Darien Lake

Darien Lake is a theme park resort in Darien, New York, United States. It is owned by EPR Properties. In addition to the amusement park, it features a campground, water park, and an on-site lodging.

History

Darien Lake Fun Country

In 1954, Darien Lake was dug out and filled. The lake was a popular swimming destination for many years. In 1964, investor Paul Snyder opened a small campground and picnic area around the lake. Encompassing only a small fraction of what is now the amusement park, there were no rides, simply camping and picnic areas, a small baseball diamond, a skatepark, and other features found in a typical town or village park. In the late 1970s, Snyder began to add an attraction base, the first of which was a pair of water slides over the lake called Hydro Force.

From the late 70s and into the early 80s, Snyder added more attractions, including a set of water slides on a hill near the park's entrance called Rainbow Mountain, creating an amusement park he named Darien Lake Fun Country. Snyder made a deal with HUSS Park Attractions, turning Darien Lake into the North American showcase for the German manufacturer's new rides. Through this deal, the park acquired rides such as the Pirate, Ranger, Thrillbilly and the Corn Popper, for use in the park and to give HUSS a location to display them to potential US and Canadian buyers. In 1982, the newly merged Arrow Huss built and opened the park's first major roller coaster, Viper.

Funtime Parks

In 1983, Snyder sold 50% of the park to Funtime Parks, which also owned Geauga Lake and Wyandot Lake Park. The Fun Country was dropped from the name, and Funtime brought in some major improvements.

Funtime's first purchase was the Vekoma-built Giant Wheel Ferris wheel, the showcase of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the largest in the US at the time, which was permanently installed in the park's center. It still stands and was the park's icon for many years.

Entertainment was also added to the park, with the construction of the Tops Jubilee Theater (now the Grande Theatre), the Lakeside Amphitheater, a large-scale concert stage on the south side of the main lake, presenting big name acts including The Who, Alice Cooper, and Black Sabbath, and Cinema 2000, a 3D movie theatre in the back of the park. In the mid-to late 1980s there was Splashmania, a water ski show located on Fun Lake. The improvements continued throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, with the addition of a themed kids area, Adventure Land for Kids in 1988, and in 1989 Grizzly Run replaced a kids ride area that was located where a skatepark was. In 1990, six new slides were added to the back of the water slide complex and the area became known as Barracuda Bay and an extra charge was added to the waterpark as well a new locker area, food complex, shopping area and changing rooms.^[3] Also, the wooden roller coaster The Predator was installed. Around this time, Paul Snyder, who up to now still had a say in the park's operation, sold his remaining share of the park to Funtime, turning over all control to them.

In 1992, a new style of entertainment was demoed on the midway between Barracuda Bay and the Giant Wheel, a laser light show called Laser Light Fantasy (now called Ignite the Night), which included laser graphics and fireworks. The show premiered on the mid-way in front of Barracuda Bay in 1992. The show was permanently installed in the Lakeside Amphitheater the following year, while concert events were moved to the new Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, which could hold nearly 4 times as many guests. In 1994, the old Rainbow Mountain water slides were replaced with a new set of water slides, 'Cuda Falls and the waterpark became included with park admission.

Premier Parks/Six Flags

In 1995, growing regional park chain Premier Parks bought Funtime and its three parks. Premier dove right into changes and additions. In 1995, Skycoaster opened located over Fun Lake. In 1996, Adventure Land was replaced by Popeye's Seaport with all new kiddie rides like a Ferris wheel made to look like barrels, a hand-cranked train ride, a submarine ride, a ship themed play place (removed in 2004), and a food stand and restrooms in the then new kiddie area in an area that was occupied by miniature golf course. A new miniature golf course opened behind the then-new kiddie area near Viper which replaced the old golf course. Also a waterpark expansion with new attractions took place in 1996 and 1997 with Hook's Lagoon (opened in 1996) the Crocodile Isle wave pool (opened in 1997) took over Adventure Land's old location by Elk Lake with new changing rooms and a food stand were built, and a bridge was built to connect the Barracuda Bay slides with the then new water park area and a boat tag game was added to the midway. Three of the old Adventure Land rides were moved to another part of the park as the Tiny Trio in 1997.

From 1996 to 1999, Premier would also install a new roller coaster each year, Nightmare at Phantom Cave in 1996, Mind Eraser in 1997, Boomerang: Coast to Coaster in 1998, and Superman Ride of Steel (the world's first Intamin hypercoaster) in 1999. Nightmare was removed in 1998, and relocated to sister park The Great Escape. In 1998, Premier purchased Six Flags Theme Parks, and began to rebrand its own parks as Six Flags. In May 1999, Six Flags Darien Lake opened under its new name, with a few major changes. Premier brought Six Flags' own character base, Looney Tunes and DC Comics, into the parks, renaming Popeye's Seaport to Looney Tunes Seaport, added a show in the vacant former Nightmare at Phantom Cave building called the Batman Thrill Spectacular, and Hydro Force, Pipeline Plunge, Riptide Run, and Torpedo Rapids were removed from Barracuda Bay and Scrambler replaced Cinema 2000. The midway stage was added to replace the boat tag game and The Emporium gift shop opened in Lasso's old location, Crazy Quilt was removed and replaced with Lasso.

