Darien Lake

This article is about the amusement park. For the New York State Park, see Darien Lakes State Park.

Darien Lake
Location	Corfu, New York, United States
Website	http://www.godarienlake.com
Owner	CNL Lifestyle Properties
General Manager	Bob Montgomery
Operated By	Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation
Opened	1954
Previous names	Darien Fun Country, Six Flags Darien Lake
Operating season	May through October
Area	980 acres (4.0 km2), 360 acres (1.5 km2) developed
Rides	34 (excluding water park) total 6 roller coasters 3 water rides

Darien Lake is a theme park resort located between Buffalo and Rochester in Corfu, New York, United States, south of the New York State Thruway (I-90) on State Highway 77. It is owned by CNL Lifestyle Properties and operated by Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation. It has campgrounds, a waterpark, and an on-site, lodge themed hotel.

History

Darien Lake Fun Country

In 1954, investor Paul Snyder opened a small campground and picnic area around a small lake, which would come to be named Darien 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 things you might find in a typical town or village park. In the late 1970s, Paul began to add an attraction base, the first of which was a pair of water slides over the lake called Hydro Force.

‎An early logo from the "Fun Country" era

In 1979 and into the early 1980s, he added more attractions including a set of water slides on a hill near the park's entrance called Rainbow Mountain, creating an amusement park named Darien Lake Fun Country. Paul made a deal with HUSS Maschinenfabrik, 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, Thirllbilly and the Corn Popper, usually prototype models, for use in the park and to give HUSS a location to display the rides to other potential US and Canadian buyers. In 1982, a joint venture by Huss and Arrow Dynamics built and opened the park's first major roller coaster, The 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 center of the park. It still stands and was the icon of the park for many years. Entertainment was also added to the park, with the construction of the Tops Jubilee Theater (now the Wegmans 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 theather located in the back of the park. Also 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 exsiting 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 chaining rooms. . And 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 Laser Blast), which included laser graphics and fireworks. The show first premiered on the mid-way in front of Barracuda Bay in 1992.The show was permanently installed in the Lakeside Amphitheater in 1993, while concert events were moved to the newly constructed 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 also the waterpark became included with park admission.

Premier Parks/Six Flags

In 1995, growing regional park chain Premier Parks bought Funtime and its three owned 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 ferries 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 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 already existing 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, however, relocated 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 new show in the vacant former Nightmare at Phantom Cave building called the Batman Thrill Spectacular in the Gotham City Theathre, and also 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 were 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 in the future. 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 that Darien Lake, along with 8 other parks, was being considered for sale. Many parks throughout the chain, not just those for sale, also experienced other numerous changes and cutbacks throughout the summer.

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

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

PARC Management

Logo under PARC Management, 2007-2011

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/Warner Bros/DC Comics related signage and references forcing the park to drop the "Superman" naming from the Ride of Steel and retheming the kids area as 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 in to the park which had escalated when the park was owned by Six Flags Also Floodgate Falls started to be no longer in operation.

In March 2010, it was announced that Darien Lake is to expand their current waterpark to become Splashtown at Darien Lake. By expanding into a current parking lot SplashTown at Darien Lake will features three 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 Preadator getting new trains, and return of Critter Chase in Adventure Isle replacing Raft Adventures a similar ride.

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. The move came after, according to their 2010 SEC filings, PARC defaulted on their lease obligations on the properties. Five of the original six parks originally purchased from Six Flags are also involved in the lease termination.

Herschend Family Entertainment

On January 25, 2011 CNL announced that Herschend Family Entertainment would assume the day-to-day operation and management of Darien Lake and Elitch Gardens. HFE also owns Dollywood and two other theme parks. In March 2012, Darien Lake will announce three new attractions for the 2012 season.

Rides/Attractions

Main article: List of attractions at Darien Lake

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 in the future to create an indoor water park around the hotel, to attempt a year-round attraction. No official plans have been announced yet.

Campgrounds

The park started as a campground and picnic area. While access to the original picnic area is no longer allowed to the general public, the campground still occupies its original area and has since expanded many times over. It currently consists of over 1200 campsites, roughly half of which are park-owned RV's that guests can rent, the rest are available for either guest-owned RV's or tent sites. By staying in the campgrounds, guests are allowed daily access to the park for the duration of 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. As of 2011, there are now 42 cabins at Darien Lake.

Performing Arts Center

The Darien Lake Performing Arts Center was opened in 1993 as a replacement for the Lakeside Amphitheater, where concerts had previously been held. The PAC, as it is commonly referred to, while owned by CNL with the rest of the park, is operated by Live Nation, not by the park itself. Major concerts are held here periodically throughout the summer, occasionally including a concert that takes place when the park is not open. Tickets for these events can be upgraded to Park Combo Passes, or just bought as standard concert tickets with no park admission. The amphitheater has a full capacity of 21,600, making the venue the third-largest event venue in western New York (only University at Buffalo Stadium and Ralph Wilson Stadium seat more).

Laser Stage

Beginning in 2009, the park began holding concerts in the park, at the renamed Laser Stage, also still known as the Lakeside Amphitheater. These concerts are free to guests in the park.

Incidents

• 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. 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.
• 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. James Hackemer should not have been allowed on the roller coaster due to his physical condition.

See also

• List of contemporary amphitheatres
• Incidents at PARC Management parks

External links

• Theme Park Site
• Accommodations Site
• Darien Lake Performing Arts Center