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From my understanding, there will be a small ceremony and my friend who has worked at the coaster for more than 20 years told me that he will be cutting the ribbon at speaking at the ceremony. The park has posted to Facebook and Instagram with the following message "Come celebrate the 35th season of roller coaster fun at the Viper Anniversary Party on June 29th! Perry's Ice Cream will be serving a special ice cream flavor in honor of the Viper - head right to the coaster when we open at 10:30 to check it out!" This party sounds like fun. It's too bad the 20th anniversary of Mind Eraser isn't getting as much recognition aside from the souvenir cups, but that's probably because Viper has been much more popular and because it has the distinction of being the first roller coaster with five inversions. On a side note, all of the rides and slides should be fully operational by now with the exception of Thunder Rapids. Moto Coaster seems to be having maintenance problems at the moment but it should be fixed soon.

Good to hear that the Twister is actually flipping riders like it did in the past. Hopefully, that happens the next time I ride it. I wish I started riding the Twister back when every cycle consisted of flips, but I was always afraid of that ride. I finally had the courage to go on it during the 2013 season and I think that was when they started to alternate between cycles with flips and cycles without flips. I honestly don't know for a fact what will happen to Thunder Rapids this season. From now on I'll just post about my observations instead of relaying the information people tell me since it doesn't always sound believable. As far as any other rides that are closed, I think the biggest issue is either a lack of employees or just a small mechanical problem.

Update: Silver Bullet was closed yesterday for most of the day but they opened it for the last hour the park was open and I saw a lot of people riding it. Haymaker also shut down for some weird reason, but it's been running very well for most of the season. I've learned that the reason the ride operators don't run cycles with flips on the Twister is because the motor burns out faster in the process and the park isn't planning to invest in a new motor if it breaks. Keep in mind that Twister installed back in 2000 so it isn't as old as some of the other flat rides in the park. I think the reason why there aren't a lot of people who ride it is because it's placed in an area that contains more relaxing attractions including the bumper cars, antique cars and go-carts. The ride doesn't seem to got in with that area but I can't imagine the ride being in another area of the park. Thunder Rapids will either open in August or else not open at all this year. Regardless, the plan is to remove it after this season. Clearing out Shipwreck Falls as well would give more than enough space for multiple rides and attractions including a brand new roller coaster. However, Shipwreck Falls hasn't been around for more than 20 years (I believe it was added in 2002) and has been running very well throughout the season. I wonder if it would be possible for the park to build a coaster that could occupy the area currently occupied by Thunder Rapids as well as the vacant Barracuda Bay area (this includes both Cuda Falls and Floodgate Falls). I'd have to look at a map to see how much space there would be.

I thought I'd post to the forum because it's been a while since anyone has posted on here. It doesn't look like any of the coasters are going to run two trains this year, and that's probably due to maintenance costs. Honestly, I think that the only time two train operations are necessary would be every Saturday and concert day. I remember when the park used to operate coasters with two trains more often, and one of the trains would be left on the brake run for as many as 2 minutes because the other train wasn't out of the station. Some of the guests probably grew impatient. Realistically, it only makes sense to run two trains if the operators are able to send guests off faster. On a few occasions the crew at the Viper would prevent this from happening, and that coaster used to run 3 trains at once. Overall, I think the park doesn't run two trains on every coaster (with the exception of Boomerang) because they probably don't draw enough people to be able to afford maintaining two trains on every coaster. If Cedar Fair or Six Flags take over in the future and made big additions, I'd like to think we'd see two trains running on the coasters. Twister is back to operating on a regular basis, but the cycle doesn't include 4 backwards flips. I'm guessing that the flips were partially the cause of the mechanical problems in the past, and I'd imagine the Operations Department doesn't want to risk any more problems. I rode Twister back on May 31st as the park was open before the Chance The Rapper concert. It was interesting because the ride operator only let a certain amount of people go on the ride and there were plenty of open seats, so now it looks like the ride can't operate with a full capacity anymore. This shouldn't be a huge issue because there's never a wait for the ride, but I'd imagine that the Twister was more popular back when it first opened. Silver Bullet has rarely been open this season. I work close to the ride and I remember seeing it open all day back on Saturday May 27th. It would stay in its tilted position for just a few seconds and then immediately come back down. I'm not sure if that's something the ride operators control, but it's usually supposed to stay in that tilted position for about 10-20 seconds. Silver Bullet was open again the following day for a short period of time before they closed it down again, and I'm pretty sure it's been closed ever since. I think the problem has to do with hydraulics. Thunder Rapids is very likely going to be the next ride out. It hasn't been open at all this year and I'm not sure if it will open at all this year. Keep in mind that it was down for maintenance several times last year as well.

I'm not just one of those people who post rumors and if you need credibility I work at Darien Lake in the games department. I'll always know what changes are being made to the games at the park and I also talk to people in other departments as well. I'm usually pretty busy during the off-season so that's why you haven't heard from me as much lately.

I can say for sure that this is all legit because I work at the park in the games department. The park usually doesn't make an announcement for small attractions or shows. They never made an announcement when they added a laser maze in the old building that's located between Hi Striker and the shooting gallery during the middle of the season. Also, the guests never usually know about the shows in the Grand Theater until they actually go to the park. The switch to Pepsi products will certainly be interesting, but some people are pretty excited about it. Lastly, I'm pretty sure that the park is planning to sell more anniversary products aside from the souvenir cups.