2000 brought the reforming of Premier Parks, assuming their new name, Six Flags Inc. and a drop in the addition of new attractions. The next major attractions installed the Twister in 2000 and Shipwreck Falls in 2002, replacing the old Cascade Canyon water slides on the east side of Barracuda Bay as well as Slingshot behind the 'Cuda Falls water slides; and the Tornado in 2005.

Troubled times

2006 was a year of turmoil for Six Flags and its parks. For the 2006 season, Six Flags moved the Big Kahuna, a family-sized waterslide, from Six Flags AstroWorld to Darien Lake and also moved the Batman The Escape roller coaster from Astroworld into storage at Darien Lake, with possible plans to build it. They also added an opportunity to meet with the entire Justice League at the park.

Only a month into Darien Lake's season, however, Six Flags began pulling back the Justice League from Darien Lake, and announced Darien Lake, along with eight other parks, was being considered for sale. Many parks throughout the chain, not just those for sale, also experienced numerous changes and cutbacks throughout the summer.

In October 2006, after shortened operating hours and seasons, Six Flags officially announced the parks were being offered for sale as a package. Paul Snyder stated in a radio interview he would have considered purchasing Darien Lake from Six Flags if they allowed the parks to be sold individually.

In January 2007, Six Flags announced a potential sale of seven of the parks to a new company, PARC 7F (officially called PARC Management).^[4] Six Flags chose to retain two parks it had originally considered for sale.^[5]

PARC Management (2007 - 2010)

Former Darien Lake logo used from 2007-2012

In April 2007, Six Flags completed the sale of Darien Lake and 6 other parks to PARC Management. Upon completion of the sale, PARC entered into a 50-year contract with CNL Income Properties, under which CNL would purchase the properties from and lease them back to PARC for operation.

Because of the timing of the final sale with respect to the park's opening, PARC was unable to make many major changes for the 2007 season. The biggest changes for the season were the addition of an all new show, Le Grande Cirque, which replaced the Batman Thrill Spectacular, and the removal of all Six Flags/Looney Tunes/DC Comics related signage and references forcing the park to drop the Superman naming from the Ride of Steel and retheming the Looney Tunes Seaport kids area to Adventure Isle.

In January 2008, it was announced that Darien Lake will debut its first launched roller coaster, a Zamperla Motocoaster, in the 2008 season, called the Orange County Choppers MotoCoaster. The coaster installed was the prototype that was running outside Zamperla's factory in Italy. PARC has also pledged to lower prices for admission into the park which had escalated when the park was owned by Six Flags. Also, the operation of Floodgate Falls was discontinued.

In March 2010, Darien Lake expanded their current waterpark to Splashtown at Darien Lake. By expanding into a parking lot, SplashTown at Darien Lake features several all-new attractions and a repaint of 'Cuda Falls water slide complex in Barracuda Bay, a new 16-foot-wide (4.9 m) lazy river called Floatation Station, Swirl City slide complex with four new slides, and a kiddie wave pool called Lazy Days Lagoon. 2010 also saw some minor park changes such as Viper being repainted with a black track, The Predator getting new trains, and the addition of the Critter Chase in Adventure Isle replacing Raft Adventure.

On November 24, 2010, CNL announced that it had reached an agreement to terminate PARC's lease of Darien Lake and up to 17 other locations.^[6] The move came after, according to their 2010 SEC filings, PARC defaulted on their lease obligations on the properties.^[7] Five of the original six parks originally purchased from Six Flags are also involved in the lease termination.

Herschend Family Entertainment (2011 - 2014)

On January 25, 2011 CNL announced Herschend Family Entertainment would assume the day-to-day operation and management of Darien Lake and Elitch Gardens.^[8] HFE also owns Dollywood and two other theme parks. In March 2012, Darien Lake announced the development of Rowdy's Ridge, which included the addition of several family rides where the Tiny Trio was.

On September 21, 2012, Darien Lake announced major improvements for the 2013 season including Blast Off and Ignite the Night. Blast Off was placed in the newly rethemed Waterfront Boardwalk area, which included major renovations to rides like the Grand Carousel and the Giant Wheel, along with some new dining options. Laserblast received new improvements as well and became Ignite the Night.^[9] UFO was removed and the 'Cuda Falls water slides were closed and later removed before the start of the 2014 season. The Scrambler ride returned after two years in storage.

Premier Parks, LLC (2014 - 2016)

On October 26, 2014, Herschend Family Entertainment's management of the park ended and was taken over by Premier Parks, LLC.

On February 12, 2015, plans were revealed to add two new attractions. Rolling Thunder, a Larson 22M Giant Loop will be added to the park on the former site of UFO. The ride includes a 72 foot tall, 360 degree loop and will send riders upside down in both a forwards and backwards motion. Brain Drain consists of two body slides in which riders will be sent down through a trapdoor at high speeds.

