Six Flags Darien Lake to offer an array of festivals this summer

I like how they try to justify this as something new, something expanded, and something included with admission... when it's really just the same things as last year with maybe one or two new events, of which aren't really anything spectacular anyway.

I guess this is their way of saying "yeah, yeah... we didn't get any new attractions unlike surrounding parks, so we're just going to promote our season-long fests as a reason to visit our park"

Guess corporate will get the picture when attendance figures for 2003 come in, that not giving medium/smaller parks money to expand is not good strategy.

I agree with DawgByteII.... yawn.

That's ok, though, since I plan on spending my time at the other parks nearbye which all got new stuff i can play around with. Some new 300 ft drop towers at MarineLand, new flat at Canadas Wonderland, new flat at Martins Fantasy Island, drop towers at Seabreeze, sounds good. I'll just use my SFDL pass at other SF parks, and maybe a few timesa for a little Superman action, but that's about it. The Mardi Gras thing isn't new, there are fireworks every night during Laserblast anyways, and this extra/expanded july stuff they used to do back before they became owned by Six Flags as far as I remember... and the international fest was around before we were Six Flags too, although I must agree it was a lot better than the oktoberfest crap we got the past few years. However, I highly doubt they will fill up the entire picnic area with stands and food like they did back in the day....

... but it was a nice try.....

Alan "silver comet this!" Jacyszyn

I agree with both of your comments,it's pathetic that SF doesn't show a little more love for SFDL because it's sitting in a prime location with niagra falls just 45 minutes away & if SF just invested a bit more in that park they could have a potential goldmine on their hands.

All the tourists that come to visit the falls would surely consider making a brief visit there if SF would just provide them with a new thrill to liven the place up,you guys up in the Buffalo/Rochester area deserve a bit more in the way of new rides then what you are currently getting & I hope SF will soon figure this out,like Dawgbyte II said let's see if SF changes the strategy a bit when the 03 attendance figures come in.

That park has seen very good capital investment for what it is. Furthermore, who is to say that attendance is down?

The one good idea that I see is that they're marketing across the border. The Canada Day-Independence Day thing is a big deal in Detroit, so why not give it a whirl up there?

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
"The world rotates to The Ultra-Heavy Beat!" - KMFDM

The park is promoted heavily in Canada. The Canadian radio stations I listen to (much better than American radio), have Darien Lake on a lot more than even the American radio stations. They also have them on TV, although not as much.

Problem is... I think the Canadians know Canada's Wonderland a lot more, and it's pushed even harder, so they really aren't as interested in SFDL if Wonderland is available, fimilar, and offering them some incentive to come there instead (ie: new rides & shows).

I only say attendance is down because I heard it from someone who works at the park... but personally, the times I visited it last season, it was extremely crowded... but that might have been my bad timing, despite not going on those festive-type or concert days.

I guess one thing that IS irritating me...
So far, at the Ampitheater... I don't see any good shows coming, which is usually good for business, and a great summer retreat. There's no listing on the Six Flags web site... but I haven't heard of any decent bands or rock fests coming.

I totally agree with Jeff on this one attendance was not down last season SFDL makes their cut just about every season.

I agree with SFDLdude I will be visiting SFWOA, Cedar Point , SFGADV pretty frequently this summer I will visit SFDL but not asa much as last year, or until they receive another attraction like maybe a B&M or something. At this point I would be happy if we received Shockwave from SFGAM!

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Your Park only has 1 good coaster! That's too bad!

I think anyone would be happy if they recieved Shockwave!

Six Flags Darien Lake is more than just a theme park. It's a total entertainment venue offering a theme park, water park, campground, hotel, and ampitheater. People will still come to Darien Lake to camp out and visit the park. I think Six Flags realizes that they don't need to invest heavily in the park every season in order to see a return.

What they have now is a nice park with some good rides. It's far nicer than Seabreeze or Fantasy Island, and Superman simply blows anything else away in any of the surrounding parks, including Canada's Wonderland (which is an outstanding park).

And my God, the last thing Darien Lake (or any park!) needs is SHOCKWAVE. That would be a terrible decision.

Also, the "Summer of Festivals" is exactly what Great Adventure did the season before building a new coaster...

Anyone who says any park would be happy to get Shockwave has obviously not ridden the piece of crap.

