rjr19

At DL right now, TR is operating again, but Twister has been down all day. I'm wondering if they will bother with opening it again, it has had problems every time I have been here this year. Also, the new Strike U Up game is already broken, it was stuck at the top with nobody on it and closed all day. Near Slap Shot, I noticed Chris Thorpe picking up litter on the paths. I didn't talk to him, but it was nice to see a person in charge leaving the office and cleaning up on the front lines! Galaxy Theatre's door was open again, and not much was going on in there, just the usual maintenance equipment. Thunder Rapids open- still no water on large drop.

Also, I forgot to mention that on Thunder Rapids, only the smaller hill actually has water flowing down it. Another thing that I had noticed was that there wasn't a single ride closed today! I haven't seen that in a VERY long time!

At DL right now, Thunder Rapids is open and operating!

Was at DL earlier today. I wasn't able to make it to Viper's anniversary ceremony, but from what I saw, it seemed like a nice event for the Viper. The ride-ops were outside giving out commemorative Viper holiday ornaments, and Red Velvet Perry's Ice Cream dubbed as "Viper Venom" was given out. There also was a news crew at the entrance, doing Plinko for prizes for the kids. Overall, it was pretty nice for Darien Lake to do something for Viper's 35th. As I was at the park, I had noticed that Thunder Rapids is still dry, with that one random log on the track after the final drop. Grizzly Run was closed, but water was flowing, and Motocoaster was still closed, which is beginning to worry me. I think it has been at least two weeks now that it has been broken. Due to the constant on-and-off rainfalls, ROS was closing down quite a bit, but the Ride-Ops were opening it at any opportunity where they could safely run it. They also were moving very quickly to dispatch trains to get as many runs in as they could before the next wave of rain came in. Also, due to the rain, the park was dead today, not even half of the parking lot was full, from what I had seen. Line were non-existent! I don't think that I waited more than one cycle on any ride, even tohugh most of the day was actually pleasant, weather-wise! Overall, it was a great day at the park!

I believe that those Premier Coasters are decently affordable, such as the Skyrocket or Skyrocket II model. These could be an amazing addition for DL.

With Motocoaster and Giant Wheel, I am wondering if they are having mechanical issues. I was at the park on Sunday and both rides were closed then, too. Was Redhawk open? That was also closed Sunday.

Also, I had forgotten to mention something quite worrisome about Rolling Thunder. I went on today, and the ride didn't make one complete rotation around the loop, or even come close to it. It was basically a faster version of the Pirate. The operator claimed that the load was "too heavy" and that the motor couldn't get it to the top. This ride is 2 YEARS OLD, and 3 rows were left empty. It wasn't at full capacity, and it couldn't make it to the top! DL seriously needs to take an in-depth look into its maintenance department. Also, at one point, about half of the rides were down: Slingshot, Redhawk, Twister, Motocoaster, Viper, Mind Eraser, Thunder Rapids, Rolling Thunder, and Ride of Steel. It seems as if, from a maintenance standpoint, the park is getting worse each year.

I am at DL right now, and although Thunder Rapids is still dry, the log cars are parked in the station. Also, Silver Bullet was back open today.

For Silver Bullet, I've been to DL 3 times this year so far, and SB hasn't been open once all 3 times now. I'm beginning to wonder if it will even open at all this year, or if it will be SBNO. On the topic of Thunder Rapids, I cannot confirm that the boats are not in sight, but I have noticed that as of last weekend, there hasn't been any water even in the ride, everything was totally dry.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but it looks like your video was copyrighted.

It does seem as though some rides have gotten some new lighting this year. Nothing too crazy though. For example, it looks like the pirate has some new blue LEDs on it. And then there's Rolling Thunder. I don't know what's up with that thing but they went from two segments not working last year to the entire ring not working. The ride is two years old! I noticed the new LEDs on Pirate, but at the time, I couldn't quite remember if they were there last year. Viper also seemed do have gotten some new lighting around the outside of the station, although the old rotten piece of wood holding up that one cover still hasn't been replaced. With Rolling Thunder, it looks like all of the lighting has been fixed this year, all light segments were working correctly.

