Six Flags Darien Lake (SFDL) Discussion Thread

[Philrad71]

Nice report. I actually wish people would start new threads for Darien Lake reports because most people avoid this dumpster fire of a thread like the plague but in the process might miss the occasional interesting thing like an actual trip report. Then again I'm no mod, maybe it's just me that feels that way.

 

At the park (campground) now, Bill. I'll get a trip report out soon.

 

Edit: This park has awesome deals on beer!!! $10.99 for what seems to be like a 24 ounce mug. Refills of Labatts are $6.99, Rusty Chain for $7.99. Plus you can drink in the ride lines or walk back to your campsite with it if you want!

 

This park caters to beer drinkers...I feel like I'm in Germany!!! Oh wait, it's western New York!

[rjr19]

3) today, my favorite ride-op was the guy at the Lasso! I want to say his name was Parker. He was challenging all the riders to scream louder than he could while using the megaphone, the riders for the most part were playing along and it made the experience of a typical swing ride a LOT more fun! Props to him! :

I know exactly who you're talking about! I had him on Silver Bullet the last time that I was at the park. He was so energetic and happy about his job! If only we had more of those!

[PATTYCAKES]

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.

[SaraAB87]

I am not sure if I would like wonderland as its very, very busy and quite far away. Darien is a better choice, however I just feel like the park could be so much more if they just invested a serious amount of cash into it and rehabbed a lot of things in the park and got the operations up to speed in one season. Then they can run with it for a year and start adding and renovating old rides and attractions little by little. My personal favorites are Seabreeze and Waldameer which I feel are ths best semi local parks.

 

Things that need to be done -

 

Two trains on all coasters on busy days, this does not need further discussion

 

Entrance rehab, seriously, its gross unless something was done between last year and this year, make it look good not run down when I enter the park.

 

Rest room rehab, especially at the entrance

 

Get rid of the gum wall, clean up the park in general so trash isnt everywhere

 

Keep the restrooms clean for crying out loud, they were at least trying last year so I give them that

 

Rehab on company picnic food, it was literately inedible the last couple years, I am not expecting much here but I expect at least McD's quality, which again isnt much. I would even eat a dollar store frozen pizza over this stuff and it would be better! Both of the companies I went with have quit DL and now have other options for the company picnic. Seriously the fruit I am not sure what was on it but it didnt taste like fruit.. it tasted like..I dont know what...the mac n cheese tasted like soup, and some sort of fake cheese sauce...and I wont even comment on the vegetables and the burgers because it was that bad. The only thing edible I have been served at DL picnics was the chicken and hot dogs, those were good, and so were the perry's treats, I suggest living off the ice cream bars if you ever get invited to a DL company picnic.

 

This park is often the big outing for a lot of WNY'ers who dont have money to travel to hotels to get to better parks, and people scrape money together to get to DL once every year. With various festivals and the erie county fair now raising ride prices to astronomical, unaffordable levels DL is turning into a much better value than other events. With the ECF charging up to $40 for a wristband (and the ECF charges for parking and admission on top of rides) and most festivals and parking lot carnivals charging $20 per wristband for rides and $5 or more for a single ride again its not a bad value, you do get a whole park plus waterpark for the day for the price but I just wish they would clean up some of the little things and make it better. Season passes bought early if you live close enough are an awesome value! You can quickly eclipse the value of other events even with admission and parking at DL. I would even pay a bit more for admission if I got a better experience.

 

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[SbSteveZ]

^ what entrance plaza are you looking at? The one I've seen is pretty nice. It's the old entrance, but it's obvious they did some nice work on it.

The old entrance, post Six Flags era

The current entrance plaza. Though as of recently the Welcome Back sign disappeared...

[rjr19]

I agree, the face-lift recently given to the entrance was a nice touch. I don't see what is so wrong with the entrance, it seems pretty nice to me, though I still am wondering what exactly happened to the "Welcome Back" sign...

[rjr19]

I found a photo of the entrance currently, without the sign.

Here is the entrance without the "Welcome Back!" sign

[SbSteveZ]

^^ Also! It should be noted that (as of last Thursday) the "We Already Miss You!" Sign was still up on the reverse side of the entrance. So why they'd take down one and not the other is beyond me

[PATTYCAKES]

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

[rjr19]

I agree, it does look nicer without it.

