coasterkid124

Viper @ Darien Lake. The ride is one of the better Arrows in my opinion.

I personally think that GCI would do the best job at it. I would love to see the coaster a true woodie (not smooth with Topper Track). Throw in some Millennium Flyers for a vintage look and the coaster would be great.

^Thanks for the info. I knew about Corn Popper and the staffing issues, but I didn't realize it was that bad this year.

I went up to the park yesterday to get an update for 2014. I didn't bother to take any pictures because nothing new was happening at the park. The Predator still stands as it always was. If you didn't hear about Lake Monster, you wouldn't even notice that something was going to happen to it. No surveyors were on site yesterday, but a lot of higher employees (management) were walking around the area talking. I have to say that yesterday was the worst time I had at the park yet this season. At one point 1/2 of the park was closed. Here is a list of rides that weren't running: Motocoaster, Boomerang, RoS, Twister, Bumper Buggies, Corn Popper, Moose on the Loose, Thunder Rapids, Grizzly Run, Pirate, and Cuda Falls. It was a horrible day and I feel bad for people who paid for a ticket to get in. Hopefully, next season the park will bounce back from all of this.

I would like to see Rolling Thunder stay the way it is. I would hate to see it get removed or an RMC treatment. I am one of the ones who like a rough ride, as long as it isn't terrible. Rolling Thunder was never bad to me in any way.

I also feel that SFNE will receive a SkyScreamer. Seeing that the rides are so successful, and there aren't any huge rumors going around for the park, this may be it for 2014. Me personally, I find all Star Flyers/Windseekers kind of boring, but it is more of a borderline thrill ride anyways. Pretty soon, I see all Six Flags parks (maybe with the exception of The Great Escape) get SkyScreamers.

I am still hopeful for the Zac Spin that was supposed to come. I haven't heard any 2014 rumors yet. The park is overdue for a new coaster.

Has anyone heard anything about Fright Fest this year? It's getting really close, and there has been absolutely no mention on social media or their website. I would think that it is going to happen, as it does every year, but the park hasn't posted anything with much meaning in a while.

I recently rode a carnival model bumper car ride at a local fair. The cars were not Lusses, but definitely old. The owner is S&T Magic. I could feel the wheels spinning under me (like the ride had no traction whatsoever), and boy, those cars hit hard. Photo courtesy of carnival-rides.com

The Predator in the front seat is now really smooth. The back is still rough in certain parts, especially in the first drop and curved drop. The ride has improved a lot, but a lot of people have given it a bad name from past experiences with trailered trains. It is one of my favorite woodies, although it is going to close for a refurb from RMC or GCI.

Big Bad Wolf got me. I was also pretty shocked by Great American Scream Machine at SFGAdv, Laser at Dorney Park, and SoB as horrible as it was.

Jack Rabbit @ Seabreeze.

Darien Lake is my home and favorite park. Other people always put it down, and obviously it isn't the best park, but I still love going there. I can't wait to see what Herschend brings to the park in the future.

To add on the above comment, the project seems like a go, it just wasn't officially confirmed yet. Most park employees know about it and say that it will happen for 2014. I don't know how much you have heard, but it seems like it will either be RMC or GCI, and the ride's footprint will not change, just new elements, trains, etc. I have not heard much at all from the park lately. It seems that the media workers at the park really have given up this season. This article should explain a little better. http://thedailynewsonline.com/news/article_9f51610a-016d-11e3-bc2f-0019bb2963f4.html I will hopefully make it up to the park Saturday or Sunday to get an update.

Its so obvious. Aquatrax over the beach. Realistically, I have no idea what this could be and I am skeptical about the rumored dark ride.

The rumor right now according to Screamscape is that Thunder Run may be removed. Is the park planning on maybe building a new track that goes inside of the mountain? I would love to see a dark ride that uses the mountain instead of that or a Halloween Haunt attraction.

As of about a month ago, the back door was open so I looked in after riding Viper. I didn't see anything too big in there besides some pallets and boxes. I believe that the second trains for the coasters may be in there, but definitely no Scrambler or UFO. Edit- I do like the idea of using the building as a haunted house for Fright Fest. It would be simple to pull off too. It looks like all theater aspects of the building have been removed already.

I believe that the whole area will get transformed. The only reason that people go near that section is for Twister and Tin Lizzies. With a restaurant, a new coaster and maybe a flat, the whole area could be good as new. The go karts, Galaxy Theater, and batting cages take up a lot of space, and are not as profitable as they used to be. There is a ton of space behind those for expansion, so it may happen in the future. The area may become an old America theme, with Tin Lizzies being old cars, Twister themed as a tornado, and Smokehouse Blues being a southern style restaurant. The only other places that I see the restaurant going is in the arcade, or in Maria's Spaghetti House, as Beaver Bros. is popular.

My favorite train ride is at Martin's Fantasy Island. It used to have a tunnel with train robbers who put on a show, but it was removed many years ago. I have heard that this year, it started up again once every day.

There are many other things behind the scenes that could be a problem. Concrete cracking, corrosion in supports, pump and filtration problems, and fiberglass cracking are mechanical and structural problems. Plus, the entire slide structure may be sinking or sliding due to its awkward position. The company that manufactured the slides, Waterworld Products, Inc, is out of business and there is no way to have repairs done on the slides unless it is done in house.

Cuda Falls has lived a pretty good lifespan, and for the park to keep sinking money into it would be dumb. If they would replace it with a newer set of slides, then maintenance costs would go down, resulting with more capital to spend on other things like landscaping and painting.

Realistically, if Cuda Falls were ever removed, another set of water slides would have to replace it. It would cost too much money in demolition and landscaping to remove the hill, as no ride would be able to be built on the hill. A pair of racing slides would be amazing, and the hill would work to their advantage. But seeing that Darien Lake is coming out and saying "refurbishment", I believe that this is happening. The problem may be as simple as replacing the old pumps.

^This is great to hear. Herschend is doing an amazing job with the park. I have even noticed that the Corn Popper area is also being refurbished. Corn Popper and Sleighride have both been worked on, and with UFO gone, that leaves a perfectly good ride pad. As for Cuda Falls, the word around the park is that it will get the axe. This is however only a rumor, and it is coming from many park guests, not employees themselves. I have not seen one worker even near the slides at all this year, so that may be true. The new restaurant that may be coming could also go near the Twister area to liven it up. I believe that the area is called Fun Zone, and that just doesn't fit in with the Herschend way.

I totally forgot about White Lightning being steel structured. I still can't see a new GCI coaster opening, because although Cheetah was retracked recently (2008), the latest new coaster was Thunderhead, which opened 9 years ago. With Predator being retracked, although GCI specializes in that, all repairs have been done through RMC. So they should be very familiar with the coaster already. As for Gravity Group, they have pretty much fallen off of the map because their coasters have been said to be getting very rough, so I don't think that it would be a good idea for them to get the job. Does anybody know who retracked Predator when Six Flags was still in control?

The fact that no pictures were included, and that the only GCI coaster installed for Herschend was Ozark Wildcat back in 2003, makes me very skeptical about GCI getting the job. The same thing was just said about SFGAm with American Eagle getting an RMC treatment. Like I said before, GCI may not necessarily be building the coaster, but helping RMC with structural engineering, construction, etc. etc. The park did say that they would like a steel structure, which I don't recall GCI ever using. It still makes me question this because RMC does their own construction and have designed Outlaw Run by themselves without any outside help. I could be wrong but my gut tells me that this will be RMC, as Herschend was happy with Outlaw Run.