PATTYCAKES

Wow, Darien Lake owns more land than I thought and it's shame that only a small portion at the right side is utilized within the park (including the campgrounds, hotel, and performing arts center). What is Darien Lake going to do with the rest of the land that they own? If they own that much property, for investment company owners, it would make sense to build houses on that property like at Canada's Wonderland. Wonderland is ALWAYS busy now with so many housing developments in the area. For Darien Lake to build and sell houses on that property, it would increase daily attendance by leaps and bounds, not to mention, increase the value of the park, and hence be able to expand the park itself!

YEAH! This is my 100th post! Welcome to TPR, hauntmaniac. I just wanted everyone to know, this is NOT my BF, HAUNTMANIAC, from CWMania, who was, unjustly, kicked off this site a few years ago. Gear, do not write off HALLOWEEN HAUNT because of your experience this year. I will tell you a better way to experience HALLOWEEN HAUNT. A proven method that my BF and I have been using for years now. First, NEVER go on the last 2 Saturdays as they are the busiest. Second, if you arrive at the parking lot at 7:00PM on the last 2 Saturdays, forget about getting in before 7:30PM The third thing is, when you go to HAUNT, you should pick if you are going on rides or going in the mazes. You can't do both. So, now for some real tips. First, do yourself a favour and buy a 5:30PM meal. This will get you an all-you-can-eat meal for $14 bucks and it will get you in to 2 mazes at 6:30PM, a half hour before HAUNT opens to the public. Then all you have to do, is go around the park counter-clockwise, with little or very few stops for rides. This will keep you a half hour ahead of the public for the entire night. With this plan, you will even have time for the show in the theatre, witch was a HUGE improvement this year. My BF and I stick to this plan every year. So, we usually go on the first 2 weekends or on the last 2 Sundays and always with a 5:30PM meal. Try this method next year, Gear, I promise, you will have a much better experience at HALLOWEEN HAUNT. You can also PM me if you want any more tips. I will be posting my TR, for HALLOWEEN HAUNT this year, very, very soon. PATTYCAKES.

My Darien Lake report is coming soon, but I can tell you right now, my family and I had an AMAZING time at Darien Lake. No more DL trash talking necessary, okay folks. It took 10 years, but, this park is great again!

I have really low expectations for Haunt this year as the last few years have really been 'same-old-same-old'. WonderlandFan, forget about scarezones. They haven't had good scarezones for a few years now. Last year they had zero scarezones. Expect more permanent mazes like the ones inside the mountain and the new manor maze last year, as these mazes cost nothing to set up.

I'm going to say this again. The park looks great! I'm going to get me one of those Souvenir cups in about 2 weeks and bring it back to Canada. I just can't wait! Yah, yah, yeeeah! xx

Awesome! But no pins?

Jewel, are you saying you are 13 and your parents have never taken you to Wild Water Kingdom? Have you been to Darien Lake?

I thought it would be okay because Wild Water Kingdom in Toronto is now kind of connected to Darien Lake.

This may be of interest to you all. This Wild Water Kingdom (Toronto, Canada) icon_STOPPark News - (8/2/16) Premier Parks LLC has officially acquired the closed Wild Water Kingdom waterpark in the Toronto area. Premier Parks, headed by Kieran Burke, is looking forward to rebuilding the waterpark into a new first class waterpark and will announce their plans in the near future.

Who owns Darien Lake right now? Is it Premier?

Amazing pictures, Steve. 3 weeks and my family will be there too! It's been a few years since we were there last. We can't wait! Your park looks beautiful, congratulations! Don't worry about Viper's station, a little wear adds character. They have 3 weeks to fix Twister for my family. I remember the gum wall. That is totally NASTY!@ If that stake was near a fence at Wonderland, our "experts" would be predicting a coaster, yep even with only one stake. Darien Lake needs some mascot characters walking around, like the big parks. I remember dancing around the fountain with all the Looney Tunes characters, when I was younger. It was a lot of fun for kids and adults. I miss the characters. Even just generic mascots like the Beaver Brothers or maybe a Viper or Predator character or how about a Moose for Moose on the Loose. Is there any NEW merchandise this year? Shirts, hats? How about any pins? I have a lot of pins from the Six Flags era. Maybe I should post pics of them.

Steve, we'll probably pass each other at the border. If you are coming for only one day, and you want to go on most of the rides, then for sure, you'll need a fast lane plus pass. Otherwise, you'll have to be at the front gate at 9am and get on the big coasters first to beat most of the GP. xx

They removed the arch too. Looks better without it actually.

Yey! Bill, Rideofsteel and Maxim agree with the Canadian girl! Darien Lake is great! Spend a bit on some small things first. 2 train operation doesn't need to be the priority right now. The park is going in the right direction, just wait a few years and the rewards for being patient will start appearing.

