Please Help With SFDL Info

I am interested in going to Six Flags Darien Lake sometime this summer. Can anyone please tell me a little bit about the park: how are the coasters? flat rides? park appearence / food/ different things to see and do? Anything cool to do in surrounding neighborhood / area? I live in Ohio. Is it worth the trip? Is the park scenic, etc? Thanks so much.

-----------------
My friend is afraid of E.T. (Yes, the little alien)

SFDL, has a very good selection of flats, the park is clean great surroundings. To be honest with you SFDL doesn't have a lot of coasters about 6 coasters right now, but they have probably one of the best hypers out there S:ROS.

In terms of a all day thing, I wouldn't suggest that, not unless you want to reride S:ROS all day if not make a 1/2 day trip.

No disrespect intended, but I differ with Darienlakefan's 1/2 day suggestion. My wife and I visited the park last june and we spent a good day there from the 9am opening to the 5pm closing. This included 3 rides on SRoS and 2 each on Predator, Boomerang, Viper and Mind Eraser plus a few flats and 2 spins on the ferriswheel. Keep a few things in mind.... 1) when we were there there were lots of busses (the schools in the area were in their last week of school and many had planned trips to the park that day), 2) we took the park at a leisurly pace, 3) we took time out to eat (I forget the restaurant's name... "Beaver Brothers" or something like that... log cabin look, in the back of the park, windows looking out on to Boomerang) and 4) we made two passes around the park... we didn't ride a coaster twice and then move on to the next... we spent alot of time walking.

That being said... I have no regrets making the trip from southern PA to Darien Center, NY. I went in not expecting much (I was disappointed with my only other visit to a SF park... SFA) and I was pleasantly surprised. Like Darienlakefan said... clean park in great surroundings. Just a note on surroundings... we drove from PA to NY the day before and arrived in the area the night before after dark and after closing. We were driving in the middle of nowhere... farm country... suddenly we came upon the park... still lit up with SRoS looking like some sort of ghost illuminated in the darkness... and then back into farm country... kind of a surreal drive by that night.

It wasn't said how long of a trip you are planning. From the north east corner of Ohio this would be an easy day trip... from the south west corner it would be quite a long drive. If you your trip is going to be a multiple day trip... you could do like we did and hit a few parks at once... Conneaut Lake and Waldameer in PA and Martin's fantasy Island in NY would sort of be "on the way" to Darien Lake.

-----------------
Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"

To SLFAKE,

Thanks so much for the detailed repy. I would be coming from Northeast Ohio (suburb of Cleveland) Where are those other parks and how are they? It would be great to take a few days and go to a few different ones. Don't get me wrong, I love CP, my home park, actually I adore it but for some reason, this year I am interested in visiting some nearby parks that I have never been to.

I don't have many under my belt. I have PKI, SFWoA, Kennywood, and SFMM. It will be cool to ride some rides I've never been on, plus my boyfriend enjoys the parks and rides but is no where near the enthusiast that I am so I'd like him to experience some places he's neve been.

We like to enjoy the parks the way you and your wife do, take your time, wander around and soak it all in.

-----------------
My friend is afraid of E.T. (Yes, the little alien)

Darien Lake is a nice park. Unfortunately, they don't have a whole lot in originality. The MindEraser, the Boomerang, and the Viper are all pretty standard models, being an SLC, a boomerang, and an Arrow looping coaster. A little history though is that the Viper was the first coaster to turn riders upside down 5 times when it was built in the early 80s. Kinda neat. The Predator is their woody, its pretty rough. Nice coaster and always a walkon, but worth a ride or maybe two... S:ROS is awesome. Ride it up front. Ride it in the back seat. Ride it at night. Then ride it again. It's that good, also Intamin's first hyper. Again, a little history. The park is clean, the food is good, the shows are corny, but thats half the fun. Oh, and definitely stay for the LaserShow at the end. Good times. I hope you make the trip, its definitely worth a day and a nice change of pace from CP. Any other questions just drop me a line. I love this park, I'm there all summer long.

-----------------
"You think you know me..."

Well if you hit S:RoS at about midday during the summer the line shouldnt be long at all. Last year in July, the line was 5 minutes long. They have a descent amount of flats, and Viper is a fairly smooth Arrow looper. The lines shouldnt be that long for any of the other coasters either. Also, at night they have a laser light show. They have a lodge right next to the park, and a sit down restaurant inside of the park.

-----------------
24 lifetime coasters ridden. Hey, I live by Darien Lake.

The Park has so much potential.

The other parks I mentioned:

Waldameer (Erie PA): you will probably be taking I-90 and practically be passing right by this park (well, a few miles). A nice little traditional park. The Comet (a Shcmeck JR) is nothing spectacular, but the park does have a decent log flume, a dark ride (wacky shack) and a dark walk through (Pirates Cove) (being a fan of dark rides / walk throughs I would suggest this park)

Conneaut Lake (Conneaut Lake PA)... a little out of the way (45 miles south of Erie by I-79) I think this little detour is worth if for the Blue Streak... a great out and back coaster. Again, a little traditional park. If it comes down to making a choice, go a little out of your way and hit this park instead of Waldameer.

