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Six Flags Darien Lake (SFDL) Discussion Thread


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Hey all! I decided to go to Buffalo next week because Frontier had a ridiculously cheap flight there. I had two questions in regards to Darien Lake:

 

1. The Park is listed as being open from 10-5 on Monday and Waterpark from 12-5PM. Then they are closed for 3 days followed by daily operation through the summer. Does anyone have insight on why they are even open on Monday, and should I be suspicious or wary of giant school groups or something?

 

2. I have an active Six Flags over Georgia Gold Season pass. I cannot find any definitive information on the SF website...so does that pass get me into this park with free parking or not?

 

Thank you in advance!

 

As for Monday, yeah. Expect a lot of school buses in the parking lot (such a miserable sight pulling on lol). Expect wayyyy too many school kids.

 

Your gold season pass should work for free parking and admission here at SFDL.

 

Enjoy your trip here!!!!

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^ Aren’t those trains original to the coaster? I’m surprised they have a life span of 24 years... even RoS had its train upgraded in 2017 I believe and it’s two years newer than ME.

 

Out of the two Vekomas at the park I’d say the boomerang train has held up MUCH better than the Mind Eraser train. It seems to provide a much more comfortable experience, especially compared to other boomerangs I’ve been on. Mind Eraser however isn’t necessarily the same case.

 

If the second train is getting some SLC TLC, I wonder if that means we’ll have two Franken-trains or if that means train 1.5 is going to get ripped apart again too? Either way if it happens this season, I applaud everyone involved. Even if it happens next season, it’s just good to see some progress!

 

I’m wondering why they made one “frankentrain” when they knew they were going to get the other train ready for the year as well. Very strange indeed but it certainly looks like a train planned on being used this year. If it was just for spare parts there’s no way they’d put all the wheel carriages and all of the seats out. It would be in the maintenance shop. I also noticed when I zoomed in at least a few new shiny wheels installed on those parts. Looking like good news for ME!

 

Like you said, props to them for making it happen. Anybody that can do the impossible by adding a second train to a Darien Lake coaster deserves some real credit!!

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^I do have one. Plan is Arrive at Buffalo airport Sunday 845, Martin's Fantasy Island/Seabreeze(open until 9PM) on Sunday, followed by Darien Lake/drive to Toronto Monday (and probably take the time to at least see Niagara Falls from the public park on the river), Canada's Wonderland all day Tuesday, then Marineland until like 2pm on Wednesday (pretty much just NEED to ride Dragon Mountain and the crazy S&S tower), fly home to Orlando from Buffalo 545pm. I don't like having to be on the Canada side at all on Wednesday but that's how the park hours work out for it.

 

Frontier was $83 dollars round-trip and I just HAD to say yes lol. Bought the flight Friday night. Never been to any of these before!

Edited by BlahBlahson
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^ Agreed. The American side of the falls is a total dump besides a casino and Niagara Falls state Park. Go to Canada if you want to enjoy all Niagara Falls has to offer. But yes, do Maid of the Misr, it’s amazing.

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Haha unfortunately my SO who cannot attend has promised me he'll kill me if I do all of the Niagara falls tourist stuff without him. So I'm pretty much just planning to get a quick view of it (from Canada side, Thank you!!!) and see Marineland so in the future we don't have to go back there :lol::lol:

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If you’re just seeing the falls I’d recommend the American side actually. The city is a total dump but the American side has the better, more up-close views. If you want anything else got to Canada, they have a real city at the falls.

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You can get good views of the falls bu walking across the Rainbow Bridge. The better views are actually in Canada because the falls are on the American side, so the straight on view is from Canada. You can get up close on both sides.

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@ whoever said the in park audio isn’t on yet: it is, you just can’t hear it unless you are standing directly underneath it. It’s set to like a volume setting of 1.

 

Trust me, the in park audio is new as of this week. It’s at the volume it’s typically at for the park now - you’re right, it’s not super loud but that’s kind of the point.

 

It seems like they haven’t quite figured out Boardwalk’s music just yet but I’m not surprised since it was always different from the rest of the park since the 2013 season.

 

I wonder if they had to figure out licensing for music they used within the park under new management? Maybe that’s why it was quiet for a bit? I also noticed the music they were playing was different than what they used to play... they even updated the laser show’s preshow music since the first time I saw the show this year, which I of course was happy about!

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If you’re just seeing the falls I’d recommend the American side actually. The city is a total dump but the American side has the better, more up-close views. If you want anything else got to Canada, they have a real city at the falls.

 

Personally I prefer the state park over the dated Clifton Hill when exploring the falls. Yes, the city of Niagara Falls, USA is a dump, but the park that you need to go to to actually see the falls in my opinion is much nicer than the sidewalk you get to use on the Canadian side. Though there is much more to do, Clifton Hills from an attraction standpoint is all very tourist trappy with expensive parking and shady hotels (mixed with really nice ones which always makes me laugh).

