Six Flags Darien Lake (SFDL) Discussion Thread

[ice1972]

They wont do HITP, the winters in NY are just too brutal especially in the western part of the state.

 

They won't do it this year, but it's not at all out of the realm of possibity in the future. They did HITP at SFNE last year and are starting it at GAm this year.

 

Not sure about that....the climates are very different - different enough where SFNE can get away with HITP I think but DL no so much.....SFNE is our home park and we loved HITP this year but it was cut short by like a week due to an extreme cold snap in late December.....thats unusual down here as we can see XMAS temps easily into the 50's and even 60's.....I would think what we saw at SFNE last December is more typical of that area where DL is......

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Oh come on now, it's not like Springfield Mass is a tropical paradise. What more does Six Flags have to do to prove they can and will put a Holiday in the Park anywhere they want?

[Samuel]

Oh come on now, it's not like Springfield Mass is a tropical paradise. What more does Six Flags have to do to prove they can and will put a Holiday in the Park anywhere they want?

 

According to Weather-US & Best Places, average annual snowfall in Buffalo is 93.4 inches, while Springfield is 42 inches. Both are above the US average of 26 inches a year, but Buffalo is not casually comparable to Springfield just because both are in the Northeast and get snow.

 

Six Flags can try a holiday event if it wants, but I wouldn't drive out to the park during the winter unless the weather is unusually mild, and I wouldn't count on it.

[ice1972]

Oh come on now, it's not like Springfield Mass is a tropical paradise. What more does Six Flags have to do to prove they can and will put a Holiday in the Park anywhere they want?

 

I didn't say that Springfield MA was a tropical paradise - I did say the December climates are different and the record shows it....DL is closer to the source region for cold air - Canada......and its proximity to Lake Erie and Lake Ontario make it bullseye for any lake effect snow accompanying those cold air blasts......

 

Springfield MA or Agawam really is right on the CT River and is south and east of DL......cold air intrusion from Canada is easily mitigated over that distance and the river valley acts as a sort of insulator....average snow in Dec in Springfield is just 7.4" compared to 27.4" in Buffalo.....

 

I mean DL can do whatever it wants and SF may try to do HITP there but if it was me I wouldn't do it - maybe do TITP instead lol........

[ice1972]

Oh come on now, it's not like Springfield Mass is a tropical paradise. What more does Six Flags have to do to prove they can and will put a Holiday in the Park anywhere they want?

 

According to Weather-US & Best Places, average annual snowfall in Buffalo is 93.4 inches, while Springfield is 42 inches. Both are above the US average of 26 inches a year, but Buffalo is not casually comparable to Springfield just because both are in the Northeast and get snow.

 

Six Flags can try a holiday event if it wants, but I wouldn't drive out to the park during the winter unless the weather is unusually mild, and I wouldn't count on it.

 

Yup......there is a vast spread of winter weather in the northeast.....something I did not know until I moved here

[CNYCoasterguy11]

I honestly wouldn't put HITP at Darien Lake until seeing how it does at SFGAm. They have similar winter snow totals being on great lakes where Springfield and even Great Escape if they out one there are more in land and get cold but not as snowy. I live just east of Syracuse so I know a little about snow especially lake effect. It would be neat to try it but you also have to think that it will be dependent on locals visiting because people coming from further away may also avoid it if snow becomes an issue. The NYS Thruway is not real enjoyable in a snow storm. Let's just see how Fright Fest goes and work off of that.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Canada's Wonderland is doing Winterfest. If they want to do it, they'll do it. You're all spouting meteorology and then saying it's impossible, and that's just ludicrous. I've been to holiday events with a high of 12 degrees and no rides ever ran and had a great time. It'll be fine.

[coasterbill]

They’re clearly rolling Holiday in the Park out slowly and I don’t expect it to happen this year or even next year but there’s a very real chance that it’ll happen.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

^ There you go. Listen to this guy. He lives in New York State.

