SbSteveZ

^ I wonder if there are parts of the old ROS trains being used on the new one since they can no longer run them on the same track. It seems if any of the trains were to be sold it would’ve been those ones since they literally are useless now. That being said if one shows up as a decoration for fright fest I would not be upset about it. (Put some fun-loving skeletons in it a-la Cedar Point’s Halloweekends decor)

We were actually talking about this just yesterday at SFNE - how funny it would be if after over 12 years, the ride was changed back to Superman and THEN people start calling it Ride of Steel instead. Like a crazy “it finally clicked” moment of stupidity. I feel like either Superman or Bizarro would be totally cool for the park. I’m not sure how it went with SFNE for sure but to change color scheme and character completely twice over could be a neat marketing tactic for the park. Plus it allows for some “temporary” effects to be used for a few years with Bizarro (like fire, mist, cut outs, music, etc) then to have the more traditional style make a big bold return a few years later with simple yet effective enhancements like the Superman theme on the lift hill, some set pieces scattered about and a big ole sign that says “Superman Defeats Bizarro!” Is it obvious that I really enjoyed SFNE’s way of handling their Superman ride? One can dream.

^ they overuse every DC comic character. And I love it. Especially Harley Quinn and the Joker. I’d take a Joker and Harley Quinn ride package over Superman to be honest. Even though I’d love for both.

After just a few hours ago riding The Riddler Revenge with those new trains, I can confirm the thing is WAY better than those bulky old ones we have right now. Important to note the ride still has its flaws, but it was a pretty darn good ride when not having to worry about head banging and what not!

^ they did it both days from what I understand. Keeping in mind they still have it every morning if anyone feels left out...

Honestly beyond happy with a new rendition of Paddlewheel Excursions. Anything else (ESPECIALLY Merchandise ) is icing on the cake.

There are early ride times on 2 or 3 attractions every morning (weather permitting) for members AND resort guests a half hour before the park opens (10:00am ERT, 10:30am rope drop) there also appears to be some ERT for members this Friday and Saturday to celebrate National Rollercoaster Day after the park closes. When that actually is, I’m not sure. One source (email) says 10:00-11:00, the other (website) says 9:30-10:00.

^ with the fact that Darien Lake has almost never teased anything new ever... I wouldn’t expect them to do it this time around either. It was already established that the message about the new ride was used for other parks in the chain like Great Escape - but I haven’t seen anything from them either (and I don’t think I ever have to be fair). Whatever’s coming will be very likely a surprise to most of us, but I highly doubt it will shock any of us.

^ ‘Twas from those membership newsletters they send out. Great Adventure and Great Escape had the same blurb as I expected.

^ well... that ended like 2 years after the ride opened so I guess that changed. EDIT: "The coaster was originally named the Orange County Choppers Motocoaster (OCC Motocoaster) when it first opened in 2008. However, the name was changed to the Moto Coaster in 2010 after the naming rights with Orange County Choppers expired." The only 2 instances that still exist of OCC branding are the ride sign near Beaver Brothers and the logo on the side of the station. They even put some "funky" word art on the map for a year or two in place of the logo they used in 2008. At this point it is known only as the Motocoaster. Now that it has been on site for 11 years, I'm not sure what changed (aside from management), but its obvious that it was something major enough that the ride found a semi-permanent home at the park for way longer than anticipated.

Though I doubt it means anything more than trying to boost social media involvement, the park has also been doing these polls in advance of National Rollercoaster Day this friday. There are absolutely no hints anywhere for the park - as there typically aren't but I wonder if there is any reason otherwise to do these little polls Keep in mind, I'm rooting for a 2020 coaster re-theme, so if that does end up being the 'new for 2020' goodness, I would not be disappointed in the slightest

“New Ride” announcement finally teased for the park, assuming this is a generic thing that most parks are probably sending out though, I wouldn’t expect it to mean much.