 

A benefit of the USA side is parking in the state park lot is usually free after 7pm in the off season and after 9:30pm or 10pm in the summer months. (Perfect for when you want to drop by and see the fireworks!)

 

All of that being said I totally waste my money on the Canadian side way more than I should, I’m a local and they still get me to spend, spend, spend!

 

TL:DR Both sides kinda suck for what it’s worth. And both sides also kinda don’t suck for what it’s worth. Seems to boil down to personal opinion when it comes to the actual falls themselves

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@ whoever said the in park audio isn’t on yet: it is, you just can’t hear it unless you are standing directly underneath it. It’s set to like a volume setting of 1.

 

Trust me, the in park audio is new as of this week. It’s at the volume it’s typically at for the park now - you’re right, it’s not super loud but that’s kind of the point.

 

It seems like they haven’t quite figured out Boardwalk’s music just yet but I’m not surprised since it was always different from the rest of the park since the 2013 season.

 

I wonder if they had to figure out licensing for music they used within the park under new management? Maybe that’s why it was quiet for a bit? I also noticed the music they were playing was different than what they used to play... they even updated the laser show’s preshow music since the first time I saw the show this year, which I of course was happy about!

No, I actually mean you can’t physically hear it unless you are standing directly underneath. If you’re standing literally 5 feet away (I’m serious because I asked my friend who was 5 feet away if she could tell what song was playing) you can’t hear it. If they want to have subtle music in the background, that’s one thing, but you actually can’t tell it’s playing. It needs to be a little bit louder if they just want it to be subtle.

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^ not sure when you went but on this past Friday it sounded just as it always has. The park has never really had superb acoustics with the exception of *maybe* the park entrance and parts of the Boardwalk.

 

Areas near viper, mind Eraser, rolling thunder, sky screamer and even the main midway with silver bullet and haymaker are all pretty much silent when it comes to music. I’m not even sure they have the infrastructure for it in those parts.

 

Main entrance towards boomerang and branching off to both RoS and the Boardwalk seem to be the only zones with actual music playing.

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^I do have one. Plan is Arrive at Buffalo airport Sunday 845, Martin's Fantasy Island/Seabreeze(open until 9PM) on Sunday, followed by Darien Lake/drive to Toronto Monday (and probably take the time to at least see Niagara Falls from the public park on the river), Canada's Wonderland all day Tuesday, then Marineland until like 2pm on Wednesday (pretty much just NEED to ride Dragon Mountain and the crazy S&S tower), fly home to Orlando from Buffalo 545pm. I don't like having to be on the Canada side at all on Wednesday but that's how the park hours work out for it.

 

Frontier was $83 dollars round-trip and I just HAD to say yes lol. Bought the flight Friday night. Never been to any of these before!

 

Have fun. Don't bother with Fantasy Island if you don't have to. There isn't much of a park left there believe me on this. Its not worth paying the admission and parking to go there. If you are made of money and want to spend then its ok to go there, but it will probably be very disappointing. If you are going I suggest waiting for the weather to warm up and the kids to get out of school so they will actually have staff and the water park will be open, then it won't be bad at all. They charge for parking now unless you buy the seasons pass and they don't allow any food or drink in the park. You can't have a family picnic anymore because of these restrictions. There is a tim hortons and a pizza place within walking distance of the park, use these instead of buying park food. The seasons pass is the same price or less as a day ticket from what I can see when you factor in the parking charge, so one time visitors get screwed. One thing for sure is you can do this park in a couple hours and there won't be long lines.

 

If you don't have a pass for free parking at SF parks then darien lake charges $20 for parking now.

 

Casino is the only good place to eat on the NY side. Please avoid every other eatery you see on the NY side, they are all ripoffs. There's a bunch of places in the casino that serve decent food for a reasonable price. You can also eat the Fallsview casino in Canada for a reasonable price. Canada will charge you for parking but if you go to the lot at the back of the Skylon Tower, take the main road and turn left when you see the admiral inn, this takes you to Robinson street and you will end up in this lot, feed the meter you can park all day for $10 canadian which is really cheap. Aquarium of Niagara in NY also charges for parking but you can park on a nearby street and walk. American falls is currently a huge (toxic) dump because there is so much construction downtown you won't even know where to walk or drive, unless you are going to the casino I suggest avoiding it. The main entrance to the falls area is even blocked off. Even though they charge for parking you might be better off going directly to the Canadian side and walking around, given that most of the green space downtown in NY is under construction (not the gorge, just the green space around the falls). Maid of the mist boat ride and cave of the winds are awesome attractions and are must do in Niagara. If you do anything else do these, view the falls and get out of there and go to another city for dinner.