Martin's Fantasy Island: (Grand Island NY... near Niagara Falls / Buffalo NY) This park is very close to where I-90 and the NY Thruway meet and again you will probably ge going "right by here" (by a few miles) on your way to SFDL. I don't know anything about this park aside from what I have read (we wanted to stop here, but because of the time factor, we couldn't). Our next trip to NY (the "Sea Way Trail" along the southern shore of Lake Ontario) will include a stop here for the Silver Comet (CCI). Its about 40 miles west of SFDL.

Also of interest: Sea Breeze (Rochester NY): Again, not from personal experience, but if you have time this may be of interest for the Jack Rabbit coaster (and even the unique looking Bob Sled coaster). Again, can only make this comment based on pictures and reading... didn't personally visit here (again, hoping to catch this on our "Sea Way Trail" trip). This one is not "on the way" being 50 or so miles east of SFDL... but if you have time it might be a consideration.

Again... would I make a special trip to any of these little parks? With the exception of Conneaut Lake (planning a trip there this summer just to ride Blue Streak with the "new" old trains), no. But since they are all on their way to SFDL and you are "in their neighborhood" like we were last summer, you may want to give them a shot.

-----------------
Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"

Waldameer is well worth a stop simply for the dark attractions. Sure the Whacky Shack and Pirate's Cove are pretty cheesy and low-tech, but these are a dying breed and Waldameer keeps them in very good shape. The Comet Schmeck junior woodie is also a lot of fun for such a small ride.

And I agree 100% with SLFAKE about Conneaut. The Blue Streak is such a great ride, and with those "new" trains, the ride is even better. Add in an excellent indoor Scrambler, one of only 2 remaining operating Tumble Bugs in North America, an even cheesier dark ride (which some consider a coaster... but I'm not opening that whole can of worms), a nice set of Flying Scooters, a diabolical Chance Toboggan, and a beautiful lakeside setting and you've got a gem of a park that certainly deserves a visit. Both CLP and Waldameer are free admission/free parking parks, so you can ride what you want, but Conneaut has weekday ride-all-day passes for roughly $10. Can't beat that deal!

Enjoy your trip...

ray p.

Also Seabreeze is about 10 mins from where i live, so it'll probably be about 45 mins from SFDL.

Great park, Jack Rabbit, Bobsleds are worth the trip alone. Martin's is also a good park with a great CCI very smooth and the first drop is amazing! Nice laterals too.

Funny, SFDL and SeaBreeze didnt seem very far from each other at all to me. I *guess* the estimate of 45min is about right, but it really didnt even seem to be that long. SeaBreeze is really a nothing place. I dont mean that to seem quite so negative, but there isn't a whole lot to it (unless you do waterslides, I do not). That being said, it's nice. Not really thrilling or worth a whole day, but if you can catch the after 5 rate (assuming that they have it again this year) it's not a bad diversion. JackRabbit is alright. Quantum Loop (to me) is very Schwarzkopf like. And Bobsleds is a great *****ts and giggles coaster. I'd recommend a few hours there.

-----------------
"Sunshine, daisies, butter-mellow! Turn this stupid fat rat yellow!"

SeaBreeze should be avoided IMO... The park is a huge daycare center in the summer. People literally drop their kids off at the gate and leave them there, sometimes with no money to do anything once inside. Case in point. Last time I was there, my friend and I were lounging in the water park area in the sun chairs with a cooler of sandwiches and sodas. My friend sits up, looking over my shoulder. I look over and there are these two kids (probably 8 or 9 years old) digging through our cooler, one had already started to eat a sandwich!! I asked what they thought they were doing, the one kid flipped me the bird the other said (I'll never forget this) "F*** you, cracker, these are my sandwiches!!" We promptly left and I haven't been back since. I apologize if this is an inappropriate story but I hear these stories all the time from other people too...

-----------------
"You think you know me..."

Yeah Martins Fantasy ISland isn't too bad of a park. The SIlver Comet is great and they also have a Schwarzkopf wildcat, and a (Chance?) SlingShot. I know they have some kind of deal after 5 o'clock.

-----------------

I think y'all are forgetting another park that's very closeby, especially if you're talking close by to Martin's Fantasy Island & Six Flags Darien Lake...

That is... Marineland, Canada.

Sure, you have to cross the border and get the white glove from customs... but once you do, you won't be sorry (just a little sore ;)). Marineland, Canada is one of the better marinelife/amusement parks around, and they have completed a major expansion project for the 2003 year.

Not to mention that this year, they're getting a twin set of 230' S&S towers, the ever-lasting Dragon Mountain coaster, and some great marine attractions...
It's a park that makes a great diversion for the day... and definately worth a look if you're going to be in the area for a few days. (in other words, take this instead of Seabreeze)

CP Silly (CPNut) said: "plus my boyfriend enjoys the parks and rides but is no where near the enthusiast that I am"

So not only do you like pancakes, but you're also gay?

--Ryan

*** This post was edited by Legend_n_Raven on 1/17/2003. ***

I've been to Marineland, Canada twice and I loved it.

What is new for 2003? If there are some cool new things, I'd love to check it out again and maybe hit the falls while I'm at it.

-----------------
My friend is afraid of E.T. (Yes, the little alien)