Six Flags Darien Lake (SFDL) Discussion Thread

^ Depending on when you went through the zones the scare actors may have moved over to the main entrance for “Passage of the Damned” or whatever they call it.

PSA: do NOT go to SFDL Fright Fest and expect anything like Cedar Point’s HAUNT. They are two wildly different sides of the spectrum and you will be disappointed guaranteed if that’s your mindset.

And how much extra does it cost this year to do the mazes? Just curious.

It's one thing if they were included with a (regular/gold) season pass or lower tiered membership (but then it might have "Gold pass syndrome" and be more crowded... they are making money off of it so why stop) -- we gave up on Six Flags haunts after going to 3 or 4 different parks thinking they might get better, but now we just go for the rides even at new SF parks.

Went through two scare zones Screampunk and Voodoo Curse tonight and there wasn't anything in either. Like not one scare actor. I'm used to cedar point and wonderland that have plenty, is this normal?

Yup.

Ya I wasn't expecting Halloween Haunt in terms of number of scare zones or houses, but I figured they would try to make the few they had half decent. The haunt near ride of steel literally consists of two fog machines and two projectors. They should probably just not even bother and just keep the uncharge haunted houses if that's all they can manage.

I figured they would try to make the few they had half decent.

So you've never been to a Six Flags Fright Fest event before?

So basically we spend most October long weekends at Cedar point, this was our first time staying at Darien Lake instead. We rent a cabin onsite in either case. Pros and Cons:

DL Pros: Way cheaper ($60/night for cabin with diamond elite vs $200/night at Cedar Point)

Pretty much no lineups (CP is slammed that weekend)

Quiet, laser show is cool, closer to home, (Toronto)

Allows dogs and campfires

Impressed with Park being open until 11pm

DL Cons:

The scare zones are a joke

Why not have concerts going even if small scale with that venue there?

Rides obviously not as good

So at $180 VS $600 for accommodations I'd probably plan DL again in the future and catch CP at a less packed weekend. Hopefully they keep improving their haunt. The one maze near Viper was pretty good.

BTW They have NO IDEA what they're doing. I went to member services and asked for my haunted house wristband and the lady said, "I told my boss I'm refusing to give them out because she gave me the wrong colour wristbands to give out last night"... omg haha

Also terrible skip the line system of Ride of Steel.. in most cases we waited longer than the normal line and you have no seat choice.

I have not been to other fright fests, only halloween haunts and screamers

So basically we spend most October long weekends at Cedar point, this was our first time staying at Darien Lake instead. We rent a cabin onsite in either case. Pros and Cons:

 

DL Pros: Way cheaper ($60/night for cabin with diamond elite vs $200/night at Cedar Point)

Pretty much no lineups (CP is slammed that weekend)

Quiet, laser show is cool, closer to home, (Toronto)

Allows dogs and campfires

Impressed with Park being open until 11pm

 

 

DL Cons:

The scare zones are a joke

Why not have concerts going even if small scale with that venue there?

Rides obviously not as good

 

So at $180 VS $600 for accommodations I'd probably plan DL again in the future and catch CP at a less packed weekend. Hopefully they keep improving their haunt. The one maze near Viper was pretty good.

 

BTW They have NO IDEA what they're doing. I went to member services and asked for my haunted house wristband and the lady said, "I told my boss I'm refusing to give them out because she gave me the wrong colour wristbands to give out last night"... omg haha

 

Also terrible skip the line system of Ride of Steel.. in most cases we waited longer than the normal line and you have no seat choice.

 

I have not been to other fright fests, only halloween haunts and screamers

I went to SFNE's the other weekend....generally I found it to be awful. The decorations and a Haunted house were pretty meh, and the actors weren't fantastic. The worst part though was the crowds, the number of people and lines everywhere really ruin the experience for me.

With tonight being my 19th and final visit to SFDL in 2019, I figure I’ll share some photos and what not.

First and foremost, This was the first time I decided to go into the houses, and for how dead it was I’m the park (pun intended - sort of), the houses were all practically no wait. Overall I was really impressed. There were a lot of animated things throughout all of the houses and I was not expecting as much motion and detail at all considering the remainder of the park.

HAUNTED HOUSE SPOILERS AHEAD:

Hotel Terror: for it being within a picnic shelter I was surprised how much i enjoyed the attraction. I went in assuming this was going to be the worst of them all, however it quickly became a group favorite. So many winding turns, tons of scenes, a handful of scare actors (who were all pretty darn good) and a disorienting strove light that I wasn’t expecting at the end. This was our first house so it was our first experience with the animatronics, they kept our attention just long enough for a scare actor to sneak up behind us. Totally awesome concept, and something I was glad to see elsewhere in the park as well.

Corridors of Chaps: the preshow area is phenomenal when it comes to realism in the paint treatment, the elevator was old and janky and moved in a really cool way and had a cool attendant who just dealt with it and I really did enjoy the houze as a whole. It took place on the bleachers of the theatre which was a neat concept and was handled very well (in my opinion of course). There were plenty of scare actors in this one, and they all had their own quirks that made them enjoyable, especially the one who crawled on the floor behind us leading to the exit.