[Haymaker]

I honestly wouldn't put HITP at Darien Lake until seeing how it does at SFGAm. They have similar winter snow totals being on great lakes where Springfield and even Great Escape if they out one there are more in land and get cold but not as snowy. I live just east of Syracuse so I know a little about snow especially lake effect. It would be neat to try it but you also have to think that it will be dependent on locals visiting because people coming from further away may also avoid it if snow becomes an issue. The NYS Thruway is not real enjoyable in a snow storm. Let's just see how Fright Fest goes and work off of that.

 

Great Escape isnt far from Tug Hill. They probably get more snow than Darien.

[coasterbill]

^^ I mean, admittedly the weather here is much less insane than the weather at Darien Lake but what people tend to forget with these events is that people are used to the weather where they live.

 

If you ask someone from Miami if they want to ride Nitro when it’s 35 degrees, they’ll laugh and tell you to f*ck off. If you open Great Adventure on a 35 degree Friday night the locals will show up in droves and it might even have a decent wait time.

 

People in Buffalo get used to it. Obviously if the park has an operating day when they’re forecastsing 8 inches of snow they’ll close, but I guarantee on a 30 something degree night with no precipitation people wouldn’t balk at that. They’re from f*cking Buffalo. Honestly, I even notice a different between the crowds at SFNE and Great Adventure and what they’re willing to tolerate. They’re much tougher in New England. People are used to the weather where they live.

[PhaseDMA]

^^ I mean, admittedly the weather here is much less insane than the weather at Darien Lake but what people tend to forget with these events is that people are used to the weather where they live.

 

If you ask someone from Miami if they want to ride Nitro when it’s 35 degrees, they’ll laugh and tell you to f*ck off. If you open Great Adventure on a 35 degree Friday night the locals will show up in droves and it might even have a decent wait time.

 

People in Buffalo get used to it. Obviously if the park has an operating day when they’re forecastsing 8 inches of snow they’ll close, but I guarantee on a 30 something degree night with no precipitation people wouldn’t balk at that. They’re from f*cking Buffalo. Honestly, I even notice a different between the crowds at SFNE and Great Adventure and what they’re willing to tolerate. They’re much tougher in New England. People are used to the weather where they live.

 

Hell. If it's 40 degrees people will go with jeans and a hoodie on, and I'd be one of them. 40 degrees in the winter is like 70 degrees in the summer. You just wear a hoodie instead of a t-shirt. I'd only be concerned about the windchill effect at the top of the lift hills.

[ride of steel]

^We showed up to Darien in 40-45° weather, the GM personally thanked everyone who showed up. Only Rolling Thunder, and Viper were open, as it was too cold for hydraulics to operate according to maintenance.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

^We showed up to Darien in 40-45° weather, the GM personally thanked everyone who showed up. Only Rolling Thunder, and Viper were open, as it was too cold for hydraulics to operate according to maintenance.

Well, Six Flags will fix that by not giving a sh*t.

[coasterbill]

^We showed up to Darien in 40-45° weather, the GM personally thanked everyone who showed up. Only Rolling Thunder, and Viper were open, as it was too cold for hydraulics to operate according to maintenance.

Well, Six Flags will fix that by not giving a sh*t.

 

Yup. Six Flags doesn’t play that ridiculous sh*t. They ran Batman and Green Lantern until close on a 19 degree night. Nitro and Superman closed at 22 degrees and cold started 2 hours later when it was 19 degrees. Even if the rides break because they’re just not having it maintenance is basically like “F*ck you, dispatch”. It’s glorious.

 

Also, they brought in wheel heaters in New England and they’ll likely do the same in Chicago and Darien Lake if it ever happens. They even built a pretty impressive duct system for the heating system on the New England Thunderbolt. They don’t play.

 

PS: 45 degrees is a joke, especially for a park in Buffalo. Even Dollywood, Carowinds and Busch Williamsburg will run all of their coasters in that. Not just their Christmas coasters... EVERY COASTER.

