coasterkid124 Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 You would pay more than $70 just to visit twice. The pass is WELL worth it for me. Even though the lineup is a little stale, I can't say that over the years I have had any terrible visits. The lines can be a little annoying at times, but personally I love RoS, Predator, and Viper. Not to mention free parking, free friend tickets, free water park, some very unique flat rides, and a free reduced refill mug that all come with the pass. They really are throwing in a lot for that price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philrad71 Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 ^ Knowing that the park entrance tickets are included when you stay at the campground or hotel, do they give you any type of discount on lodging if you have already purchased a season pass? I agree that the season pass price is ridiculously cheap for what you get. Yeah, it's a medium park and I admit that before we went there this summer, I had not been in several years - instead always opting to drive the extra 1.5 hours to CP. But it is a fun little park and ya gotta love the fact that they let you walk around with beer, offer a good deal on beer refills, have decent beer on draft...and let you drink said beer whilst in line for rides. And on top of that, you get to watch lasers, fireworks and then go drink even more at your campsite after the park closes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golddisk Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 ^ Knowing that the park entrance tickets are included when you stay at the campground or hotel, do they give you any type of discount on lodging if you have already purchased a season pass? Yes there is. This year there was a savings per night per person with a season pass. Fantasy island must be hoping to sell a large volume of passes and drive up in park spending somehow to offset the cheap passes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tackleberry Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Camping discount for season pass holders are really good. We camped 4 times this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philrad71 Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 ^^ & ^^^ Thanks guys....good to know that! ^ Yeah, I agree that the ECF pay one price wristband is crazy expensive for what they have. I'd rather go to Fantasy Island for less than $20 any day just to not have to fight the crowds you see at the fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golddisk Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 Great point about the ECF. This year it was close to the same price (and actually maybe even a little more) to go to the fair and get the wristband on top of the fair admission. Darien lake also had the online and Tops bogo going at that point, so if you took advantage of those offers it was actually significantly cheaper to go to DL over the ECF for rides. Perhaps not surprisingly, the ECF said attendance dropped off a bit this year. They blamed the very hot weather which may have had some impact, but I think some of it was probably due to the fair becoming too expensive for many families. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterkid124 Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 I'm going to be very frank about the fair, and I've been predicting for years that attendance would start dropping off. This may be the second or third year in a row that I read about their attendance dropping. This year, it was at 15%. That's huge compared to the 3% drop the year before. Blaming the weather is not really credible for them. There's a lot to do indoors at the fair, and people in Buffalo don't care about the heat. People were roasting at the Taste of Buffalo when the temp was in the 90s. The real reason why people are starting to stop visiting is the rising prices, and its the same old stuff every year. I remember some people going to the fair 2-3 times, and now the same people tell me that they only went once or didn't go at all. They hit you with parking, admission, and you can't do much in there without paying, Rides prices are outrageous now, the average price of a food item is like $9, and all of the buildings just have salesmen in them. I went to the fair once this year and said that I'm not going back until they shake things up. It's the same offerings, but at higher and higher prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philrad71 Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 ^ I agree about the fair. Same rides, food, shows, hot tub salesman...pretty much the same thing every year. Once you've been once, you've seen it all. The only reason we went last year was because of the food trucks and that was even a bit of a disappointment as there were only like four or five of them there and they were way at the back where the carnies were living. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAmericanKnight Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 Still no 2017 rumors yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tackleberry Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 Still no 2017 rumors yet? They posted on Facebook that theyre going to have season long campsites available this year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 Still no 2017 rumors yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rollercoaster Rider Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 Wouldn't be surprised to see a flat ride or waterpark addition added. Or maybe soft straps to Mind Eraser or Viper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PATTYCAKES Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 My Darien Lake report is coming soon, but I can tell you right now, my family and I had an AMAZING time at Darien Lake. No more DL trash talking necessary, okay folks. It took 10 years, but, this park is great again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 My Darien Lake report is coming soon, but I can tell you right now, my family and I had an AMAZING time at Darien Lake. No more DL trash talking necessary, okay folks. It took 10 years, but, this park is great again! I have to say, I went in with low expectation but Darien Lake impressed me too. It's not perfect but it's a nice park and besides Mind Eraser (which was just as much of a horrific train wreck as I expected) every coaster exceeded expectations. Ride of Steel blew the SFA version away, Predator was average but not overly rough if ridden Mean Streak style, Viper was fun (and I expected it to suck) and the Motocoaster was a laugh fest. Plus they have some fun flat rides, a decent flume, Tim Horton's, a great alcohol policy and Moose on the F**king Loose. I liked Darien Lake quite a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAmericanKnight Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 I have a couple of questions : 1. Is Twister actually leaving? 