 

Something else I wanted to mention here that literally no one has ever talked about and an announcement that has gone totally under the radar. Despite Marineland's horrible publicity its actually a decent park with friendly workers, at least it was when I went there in 2017. I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the workers were. You can bring your own food right into the park and park for free. Out of all the WNY parks this is the one I had the most fun at. The park added people mover trams this year and has a 2 acre waterpark opening sometime this year, hopefully. Regardless they are building a water park and its already in progress. They are also removing the topple tower if it isn't already gone and it seems they making huge investments to the park. There will be a new ride at some point in the next year or 2 that replaces the topple tower. The Walrus passed away recently so you won't be seeing that if you view the large sea animal show they have. You mentioned the SS tower, the last time I was there they were only running one side one car on it so prepare for a long wait. The flying dragon is a must do and the Sky Hawk (huss condor) is the best ride in the park IMO. The teacup ride is really intense. If you haven't been to Marineland in a very long time or ever I think they may have added some things to the coaster from the original build.

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^^ I love Fantasy Island for a couple hours. They do have a pretty okay water park with a bowl slide, a mat racer, and one other slide tower. Plus Silver Comet is a blast and I love that vertical swing they have there. But given the choice of Marineland and Fantasy Island, I'd prefer Marineland. Sidenote, I think they have the new Polar Splash scheduled to open on July 1st. I know it is predominantly for kids, but the themeing they have on it looks pretty awesome!

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UPDATE: It appears Six Flags is are-uploading all the coaster POVs. The just uploaded Boomerang, even though there is already a POV of it from like 2015 on the channel.

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UPDATE: It appears Six Flags is are-uploading all the coaster POVs. The just uploaded Boomerang, even though there is already a POV of it from like 2015 on the channel.

 

Exciting... thanks for keeping us updated of this historic moment as it develops.

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In my boredom today, I was browsing the SFDL website on the wayback machine, for the year 2005. Wayback machine

I came across mention of a Poland Spring Plunge. Based on the description it sounds like thunder rapids. Was TR ever called Poland Spring Plunge? I don't think I can ever remember it being called that. When I google Poland Spring Plunge, all that comes up is a ride at SFNE.

poland.PNG.63580a2c8ef3fe48e4f7ef7232321f2b.PNG

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^I do have one. Plan is Arrive at Buffalo airport Sunday 845, Martin's Fantasy Island/Seabreeze(open until 9PM) on Sunday, followed by Darien Lake/drive to Toronto Monday (and probably take the time to at least see Niagara Falls from the public park on the river), Canada's Wonderland all day Tuesday, then Marineland until like 2pm on Wednesday (pretty much just NEED to ride Dragon Mountain and the crazy S&S tower), fly home to Orlando from Buffalo 545pm. I don't like having to be on the Canada side at all on Wednesday but that's how the park hours work out for it.

 

Frontier was $83 dollars round-trip and I just HAD to say yes lol. Bought the flight Friday night. Never been to any of these before!

 

Have fun. Don't bother with Fantasy Island if you don't have to. There isn't much of a park left there believe me on this. Its not worth paying the admission and parking to go there. If you are made of money and want to spend then its ok to go there, but it will probably be very disappointing. If you are going I suggest waiting for the weather to warm up and the kids to get out of school so they will actually have staff and the water park will be open, then it won't be bad at all. They charge for parking now unless you buy the seasons pass and they don't allow any food or drink in the park. You can't have a family picnic anymore because of these restrictions. There is a tim hortons and a pizza place within walking distance of the park, use these instead of buying park food. The seasons pass is the same price or less as a day ticket from what I can see when you factor in the parking charge, so one time visitors get screwed. One thing for sure is you can do this park in a couple hours and there won't be long lines.

 

If you don't have a pass for free parking at SF parks then darien lake charges $20 for parking now.

 

Casino is the only good place to eat on the NY side. Please avoid every other eatery you see on the NY side, they are all ripoffs. There's a bunch of places in the casino that serve decent food for a reasonable price. You can also eat the Fallsview casino in Canada for a reasonable price. Canada will charge you for parking but if you go to the lot at the back of the Skylon Tower, take the main road and turn left when you see the admiral inn, this takes you to Robinson street and you will end up in this lot, feed the meter you can park all day for $10 canadian which is really cheap. Aquarium of Niagara in NY also charges for parking but you can park on a nearby street and walk. American falls is currently a huge (toxic) dump because there is so much construction downtown you won't even know where to walk or drive, unless you are going to the casino I suggest avoiding it. The main entrance to the falls area is even blocked off. Even though they charge for parking you might be better off going directly to the Canadian side and walking around, given that most of the green space downtown in NY is under construction (not the gorge, just the green space around the falls). Maid of the mist boat ride and cave of the winds are awesome attractions and are must do in Niagara. If you do anything else do these, view the falls and get out of there and go to another city for dinner.

