Six Flags Darien Lake (SFDL) Discussion Thread

[abovethesink]

I was at the park for the first time in years on June 1st. We stopped the day before to get my son (15 this summer) the three credits at Seabreeze. It was in the 50s and windy, so that place was empty, and we were in and out in less than an hour. The spinner was as I remembered it and the two wood structure coasters were crawling in the cold. Not ideal, but the next day looked better for Darien Lake.

We were there at rope drop and headed to the back of the park like we always do. I apprehensively got in line with him to get his Mind Eraser credit first. We grabbed the front row and, with the new vest restraints, it wasn't too bad. It was no Great Nor'Easter, but it was better than the one they did the same thing on at SFA (RIP). 

Tantrum was closed and remained that way. I guess it has been down for a little while now. And of course it was as Tantrum is the only credit I don't have yet having grown up being taken to the park every summer. Oh well. We'll be back.

Viper was next and it was the same old gem I fondly remembered. By modern standards, this old Arrow looper is of course pretty tame. It runs through its course smoothly though with surprisingly little headbanging. I still approve. Viper has always been and remains one of my favorite Arrows.

Predator was up next and this was to be my first ride post-Titan track. Given that this was my absolute bottom coaster in any possible ranking with my last experiences with it, I still figured the non steel portions would be so horrible that it couldn't be redeemed. The ride was good though! The upgraded portions were smooth as silk and the layout got to shine, finally. The still wood sections were not as awful as I expected, either, though they were far from smooth too.

Superman, er, Ride of Steel followed for my son's 250. We had absolutely awesome rides on the clone down by the capital this summer in 104 degree heat, so this slow running original on a day barely warmer than half that number was pretty disappointing. Still fun, but it hardly had anything left for the bunny hills at the end that always used to be so great. I chalk it up to the cold day.

From there we walked over to Boomerang, which was a credit for him and I am not sure why I bothered to ride it to be honest. 

MotoCoaster capped the first rides. I remembered this one as having a punchy launch and then doing nothing. It indeed had a punchy launch, even stronger than I remembered, and I am happy to report that I remembered wrong. The swinging turns were taken at a good speed and I actually ended up liking this one a lot.

From there, we walked back to take another peak on Tantrum, grabbing another good ride on Viper on the way. We ate lunch and then gave not-Superman another go to similar results. Finally, to cap the day, we decided to take a last ride on Predator. This was our best decision. We waited for the front car (which took forever for like six trains -- I am not going to whine any more than this, but operations were horrible all day) and the ride was a rush. I don't know if it sped up a little or if the front is just where the airtime is at, but my old wooden nemesis was hitting almost every hill exactly right. This was a GREAT ride and easily our best of the two park trip. I really look forward to visiting Predator again in the future and a younger me would be very confused by that statement. 

Final note: Predator was running the purple train that I had read appeared recently. Even though it was a weekend and wait times were growing, they did not ever put a second train on. Nor did Mind Eraser. This park may be viewing having a second train as having a backup in case the main train breaks. There doesn't seem to be much intent of actually putting two trains on the track at once.  

[cfisher8]

The operations are pretty frustrating to watch. It’s like one train every 10 min on ROS. Tantrum has one 8 rider car. I don’t entirely understand 

[john10693]

Second trip to the park today and every ride was open. I can't remember the last time I have seen every ride open at this park. The park was also busy and the water park was slammed. Finally rode predator after a 10+ years and I could not be happier to say it is no longer on the bottom 5 absolute horrible coasters I've ridden list. That titan track is amazing. If they re-do the first drop (A little profiling would'nt hurt) it could add the needed speed needed for airtime on the first camelback. The layout is still just "ok" but could improve with a little more of that Titan track. The purple train was on and the other train was nowhere to be seen, the train seems to have ony been re- painted and cleaned, same old torn padding and trains. dispatch times were about 4-5 minutes, pretty good for Darien lake. Back row is the place to be here.. ROS has this pretty, Red, brand new train sitting on the transfer track collecting rain and dust. Dipping dot guy told me they had to replace the magnetic brakes to run both and they were still waiting for parts. Dispatches were 6-9 minutes (still ouch, but better). Back row is also the place to be if you want any airtime. Rode all the coasters and still got everything done in 2 1/2 hours. This park still has potential with a couple good flats and maybe one more coaster, it certainly gets the crowds to support it, this park was insanley busy the first time Six Flags ran it, so the potential is there.

[CaptainUnknown]

Only 2.5 hours, even with bad ops? This makes me feel somewhat better about my trip in a couple weeks. This park will be my first stop after an early flight into BUF. There's a good chance I'll be awake 24 hrs straight by the time I get into the park. Should be able to speed run through and get to my hotel and crash.

[john10693]

yes, it is a smaller park, and to be fair it's my home park and I know it well, but half a day tops for all the coasters and a couple flats. In that  2 1/2 hours, without hurry, I rode ROS X2, Predator X3, and once each , boomerang, Motocoaster, Sky screamer, Viper, tantrum and mind eraser.  No need to rush to get it all done quick. Have fun.

[Skysthelimit]

I’m not surprised that the second train would cause issues with the magnetic brakes and block system, especially since the brake run is comically short. It had issues with the old trains coming a little too close together on hot days and I’m sure the weight of the brand new train/slightly less new trains are different than the original. 
 

I just don’t understand how you spend this amount of capital on a new train for a ride that has mechanically and systematically struggled to run two trains throughout its entire life without thinking about the likely challenges. If they had shifted things 3 months earlier they could have had 2 trains running by Memorial Day. This should have been commissioned with buffer time to troubleshoot back in April, work out the miscellaneous kinks in May, and be running decently well by June. 

I also don’t get the 5-6 minute dispatches. In 2009 and 2011 when a second train did become available (2010 was blue train only), we would routinely have the next train ready to dispatch as the train ahead exited the 1st helix. Operations also refused to have maintenance take the second train off unless it was mechanically necessary or the rain was so severe and the trains were slipping. It CAN be done! 

It’s a shame because the leadership team at the park is so tenured and strong but the labor pool and strategic planning at a corporate level is just so unfortunate.