Jungle Apocalypse: probably the biggest disappointment of the trip but by no means was it a bad maze. There were plenty of big props that caught me off guard (like a giant snake... didn’t even see it coming), and plenty of well placed scare actors who could jump out from at least 3 different locations and surprise you each time which I thought was a really clever design and a great way to deal with limited staffing. Somehow we managed to be behind a group who brought a STROLLER into the haunt, I have no idea why they let that happen but it wasn’t my child so I can’t complain too much... however I’m assuming we didn’t get as many scares because of the baby which kind of stinks but at the same time it wasn’t the end of the world either. I think that helped add to the disappointment for this house though it was a nice break to take everything in instead of always being on my guard.

Camp Scumshine: an incredibly LONG maze with plenty of animatronics, especially three of the ankle attacker things, plenty of human bodies spinning and falling and lunging and whatever else with plenty of confusing twists and turns in the dark and obviously some pretty great jump scares. I think this one was the underdog that won best house there in my book due to longevity, location, quality and enjoyable-ness of the maze as a whole

Summary: Darien Lake’s houses definitely deliver more of an intense theme than houses at a place like cedar point, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a Six Flags Fright Fest trait, or if the Darien Lake folk just really wanna do whatever it takes to make their guests scream fear - which again, was a blast. Maybe not worth $30 a person, but thanks to the diamond elite membership I’d say they were more than worth the $0 I paid today.

And now for some pictures!

Filled with plenty of fog, lighting, scenic design etc to show off what I like most about the event, the outdoor atmosphere! Even though the houses have become a close second.

The Awakening

Entrance of Corridors of Chaos

Thank you to the op who was kind enough to let me take this picture before I went into the maze,

So. Much. Fog.

Even though pirate ship is closed, it’s still in the spirit!

That’s all I’ve got! Thanks for having me 19 times, Darien Lake! See you in 2020!

Thanks for the review and photos. With all the talk of animatronics and props I'm assuming there were very few actors in each house. I think the interaction with people makes or breaks a maze for me. If there are only 3-5 people in an entire maze than you know you are at Six Flags. How was staffing inside the houses?

^ it seemed to depend per house. Hotel Terror seemed to have 10-ish, where Jungle Apocalypse seemed to be closer to 6-7. I don’t think the number of actors was a huge issue since there was so much going on otherwise, but as said before - Darien Lake’s haunt event is nothing compared to one like cedar point with SO many actors in each haunted attraction

TL:DR - I believe both cedar point and Darien Lake attractions had their strong suits, Darien Lake had the intricate details and jump scares galore where cedar point is better with efficiency, length of attraction and amount of scare actors per zone.

The scare zones lack, but they make up for it in the mazes, and there's always new actors/different actors in the mazes, I went through all of them on 4-5 separate dates, and there was always different people jumping out in different places. It is an amazing event for Darien Lake and I absolutely loved and enjoyed it!

Here is where the new wahoo wave will be placed.

Here is where the new wahoo wave will be placed.

???

Location of new ride

Looks like it will be almost identical to the one they built at Splashtown in Houston this year.

So, what are the updates on the claims people were making recently earlier in this thread?

- Any updates on Motocoaster being relocated within the park?

- Any updates on Mind Eraser getting a new train? Or a full retheme?

- Any updates DC Comics IPs coming to the park?

- Any updates on whether or not any of this is happening?

Yeah, I have some updates

- Dumbest thing I’ve ever heard

- Still no

- Still no

- Lol

Im confused....

Yeah, I have some updates

 

- Dumbest thing I’ve ever heard

 

Obviously coasterbill was not around for the flying bathrooms conversation of 2005. My year may be off on that, but the conversation definitely happened.

I just got two question regarding Darien Lake's new slide:

1. Wouldn't it make sense to build Wahoo Wave on the site of a certain set of defunct water slides who's initials were CF?

2. Why did they decided to build the slide on the other side of the park near the campgrounds other that convince for campers who want to go swimming, but not want to walk all the way to the main gate area?

1. Guess not - or they would’ve probably done it.

2. The water park is nowhere near the campgrounds or hotel

Maybe Darien Lake is planning on building a second water park that is will be closer to the hotel and campgrounds.

I don't see why they couldn't build Wahoo Wave on the other side of the existing water park bridge that has been abandoned since 2013.

Maybe Darien Lake is planning on building a second water park that is will be closer to the hotel and campgrounds.

Sorry, what?

Also, it would cost less to not build it over the bridge, along with the slide, they'd have to level the hill, probably repave the path down there, spruce up the lockers in front of the hill, etc. It would just be easier to build it near Kahuna/wave pool/etc.

Maybe Darien Lake is planning on building a second water park that is will be closer to the hotel and campgrounds.

Oh don’t worry, that’s coming after they open their second Gate, Six Flags Over the Other Side of the 77 in 2021.

It's other side of the (water) park. The earlier picture of it by Wave and Kahuna is accurate.