 

Something else I wanted to mention here that literally no one has ever talked about and an announcement that has gone totally under the radar. Despite Marineland's horrible publicity its actually a decent park with friendly workers, at least it was when I went there in 2017. I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the workers were. You can bring your own food right into the park and park for free. Out of all the WNY parks this is the one I had the most fun at. The park added people mover trams this year and has a 2 acre waterpark opening sometime this year, hopefully. Regardless they are building a water park and its already in progress. They are also removing the topple tower if it isn't already gone and it seems they making huge investments to the park. There will be a new ride at some point in the next year or 2 that replaces the topple tower. The Walrus passed away recently so you won't be seeing that if you view the large sea animal show they have. You mentioned the SS tower, the last time I was there they were only running one side one car on it so prepare for a long wait. The flying dragon is a must do and the Sky Hawk (huss condor) is the best ride in the park IMO. The teacup ride is really intense. If you haven't been to Marineland in a very long time or ever I think they may have added some things to the coaster from the original build.

 

If you think the casino is the only good place to eat you mustve never eaten outside of downtown NF.

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^I do have one. Plan is Arrive at Buffalo airport Sunday 845, Martin's Fantasy Island/Seabreeze(open until 9PM) on Sunday, followed by Darien Lake/drive to Toronto Monday (and probably take the time to at least see Niagara Falls from the public park on the river), Canada's Wonderland all day Tuesday, then Marineland until like 2pm on Wednesday (pretty much just NEED to ride Dragon Mountain and the crazy S&S tower), fly home to Orlando from Buffalo 545pm. I don't like having to be on the Canada side at all on Wednesday but that's how the park hours work out for it.

 

Frontier was $83 dollars round-trip and I just HAD to say yes lol. Bought the flight Friday night. Never been to any of these before!

 

Have fun. Don't bother with Fantasy Island if you don't have to. There isn't much of a park left there believe me on this. Its not worth paying the admission and parking to go there. If you are made of money and want to spend then its ok to go there, but it will probably be very disappointing. If you are going I suggest waiting for the weather to warm up and the kids to get out of school so they will actually have staff and the water park will be open, then it won't be bad at all. They charge for parking now unless you buy the seasons pass and they don't allow any food or drink in the park. You can't have a family picnic anymore because of these restrictions. There is a tim hortons and a pizza place within walking distance of the park, use these instead of buying park food. The seasons pass is the same price or less as a day ticket from what I can see when you factor in the parking charge, so one time visitors get screwed. One thing for sure is you can do this park in a couple hours and there won't be long lines.

 

If you don't have a pass for free parking at SF parks then darien lake charges $20 for parking now.

 

Casino is the only good place to eat on the NY side. Please avoid every other eatery you see on the NY side, they are all ripoffs. There's a bunch of places in the casino that serve decent food for a reasonable price. You can also eat the Fallsview casino in Canada for a reasonable price. Canada will charge you for parking but if you go to the lot at the back of the Skylon Tower, take the main road and turn left when you see the admiral inn, this takes you to Robinson street and you will end up in this lot, feed the meter you can park all day for $10 canadian which is really cheap. Aquarium of Niagara in NY also charges for parking but you can park on a nearby street and walk. American falls is currently a huge (toxic) dump because there is so much construction downtown you won't even know where to walk or drive, unless you are going to the casino I suggest avoiding it. The main entrance to the falls area is even blocked off. Even though they charge for parking you might be better off going directly to the Canadian side and walking around, given that most of the green space downtown in NY is under construction (not the gorge, just the green space around the falls). Maid of the mist boat ride and cave of the winds are awesome attractions and are must do in Niagara. If you do anything else do these, view the falls and get out of there and go to another city for dinner.

 

Something else I wanted to mention here that literally no one has ever talked about and an announcement that has gone totally under the radar. Despite Marineland's horrible publicity its actually a decent park with friendly workers, at least it was when I went there in 2017. I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the workers were. You can bring your own food right into the park and park for free. Out of all the WNY parks this is the one I had the most fun at. The park added people mover trams this year and has a 2 acre waterpark opening sometime this year, hopefully. Regardless they are building a water park and its already in progress. They are also removing the topple tower if it isn't already gone and it seems they making huge investments to the park. There will be a new ride at some point in the next year or 2 that replaces the topple tower. The Walrus passed away recently so you won't be seeing that if you view the large sea animal show they have. You mentioned the SS tower, the last time I was there they were only running one side one car on it so prepare for a long wait. The flying dragon is a must do and the Sky Hawk (huss condor) is the best ride in the park IMO. The teacup ride is really intense. If you haven't been to Marineland in a very long time or ever I think they may have added some things to the coaster from the original build.

 

If you think the casino is the only good place to eat you mustve never eaten outside of downtown NF.

 

I meant the only decent place to eat in the downtown area. There are of course, other places to eat in the city.

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