[ride of steel]

Well that's a change of pace from what I'm used to. Not to mention last year Darien closed most rides at a slight shower, last week I rode Viper in the pouring rain.

[CNYCoasterguy11]

Great Escape isnt far from Tug Hill. They probably get more snow than Darien.

No not really, the Albany area and North of that doesn't receive nearly as much snow as Buffalo or CNY/Tug Hill. I think DL would run the HITP as long as it wasn't buried under 3 feet of snow. But many years the worst snow is after the holidays

[PhaseDMA]

Is it really unsafe (or hard on the ride maintenance wise) to run the rides in the cold? Seems like an easy way to justify not running rides, but I could see there being some issues too.

[coasterbill]

If it was a safety issue then parks wouldn’t do it. They’re more likely to valley and there are mechanical hurdles but there’s no reason to believe that there’s any sort of safety issue.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

If it was a safety issue then parks wouldn’t do it. They’re more likely to valley and there are mechanical hurdles but there’s no reason to believe that there’s any sort of safety issue.

Exactly. Same thing has happened out here. Last winter I rode American Thunder in 20 degree weather with wind. The train barely made it back. It was crawling so slowly onto the brake run I really thought it would roll back and valley. But no, the train did make it and as we rolled at what seemed like 1/4 mph, the dispatcher was all "Welcome back riders" and went into the spiel for the next group and they sent that train around again! Six Flags is the best at cold weather.

[Lotologist492]

They wont do HITP, the winters in NY are just too brutal especially in the western part of the state.

 

They won't do it this year, but it's not at all out of the realm of possibity in the future. They did HITP at SFNE last year and are starting it at GAm this year.

 

HitP is coming to all SF parks eventually. Even though DL does not (yet) offer the memberships, they will very soon. And with memberships comes the push for more operating days. Memberships are much easier to sell when you don't have a 5-month long off season. To that end, I can further visualize some of the southern Six Flags parks like TX and GA going to year-round weekend operations. My guess is that Fiesta would be the first to try that but a case could be made for Georgia too, with a Super Bowl coming and bringing millions of tourists in over a two week period. Yeah, its winter we're talking about, but there are good weather weekends in between the bad ones.

[ice1972]

Is it really unsafe (or hard on the ride maintenance wise) to run the rides in the cold? Seems like an easy way to justify not running rides, but I could see there being some issues too.

 

My understanding is that with a wheel change and heated stations the coasters can run fine.....they don’t run as fast as they do in the warm weather but can still run........

 

Last December at SFNE they were running Batman, RR (Mind Eraser), Joker, and Thunderbolt.....they were warming Thunderbolt from belownin the station and pretty sure they were doing same for Batman.....they all ran fine....we went several times in mid 20’s to low 20’s temps....it snowed a few times in December too....they had a really nice HITP at SFNE....a real hit from what I’ve seen.....Batman even trimmed itself at the bottom of the second loop....and the lift hill on Thunderbolt failed a few times but restarted fine....they said that was due to the colder temps but once it got to the top it was fine....

 

What is worriesome at DL again is the proximity to source cold air out of Canada....SFNE cut HITP short due to temps in the single digits.....that’s not normal in Agawam ever but it’s more normal at DL if still slightly unusual....if SF is seeing good performance out of the new memberships and monthly cash flow is performing then they may just say F it....let’s do it

[ice1972]

FYI.....riding Batman at SFNE in Low 20’s without getting off was transcendent.....hahaahahaha....what a contrast to the drippy ride in mid August.....

[ice1972]

FYI.....riding Batman at SFNE in Low 20’s without getting off was transcendent.....hahaahahaha....what a contrast to the drippy ride in mid August.....

[PhaseDMA]

.if SF is seeing good performance out of the new memberships and monthly cash flow is performing then they may just say F it....let’s do it

 

And why not? What's the worst case? They lose a month of income seeing if they can make a couple months of income? Six Flags doesn't appear to be stupid, but their also not risk averse.