^ I have to disagree. The ride has typical downtime for a prototype but it’s uniqueness and fact that it’s the only launch coaster in the area makes it a favorite of park guests. They don’t fill the station, which only happens on that coaster and Tantrum which makes the line look a lot longer than it really is. Down the ramp if they’re running it with no problems takes about 3 cycles or 10 minutes-ish which is not that bad at all for a ride like that. It’s remote location probably helps keep the line short(er). I’d imagine if it ends up on a main midway or something that could change. At this point I can’t imagine they’d want to remove a coaster if they can salvage it in any way. The thing has never been SBNO for too long and it is usually open at this point (with the occasional hiccups that you’d expect). Not sure why removing it altogether would even be a thought at this point to be honest.

The only place I think they'd move it to is across the street next to the remains of cuda falls. I can't imagine they would move that coaster somewhere else just because of a power issue. I'm sure it would be cheaper to just upgrade the power, rather than move the whole thing across the park, possible demolish rides, and level out the area. Though I can see the power issue being plausible, as my friend who works for the park said that twister (rip) was not running a lot because it drew too much power, and would take away from the power capacity that the water park needed. It would be interesting to know how much it would cost to move it in its current state. The thing has looked as if it were a temporary install since 2008 when it opened

Beaver Brother’s Lakeside Cafe, as well as Maria’s Italian Kitchen are the two sit down locations at the park and both are pretty good - and accept the discount (just not for the breakfast buffet at BBLC) Tres Hombres has a fairly nice sized Walking Taco / Taco in a Bag that I had and would totally recommend. Plus, if you get food at the Boardwalk they give you a metric Sh*tton of fries, the food there isn’t spectacular but the serving isn’t all too chinsy either, plus with the membership discount, especially if you’re Diamond Elite, really does help make it worth it to eat in-park

^ when the line was close to an hour they had two rows blocked off for Fast Pass, I’d be disappointed but not surprised if they did actually bring it up to 4

^

Darien Lake’s Maintenance is by no means too cheap to paint. It’s not their choice what funds are sent where. The “big issue” is that one of their repaint projects was abruptly cancelled (or at least indefinitely put on hold) midway through its completion leaving Mind Eraser basically to rust away as most of the paint was sand blasted partially to allow for new paint to be applied to it, and as a result it’s terribly noticeable that the ride’s “refresh” was halted. In all reality the park doesn’t “desperately” need anything to be repainted. However. The common grumblings I’ve heard from park guests when it comes up (for whatever reason) have been the following: - 1 train operation - paint on Ride of Steel - Lights on the wheel Darien Lake has actually been really great at painting their rides fairly regularly up until 2015. Viper and Boomerang were both completely redone and still look great, they repainted the main entrance and a bunch of the buildings have been redone recently as well. What was done on Mind Eraser looks nice too and in all honesty if they wouldn’t have started the project, they may not have needed to as the faded pink/sea foam green color scheme looked just fine (see: Xcelerator). From what I remember, they didn’t care to paint RoS due to cost and the fact that most of the ride isn’t closely visible to park guests so it wasn’t a huge deal in the first place. Sure, the Viper station could use some love, and yes, it would be nice to have both of the coasters that haven’t gotten paint jobs redone, but as I’ve said in the past several times, I just don’t see them doing that if they can’t market it. Same thing with the second train for RoS. They very likely won’t purchase a new train without some sort of justification. Doing something like a re-theme could be that marketable justification that’s needed. And that isn’t out of the realm of realism or possibility as it has happened before in the chain and really it’s much more realistic (and likely cheaper) than a brand new multi launch record breaker that most everyone knows the park isn’t going to get (no comment on the B&M idea... but you get the point). Maverick doesn’t really need to be repainted, does it? It’s got that rustic worn out vibe that fits the old west theme. Millennium Force, Raptor, Magnum and Top Thrill Dragster are all such well known and well photographed machines that made sense for a park like Cedar Point to want to keep them into a nice and shiny state. If they saw it necessary I’m sure they’d hop on painting Maverick too, but so far that hasn’t been the case, and in a way the same applies to RoS and Mind Eraser at Darien Lake.

