SIX FLAGS DARIEN LAKE
Buffalo, New York (Abbreviation: DL)
Known as Six Flags Darien Lake (1999 to 2006)
and as just Darien Lake (2007 to 2018)
Owned by EPR Properties
Managed by Six Flags Theme Parks
 Park News - (5/27/2024) There has been some fuss over the fact that starting in late June, Six Flags over Texas will close the entire park each week on Tuesdays for the entire Summer. This is a bit of a surprise to the local market, as this is also the original Six Flags theme park that started the chain. Naturally guests in other markers have been concerned about their own parks making similar changed to their operational schedules.
Going through the posted calendars for all the parks on the Six Flags website, I’ve only been able to find the following items of interest.
Six Flags Darien Lake also has a limited schedule, opening only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays now through to the week of June 23rd, when the park will be closed Monday and Tuesday. The park will be open daily for the first week of July only and then be closed every Tuesday in July and August, except for July 30th for some reason.
(4/14/2024) According to the local news, Six Flags Darien Lake has confirmed that the Big Kahuna waterslide (also known as Big K) will reopen for the 2024 season. I’m not 100% up on my history of the attractions at the Darien Lake waterpark over the years, but apparently Big Kahuna was added in 2006 at the end of the first term of Six Flags ownership, and then the slide closed at some later date for unknown reasons.
(3/21/2024) Another interesting development has come up regarding Darien Lake’s Boomerang roller coaster. Images of a second shipment from Vekoma from China have been found online, this one with an arrival date of 3/19 (compared to the first one which was 3/16). This second shipment claims to have two more pieces of roller coaster track, but these two pieces weigh almost as much of the three previous ones combined. So that’s five new pieces of track so far, which makes me wonder if even more are on the way, or perhaps any more surprises, like a new train.
Another reader shared some insight into the process, going back in history a little bit to when Morey’s Piers replaced some track and more on their Boomerang in 2020. From what I’m told they replaced the track from the exit of the vertical loop up through the second lift hill, plus replaced the ride’s control system and added a new train. That particular upgrade which also started in the Spring, kept their Boomerang down until early August, so depending on how things go, SFDL’s Boomer may be down longer than expected, depending on the extent of the renovation.
(3/19/2024) According to online sleuths, Six Flags Darien Lake is expecting a shipment containing three pieces of “Boomerang Looping Track” from Vekoma, being shipped in from China. This has led to some initial speculation from enthusiasts that perhaps one of the many Vekoma Boomerang models in China has been closed, and somehow Darien Lake has managed to just buy three pieces of track.
However, one item that many enthusiasts are not aware of is that during the big theme park construction boom in China, Vekoma opened a new manufacturing plant in China in addition to the ones they have in the Netherlands and Eastern Europe. With three production plants, Vekoma is able to produce the needed items in multiple locations, wherever things work out better from a timeline, production cost, or shipping point of view.
Given the timeline however, I'd expect that Darien Lake will likely open for the season with their Boomerang down, until they are able to get this track replacement work done.
(3/7/2024) Darien Lake has posted a couple of pictures showing off where they are currently installing the new Titan Track on Predator. Over the past two off seasons we’ve seen Titan Track added to the first big turn-around on the far end of the coaster and then a section added to the next big turn around. Based on the new photos from the park it looks like the latest batch of Titan Track will be an extension to the section added last year, heading back over the camel hill towards the back end of the layout.
(3/3/2024) New pictures on social media from the park have confirmed the rumors that Six Flags Darien Lake was adding a third batch of the steel Titan Track to their Predator coaster. The pictures show off a new truckload of Titan Track that has greatly improved the sections of the ride it was added to for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
(2/9/2024) I haven’t see anything myself yet, but a reader tells us that they heard on a local news report that Darien Lake’s Predator coaster would once again be adding more Titan Track to the layout for the 2024 season. This follows after adding a test section ahead of the 2022 season and even more of the new steel rail system last year, so this would be the third year in a row.
2024 - Nothing new is expected this season at this time...
2025 - Mind Eraser to Return and Maybe More - (5/17/2024) The Mine Eraser at Six Flags Darien Lake has been confirmed by the park to be closed for the 2024 season. According to a sign they put u p, the coaster is closed for “extensive renovations” and will reopen in 2025 with two new trains, “a track profile make-over”, and refreshed paint to offer a “smoother and more comfortable” experience.
Mind Eraser has been closed the last couple of seasons and it is with great interest that people have also noted that it happens to be located next to the park’s closed Thunder Rapids ride in a far off corner of the park that they’ve been essentially able to close off in recent years. And yet… this is starting to sound slightly familiar too…
If you’ve followed the history of Six Flags America at all, you will recall how that park closed off a whole section of their park, that also included their Rapids ride and Mind Eraser for a few years, only to announce plans to reopen it all in 2024, refurbished as SteamTown. The upgrade at Six Flags America will see their former Mind Eraser also completely refurbished as Professor Screamore’s SkyWinder and the rapids upgraded with animatronic dinosaurs to become the QuantumCanyon Rapids.
Mix in some other refurbished rides, along with a new ride or two, and it isn’t a far stretch of the imagination to think that just maybe SF Darien Lake could possibly be preparing to create their own version of SteamTown in 2025. Stay tuned!
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