On February 11, 2016, the park announced plans to add Ripcurl Racer, a 6-lane Proslide Kracken Racer.^[10][11]

EPR Properties (2017)

Following the 2016 season, CNL Lifestyle sold Darien Lake and fourteen other amusement parks to EPR Properties. Darien Lake had been one of the worst-performing parks in CNL's portfolio.^[12]

Current rides and attractions

Roller coasters

Water rides

This list does not include the water rides at Darien Lake's water park.

Flat rides

Many of the rides manufactured by Huss Park Attractions were installed as part of a deal with Huss to use Darien Lake as a North American showcase for Huss's new rides in the early 1980s.

Kiddie Rides: Beaver Brothers Bay & Rowdy's Ridge

Adventure Land for Kids contained all kiddie rides from 1988 through 1996. In 1996, it was replaced by Beaver Brothers Bay (previously called Popeye's Seaport, Looney Tunes Seaport, and Adventure Isle) with all new rides, exclusively from Zamperla. The Tiny Trio was a set of older kiddie rides from Adventure Land located near Mind Eraser. In 2012, the trio was expanded into Rowdy's Ridge. The Bay is located on an island surrounded by the midway originally formed by Treasure Island Mini-Golf.

Upcharge attractions

These attractions are not included in the admission price. Cost varies from ride to ride.

Entertainment

All show venues listed here are included with price of admission.

Fright Fest

The original Fright Fest was an annual event held at the end of the operating season (Weekends in October, typically) from 1998 to 2006, which celebrated Halloween. Fright Fest added new areas to the park (Bloodstone Hollow, a free haunted graveyard and town; and Brutal Planet, an upcharge haunted house) and different shows than the regular season (Dead Man's Party in The Grande Theater and Laser Spooktacular at the Lakeside Amphitheatre.)

Fright Fest returned in 2008 with similar elements to the former Six Flags Fright Fest, and additional new elements such as the Fright Night Field Trip, a bus ride through the haunted campgrounds. The Haunted House and the Trick or Treat Trail also returned from previous years.

Fall Family Fun Fest

In 2007, the traditional Halloween event of years past was modified into a smaller subset of a new event called Fall Family Fun Fest. It brought a county fair concept to the park - free admission and pay-by-ride, as well as some other things you'd find at a fair, including the Haunted House (formerly Brutal Planet), and a hay maze.

Former attractions

Past entertainment

Former entertainment venues within the park.

Other on-site entities

Lodge on the Lake Hotel

The Lodge on the Lake Hotel opened in 1998 with 160 hotel rooms, considered luxury rooms. PARC Management has mentioned a possible expansion to create an indoor water park around the hotel, to attempt a year-round attraction. No plans have been announced.

Campgrounds

The park started as a campground and picnic area. The campground still occupies its original area and has since expanded many times. It consists of over 1200 campsites, roughly half of which are park-owned RVs guests can rent, the rest are available for either guest-owned RVs or tent sites. By staying in the campgrounds, guests are allowed daily access to the park during their stay. A general store, two restaurants, a gift shop, and an arcade are conveniently located near the Lakeside Amphitheatre and the Boomerang for campground guests, though they are open to all park patrons. In 2010, cabins were added along the lake where RVs used to be. In 2011, 18 new cabins were added in a form of a village style with a common play area.

Performing Arts Center

The Darien Lake Performing Arts Center was opened in the 1990s as a replacement for the Lakeside Amphitheater concert venue. The PAC, as it is commonly referred to, is operated by Live Nation and owned by CNL. Tickets for these events can be upgraded to Park Combo Passes or bought without park admission. The amphitheater has a full capacity of 21,600.

Laser Stage

The park has held concerts at the renamed Laser Stage, also still known as the Lakeside Amphitheater. These concerts were free to guests. Currently there are no plans for any concerts. A pool was added in front of the stage as part of the Ignite the Night laser show.

Incidents

• On July 26, 1987, lightning killed three campers sleeping in tents in the camp ground.^[16]
• On May 16, 1999, a 365 lb (165 kg) guest was unable to close his lap bar properly and was ejected and fell approximately 9 feet (2.7 m) from the Superman - Ride of Steel roller coaster as the ride went over a camel hump hill, suffering serious injuries. He sued the park and the ride manufacturer for negligence, and was awarded US$3.95 million.^[17] Seatbelts and an extra brake segment before the final hill were added to the coaster after the incident.
• On September 6, 2009, the body of a Pennsylvania man, William Sutherland, who had been reported missing the day before was found in one of the small lakes inside the parking lot. The cause of death has not yet been determined.^[18]
• On July 8, 2011, an Iraq War veteran, Army Sgt. James Hackemer, 29, who had lost both legs in a roadside bomb attack in 2008 fell to his death from the Ride of Steel. The ride was closed, but reopened after the death was deemed operator error. Hackemer should not have been allowed on the roller coaster due to his physical condition.^[19][20]

See also

• Incidents at CNL Income Properties parks
• List of contemporary amphitheatres

References

External links

• Official Site
• Darien Lake at the Roller Coaster DataBase
• Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
• Darien Lake Performing Arts Center