Out & About editor

DARIEN LAKE – Some people at the Darien Lake Theme Park Resort
will be bending over backwards and jumping through all kinds of
hoops to entertain you this summer.

No, you don?t get it. They will actually be bending over
backwards and literally jumping through hoops.

The biggest change from last year will be Le Grande Cirque,
which will take the place of the Batman stage show that occupied
the theater building for the last seven years.

Le Grande Cirque is a company of circus-type performers who put
on a show similar to the more well known Cirque du Soleil. Visitors
will be treated to a show of lively music and lighting as a
backdrop to people in fancy, colorful costumes doing handstands,
twirling, flipping, throwing things, balancing other things and
generally performing acts that are barely possible.

The change in stage shows is one of a few changes that coincide
with a change in ownership at New York state?s largest theme park
and resort. Florida-based PARC Management has purchased Darien
Lake, one of seven properties that Six Flags sold to PARC in a ,312
million deal earlier this year. Darien Lake employs 85 people
full-time and about 2,200 each summer.

BPARC Management is thrilled to have acquired Darien Lake Theme
Park Resort,C said Randal Drew, PARC?s president and CEO. BThe park
is an important part of the community?s fabric and will be operated
locally as a regional park.

BDarien Lake is here to stay and we are dedicated to
participating in the area?s community life,C he said. BWe will
continue to seek local active vendor relationships.C

The new owners have retained the existing staff, including
general manager Bradley Paul, who has been working at the park for
23 years.

Paul, at a press conference on April 11, said, BDarien Lake is
pleased to be operating as a regional park focused on upstate New
York and southern Ontario. We are entering into an exciting new era
in the resort?s successful 26-year history and look forward to
having our guests come back to enjoy the park and resort and create
new memories with their families.C

Outside the press conference, the Batman symbol and theme was
still painted on the theater. Six Flags gift merchandise still sat
on the shelves in the gift stores. A lot of work still had to be
done before opening day, but public relations manager Mary Christa
Sellan assured it would be accomplished, perhaps with some of the
work carrying on after opening day.

The 2007 season, which will open on May 5, will be the 26th
season for Darien Lake.

There is no new ride at the park this season, but there are no
fewer. Darien Lake lists 43 rides, including five world-class
roller coasters among 18 adult rides.

The roller coasters are the central focus of Darien Lake?s new
logo. Paul pointed out, you can?t see a beginning or end of the
roller coaster tracks on the logo.

BNotice the roller coaster? It?s endless, representing the
endless opportunity for entertainment at the facility,C he
said.

Another change visitors will notice is the food and concessions
that will be offered this year. Gone are many of the national food
products that show up at the same amusement parks all over the
country and the world. Darien Lake will have more local flavor from
now on. Instead of Papa John?s pizza, for example, the park will
feature Western New Yorkers? favorite pizza: pizza made in Western
New York. And it will cost about 20 percent less. The hot dogs
you?ll be eating will be Sahlen?s, the delicious beef on weck will
be from the Red Osier restaurant in Genesee County, the ice cream
will be Perry?s. Parkside Candy, McCullagh Coffee and Labatt?s beer
will also be available at the park this year.

For the children, a new attraction called Blake Daring?s
Storybook Adventures will take children on pirate adventure tours.
At night, Darien Lake?s LaserBlast show will be around again. The
aerial display combines laser animation, lights, music, fireworks
and pyrotechnics for a spectacle intended to be the perfect capper
to a day at the park.

Getting into the park to start your day will be ,3 cheaper. Paul
said parking fees were reduced from ,10 to ,7. Admission prices
stay the same – at ,35.99 – with a few new discount packages
introduced.

A season pass costs ,59.99 – or ,199.99 for a family of four –
so, as marketing director Linda Taylor pointed out, visitors can
make up the cost of a season pass in two visits.

Paul said that 49 percent of the yearly crowd at Darien Lake
comes from outside of Western New York, with many staying overnight
at the 162-room hotel on the park property or in the 1,200-site
campground around the lake. He said some make a weeklong stay of
their trip. Hotel costs are ,240 a night for a themed room, and
that includes four tickets to the theme park.

Darien Lake will still host summer concerts by the biggest names
in entertainment. The Darien Lake Performing Arts Center has an
amphitheater that seats 20,000 people. A national live music
promotion company, Live Nation, oversees the concert schedule and
booking of acts. It leases the Performing Arts Center from the
park. Shows planned over the next few months include names such as
Brad Paisley, Rush, Fall Out Boy, and Roger Waters, formerly of
Pink Floyd.