[fried bacon]

I have gone to Darien lake for a long time and seen the ups and downs for the last 30 years. I went over the weekend and will say I'm left more impressed then I was last year. The trash I saw last year was cleaned up and some rides looked like they got some recent attention. All the staff seemed very upbeat and were great with there children. It wasn't perfect but seems like they were working in the right direction. Here are a few of my takeaways.

For some reason I can't upload my water park photos. There attention to the park is most noticeable in the water park. The lines were the longest there so it makes sense. Most rides were open and were well staffed. I just have a few complaints. Hook Lagoon still missing it's bucket (i think it's not coming back), the bridge to nowhere should be taken down IMHO, biggest is why do they separate Hooks Lagoon from the water park so poorly. You have to walk out of it on the hot blacktop and enter in a different area. The whole are is confusing. Hard to reach the lazy river and a bit confusing on how to get anywhere. But overall it was a nice area.

Other notes, I am so very very sad to see all the lights cut off the giant wheel. It was the icon of the park!!!! new LED would do it wonders. The rolling thunder was... not my thing but does look cool at night. I do love this park. My earliest memories was camping here (same weekend the lightning killed 3 people) swimming in the pool the motocoaster sits in, watersides into the lake and a lazy river the has a series of drops. They will always be missed but understandable that changes occur. I just hope to see the park slowly renovate the rides they have and bring in the guests.

The Boardwalk are is very nice, the merry-go-round was in great shape, all the lights were working and had a decent line. The blast off had a long line and seemed to be a favorite.

Back in the general store area this was the best kept secret

Nice AC room with outlets and usb charging areas.

TV's with remotes setup. I was a nice place to recharge for a few minutes.

I really miss this bridge. I have fond memories of walking on it looking t the cars with my grandparents. Judging by the path they are waiting for it to collapse.

So the old roller coast/ stunt show building was just empty with no signs of life.

The min golf area... this could use some clean up.

Does anyone else think this might be dangerous??

Is this an abandoned building.... nope the viper. Yea one train running but I think the building and the line ques need some serious attention. The building in the ques should be taken down. They make the place look trashy.

RIP ranger, last one in North America is now out in the parking lot

The Sharp, sad to see some jerk damage it, hopefully will be repaired soonish.

[DarienLaker]

I agree that Viper's que line and station needs a lot of TLC. For starters, Darien Lake should shorten Viper's que line since that ridiculously long path that is the main que line for Viper is now probably unnecessary and also remodel Viper's station to make it look like a cave that a snake lives in. Also I think they need to expand the main kiddie land (former "Seaport") to where the mini golf was.

[coasterkid124]

^^To clarify, did you mention that Ranger is somewhere in the parking lot now? With all of the defunct rides that the park stores, they could start an "Island of Misfit Rides" attraction

[DarienLaker]

^^To clarify, did you mention that Ranger is somewhere in the parking lot now? With all of the defunct rides that the park stores, they could start an "Island of Misfit Rides" attraction

 

Ha-Ha very funny, but I think it would kind be good idea for Darien Lake to have like a "mausoleum" for all of the various dead rides that they have stored in what was Galaxy theater and have it be open to the public.

[fried bacon]

^^To clarify, did you mention that Ranger is somewhere in the parking lot now? With all of the defunct rides that the park stores, they could start an "Island of Misfit Rides" attraction

My brother went a few days earlier and saw it by the barn. I would have snapped a photo but I found it out the day after I went.

[Tackleberry]

For starters, Darien Lake should shorten Viper's que line since that ridiculously long path that is the main que line for Viper is now probably unnecessary .

There's really no way to do that with the way the ride is laid out.

[Tackleberry]

I have gone to Darien lake for a long time and seen the ups and downs for the last 30 years. I went over the weekend and will say I'm left more impressed then I was last year. The trash I saw last year was cleaned up and some rides looked like they got some recent attention. All the staff seemed very upbeat and were great with there children. It wasn't perfect but seems like they were working in the right direction. Here are a few of my takeaways.

