worlds Tallest" inverted impulse coaster. And If I'm not mistaken, Mean Streak was at some point the tallest wooden coaster. So maybe we're thinking to specifically when we jump to conclusions that they would be looking into a strata coaster of any kind, but that's just my take on it.

In my opinion I think it would be pretty cool to see them put the Sidewinder there with the return of UFO and scrambler perhaps? I dont mean to be pushing the old rides on the thread or anything but hey, that's 3 "new" rides in one year, all of which I guess count as thrill rides to the general public right? They could do a lot with that land though, perhaps maybe we'll actually get an announcement of some sort this year? Guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Ok, when Darien Lake was teasing for some "big surprise stunt" by Mr Wallenda, I was NOT expecting this huge left turn! How does one simply attempt to ride a MOTORCYCLE across a high wire?!?! I have to admit that would be quite the spectacle and I really wish I could go and check it out for myself! I wonder if they're going to televise this in anyway? Probably not but that would be great publicity for the park in my mind! Here's the official announcement via Facebook

^ I remember seeing a picture posted on their twitter page after the sneak preview that showed the Emporium and to me it looked like they painted that too - but I'm not 100% certain... I tried to look for the image but I couldn't find it on their page for some reason, but what I DID find has popped up a few times on this thread, A LIGHTING PACKAGE ON THE BIG WHEEL. The Darien Lake cover photo on Twitter showcases the nice new green viper train with what appears to be the big wheel, but the wheel has lights on it! I'm pretty sure it's just an old photo, or a different wheel (Because there are people inside of the gondolas and there were no lights on that wheel last year...) It makes me wonder why they would put a nice updated picture of the Viper - which they've been using the pictures with the green track and yellow train since the coaster was painted black... yet they won't use an updated Big Wheel picture. Oh Well, just a little thing I always notice - this park LOVES old photos No hate intended The Viper in its new glory with what appears to be the Big Wheel with blue and white lights on it

Sorry to post so close to my previous post... but: Speaking of this year! I recieved a little pamphlet type thing from Darien Lake that has a list of their 3 "guarantees" for the 2014 season which I found pretty exciting - I'll list them all here: Pretty cool that they're actually guaranteeing customer satisfaction in such a generous way! Do any other parks offer this same type of deal? I know that Cedar Point for example specifically states that they do not offer "rain checks". Regardless though - the thought of it does seem pretty beneficial to the guests of the park! Now all that's left is to see how it plays out!

I think Darien Lake had "spilled the beans" on the Nik Wallenda performing a a high wire motorcycle stunt, so therefore that's no longer a secret. On the other hand maybe they're keeping 'Cuda Falls' replacement a secret! Though I highly doubt that they can just remove the slides a week ago, and then repair the plot of land and replace the slides in time for the season to start without causing complete chaos... It would be nice to walk into Darien and find some return rides like UFO and Scrambler back for the season. sure its not new, but with some touch up work and maintenance that would be pretty cool and much more possible than something brand new this close to opening day. ^It's nice to see Darien doing some work on the campground section of the park too. its the little things that really give guests a good experience! Especially since I recall that people were complaining about the condition of the campers / RVs there for quite some time now.

Random question... Isn't this year technically Darien Lake's 50th anniversary? On most of their merchandise they have "Est. 1964" so you'd think they would acknowledge that in some way... Just putting it out there

If I remember correctly, Mind Eraser had a very slow moving line in comparison to the Motocoaster and the Viper last year. I would be fine with one train operation on the Motocoaster because it's a short ride. But Mind Eraser is bigger, and has a longer duration. In my opinion, if they can run two trains on Mind Eraser, I don't see why not. Just my opinion

By now, I'm sure this thread has made it very clear that when it comes to Darien Lake and new things 'patience is a virtue", which isn't exactly shown here Hopefully when the park opens speculation can become a little more realistic. Sure, we know they removed 'Cuda Falls, but we aren't going to be able to make logical guesses without seeing the construction site in person or at least in pictures. Few good things have come up over the winter months such as the announcement that all coasters capable of 2 train operations will be returning to 2 trains this year and that 'Cuda Falls was removed / is being removed. Otherwise, some certain people may need to just chill out for a few weeks until they can get their fix of Darien Lake when it opens on May 10th. I'm just hoping that when the park opens we start to see some signs of something new. And perhaps a nice re-model of the front of the Galaxy theater and the return of the UFO? I do recall that somewhere Darien stated the UFO was taken temporarily for maintenance purposes and was going to return in the future. Perhaps that's what's "New for 2014!" No disrespect to anyone on here I'm just here for the fun of it all!