I have never blamed Six Flags and never will. All I am saying is this. Okay, so are you saying the second trains are actually still at Darien Lake but not in a good state of operation? If that is true, let me ask this. If Darien Lake took the money they spent on RipCurlRacer and Rolling Thunder, and spent it on bringing back 2 train operations, then how would they advertise that to Canadians? They have been advertising RipCurlRacer, Rolling Thunder and Ignite the Night through commercials, in Canada, all season long. They are actually getting 25% more from Canadians than Americans this season. The same goes for Wonderland, where our season pass has not gone up in years, however, our day rate is now just $5 dollars less than a season pass. If Darien Lake invested in just second train refurbishment, they would actually be losing out on our very weak Canadian dollar. Second train operations alone would not have encouraged Canadians to come and spend our extra 25% on your great park. Our +25% might actually be helping Darien Lake get those second trains up and running for next season. Canada's Wonderland has actually put off buying anything large, for now, as it would cost 25% more than it would normally. That's all I'm saying. My Canadian family loves Darien Lake so much, that we are actually going to spend 25% more money to go to your great park even though we know it has been 1 train operations for a few years now. What does that say about Canada's Wonderland? It says that 2 and 3 train operations are still not enough at our park as it is busy all the time. It will be nice to wait only 30-45 minutes for a coaster. I just can't wait!

Okay, so, let's make a list, and this is just the minimum. Ride 1 new train for Viper 1 new train for Predator 1 new train for Mind Eraser 1 new train for Motocoaster You can fill in the costs.

By large coasters, I meant coasters that are the same size as Darien Lake's coasters. Darien Lake doesn't have a Leviathan or Behemoth. I will be going to Darien Lake more times than Wonderland this year because Wonderland is just getting to darn busy all the time! Hour wait for the Fly, hour wait for a pizza. Be careful what you wish for. One day Darien Lake might get too busy too. You all are complaining about 1 train operations not being enough. What happens when 2 and 3 train operations is not enough. Well, then you've have yourselves an overcrowded DL just like CW is now. Canadians LOVE Darien Lake!

Yeah, I know what operations are all about. Operations, control what happens throughout a theme park, not just if a coaster has 1 train or 2 trains, and by the way, Canada's Wonderland does not operate any large coaters with 3 trains, 2 are the max. Now, if you want to say, the ride department, or the food department, or the admissions department, all those departments fall under park operations. To say that Darien Lake has bad park operations, because they only run 1 train on coasters, is just not true. Coasterkid, don't think you will be getting on too many coasters at Canada's Wonderland with a less than 45 minute wait. At least you can enjoy the atmosphere at Darien Lake, or play Fascination for awhile, while you wait for the lines to shorten a bit.

Wait a second! In less than 5 years, you got Moose on the Loose, an award winning ride, Hornet's Nest, the new Boardwalk area, Blast Off, a restored Scrambler, a new waterpark slide, Twister, now being restored, a new million dollar train for Ride of Steel, a revamped Laser show. Seems pretty awesome operations to me. My family is looking forward to visiting Darien Lake in August. My family loves Darien Lake, the atmosphere is second to none! No other theme park is as beautiful as Darien Lake. You should be very proud of what you have. Darien Lake is great!

I wonder If they will be finished by the time Pattycakes gets there in August.

Thanks Steve, let me know when you want some Canada's Wonderland info. xx

Steve, you're coming to my park in August and I'm coming to your park in August. How is the food this year? How are the games this year? How are the shows this year? What about Ignite the Night? All everyone talks about is the one train issue, what about the rest of the park? I know there was an issue with washroom cleanliness a couple of years ago, has that big corrected? I just looked at CoasterKid's TR. Like I said before, Darien Lake has always been a very clean, very nice looking park. It looks like a new blacktop too since the last time I was there, which was a few years ago. Awesome report. Now I really can't wait to come to DL in August. I'll try not to forget my bikini too. The new slides in the waterpark look great! Wonderland just does not have an atmosphere anywhere close to Darien Lake. Nice job, as always!

Thanks Steve, I presume you are asking about Canada's Wonderland waterpark. I think Coasterkid was thinking you were asking about your Darien Lake waterpark. Canada's Wonderland's waterpark, Splashworks is billed as 2 parks for 1 price. Yes, both parks are still one price, for now. There is talk of creating a separate entrance to visit the waterpark only, so I guess that would be a bit cheaper than full price admission, but that hasn't happened, yet. Yes, Wonderland has more rides than Darien Lake, however, the atmosphere at Darien Lake is far superior to Wonderland. Our flower beds have been improved since Cedar Fair bought our park, but atmosphere is very hard to create. Darien Lake has always had great atmosphere, with the wooden benches and flower beds along your paths. Wonderland has a couple of nice areas, but the entire feel of Wonderland just is not the same as Darien Lake. There has been a lot of debate whether Guardian is actually a coaster. So, if Darien Lake had put in a big coaster within the past 4 years, that would have attracted a lot of Canadians. That is what I am saying. xx

!!!!! HAPPY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO ME !!!!! One big new coaster at Darien Lake would attract a lot of Canadians down to the park. Canada's Wonderland hasn't put in a new coaster for quite a few years now because of the low Canadian dollar. Darien Lake could take advantage of this and build a coaster that Wonderland couldn't compete with right now. You have to spend money to make money.

Wow! One thing that nobody talks about on this thread is the revenue that comes from the campground and hotel. I don't know if they are operated separately from the park, but is profit from the campground/hotel being used toward the park? My 1 year anniversary of being a member of Theme Park Review, tomorrow! Yay me!