Sk610

^and to add one more insight, most times I went this year, the amusement side of the park was not very busy, but the water park side was slammed. Basically, people went, but some for the water park and some for the amusement park. Either way, it all counts for overall attendance and revenue. Now if we could just get CNL to re-invest that capital into the park, we would be good. Unfortunately, I dont see a new coaster coming to the park until CNL sells it to someone else outright

I do think that the crowds really had to do with the extremely nice fall we are having combined with closing weekend. Don't forget that about 10 years ago that Buffalo got 2 feet or more of snow on the 12th of October. It is very unpredictable, and the park has to set its operating schedule before the season even starts. The current schedule is the safest with all things considered. Don't forget that there are major costs associated with operating the park daily like labor, water and electricity and in October in WNY, a bad weather weekend could result a major loss of cash just to try to stay open an extra weekend or two

I went yesterday and the park was mobbed! Lines for everything were crazy! We waited over 30 minutes for hornets nest along with just about every other ride we went on. Twister and Siver Bullet were both down obviously, but the restraints appeared to be back on, so that may be good news for next year. Now it is just time to wait for a 2017 announcement

They already do bring in food trucks in the fall as staffing is so light.

I think the weather possibilities along with the difficulty in finding staff are the reason they do not have the fright fest activities any longer. I know I went when it was SF and it was in the upper 30's and they only had haf the park open. If you notice, now they are bringing in food trucks on the weekends as staff for the food stands is very difficult.

Yes I remember when ROS was new the park had huge attendance. I recall waiting over an hour for ROS with two train ops. The good thing is that the park ownership/management then and now are the same. Hence they know what worked previously to drive attendance at the park and hopefully could replicate those actions.

Please don't get me wrong, but the only places at DL worth eating at are anchor bar, marias and beaver brothers. The others are just basic fast food that is not even all that great. So the meal plan is only a good deal if you go 7-8 times and it includes the true 'sit down' restaurants

I went to the park Wednesday night and Silver Bulet was still down. And by the way, the park was pretty busy Wednesday. My son is 6 and is not tall enough yet for the coasters, but most flats were about 3-4 cycle waits. That is the longest I have seen in two years. Yes the old cuda site is really only noticed from the ferris wheel. I do hope they use that area for a good coaster in the future. However, next year I really would like to see a good new flat ride to go with a new train for one of the coasters. Also, has anyone noticed that ME looks to be going up the lift a bit slower than usual? I am wondering if it is having a similar problem as Boomerang with the hydraulics that run the lift.

Did anyone ever stop to think that those are just very cleaverly disguised survey markers?

Yes, the hotel was built so that it could be expanded upwards. The idea of an indoor waterpark at DL is a tough one. It is not close to anything else and not many will travel to darien in the winter for an indoor waterpark. I may be wrong, but unless my season pass gets me admission, I would still be heading up to great wolf

I would say that other than the coasters and a few others, be sure to hit blast off and the haymaker. The haymaker is a paratrooper type ride, but is the only one in existence by Heinz Fahtz making it a must ride in my book

I am sure everyone is aware that "announcement season" is upon us. This would be great if DL were to be getting a new coaster next year, which we all understand is highly unlikely, but they will most likely add something. Keep an eye out for the town of darien and genesse county planning board meetings and agendas as any attraction will need approval.

So apparently Premier is starting to buy more parks as opposed to just managing them. Could this be a sign that they may purchase DL? If so, could the loot this waterpark for DL and other properties attractions?

I agree that re-routing the que for viper would be a luxury. It is definitely not needed and money could be spent elsewhere. I do think the best thing would be to paint the entire station and possibly even rebuild the entire structure. I find it very interesting how much the park has invested in painting buildings in the last few years, and left Vipers station off the list. I would support a hybrid que for viper following the red line, but not removing the old que so if it does get busy, they could easily extend the line as needed. Also, that old mini golf needs to go. If the use the old ranger que house, they could add a nice ride in there with more than enough que space. I think a true drop tower in there as the ride could not have a huge footprint.

I agree with the thoughts on the red coverd bridge. If it is structuraly not sound, then tear it down or rebuild it. If it is structurally sound, I would love to see it used as part of the que for motocoaster. One of my biggest pet peeves at the park is the fact that motocoaster is a great in between type of coaster and the que area is not easy to find. I think if they made the entrance easier to find, ridership would increase.

What is the DL sharp sculpture and where is it in the park?

I will say that if the park is truly trying to feurb twister, there is nothing wrong with that. I think a full refurb is a step in the right direction. It may also say that next year's attraction may go back in that area, and they want twister working as an additional draw.

I have never visited that site before, but after a quick paruse, I would not put much into what they are saying for 2017. That old stand up coaster will not ever be built at DL or any park for that matter. It was not taken down properly, so putting it back up is now impossible.

Yes Maria's Spaghett House is still there

Dark maxim, I understand that CNL is an investment firm that owns the park and has Premier manage it for them, but doesn't CNL still control the cash flow Premier recieves to operate the park with? This is where I believe the problems are at. CNL has allocated funds for the park, just not enough for when things like this come up. I think they started painting ME last year near the end of the season as they had some leftover money in the budget, and then ran out of cash. Now it looks silly with painted supports and old and faded track. A true owner who operates and manages the park would fork over the money for the entire job to be done right. Same would go for some of the other issues the park is facing right now.

It's early july and the park sounds like it is having major ride reliability issues. Either CNL needs to open the checkbook or sell to someone who will make the needed investments and repairs so this does not happen much more. I fear that attendance at the park is dropping quickly And that is never a good thing

My bet would be that if they were planning on having second trains on any coasters, the target date woud be for kingdom bound week. That tends to be the park is most crowded.

I went to the park this evening and wanted to post a few things. First off, we did not go until 4 pm and left by 7 pm. Second, we went with my son, who is 6 and is not tall enough to rideany of the coasters. Here is a few things I did notice though. I did not see ROS running at all this evening. All coasters were running just one train, except ROS which Idid not see run at all. Just about every flat other than blast offwas a walk on. Twister has just about every one of its restraints off it now. Grizzly run was not operating.The park looks like it could really use some landscaping work. Lot of weeds, sone 2-3 feet high. Now onto the juicy part. There seemed to be an executive at the park. When i took my sonon the antique cars, there was two people on the closed bridge pointing towards twister and the open area to the left of it. Later, I also saw them over by moose on the loose.The dl guy was definitely Chris Thorpe. The other guy hadanotepad and a beard. He was clearly writing things down. Not surewhat they were doing, but I would keep any eye out towards the area between twister and darien square for possible future development of a flat ride.

HFE wanted to buy DL, but wanted only DL and at the time CNL wanted to package all the parks. Seeing that they sold Elitch last year on its own, there may still be hope. My personal hope is for HFE to buy and invest in the par. They know what the park needs, and have the money to make the needed upgrades and additions.

The biggest problem is that CNL alwyas looks at the bottom line and want to turn a profit. Plus, I am ure they are payingmPremier to manage the park. If they sold the park to a company like HFE, they would invest into the park in order to bring things up to where they need to be. CNL would never do this for fear of losing money