HAUNT MANIAC

I have been in that pool, which is now filled with gravel under Motocoaster. Those who are too young or who have never been in that pool, it was exclusive for Campgrounders only. There used to be a security check point to keep the GP out of that area. That pool was not maintained by the park, it was maintained by the campground staff and it was always clean, just like the Lodge pool, always maintained and always clean. I'm sure I could find some old pictures of me and my sister enjoying that pool back in the 80's, I'll let you know if I ever come across some old pics.

Darien Laker, you'd be surprised where they can build a coaster these days. A coaster can be built under, over, around, through, pretty much anywhere near another coaster. At Canada's Wonderland, they built a 230ft coaster over a launch coaster, also they built a 306ft coaster over a go-cart track and a coaster like Viper. A 300ft coaster could easily be built over Viper and extend over to the old waterslide area, that would be awesome! I think they should have put MotoCoaster in the middle of Viper and kept the campground pool open. Right now, the campers don't get a pool unless they know someone staying at the hotel.

I have no more information than anyone else, but just going from what Cedar Fair did to Wonderland, warrants some comparisons. First, Cedar Fair bought Wonderland from Paramount, Darien Lake was bought from Six Flags. Both neglected the parks in some way. Then, Cedar Fair improved the food choices at Wonderland. Same at Darien Lake. Then, Wonderland was cleaned up, new flowers, trees, landscaping, same at Darien Lake. Then, Cedar Fair got rid of some of the low ridership flats and replaced them with some new flats. Now, Wonderland is painting the rides back to the original colours and they are even putting decals with the original park logo on the front of the coasters. Darien Lake, yep, Viper original paint, new decals. This took about 8 years to complete at Wonderland and they are still not finished. They are transforming DL pretty quickly in my opinion. The only thing that still separates Wonderland and Darien Lake is a 300ft coaster. When they put something big in at DL, then DL will actually have a big advantage over Wonderland with a HUGE campground and hotel. Good luck Darien Lake. Good times are just a few years away

For the first time, you Darien Lakers are going to see construction happening this entire season. Wonderland does that now, Cedar Point does it now, even Disney has construction going on all the time now while the park is still open. It helps to peak interest and curiosity and it gets everyone talking on forums like this one. I will say it again, DL is going to get something really big NEXT year . . . mark my words . . .

Yep, one positive step at a time . . . Darien Lakers, you WILL be getting a big coaster within the next 1 or 2 years . . . mark my words . . .

I agree, that would be crazy to do it all in one year . . . 5-10 years is just fine, and yes, Rowdy's Ridge area looks great!

I was thinking the other day, Laker, the best thing to happen to any park would be to have 2 owners with 2 pocketbooks. Now, (if) these 2 owners could come together with some kind of agreement where one would have the big ideas and one would put in the big investments, then you could, in theory, build a really great park in my opinion. Let's check off what DL aready has . . . a huge campground/rv area . . . check . . . a hotel/lodge for those who don't want to camp . . . check . . . atmosphere within the park . . . check, check, check . . . some great family rides . . . check . . . some great flat rides . . . check . . . sone great coasters . . . check . . . DL has food, and now, clean washrooms, a nice waterpark . . . Canada's Wonderland was at this point in 2006 . . . only one more thing to really get DL going really big . . . something bigger than Wonderland . . . a 400ft monster! . . . Cedar Fair has sunk 100 million dollars into Wonderland since 2006 with all of that money coming from park profits . . . once you start investing big into a park, the attendance and profits will come quickly . . . I'm telling you . . . 5-10 years . . . mark . . . my . . . words . . .

Now's the time to start, aj. Do it now or forget about Darien Lake ever being a big park. 5-10 years, mark my words, they already have big plans for Darien Lake, mark . . . my . . . words . . .

This is better! Just by taking a few unused waterslides down, gets you folks thinking big! I'm telling you, just 1 big coaster every 3-4 years and a few nice flats in between, will absolutely boost attendance and profitability of a great park like Darien Lake. In 5-10 years, come back to this post and tell me, I wasn't right . . .

There should never be any excuse for dirty washrooms, however I must say, when my family and I were at Darien Lake just this past summer, we never had any issues with any of the washrooms, they were spotless, so maybe the issues you are talking about have already been resolved.

Canada's Wonderland and Darien Lake compete alright. Darien Lake advertises with commercials around the Toronto area all the time every summer. So to say Canadians don't come to Darien Lake is just not true, in fact, Canadians LOVE Darien Lake. Darien Lake has something very important that Wonderland is just now starting to get, thanks to Cedar Fair . . . ATMOSPHERE. . . it is very difficult to create atmosphere in a theme park. Disney has it, parts of Cedar Point has it, Darien Lake has it throughout the entire park, the flowers and tree-lined paths are great! But, Wonderland is just now getting flower beds replanted that have been empty for years. It takes many years to create atmosphere and Darien Lake has always had amazing atmosphere.

