Six Flags Darien Lake

[2] In 1964, investor Paul Snyder acquired a 164-acre (66.37 ha) parcel of land bordering the lake and opened a small 23-site campground and picnic area.

He stocked one of the smaller lakes, Trout Pond, with fish, increased the number of campsites and added activities for resort guests such as a small petting zoo, horseback and pony rides, paddleboats, skateboarding, tennis courts and miniature golf.

Snyder made a deal with HUSS Park Attractions, turning Darien Lake into the North American showcase for the German manufacturer's new rides.

In 1982, the newly merged Arrow Huss built and opened the park's first major roller coaster, Viper.

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 wide-angle movie theatre in the back of the park.

[8] 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 four times as many guests.

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.

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.

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.

[14] Because of the timing of the final sale with respect to the park's opening, PARC was unable to make any 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- and DC Comics-themed signage and references.

[15] In March 2010, Darien Lake expanded its current waterpark to Six Flags Hurricane Harbor (Darien Lake) (featuring several new attractions and a repaint of the 'Cuda Falls waterslide complex in Barracuda Bay), a new 16-foot-wide (4.9 m) lazy river called Flotation Station, Swirl City slide complex (with four new slides) and a kiddie wave pool called Lazy Days Lagoon.

[16] CNL subsequently announced that it had reached an agreement to terminate PARC's lease of Darien Lake and up to 17 other locations.

[18] In 2011, Herschend Family Entertainment assumed day-to-day operation and management of Darien Lake and Elitch Gardens.

[20] For the 2013 season, 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.

[26] For the 2020 season, it was announced that Wahoo Wave, a ProSlide waterslide, would be added to the newly re-named and re-themed Hurricane Harbor WaterPark.

notice: a thrill ride that is left out of the table is titled Silver Bullet which is an enterprise manufactured by Heinz Fahtz.

The original Six Flags 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.)

(However, the event's name had a lack of space between the words "Fright" and "Fest" in order to steer clear of any legal conflict with Six Flags.)

Although this idea was attempted before with Fall Family Fun Fest, here rides were included with admission and less focus was put on scary attractions.

A few months later, the similarly themed Beaver Brothers Cafe opened as a full-service restaurant offering breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Former Darien Lake logo used from 2007–2012