Bear with me here - I'm not real good at the whole "Water Slide" topic... but to clear my confusion... This is the "Left for dead" Floodgate Falls right? (Please ignore the weird woman on the water tube... This was the largest, clearest image I could find via Google ;D ) Secondly, if 'Cuda Falls is to be removed, (sorry for the stupidity of this question...) Would they probably be removing the algae pond that is floodgate falls along with it, seeing that they're so close? 'nother stupid question, was there some reason that they didn't remove Floodgate falls upon its closing in the first place? Since they did remove other slides from the area when Cuda Falls was put in... I guess - 'twas what DarienLaker stated... Thanks! I now leave you with an image of the fallen. RIP Cuda Falls

With Firechaser Express' opening on the 22nd, it made me wonder, If by chance CNL does allow Herschend to add big rides in the future, would you expect them to be like the recent additions to Dollywood and Silver Dollar City? In 3 years Dollywood opened Wild Eagle and Firechaser and Silver Dollar City just opened Outlaw Run this past summer. I know we've all heard the Lake Monster rumor time and time again, but I'm just curious to know if you guys could see Darien getting those kinds of attractions like at the other parks. Of course I wouldn't assume anything like those 3 coasters anytime soon, but in the future maybe... Thoughts?

Amen! Amen! Amen! When I first read the "DNA" statement, all I took it was that Cedar Point is still committed to being a roller coaster capital, and that it's obvious that new coasters are a part of their future. Yes, they might be taking a short break from major coasters right now, but they also did from 2007-2012. Who knows when, where, or what type of coaster is next. We can speculate all we want, but can we at least save the heavy speculation for when a real hint comes out (a.k.a. what Knoebels did)? Not to mention that in one of the Point Cast's they did or in some interview in 2012, the Lady also said "Coasters are in our DNA" I don't know about you but when I see GateKeeper I don't exactly picture a DNA shape of any sort. ADD ON: Just out of curiosity, why do people consider the Pipe Scream or any other Disk'O coaster to be a roller coaster? And what is a "true coaster"? the way I see it its some sort of car/train on a track that goes through some sort of cycle. Debate could continue all day and one could probably argue that Wicked Twister isnt a true coaster if they really felt like it. To prove my point heres what Dictionary.com calls a roller coaster: a small gravity railroad, especially in an amusement park, having a train with open cars that moves along a high, sharply winding trestle built with steep inclines that produce sudden, speedy plunges for thrill-seeking passengers. Not exactly the most specific definition to cause so much controversy and debate over what is and isnt a coaster. just saying

Jamie and Adam could help with that last one I was literally thinking the same thing. Honestly this show seems to have great potential already, but if they were to have Jamie and Adam tag along for an episode or two, I could see a definite boost in viewers! How about the safety of the chords on those "Sky Coaster" and sling-shot rides? Like, how are they tested to be sure they were safe? And how likely is it that they could potentially break?

Boneville "Oh no a fire in that building! Better shoot the water over the fence in the opposite direction!" Sorry guys but thats just funny to me. I really do enjoy the CP&LE railroad. Nice way to relax in the park and get some great views of the coasters.

I'm already regretting asking this but I've heard a lot out of DarienLaker about 'Cuda Falls since I've been on this thread. I personally am not much of a water ride person and from what I've seen on here, the slides aren't in top notch conditions in the past few years... So here's the part I'm almost positive I'm going to regret (Don't hurt me I'm only curious...) 1) When did 'Cuda falls actually open? 2) When did it close? 3) Was there anything really special about the ride that would make Darien Lake want to keep it around? Yes I understand that 'Cuda Falls has been over mentioned... but its to the point where I'm just curious enough to ask about it. And for that matter I'm sure wikipedia won't give opinions on an SBNO ride... Thanks guys!