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Six Flags Darien Lake (SFDL) Discussion Thread


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Mind Eraser will not be leaving Darien Lake anytime soon. It has a high ridership and unlike Skull Mountain at SFA, it is not a technical nightmare. It is one of the major attractions at that park and as much as it pains me to say, Viper is the ride if any that has the highest chance to get the axe. Even though Darien Lake needs all of their rides at this point.

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Mind Eraser will not be leaving Darien Lake anytime soon. It has a high ridership and unlike Skull Mountain at SFA, it is not a technical nightmare. It is one of the major attractions at that park and as much as it pains me to say, Viper is the ride if any that has the highest chance to get the axe. Even though Darien Lake needs all of their rides at this point.

 

In 2003, Stealth, the former main attraction at CGA was removed for a water park expansion, so if DL removes ME for a good new coaster, it wouldn't be so bad.

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...and as much as it pains me to say, Viper is the ride if any that has the highest chance to get the axe. Even though Darien Lake needs all of their rides at this point.

 

Unless it's become a maintenance nightmare I just don't see Viper leaving. Other than RoS it is a signature ride. Now if they were to take the Galaxy Theater site and include the Viper site it would make an interesting location for a big new ride.

 

I much rather see Darien Lake sell Mind Eraser to Martin's Fantasy Island either that or scrapped!

 

As much as I would approve the removal of Mind Eraser selling it to Martin's would not be a good idea. I personally don't think it's a ride that would fit the niche MFI has created though by adding Mind Warp two years ago showed that they aren't afraid to add something with a bit of intensity.

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Their coaster collection is fine for now, actually I enjoy almost all of them. I understand Mind Eraser is on the rough side like almost every SLC, but it offers something that is unique to the park, and it is fairly reliable to operate. Of course a paint job on Mind Eraser or Ride of Steel would be greatly appreciated. However, Darien Lake has other important tasks to complete before the next mega-coaster is built or they replace an existing coaster.

 

If Darien Lake starts only focusing on the next great coaster (think Six Flags Ohio), they risk losing sight of the rest of the park. Building new things is great, but if the park can't support them, these new toys can be the death sentence to the park. When Six Flags went into Ohio, they slapped on four coasters in 2000 and another in 2001 totaling five coasters in two years in which four of them were "major." This sounds great on the outside, but the park was bleeding internally. Six Flags was up to their neck in debt, and the park was not guest-friendly in terms of operations and guest service. In summary, the park was not ready to take on such a large expansion, because the park's infrastructure was not built to handle the influx of people. In the end guest satisfaction tanked, attendance dropped, Six Flags sold out to Cedar Fair, and Geauga Lake is only in our memories.

 

Darien Lake is building from the inside out. Thrill rides, family rides, and kiddie rides are crucial to any amusement park. Internal strength in terms of modern facilities, strategically designed park layout, effective operations, and outstanding guest service are real factors that keep people coming back. Rowdy's Ridge, Blast Off and its new area, Splashtown, refurbishment of Giant Wheel, and restroom facility upgrades are improvements that are more valuable than many may realize. These round out the total park experience. Darien Lake is getting closer to that next great coaster, but they still have work to do. Older rides need some clean-up, and there is still a lot of modernizing of facilities/buildings that needs to be done to support expansions like new coasters. Think of a new coaster as the final step or a sign of a job well done for Darien Lake's new rise to stardom.

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I don't think that the Mind Eraser will be removed any time soon no matter how much people want it gone. Here are some reasons:

 

1: I recall Darien Lake stating at one time that it is one of their favorite coasters.

 

2: It is New York's only SLC.

 

3: It has long queue times in the summer.

 

4: It is a nice looking ride in the area it is in and brightens up the park.

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Mind Eraser will not be leaving Darien Lake anytime soon. It has a high ridership and unlike Skull Mountain at SFA, it is not a technical nightmare. It is one of the major attractions at that park and as much as it pains me to say, Viper is the ride if any that has the highest chance to get the axe. Even though Darien Lake needs all of their rides at this point.

 

In 2003, Stealth, the former main attraction at CGA was removed for a water park expansion, so if DL removes ME for a good new coaster, it wouldn't be so bad.

 

Stealth also had massive maintenance issues and terrible throughput. Stealth's removal is in no way similar to Darien Lake removing Mind Eraser. And as cool as the ride might have been, I can think of very few who have ever thought anything was the "main attraction" over Top Gun.