That actually is something that stood out to me. I believe that Silver Bullet always had blue and white lights, not blue and red. Maybe the issues could be that the ride has new lights for this year.

I can confirm that this is most likely true, as ROS was open all day today without any issues, although I did notice that the train was most certainly riding much rougher than it did last year. Twister was only open for about an hour, and then broke down and didn't reopen. I noticed for the brief time that it was open, that it was making some strange gear-grinding sounds that most certainly did not sound good. Also, I don't know if anybody else has already reported on this or not yet, but Viper's camera has been moved. It is no longer after the corkscrews, but directly before the tunnel. In fact, the camera is mounted on the concrete of the tunnel entrance. Also, I noticed that Silver Bullet was down all day without any ops at it, and Thunder Rapids was closed w/o any water even filled in it yet, it was still bone-dry.

I feel like ROS should be ready by this coming Saturday. It has been fairly cold these last couple of weekends, and this weekend should be nicer weateher, and that means more park visitors. I feel that the DL team would want to get it up and running for this nice weekend coming up, but for now, all we can do is wait and see.

Do you think Ride of Steel will be open next weekend? I am planning to go on Saturday, but it may get be kinda pointless if ROS isn't operaring at all.

Also, you need to remember the amount of smaller children that ride the pirate. I feel that many parents would complain to the park if their kids are inhaling cigarette smoke, while they wait in a line for a ride geared towards smaller children.

So how's the weather going over in Darien for opening day? I decided to wait until next weekend because of the weather. Also, how are the new games? Did anybody try them out yet?

You are correct, I went to the water park once this summer and I had to use the fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo, and they are the self - service ones with the rental kiosk. It also does house the tube rentals. It's nice to see DL doing these nice little upgrades to the areas of the park. Even these small changes really do make the overall experience nicer!

I'm already planning to get passes for wonderland this year, although DL is my home park, and I've always gotten passes for DL. Lately, I've been feeling that it may be worth the extra drive to Wonderland. It's really too bad the way that DL has been more recently.

I was also at the park today, and I can confirm that the park was indeed very busy today. It was definitely busier than it usually is. Silver Bullet and Twister were still down, ROS broke down twice while I was there. No, unfortunately, no work was done to Viper's station yet. Also, Viper's wait was longer than I have ever seen it in the last five years, after the many times that I was at DL this year, I can say that it definitely has dramatically grown in popularity this year. Still no second train, which would have been nice today. I can also confirm that Boomerang was still open (line was still open, unchained) at 7:55 or so. Overall, a fun day at the park. Vipers crazy long line today!

Was at the park tonight. Seems as if they were having more breakdowns than usual. First, Viper got stuck on the lift hill, then, 10 minutes after that, Mind Eraser was stuck on the brake run. After that I got in line to ride ROS. I wait about 10 minutes, and it breaks down, 15 minutes later, it reopens, then, after three runs, it broke down again, then it reopened after about 20 minutes. After that, after only one run, it broke down again. I have been to DL 12 times this season, and it has been down for at least 20 minutes every single time that I have been there so far. Also, Twister was still closed, with all restraints back on it, and Silver Bullet was still closed. All of the water rides were open. Also, Viper, as expected, still running one train.

Is it true that they make you wear wristbands now?

My friend works at Fantasy Island, I've been told that they have plans to add some sort of floorless coaster to the back of the park. He said that apparently, the new management company of Fantasy Island has many larger plans for the future.

I was at Canada's Wonderland a few weeks ago, Skyhawk is a lot of fun... Once you figure out how to flip the plane, this seemed to be very confusing to the majority of riders. I agree that a Windseeker-type attraction would be a great addition to the park.

I agree, it does look nicer without it.