Vistaway, is that another truck of track I can see in your side view mirror?

That's right, Wonderland has very high attendance but, did Wonderland have that attendance before it was bought by Cedar Fair or before Behemoth or Leviathan? . . . no . . . something like modifying Predator SAFELY or even a new mid-size coaster or a new area with some new flat rides would help attendance for sure, but the owners have to be brave with their pocketbooks and take a small risk and be rewarded with higher attendance numbers.

Please don't get me wrong, I am certainly not bashing DL or the owner/operators. I am just saying, a lot of Canadians are waiting to see Darien Lake build something, like a new coaster or something that Canada's Wonderland does not have. It doesn't have to cost $25 million, but one thing that DL has that Wonderland does not is a huge campground. Wonderland has no accommodation facilities which I think they are losing a big potential revenue. I'm just saying, if DL keeps saying, we have low attendance so we shouldn't build something big, then they will never get big attendance. In order to get big attendance . . . you must build something big first.

Okay, so ummm . . . 2 different owners, 2 different visions, 2 different pocketbooks, I guess that is why we haven't seen anything BIG happen at Darien Lake for a few years. Here is my suggestion. Canada's Wonderland's improvements slowed a lot when Paramount owned it, now Cedar Fair owns it and they have invested over $100 million since 2006. If they want to attract more customers to Darien Lake, then they must build. Build, build, build! Coasters like Behemoth and Leviathan at Wonderland are pretty cheap for the impact they have had on Wonderland. Behemoth - 230ft Leviathan -306ft. For around $25 million each, these coasters look huge! You can see them from miles away and it makes the park look like a real Theme park. Now, if Darien Lake built a $25 million coaster, then I guarantee you, attendance would go up, way up! Modifying Predator is not enough and some people think these modified wooden coasters are not safe. So, you fans of Darien Lake in the U.S., try getting these two owners to sit down and build a big coaster at Darien Lake.

Hey everyone, I live close to Canada's Wonderland and love coming over to visit Darien Lake at least once every 2 or 3 years since I was a kid. I have been coming since it was Darien Lake Fun Country, when it was a campground with a few flat rides. Now I bring my nieces and nephew to enjoy Darien Lake. I have just a few clarification questions if you all don't mind . . . (1) Who owns Darien Lake right now? (2) Who is in control of Darien Lake right now? (3) I see you all talking about ummm . . . Herchand . . . I don't know if that is the correct spelling . . . Who is Herchand and why do you think Darien Lake would be better if he was the sole owner? Why can't it be great right now? Is there a parent company holding Herchand back? Is the parent company holding funds back from Herchand? This is the kind of thing that destroys parks, when one owner has amazing plans and ideas and the other owner doesn't want to pay for them. I don't know if this is true in this case as Darien Lake has seen some improvements over the last couple of years, but clearly, I don't really know what is going on, so some clarification for some of us Canadians up here would be great! Thanks.

DarienLaker - very cool handle . . . I'm from Toronto so Canada's Wonderland is my park, however, I love Darien Lake . . . Wonderland just doesn't have the atmosphere that Darien Lake does. I went to Darien Lake in the summer and had an amazing time. I usually go to Darein Lake once every couple of years. I was wondering if you or anyone else, has any pics or videos of Fright Fest from this year. I hope to go to Fright Fest next year, but I need some incentive to get some of my friends to come with me. Any help and/or comments and pics/vids would be very helpful. Anytime you want to know anything about Wonderland, just let me know. Thanks, HAUNT MANIAC.

Okay Maxim, I read somewhere they were going to use the old unassembled coaster near the parking lot. Was the maze through the old flat rides cool? Do you have any pictures or video for us? I'm thinking of making the trip from Toronto for FrightFest next year , but I want to see some pics or vid to convince me. Also, do they still have the haunted bus ride through the campgrounds, that looks really cool on youtube vids.

Does anyone have any pics or video of the haunted maze that went through/past the unassembled roller coaster during Darien Lake's Fright Fest?

Too bad, I just enjoyed my first ride on Predator about 2 weeks ago. Probably won't be going on a modified woodie anytime soon. However, way to go Darien Lake! This will boost attendance for sure, although when I went 2 weeks ago, there was nothing wrong with attendance. Very busy! And this is my FIRST POST! YEAH! Oh, and hello everyone.