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Sam826

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Posts posted by Sam826

  1. RIP Fantasy Island! (1962-2019)

     

    Haven't been to Fantasy Island in years, but the Silver Comet was the best ride out of all of the rides at Fantasy Island. Their loss in terms of attendance would be Darien Lake's gain.

     

    100 people a day maybe?

     

    So basically they'd double DL's attendance then.

     

    Clearly you havent been to DL. Its no Disney or CP, but its not a ghost town either. Fantasy Island was a ghost town.

     

    Clearly you haven’t been to MarineLand. Though attendance wasn’t the highest it could’ve been, it was never a ghost town.

  2. @ whoever said the in park audio isn’t on yet: it is, you just can’t hear it unless you are standing directly underneath it. It’s set to like a volume setting of 1.

     

    Trust me, the in park audio is new as of this week. It’s at the volume it’s typically at for the park now - you’re right, it’s not super loud but that’s kind of the point.

     

    It seems like they haven’t quite figured out Boardwalk’s music just yet but I’m not surprised since it was always different from the rest of the park since the 2013 season.

     

    I wonder if they had to figure out licensing for music they used within the park under new management? Maybe that’s why it was quiet for a bit? I also noticed the music they were playing was different than what they used to play... they even updated the laser show’s preshow music since the first time I saw the show this year, which I of course was happy about!

    No, I actually mean you can’t physically hear it unless you are standing directly underneath. If you’re standing literally 5 feet away (I’m serious because I asked my friend who was 5 feet away if she could tell what song was playing) you can’t hear it. If they want to have subtle music in the background, that’s one thing, but you actually can’t tell it’s playing. It needs to be a little bit louder if they just want it to be subtle.

  3. I don’t know whether this is a good or bad thing..? But y’all can pick your own opinion lol. I went to the park yesterday. Every single employee on every coaster was doing the complete opposite of stapling. I felt like I could weave my way out of every restraint. I just thought that was funny and worth noting because someone mentioned that the employees have been stapling. On a side note, they are building a fence behind Ranger’s spot. Woop woop.

     

    P.S. Motocoaster is running.

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  4. Okay, time for a more Positive Trip Report :

     

    I know almost everything I am about to bring up has already been mentioned, but I will give my opinion anyways. So, I honestly thought they did a better job this year as far as opening days were concerned. I have been on other opening days before and had worse experiences. With that being said, it was not the best it could be either, but it was nice I thought. Okay, on to the main points now from my trip earlier today.

     

     

    So, to start, I went to Boomerang first and noticed some of the wheels were new. Boomerang was actually a little smoother today which probably has something to do with the wheel replacements. Also, another odd plus was actually the Mind Eraser train. Now, I know this may be an unpopular opinion, but bear with me. I think doing that to the Mind Eraser train actually made that ride a little bit smoother too. I rode Mind Eraser twice, once in the last row and the other in the third last row and expected the usual rough ride. However, it was not as rough as it used to be weirdly enough. This may be a result of the park taking the better parts of both trains and putting them together as they did. It does not look good exactly, but the ride does feel better when you are on it. So in short, both Vekoma coasters in the park are slightly smoother. Also, back row rides on Mind Eraser are among the most underrated experiences in the park.

     

    Ride of Steel was sort of a nice experience. However, the experience became slightly less good because of something I will admit is kinda my fault. I went on the ride with my wallet, and my wallet sat in my pocket right where the lap bar came down on one of my legs. Because of this, the ops had to push the bar down harder leading to my wallet pressing into my leg for almost the whole ride. Ouch! At least it was still a fun ride though.

     

    Viper is the same, pretty much. And yah, that's all I got to say about Viper.

     

    Skyscreamer does not look as big in person if you are close to it, but when you are further away from it the ride looks taller for some reason. Not sure how that was possible, maybe my eyes are just wierd. lol

     

    Tantrum was still the second best ride in the park and very smooth.

     

    Motocoaster and Predator were both closed. Probably for staffing reasons, I would have to imagine.

     

    Something else that was interesting is how much they pushed the Six Flags brand while still seeing the old logo make appearances. The Six Flags logo was all over the place, but especially all over the front area. Also, a couple of the food stands had Six Flags touches added to them, most notibly six metal flags standing up on the Pretzel stand near the entrance.

     

    I decided to see what the hype over Fascination Parlor was about, so I tried that for the first time. It was actually really friggin fun. On top of that, you can play four games at Fascination Parlor for a dollar compared to the riduculous prices at the majority of the other games at the park. Also unlike the majority of other games, you get to sit down in a slightly cooler building too. If you want to kill a half hour, I definitely recommend Fascination Parlor.

     

    Rolling Thunder's harness hurts. Moving on.

     

    Remember when there was talk about the back area behind Boomerang no longer being part of the park? That didn't happen.