For some reason I can't upload my water park photos. There attention to the park is most noticeable in the water park. The lines were the longest there so it makes sense. Most rides were open and were well staffed. I just have a few complaints. Hook Lagoon still missing it's bucket (i think it's not coming back), the bridge to nowhere should be taken down IMHO, biggest is why do they separate Hooks Lagoon from the water park so poorly. You have to walk out of it on the hot blacktop and enter in a different area. The whole are is confusing. Hard to reach the lazy river and a bit confusing on how to get anywhere. But overall it was a nice area.

Other notes, I am so very very sad to see all the lights cut off the giant wheel. It was the icon of the park!!!! new LED would do it wonders. The rolling thunder was... not my thing but does look cool at night. I do love this park. My earliest memories was camping here (same weekend the lightning killed 3 people) swimming in the pool the motocoaster sits in, watersides into the lake and a lazy river the has a series of drops. They will always be missed but understandable that changes occur. I just hope to see the park slowly renovate the rides they have and bring in the guests.

 

I really wish they would reopen the covered bridge. It shortens the walk back to the campground considerably.

[SaraAB87]

They need to do something about the bridge, its an eyesore and confusing to patrons, either remove or fix it.

 

The mini golf area could be repaved and something done with it, but I am guessing that is quite expensive to do which is why they are not doing it and why I didn't say something about it. The money used for this could go towards something better.

 

For the entrance I was talking about the inside park entrance by the bathrooms and Tim Horton's, have they replaced those horribly ugly tables over there, that is my main pet peeve right now about the entrance area, why keep such ugly tables when new ones wouldn't cost that much. Heck they could probably garbage pick better ones than what they had last year at least. The outside entrance looks fine.

[DarienLaker]

For starters, Darien Lake should shorten Viper's que line since that ridiculously long path that is the main que line for Viper is now probably unnecessary .

There's really no way to do that with the way the ride is laid out.

 

Oh yes there is, move that SNBO mini golf course and re-route the paths leading into the main que and the exit!

[Sk610]

I agree with the thoughts on the red coverd bridge. If it is structuraly not sound, then tear it down or rebuild it. If it is structurally sound, I would love to see it used as part of the que for motocoaster. One of my biggest pet peeves at the park is the fact that motocoaster is a great in between type of coaster and the que area is not easy to find. I think if they made the entrance easier to find, ridership would increase.

[SbSteveZ]

^^To clarify, did you mention that Ranger is somewhere in the parking lot now? With all of the defunct rides that the park stores, they could start an "Island of Misfit Rides" attraction

My brother went a few days earlier and saw it by the barn. I would have snapped a photo but I found it out the day after I went.

 

Question. How does one actually get to that area? And now frowned upon is it to go that way?

[Tackleberry]

^^To clarify, did you mention that Ranger is somewhere in the parking lot now? With all of the defunct rides that the park stores, they could start an "Island of Misfit Rides" attraction

My brother went a few days earlier and saw it by the barn. I would have snapped a photo but I found it out the day after I went.

 

Question. How does one actually get to that area? And now frowned upon is it to go that way?

 

I think its the silo by the PAC that hes talking about, so thats outside the park. Ive seen the old B:TE cars there in past years.

[Tackleberry]

For starters, Darien Lake should shorten Viper's que line since that ridiculously long path that is the main que line for Viper is now probably unnecessary .

There's really no way to do that with the way the ride is laid out.

 

Oh yes there is, move that SNBO mini golf course and re-route the paths leading into the main que and the exit!

 

.... which wouldnt shorten it any significant way.

[fried bacon]

I see 3 ways of changing the line. I made some examples below with an older view (mini golf ). The red one would be a bit shorter. Yellow would be a lot shorter but would place the entrance more toward the old ranger. Purple they could re-use the ranger booth. The last 2 might be an issue with foot traffic and last one green would be not too much shorter but could tie in with something if they re-use that building properly.

[coasterkid124]

Why does it even matter? The line has been working perfectly for 34 years now. I'm sure if there was an issue it would have been corrected a long time ago. I can't just see the park spending money on that unless they were to take out the mini golf course for a new attraction.