Darien Lake-Labor Day

So i decided to use these coupons we got in the cleveland plain dealer, that my mom found. We got their slightly before the park opened and on the side of the ticket office was posted the rides that would be down and temp and what not. Not so bad two coasters, one for obvious maintence and another for probably lack of employees. Many water rides were closed as the temperature of the water would never get warm enough.

Well since we got there before the dropping of the lines, for entrance we walked around examining stores and whatnot, and right off the bat i was impressed with the employees working the stores, mainly older but extremely polite and seemed to enjoy working there as evidenced by one woman talking about how working there was what most of her family did. Great start but sad also knowing that many had made memories in this park, through the years, but im sure it will find good hands. But major props to six flags for hiring many oloder employees, and it really makes you feel good cause old people really make you feel welcome.

So after checking out most of the open stores we watched the happy jingle of six flags open the park. Many people ran for superman which wasnt open just yet but did after about a two minute wait. While waiting i observed the appearance of predator and really saw how bad a coaster could look on the top of the track where the steel strips were rusted pretty badly . Anyhow superman front seat wait was aobut 20 minutes, nothing bad, i loved the first drop over the lake, and it really seemed all good in the front compared to a later ride in back which was considerably rougher and much tighter in those smaller trains of intamin megas.

We then made our way over and past the lake which was nice and looped around to check out the camping area before turning around. That restaurant looked awesome from the outside, and i would love to tap a keg or something on the outside. Boomerang was down as we passed it twice in our little trek up near the campground, and it looked like it was leaking a ton of oil or something recently, because the rocks were covered.

Anyhow we made it over to Viper and the longest walk ever to a coaster. Waited for the front seat and i was pretty impressed by the ride to say the least, not nearly as bad as vortex thrashings but, hey i like arrows oddly enough.
Then we did the ranger because it was there, and i wanted off as soon as the restraints dropped into my gut. Considering i had dislocated ribs a few months back this wasnt very comfortable but it wasnt too bad, although a woman behind was screaming madly.

Then with experience on an SLC i tried my luck with a clone of thunderhawk at gl with mind eraser, which was rougher than sin and was shuffling along near the end, just in really bad shape.

Then the log flume, which was alright, and the lasso, before a last ride on supes.

The rides and park besides supes, reminded me of the geauga lake i grew up with. Before it was mutated to its current state. I also thought they were operated by maybe not the same family but were sister parks at a time or so i heard. But it wasnt a bad thing, it turns out the shops and employees were a major highlight of my day as well, talking with many of them. ALso you gotta love the lakes and the water all around reminds me of a constructive idea in RCT. All in all i think this park has some real charm in it and maybe losing six flags will really be better because they wont have to deal with brands and things, because this park really doesnt seem to fit those molds in my opinion.

I agree, I have always loved Darien Lake, and it does have its own charm. You are correct, Premier owned DL and GL, as well as Great Escape, Riverside (SFNE), Elitch Gardens (and possibly a couple others) long before the Premier/Six Flags purchase. Most of these parks were charming smaller parks before Six Flags got involved, and at least one (SFNE) has been improved by Six Flags. Overall though, these are great parks for families (something Premier understood), not the sort of think Six Flags or Mark Shapiro want at all... ;-)

Thing is, Premier IS Six Flags, so don't go singing their praises or something. Though I will say that Mark Shapiro wasn't involved back then.

On the other hand, GL, DL, & WD WERE sister parks, as they were owned by a company called Funtime. Premier bought this company out, and therefore, acquired the parks. Perhaps you were recalling the days of Funtime some.