     

    I noticed people posting about the food in the park being a problem. I can't exactly speak on that as I eat before and after I went to the park, thus not eating there the whole time.

     

    They had some fun looking new games by Mind Eraser. One of them was a bar in which if you hold yourself up on it for two minutes, then you get a Six Flags Darien Lake pillow. Me and the friend I went with had some fun with watching other people try it. Some other people had the same idea, so it was kinda also a new side show at the same time. Right next to it was the soccer darts, but I barely saw anyone play that one as the bar game was clearly more popular for both people playing the game and onlookers. They also have a new area for upcharge Massage Chairs near Fascination Parlor.

     

    In general, they did clearly invest a lot into the park this year. If you know where to look, there are subtle differences all over the entire park. It does look rushed too, but at least they did a decent job I thought. The park does have a different vibe to it. It feels more like what I would think a Six Flags would feel like, but mixed with the Darien Lake most of us already knew. What also made this an interesting experience is that this was also technically my first time to a Six Flags branded park at all, and I can't say I don't like it. It fits the park. I just think Six Flags just needs time to work on the park a bit more to make it into something even better. As long as you go in with realistic expectations, then it is a rather fun experience. If you are looking for something like Six Flags New England, then you will inevitably be disappointed. It is a fun park with a slightly new character, and I like where it is going. Six Flags Darien Lake is nice.

  5. I’m aware of how negative that post was and I am very understanding of the fact of all new management, but come on. My whole experience was flat out ridiculous. They couldn’t even be ready for their opening weekend at all?? I’ve attended many opening weekends, whether it’s at Darien Lake or Fantasy Island and I have never had this low of an experience at any of them. This isn’t Six Flags’s firts rodeo, I expected more from them, and from what I heard being muttered in the lines, it sounds like everybody there expected more. Oh well, hopefully it’ll improve when I go on the 18th for SkyScreamer.

    It’s not Six Flags’ first rodeo. But the park has to switch over again. It’s never an easy process. There are a lot of returning employees who are used to a specific way, and only a few new management people in assuming. Everything can’t be implemented right away.

  6. Y’all I have some news for you. It’s more interesting than *GASP* Cuda Falls and, OH MY, Batman: The Escape. Okay... brace yourselves everyone... it’s called.. patience. OH MY!!! Did he just say the “p” word?!?! Yes he did!!! Yeah. We have seasonal theme parks around here. Neither are ever ready for opening day. Like wow, it’s SO shocking isn’t it. Might as well assume Blast Off will never have the seats on it and Mind Eraser will forever have red and blue seats. Guess we can never go to Darien Lake again! Both Fantasy Island and Darien Lake struggle when they first open, to some degree. It’s no secret. Some of these employees have never worked at a theme park until now. Also, employees love to call off on opening day at both parks for some reason. So don’t get mad when people are struggling to get your food or season pass. The people trained to do these specific jobs call off and then new people have to get trained and guests will always get mad. The best thing that literally every single one of you on here can try to do is... ohmygod... UNDERSTAND. Think about circumstances and WHY these things are the way that they are. You know why I’m excited for “Six Flags Darien Lake”? Not because of the opening weekend, or even opening season for that matter. This isn’t a presidents first 100 days. Give it time. Be patient.

  7. I don't know if you got a bad pizza, because Darien Lake pizza I could honestly eat anytime of the day

     

    Next time someone from upstate calls me out for putting ranch on my wings I’ll just show them this post about what upstate New York considers respectable pizza and we can call it even.

    I’ve been to New York. I’ve been to Italy. I know what good pizza tastes like, and I can firmly tell you that, for a theme park, the personal pans at Darien Lake last season were definitely some of the best I’ve had throughout theme parks. You definelty just had a bad pizza.

     

    I gotta agree. While it’s certainly not even close to the best pizza out there (i’ve lived in Buffalo my whole life, I know good pizza), in relation to other theme parks, it’s actually pretty impressive. Honestly, Darien has some of the best theme park food in general. I mean, it isn’t necessarily good but in comparison to other theme parks i’ve been to, besides maybe Disney, the DL food has been impressively good.

     

    I am not sure if the food that they contracted for a corporate party in the party area is the same stuff they serve within the park but we went to a corporate party a couple years ago and the food served was some of the most vile, disgusting food I have ever had the pleasure of eating. Now I don't expect the world from theme park fare and I am generally not picky about served food especially when it doesn't cost me any money to eat but man, this food was barely edible. A lot of people weren't eating anything and we couldn't access the drink machine because it was swarming with bees, well that isn't necessarily DL's problem as its a problem when you have soda outside no matter what in the summer but still annoying. They could have provided bottles of water to drink instead of having to get the water from the drink machine that was swarming with bees or at least a water dispenser of some sort with paper cups in the food area, I have seen kegs full of water, they could have used one of those. I can't describe the hamburgers and the mac and cheese must have contained a substance other than cheese on it because it both looked like plastic and tasted like plastic. They did serve fruit but well, it didn't taste like fruit, I think they put something on it that made it not taste like fruit, it was the kind of fruit that is served out of a bag. The only good thing was they served ice cream bars out of a cooler and believe me that was the best part of the meal.