Yeah, but this isnt about whats realistic anymore. Its just a 927 page letter to Six Flags Santa clause. Your point?

If they can use that to justify repainting it and adding a second train as a “new-for-2020” addition then yes I could totally see that happening. Otherwise I wouldn’t count on it. It’s like a pipe dream at this point but I’m still trying to have some faith that they’ll do something with these rides. Remembering back to when they did the new wraps on the viper trains, that was one of my favorite “little things” that they did that I wish they’d do to other rides too. Plus it’s six flags. I wouldn’t put it past them to spend $1-2 million on a new train and some TLC and call it new. Folks around here have wanted that for ages, it’s a perfect way to invest in the current infrastructure and claim there’s a new experience. New experience, aka the ride operating as Vekoma intended. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk RoS retheme - featuring new paint, second train, some sort of effect that won’t last (like music or something), some sort of cut out things similar to Bizarro at SFNE and SFGAdv and suddenly it’s a new thing to market. Mind Eraser retheme - See SFNE 2018. It’s gonna happen eventually, I don’t think it’s all that crazy to consider for 2020.

If they can use that to justify repainting it and adding a second train as a “new-for-2020” addition then yes I could totally see that happening. Otherwise I wouldn’t count on it. It’s like a pipe dream at this point but I’m still trying to have some faith that they’ll do something with these rides. Remembering back to when they did the new wraps on the viper trains, that was one of my favorite “little things” that they did that I wish they’d do to other rides too. Plus it’s six flags. I wouldn’t put it past them to spend $1-2 million on a new train and some TLC and call it new. Folks around here have wanted that for ages, it’s a perfect way to invest in the current infrastructure and claim there’s a new experience.

Not that I condone emailing the operations manager... but how does he not know that their brand new ride has 4 sets of seats not operational? Don’t these people walk around the park like at all? Just seeing progress on Mind Eraser was nice, even though it’s been at a stand still (seemingly) for over a month now, and I do realize progress takes time, especially as a newly acquired park. It’s just baffling that they have had single train operations for 7 years, and that as the park has gotten more of an attendance boost nothing on that front (from an outsiders perspective) has changed.

You really think I'm just going to let this go? Are there grocery store enthusiasts? As a Wegmans employee for almost 4 years, it was quite common to want to visit as many stores as one could to have bragging rights. Plus, Wegmans is Freaking awesome. The best stores I’ve seen thus far are the newer ones in New Jersey (closer to Montclair and NYC) though my favorite store in NY is currently East Street Wegmans in downtown Rochester. Long story short - yes, grocery store enthusiasts exist, though nowhere near the same level as theme park enthusiasts, and seemingly its pretty much just Wegmans fans (I’ve never seen an entire store get so excited about meeting an ex-CEO in my life aside from when Danny Wegman and his daughters came to visit for the Buffalo 40th anniversary celebration)

Seabreeze is lovely. I can't say enough good things about the place. If I lived near Darien Lake I would spend way more time there and at Wonderland than Darien Lake. I wish that park got more attention. As for everything else on the last two pages... lol In all sincerity SeaBreeze is wonderful for what it is, though I don’t know that I would drive over an hour to get there on a normal occasion. We went there once a couple of years back, rode everything we wanted to ride, left for a few hours to go “Wegmans Hopping” (got to 9 stores in one day, Rochester makes it super easy - don’t judge, we’re ‘WegManiacs’ as they call it) and then came back to night ride. We had to’ve ridden the Whirlwind at least 10 times, the Bobsleds are awesome and the Jack Rabbit is such a great part of Central New York history being almost 100 years old now. The only downside to the park is it’s size, but that is a very minor downside to have for a family park such as SeaBreeze. It surprised me that a park of its size was open regularly from 11am-10pm but hey, you sure do get your monies worth.

I was almost wondering if it was a result of the Canadian holiday this weekend since parks I visited are fairly close to the border, but I can’t imagine that’s the only factor (could just be a Buffalo thing, but it’s a theory nonetheless)