Here is an update on the newest additions to the park this year! I can promise you that all of this stuff is true because I work at the park and I've been told this is what's happening. Games There will be TWO new games this year 1) Tubb Toss- This is the game where you have to try throwing balls inside a tilted bucket. There's a game like this at Canada's Wonderland called Peach Basket and I'm pretty sure this game can be found at a lot of carnivals as well. From my understanding, this game will be in the games barn in the area where the arcade machines were previously located. The arcade machines will be moved to the area where Chuck-A-Luck was previously located. 2) Slap Shot- Darien Lake is taking out the shooting gallery and adding a hockey game in that building. This building is located next to the Viper. Food There will be a new food stand called Beef & Beer located next to Rolling Thunder. It will replace the cotton candy stand and that means Subway is staying. Bad idea that, Darien Lake is switching to Pepsi products this season. There will be two souvenir cups. One will honor the 35th anniversary of the Viper and the other will honor the 20th anniversary of the Mind Eraser. Attractions There will be a new attraction called Strike-U-Up. It's basically a game that you can ride. It's like the Hi Striker game and Heave Ho were combined together. Two people play on the ground and two people sit in chairs that raise to the top every time someone smacks the button. This attraction will be located in the vicinity of the Viper and Rolling Thunder. It will be located where the unusual white platform over by Subway and the FILLER UP water race game is located. There used to be a game in that spot called Crazy Color, but they took it out several years ago. Here is what the new attraction looks like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpQPCSfqTnl Other As far as I'm aware, Twister will still be around this year (and hopefully open). Park admission is free if you have a concert ticket for the concert taking place on that day. For the Future and Chance The Rapper concerts, Darien Lake will honor those tickets on any days after the concert because the theme park won't be open. That should be it. Looking forward to a good season!

My last day of work at Darien Lake this season was on Sunday. Since I work in games, I can tell all of you that the Chuck-A-Luck dart game will be gone next season and a new game will be put in. I can also share some information that I found out from a friend of mine who works as an area lead at the Mind Eraser. A lot of it makes sense so I thought it would be worth sharing in this discussion thread. First of all, it's very likely that the Giant Wheel will never receive new lights again because the main connector broke down years ago due to a bad power outage and the company that built it stopped making parts. Even if it was possible to invest in a new ferris wheel, I don't think that Darien Lake would be interested unless if a company like Cedar Fair or Six Flags designed a ferris wheel prototype for their parks (Cedar Fair added the WindSeeker and Six Flags added the SkyScreamer and the Giant Loop prototype). Personally, I love how Darien Lake has a huge ferris wheel and I would hate to see it go away. I'm hoping that the park can find a way to install LED lights on it at some point in the next decade. I also hope that all the LED lights on Rolling Thunder are working properly next season. Second, the park is planning to add a new entrance to the Viper, which would start at the old building where people would wait for Ranger that became a smoking area this year. I believe they would build a path under the lift hill and connect it to the current path before it reaches the station house. If this actually happens, I would be very happy because it would very likely force them to dig out that old path, along with the shack and the remains of the Mountain View mini golf course. It would also make it easier for guests to get back on the Viper if they want to keep riding it while they're in the back of the park. From my understanding, the Twister will not be back next year. They put all the restraints back on it so that way they could get ready to sell it. Also, it's very possible that the Grizzly Run and Thunder Rapids might be gone in a year or two. I think it makes sense since both of those water rides are pretty old and repairs probably cost a lot of money. From what my friend was saying, they could put a few rides back in that area that could go along with the Rowdy's Ridge. He also said that they might extend the parking lot to cover the area that Thunder Rapids currently occupies if they take it out. Does anyone remember the days when the coasters and the ferris wheel control booths used to play music? Turns out that the music was disturbing to the guests so that will never happen again! As far as two train operations are concerned, don't set high expectations because it costs nearly $175,000 to put a train on the tracks and have parts available for inventory. I wouldn't expect to see a second train on any coaster unless new management takes over or Darien Lake starts attracting as many people as Canada's Wonderland. It also costs a lot of money to paint the coasters, but they are supposed to finish paining Mind Eraser this Spring. Lastly, It is very possible that Predator will be getting revamped and a new coaster will be added in the former Cuda Falls location within the next few years. Hope that all of this information leads to a good discussion!

It's good to know that there will be rides open while I'm at the park. Does anyone know where the new Soaring Timbers ride is supposed to go? Also, is Sledgehammer still going to be at the park next season or are they planning to take it out. That location looks like a good place to put the new ride.

I'm planning to go to Canada's Wonderland during the month of October for the Halloween Haunt. Will the rides be open at night from 7 PM to Midnight while Halloween Haunt is going on or are they only open during the day?

Hi everyone! My name is Justin and I would like to contribute to this forum by posting relevant information and sharing my thoughts regarding Darien Lake. I work at the park in the games department so I'm not an expert on everything that goes on with the rides but if anyone ever has any questions about the games at the park I'll be more than happy to answer those questions. I promise that I won't post about false rumors and I'll be honest with all my thoughts on the park. I hope I can be a reliable source of information.