     

    I attended a catered party at DL in 2016 I believe. The food at that party was disgusting. I’ve worked in theme park catering in the past and I’ll tell you the food at the catered picnic is far worse and cheaper then the food sold at the stands. Think about it, how much needs to be made at once. Sometimes we’d have over a thousand people we needed to make food for. Hot dogs and burgers are cheap brand, hundreds thrown on the grill at once and everyone rushing. The cheap catering food and cooks rushing to tend to all the hundreds on the grill doesn’t result in a good product. I mean, we could offer better food at these events but think about how much it would cost the person booking it for possibly thousands of people.

     

    I have to agree, I think the party I went to was in 2015 or 2016 as well. Some are huge corporate parties, and the one I went to was a place with a very large employment base, and sometimes they have multiple large parties on a single day, they did when I was there, so that makes sense. I would guess there were probably 3-5k people there on the day I went just from corporate parties. The tickets (1-2 per person) to these corporate parties are completely free and they include free parking as well, so it completely free other than the drive down there for guests to attend these (I am not sure if this will be the case under SF ownership though). If you wanted extra tickets other than the 1-2 provided there was the option to purchase extra tickets at an extremely discounted price. I assume the catered party food is probably ordered separately from the in park fare and cooked elsewhere in the park, and then brought to the picnic area. Regardless of all of this, the food was worse than awful.

     

    Most people when I was at the park due to the insane food prices were bringing in food from home in small lunch bags and eating it right in the park so I guess not too many people order food in the park so that gives more time and food stands that aren't too busy and I assume like most fast food places the food is cooked to order or if its busy they cook food individually and it will be fresh because it is selling. I didn't see too many people ordering at the food stands. I don't think the food stand food is cooked in another place in the park and brought to the restaurant and served warmed up in a microwave or something like that. Besides the little microwave pizzas that look like something you can buy at walmart for 88 cents.

    Every time I’ve been there for a catered picnic, it was typically the hot dogs, Mac and cheese, and possibly burgers I think. I haven’t tried much else, I don’t think... but the hot dogs and Mac n cheese always seemed good to me. To be fair, it is kinda hard to mess up a hot dog.

  8. I don't know if you got a bad pizza, because Darien Lake pizza I could honestly eat anytime of the day

     

    Next time someone from upstate calls me out for putting ranch on my wings I’ll just show them this post about what upstate New York considers respectable pizza and we can call it even.

    I’ve been to New York. I’ve been to Italy. I know what good pizza tastes like, and I can firmly tell you that, for a theme park, the personal pans at Darien Lake last season were definitely some of the best I’ve had throughout theme parks. You definelty just had a bad pizza.

  9. It was actually, it was built by Premier Parks which after their purchase of Six Flags from Time Warner it changed its name to Six Flags Inc.

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

     

    Mind Eraser was built in 1997. Premier bought Six Flags in 1998.

    It’s still the same company

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    From Wikipedia:

    "In 1998, Premier purchased Six Flags Theme Parks, and began to rebrand its own parks as Six Flags."

    Yes, it was still the same company, however, there was no affiliation between Six Flags and premier before Six Flags was acquired by premier. Six flags did not build the mind eraser.

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    Actually... 1997 Premier Parks is 2019 Six Flags... theoretically... so in a sense, “1997 Six Flags” does not exist anymore. So by saying Premier Parks built Mind Eraser in 1997, you can say that Six Flags built it. Modern day Six Flags is more “1997 Premier Parks” than it is “1997 Six Flags”.

     

    So yes, Six Flags built Mind Eraser, just as Premier Parks and then basically changed their name.

  10. If Darien Lake were to get a new coaster within the coming seasons, where are some spots that it could go? Other than Cuda Falls, go carts and the *hopeful* conversion of predator.

    Without removing something else I think that is about it.

     

    The only other way they could "expand" (and this will NEVER happen because I don't even know if it could be done and it would be stupid to do anyway) would be to fill in Fun Lake.

     

    That will not happen and I don't even know if it could... I just wanted to list an insane idea that would in theory allow for a park expansion. This however is a stupid idea and will not happen (have I made that clear enough?)

     

     

    If you are looking at realistic places for the park to add a new ride look to the go carts area, former Cuda Falls area or the big building by Viper where they had a haunted house this year.