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^If Darien Lake does remove Mind Eraser then New York would have no SLC or some form of an inverted coaster. Mind Eraser is the only SLC/inverted coaster in the state of New York by removing New York's only inverted coaster would be like removing Top Gun/Flight Deck from CGA!

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Mind Eraser is the only SLC/inverted coaster in the state of New York by removing New York's only inverted coaster would be like removing Top Gun/Flight Deck from CGA!

 

I see no comparison between these two comments. But it doesn't matter anyway since neither coaster is going anywhere.

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Mind Eraser will not be leaving Darien Lake anytime soon. It has a high ridership and unlike Skull Mountain at SFA, it is not a technical nightmare. It is one of the major attractions at that park and as much as it pains me to say, Viper is the ride if any that has the highest chance to get the axe. Even though Darien Lake needs all of their rides at this point.

 

In 2003, Stealth, the former main attraction at CGA was removed for a water park expansion, so if DL removes ME for a good new coaster, it wouldn't be so bad.

 

Stealth also had massive maintenance issues and terrible throughput. Stealth's removal is in no way similar to Darien Lake removing Mind Eraser. And as cool as the ride might have been, I can think of very few who have ever thought anything was the "main attraction" over Top Gun.

 

I'm not sure if that lead to it's removal. Why would Paramount move a ride with maintenance problems to another park? , just so it could have maintenance problems at Carowinds?, it was still Paramount's problem. If it was maintenance problems, they probably would have sold it.... unless they removed it from CGA/PGA because Stealth brought bad attention from it's maintenance problems.

 

Now that I look more into it, I don't see Darien Lake moving ME (anytime soon that is . ) It seems like it's one of the parks fav. looping coasters. Darien Lake doesn't need to get rid of a coaster to build a new one. I hear that DL has minimal room though, so I thought if they removed ME, they would have room for another cooler coaster, and send ME to FC. It has fame at DL, and it shouldn't be removed for a while. ME could still be a great coaster though if they re-paint it, and upgrade the trains.

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^There are things that can be addressed, modified, and fixed when a ride is removed and completely refurbished, that might not otherwise be possible (or economically feasible) if it were left in place. It was not a good fit at CGA but has proven to work out well enough at Carowinds.

 

This whole pointless argument goes back to the whole enthusiast complex that we all get, especially when we are young. An enthusiast likes to think a ride should be removed and replaced because of the experience the ride gives, a park thinks a ride should be removed or replaced when ridership/draw is low or the cost to operate becomes larger than the revenue it attracts. As much as most enthusiasts hate SLCs, the majority of park guests enjoy them and continue to ride them. Parks don't cater to enthusiasts, they cater to the masses.

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^There are things that can be addressed, modified, and fixed when a ride is removed and completely refurbished, that might not otherwise be possible (or economically feasible) if it were left in place. It was not a good fit at CGA but has proven to work out well enough at Carowinds.

 

This whole pointless argument goes back to the whole enthusiast complex that we all get, especially when we are young. An enthusiast likes to think a ride should be removed and replaced because of the experience the ride gives, a park thinks a ride should be removed or replaced when ridership/draw is low or the cost to operate becomes larger than the revenue it attracts. As much as most enthusiasts hate SLCs, the majority of park guests enjoy them and continue to ride them. Parks don't cater to enthusiasts, they cater to the masses.

 

 

 

Yeah, I totally get your point. there are more GP then there are enthusiasts. Now that I look more deeply into this, I see ME isn't going anywhere. It's not because it's NY state's only Invert, it's the amount of attention it draws.

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Room is not a problem. Like I shown in a previous post, there are two places in the park where there is a lot of room for a coaster. First is the area that is opened up for Fright Fest behind the Ride of Steel. Second is behind the go kart track.

Capture.thumb.JPG.4be4b8d12d383cca00b22c6f080a65b2.JPG

Both locations are circled in red. The picture was taken from Google Maps.

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^Those two areas are what I call problem areas or, at least, sections with the most potiential, espeically the area around Ride of Steel. It's probably the worst dead end I've seen in a park since there is nothing to draw people there especially if RoS is suffering a break down. I'd rather see new or relocated flats there instead of a new coaster in that location as they would liven up that area up more. Since Twister is in an odd location they should move it to this area. It may get more ridership at a better location.

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