2. Will Mind Eraser actually be repainted? 3. Any 2017 rumors yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SbSteveZ Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 1) who knows? 2) I wish, but I doubt it. 3) this is Darien Lake we're talking about. They don't have rumors anymore. None of which that are valid at least. Shall I bring back the Lake Monster rumor? I love this park, but I wish they'd be a little more out about their additions from time to time. Like back in 2012 when they announced Blast Off in September. I'm not PR though so I would have no clue to whether or not there's a benefit to announcing in January as opposed to in the end of the regular season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterkid124 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 They wouldn't need to go overboard with it, but I think that a little bit of teasing for new attractions would benefit them. My friends didn't even know that Ripcurl was new this year until they actually saw it. Most people who visited the park this season probably were not going for that attraction. I do like that Premier is pushing for new attractions every season. I must say that the three things that have been added over the last two years have been really popular and surprisingly fun rides. The only thing that I am hoping for this year is another addition to the dry side. The waterpark is pretty set for the time being. We probably won't know anything until after IAAPA again, as that's when Darien seems to decide on what they will purchase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sk610 Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Well if a park is adding a new coaster, large pieces of track and footers are not easy to disguise. Plus, it takes a long time to build a new coaster, so they announce early. Plus it also would give a spike in season pass sales. With DL adding a small flat ride most likely, the time to build that is minimal, so no need to announce early. Plus nobody will buy a season pass if they did not already have one due to a new flat ride Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SbSteveZ Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 ^ what's going to be interesting with a new flat is where they'll place it. I keep thinking about the decent chunk of land between twister and motocoaster. If they also plan on opening up twister again next year they could touch up the entire area and bring some life over to that section of the park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sk610 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 Yes, I agree that the placement of a new ride is very interesting. That spot between Twister and Motocoaster is extremely interesting as are some spots over by ME and by ROS as well. Also, who knows any other spots that open similar to what they did to open space for Rowdy's Ridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterkid124 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 There's definitely a few good open spaces for additions, we just need someone to invest in them. If the park isn't planning on doing Fright Fest for the time being, there's that whole area behind RoS that was only opened up for the event. To me the RoS plaza is sort of a dead end, and they could wrap it around with the pathway along the lake to make it flow better. I don't think that the land is used for anything else during the season. The only thing back there was the haunted house building, which would probably be converted or razed. I actually just had an idea while typing this. That would be a good place to move the picnic pavilions if the need to expand Splashtown again ever came up. Lakeside seating, and it's kind of a secluded area away from the park goers. I do have to say though, going to my father's company picnic for many years, I do like the location where it's at now. It gives some unique views of RoS and the water park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sk610 Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 I just dont see the park moving the picnic pavillions anytime in the near future seeing as they did move them to put in ROS. That is a lot of concrete work along with a lot of construction to move those. At some point, yes they may have to move them, but there are so many open spaces to fill first. Even with that, they may still not ever move the picnic pavillions any time soon as the park could easily spread up towards Rte 77 as well as over towards the lodge first without having to touch those picnic pavillions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vonni Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Has there been a new addition for 2017 announced yet that I possibly missed? EDIT: Nevermind, I just saw previous discussion on the last page that there has not been anything announced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterkid124 Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Elitch Gardens just announced a Star Flyer. Considering Premier operates that park too, that may be a possibility for Darien. I won't give my opinion on it until we get some sort of confirmation, or news about the fate of Twister. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SbSteveZ Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 ^ I've said it before, I think a star flyer / wind seeker type ride would be awesome at Darien Lake. And it could easily become the tallest ride in the park. I suppose only time will tell. Aside from Brain Drain / Rolling Thunder, are Premier installations typically similar in their park portfolios, like Six Flags or Cedar Fair? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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