Six Flags Darien Lake (SFDL) Discussion Thread

[coasterkid124]

LIMs are a huge power drain and most parks would be turned away by the costs. Darien Lake already has power problems and should not even look into building a coaster larger than RoS. You don't need the tallest coaster to be the best. I would be satisfied with a Maverick type coaster or some sort of B&M creation seeing that DL doesn't have one yet. But in Herchend's case I would put my bets on Gerstlauer or RMC. Then again with Wild Eagle being a success B&M isn't ruled out.

[Geauga Dog]

^Also SDC has Wildfire so Wild Eagle isn't the only B&M Herschend has built.

[CPmillenia94]

How is ROS running these days? Im heading there over the summer and cannot WAIT to see how it compares to SFAs clone, which I absolutely loved.

[SbSteveZ]

LIMs are a huge power drain and most parks would be turned away by the costs. Darien Lake already has power problems and should not even look into building a coaster larger than RoS. You don't need the tallest coaster to be the best. I would be satisfied with a Maverick type coaster or some sort of B&M creation seeing that DL doesn't have one yet. But in Herchend's case I would put my bets on Gerstlauer or RMC. Then again with Wild Eagle being a success B&M isn't ruled out.

 

Maybe it's just me, but when I read "Something World's Tallest like at Cedar Point" I thought of things like Gatekeeper, the "Worlds tallest" winged coaster, or Wicked Twister, the "Worlds Tallest" inverted impulse coaster. And If I'm not mistaken, Mean Streak was at some point the tallest wooden coaster. So maybe we're thinking to specifically when we jump to conclusions that they would be looking into a strata coaster of any kind, but that's just my take on it.

[coasterkid124]

^^ RoS is running really good this year. I think that they took extra time to take care of it and prepare it for this season. The only complaint is wait times. Not because of crowds but an average of 6 min dispatches. Most crews in the park this year are very slow.

[HAUNT MANIAC]

I've only been to CW once this year even with a season pass and I waited an hour to buy a pizza! Hour and a half to get on Guardian. Not too busy but still very long wait times.

[DarienLaker]

^^ RoS is running really good this year. I think that they took extra time to take care of it and prepare it for this season. The only complaint is wait times. Not because of crowds but an average of 6 min dispatches. Most crews in the park this year are very slow.

 

Like what is up that, one train operations and slow crews? This is not what I would expect from any park!

[coasterkid124]

The second trains aren't even on the transfers yet. It's getting close to July too. I'm worried that the park isn't gonna hold true to its promise. 6 min dispatches are way to slow.

[DarienLaker]

The second trains aren't even on the transfers yet. It's getting close to July too. I'm worried that the park isn't gonna hold true to its promise. 6 min dispatches are way to slow.

 

This is not good, Darien Lake would run out of those free "front of the line" passes before the end of August if they don't get the second trains back on Ride of Steel, Viper, Motocoaster, and Predator!

[Sk610]

I thought one of the big things from the offseason was to get all of the second trains fully operational so they could run two trains on all the coasters that could actually do it. As for the long waits, that is 100% in the training and expectations. Six minutes to load and unload a train is way to long. Ask the people at cedar point how that would fly there. Those ride ops hustle all the time.

 

As for next year, I do not need a worlds tallest or longest anything I just want something good. I honestly would take a clone of the B&M floor less from SFNE. I have never been on it but it has a diving drop, a dive loop and a zero G roll, all of which the park is missing. On top of that it is relatively compact and looks to have some good forces and such. That coaster is pure proof that a ride doesn't have to be 200 ft tall or have 7+ inversions to be a good ride. Plus since B&M already designed it, not much in the engineering fees, just take the plans and drop the in the spot they want at DL and theme it up

[coasterkid124]

They did refurbish the second trains for RoS and Viper as they have been running the opposites this year. But no parts have shown up at all and I don't know how long it takes to set them up. I think that Motocoaster and Mind Eraser will run one train again. The least they should do is at least prepare the trains so they could move them on when they need them.

[coasterjohnh]

DL has been running the same way ever since I can remember and they'll never change. They will not put anything in like the TTD because it is to costly to operate.

They will not even run 2 trains on anything there. It's too flustrating for me to go there.Maybe if they ever get a fast pass I might return, but they wouldn't know how to run it properly anyway.

Darien Lake sucks!