-Nate

Wasn't shockwave that big blue 7 looping coaster that was taken down this past season, and hasn't found a home yet?

This doesn't do much for the park in my eyes. Other parks(MFI, Marineland, PCW) in the area are getting things that are much bigger and are more likely to draw more people than some rehashed shows, which is all this appears to be.

I personally compare SFDL to Michigan's Adventure. Two great parks that seem like they are out in the middle of no where land!

In reality they are pretty darn close to places but when you drive to them you don't see much but farm land...then BAM there's this big huge coaster! Both parks have a TON and I mean a TON of room to expand!

The one sad thing about SFDL is that it really is busy no matter what they do. Do I and you as enthusiast want them to build something else? Yeah, but it probably won't happen unless something really weird happens. Compare it to the other Canada theme parks...not really anything new but they are always busy.

One thing SFDL has going for it is the concerts. MAN those things rake in the people and $$ for the park...WOW!

I personally think Shockwave would look best at SFDL, but I don't think it would ever happen with Viper already being there and that other 200 foot coaster ;)

On the "festivals topic", I think Kennywood and SFDL do the best out of any small parks to really bring in the crowds and stay true to the festival theme.

Now if we can only get SFWoA to build a nice resort like SFDL... :)

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"The Future of Roller Coasters"
-RollerCoasterGod
SFWoA Construction Update!
*** This post was edited by RollerCoasterGod 3/22/2003 10:52:39 AM ***

Blah - this is a park that decided to be closed on what was supposed to be their closing day last year. That was very lame. No snow, no rain, just a little chilly. Downright normal or even nice weather for November up here.

-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew
2003 Magnum Crew

I just have to wonder, from the Six Flags Corporate side, why would they want to invest heavily in SFDL when SFWOA is just 3 hours down the road?

Wouldn't they be competing against themselves if they invested heavily in SFDL?

Fever

...probably because MOST Six Flags parks are located within a 2 to 5hr drive of each other.

SFDL is near Worlds of Adventure. Great Escape is near La Ronde & New England. New England is located near Great America.... and so forth.

Six Flags should want to invest in DL, after all it's the only main theme park in N.Y., except for mabe SFGE in lake george. I hered that they have to many restrictions. If DL was worring about attendence than they should build a major attraction to bring the people in."Build it and they will come" I'm sure they made there money back for SMROS already. People I know are saying that it's starting to get boring. Don't get me rong I still enjoy it and are glad to have it. As far as building Shockwave, they already have the viper which is somewhat the same ride.

Yeah, SROS is getting old quick. Don't get me wrong, it's a great ride, but it's 5 years old now. They need to get something new soon. And as Batwing fan SFA said, SFDL is so close to Niagara Falls. I just wish they would realize the potential of the park and actually tap into it, and invest in the park. And as jwhoogs said the "build it and they will come" idea is so true. When they built SROS the attendace almost doubled that year!! But somehow they either don't get the hint or the funding to go along with the hint.

I'm pretty sure SF knows better about what would work for the park than you would. There hasn't been a need for a new major ride (as evidenced by attendance trends), and thus the park hasn't gotten one. Six Flags is happy with Darien's performance as is.

The people who flock to Niagra Falls are not the same people who flock to amusement parks. You don't see "Six Flags Wyoming" near Yellowstone, do you? Niagra Falls is a pretty heavy honeymoon destination. Honeymooners don't often go to amusement parks (except perhaps Disney). I think SF knows what they're doing.

And giving Shockwave to any park would be a poor decision, *especially* Darien.

-Nate

Actually, there aren't as many people who go to the falls for their honeymoon as you would expect. Usually when I am up there, there are a lot of people who are either stopping for a short time before continuing on to a large city (NYC, Toronto), foreigners who stop there on their American vacation, or people who are there for a weekend to go to the casinos and other tourism things (haunted houses on Clifton Hill, etc). If SFDL could become a bigger destination, they could get more tourists into WNY. I don't know of too many people who go up there for more than a day or two. After all, how long can you look at a waterfall before getting bored. The only reason I go there is to go to the casino or to fly kites on Goat Island.

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"Hello, this is Moleman in the morning. Good Moleman to you. Today part four of our series of the agonizing pain in which I live every daaaay."