    Hmm.... what about a bridge across the road like... Astroworld.. I think..? I’m probably wrong but I know it’s possible to build a bridge across the road.

  11. Went to Fantasy Island last night for their haunt. (photos compliments of a buddy of mine I went with) -- PS: the only reason he went was because I had a bring a friend free pass and he conveniently crosses Grand Island after work. The only reason I went is because I somehow got roped into a 2019 season pass. WTF was I thinking?

     

    One thing that really impressed me was that they had one of the longest haunted houses I've ever seen. MIDWAY MAYHEM. I think it was even longer than Lake Compounce's 45 minute attraction. Or something.

     

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    Next up we had an attraction called "what's in the box"... we asked the employee outside the first haunted house what was in the box and she had no clue. This made me even more excited as nobody knew. Sorry, NO SPOILERS. you have to see for yourself!

     

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    Lastly they themed their canoes (note the location on the website screenshot) to be super scary. Seriously, don't touch the water.

     

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    One of the couple of scare zones (the rest are not pictured)

     

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    To Fantasy Island's credit:

    - Silver Comet is still a great ride. Yes the train was literally falling apart and chunks of it were missing, it was a ton of fun in both the front and back.

    - While extremely clunky, we had a great ride on the spinning mouse (2 people only sat to one side) holy crap did we get dizzy.

    - The first / largest house was actually on par with Jungle Apocalypse at Darien Lake. (No, really) -- They both had the same amount of actors, too. And unlike Darien Lake, they were actually acting and trying.

     

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    - "the Awakening" outdoor show, while only seen from a distance, the choreography didn't seem that bad. I caught glimpses from the Silver Comet station and on the ride.

    - we missed out on the 4d upcharge thing, and some of the shows.

    - Freddie Kruger was a little cold in the one scarezone so they let him wear Nike windbreaker pants

    - While we didn't ride, I applaud the enclosed bumper cars / road rage cage. We saw fog spewing from the entranceway.

     

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    - I was wearing my Wicked Cyclone hoodie and the op at Crazy Mouse was telling me about his ride on Steel Vengeance but unfortunately it was his only RMC. (is that you RJR19?)

    - Mind Warp (?) was actually a really fun ride (despite the loud scary noises it makes and the trainee who released the restraints instead of hitting START.) I thought we were going to die for a brief moment. Honestly it was really good and seeing the comet upside down was neat. If it was any longer I would have puked, however. I didn't feel well the rest of the night, but maybe it was the radioactive canoes talking.

     

    Well I think that's it.

     

    It was me haha.

  12. Still can't figure out if Pattycakes is a troll or not... I don't understand how you can say Darien Lake is so much better than Haunt at CW when you haven't even been.

     

    One thing I will definitely say is CW was absolutely PACKED to the brim with scaresctors. Both around the park and in the mazes too. Darien Lake was a ghost town on Friday.

     

    At CW I don't like how they charged parking even for Platinum Pass holders (apparently they've always done that, but we normally went during the day and stayed at night so we never left the lot), and how the meal and drink plan (despite the website saying otherwise about drinks) was no good at Haunt. It wouldn't have been terrible if it was clearly outlined on the website that meals were no good, but you have to really dig to find it on the accesso store.

     

    Anyways, the haunts themselves at CW was probably the worst it's been in my opinion, but still miles ahead of Fright Fest. To say Fright Fest looks better is insulting. Trust me, I want Darien Lake to succeed, but they need to step it up.

     

    I'm curious how Fantasy Island will compare...

     

    I work at Fantasy Island. Their Halloween Horror is terrible. The whole time, I saw two actors in hazmat suits, those were the only scare actors I saw. There is a house, a camp type scare, like a tamed-down ScumShine, and a trailer scare you walk through, nine are that good.

     

    You know, it would be nice if you supported the park at least a little bit. If you really think it’s that bad then why do you even work there? All you do is bash the place. They aren’t Six Flags or Canada’s Wonderland. Obviously it’s gonna take some time to build it up. It’s literally the company’s second year doing Halloween Horror, so give it a chance. Oh and just a little FYI, if you’re gonna complain about the park, don’t complain about how there isn’t enough employees in a specific area for anything. That’s simply because many of the people hired at the park seem like a good fit at first, however, they end up being bad employees and the park is doing it’s job by terminating them, even when they know they’ll be short staffed.

  13. I still can’t quite grasp why so many people are so mad about TR’s removal. It wasn’t even that good of a log flume. From my experiences of riding it, you barely even got wet in it, I go to DL many times each year, and I really haven’t ever been super excited about riding TR, in fact, I only rode it once this year, all the complaining just hasn’t made sense to me!

    It is because the general “western New York” area only had one log flume. It doesn’t matter how crappy of a ride you may have thought it was. It was the only way to experience such a ride around here.

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