[DarienLaker]

Maybe Darien Lake thinks that it would be cheaper if they ran all of the coasters with only one train. But it's not everyone pays for it! the riders have endure a rather long wait time, it becomes a maintenance and capacity nightmare over time, and nobody seem to know what happen to the second trains!

[SaraAB87]

Guests who have a bad experience will not return. Every time I have gone there has been an over 2 hours wait for ROS which is unnacceptable. Putting 2 trains on would solve this problem.

 

The worst is that they said they were going to do something and they are not doing it. If the park has no intentions of doing it then don't send out emails saying you will do it!!!!!

 

The only thing I can think of is they are waiting till the schools let out, if it doesn't happen after then, then Darien is simply a park that tells lies to its guests to make them feel better about going to a crappy park with lackluster coasters.

[coasterkid124]

Well it's not said and done officially that they're not running two trains. There just hasn't been any activity near the transfers. Most schools let out next week or the week after so attendance is going to pick up fast.

[Sk610]

I agree that I they are advertising shorter waits or free tickets then they only have two reasons for not putting a second train on rides like ROS. Either they want to artificially inflate their attendance numbers with the free return passes. The other option is they just want people to come back and spend more money. This would be especially true if they only count the turnstiles out front and not paid attendance.

 

Either way if they promised something and are not following through that is not a good thing. At least make an effort to deliver on your own promise. Even if they are waiting until schools are out, those trains should be ready now just in case. It really sounds like poor planning and is definately concerning. The only thing that would

Make it worthwhile would be of the crowds overall are on record levels an it just wasn't planned for, but I highly doubt that is the case, sadly...

 

Hopefully they get

[DarienLaker]

The only thing I can think of is they are waiting till the schools let out, if it doesn't happen after then, then Darien is simply a park that tells lies to its guests to make them feel better about going to a crappy park with lackluster coasters.

 

Well, maybe they're waiting until school's out to put a second on Ride of Steel, Viper, Motocoaster, and Mind Eraser or maybe Darien Lake got rid of them to save money? You do have a point on Darien Lake being a crappy park with lackluster coasters that mostly clones that can found in other parks!

[TheDarkMaxim]

This is more than likely due to maintenance. One big issue with the park was how poorly the rides were treated from 2000-2010. The lack of maintenance during this time is what's causing lack of trains, frequent breakdowns. In fact PARC caused companies to stop providing parts, etc from lack of payment.

 

It seems as though many don't realize how badly the park was treated, and how they are STILL recovering. Many years of the mentality to spend as little as possible on maintenance is a huge issue. I would expect to see the park to continue to remove rides because of their condition.

[DarienLaker]

This is more than likely due to maintenance. One big issue with the park was how poorly the rides were treated from 2000-2010. The lack of maintenance during this time is what's causing lack of trains, frequent breakdowns. In fact PARC caused companies to stop providing parts, etc from lack of payment.

 

It seems as though many don't realize how badly the park was treated, and how they are STILL recovering. Many years of the mentality to spend as little as possible on maintenance is a huge issue. I would expect to see the park to continue to remove rides because of their condition.

 

Six Flags pretty much left Darien Lake in the dust after Ride of Steel was put in and PARC did almost nothing to change Darien Lake from being a shell of its former Six Flags self. Now Herschend is trying to clean up the "mess" that Six Flags and PARC left behind at Darien Lake!

[coasterkid124]

^ I wouldn't say that at all. Darien Lake was Six Flag's first attempt at a resort and they really wanted to build into a huge empire. If they still owned the park, we would likely see Ranger, Haymaker, Silver Bullet, etc. be removed and replaced with things like Aquatwists and SkyScreamers. I believe that RoS and Viper at the least will have two trains sometime because both have had their sets of trains refurbbed. I just hope this rebuild isn't gonna take something like ten years before we see the park up to modern standards.

[DarienLaker]

^ I wouldn't say that at all. Darien Lake was Six Flag's first attempt at a resort and they really wanted to build into a huge empire. If they still owned the park, we would likely see Ranger, Haymaker, Silver Bullet, etc. be removed and replaced with things like Aquatwists and SkyScreamers. I believe that RoS and Viper at the least will have two trains sometime because both have had their sets of trains refurbbed. I just hope this rebuild isn't gonna take something like ten years before we see the park up to modern standards.

 

I bet you if Six Flags still owned Darien Lake, they would have put in a Tony Hawk's Big Spin/Pandemonium coaster in where the campground pools were instead of Motocoaster!

[XYZ]

^ I wouldn't say that at all. Darien Lake was Six Flag's first attempt at a resort and they really wanted to build into a huge empire. If they still owned the park, we would likely see Ranger, Haymaker, Silver Bullet, etc. be removed and replaced with things like Aquatwists and SkyScreamers. I believe that RoS and Viper at the least will have two trains sometime because both have had their sets of trains refurbbed. I just hope this rebuild isn't gonna take something like ten years before we see the park up to modern standards.

 

I bet you if Six Flags still owned Darien Lake, they would have put in a Tony Hawk's Big Spin/Pandemonium coaster in where the campground pools were instead of Motocoaster!

 

I bet you $5.

[DarienLaker]

^ I wouldn't say that at all. Darien Lake was Six Flag's first attempt at a resort and they really wanted to build into a huge empire. If they still owned the park, we would likely see Ranger, Haymaker, Silver Bullet, etc. be removed and replaced with things like Aquatwists and SkyScreamers. I believe that RoS and Viper at the least will have two trains sometime because both have had their sets of trains refurbbed. I just hope this rebuild isn't gonna take something like ten years before we see the park up to modern standards.

 

I bet you if Six Flags still owned Darien Lake, they would have put in a Tony Hawk's Big Spin/Pandemonium coaster in where the campground pools were instead of Motocoaster!

 

I bet you $5.

 

^You guys know that I was kidding on the betting portion of my last post, but the campground pools would still go if Six Flags still owned Darien Lake and Ride of Steel would be renamed "Bizarro"!

[XYZ]

^ I wouldn't say that at all. Darien Lake was Six Flag's first attempt at a resort and they really wanted to build into a huge empire. If they still owned the park, we would likely see Ranger, Haymaker, Silver Bullet, etc. be removed and replaced with things like Aquatwists and SkyScreamers. I believe that RoS and Viper at the least will have two trains sometime because both have had their sets of trains refurbbed. I just hope this rebuild isn't gonna take something like ten years before we see the park up to modern standards.

 

I bet you if Six Flags still owned Darien Lake, they would have put in a Tony Hawk's Big Spin/Pandemonium coaster in where the campground pools were instead of Motocoaster!

 

I bet you $5.

 

^You guys know that I was kidding on the betting portion of my last post, but the campground pools would still go if Six Flags still owned Darien Lake and Ride of Steel would be renamed "Bizarro"!

 

Well, there's basically no evidence other than pure speculation that points to either happening during the Six Flags era. Plus, Superman at SFA never became Bizarro.

[SaraAB87]

The whole thing about the front of the line passes is not good either, if everyone has one because the wait is over 2 hours on ROS then what is the point, the guests with them will never be able to ride right away since everyone will have them and will be trying to do the same thing. This will only lead to more chaos in the queue as if there isn't enough already and more unhappy guests. Then there will be people in the regular line who will never get to ride.

 

Yes you can use it on another ride but let's face it everyone just wants to ride ROS.

 

Doesn't seem to stop me from getting a free front of the line pass either, all I have to do is find out what line is the longest in the park and ask for the pass, even if I was never in that line to begin with.

 

Let's look at the coaster lineup from my perspective:

 

Predator - unrideable

Mind eraser - unrideable

Boomerang - unrideable

 

Viper - passable, possibly rideable without significant pain

 

ROS - rideable but you will wait all day, then have no time for anything else

 

Moto coaster - rideable but boring and not worth the 45 min wait

 

That does not mean there aren't other rides in the park that I enjoy because there are so I focus on those instead. However the coaster lineup needs serious help, yes they have them but 3 out if the 6 are not rideable unless you are masochist or something.. And as for predator the group I went with last year said it was horrible, so even the GP knows it's bad. When I talk about bad I don't mean boring or crappy I mean it as actually causing physical pain to your body. I have ridden over 60 laps on the silver comet in one day (so it's not like I haven't done my fair share of rides) not something I would do again at my age now but still I doubt that was nearly as bad as a couple spins on the predator, mind eraser or boomerang.

 

I don't need the biggest, tallest or fastest, I just need a decent ride that won't kill me when I go on it. I am not picky so whatever they add would probably be fine. Fixing up the predator would be great, as long as it turned out good and rideable.