New York's Family Guide

• By: Becky Willis
• Posted: Oct 15th, 2017
• Blog: 'lil Burghers

Summer is all about family fun and memories, right? Well, our fall has started and I'm really confused by the weather - it's still been a bit steamy in Pittsburgh! We took advantage of this nice weather one weekend in September and took the kids and my bestie for a getaway to New York. One part of our visit was to Darien Lake amusement park, a highly suggested quick road trip from the Pittsburgh area!



(Note - if you'd like to visit Darien Lake, you'll need to wait until 2018. Their Harvest Festival ran September 16 - October 1, extending the summer fun just a 'lil bit!)

With plenty to do for kids and adults, I really felt this was the best park for our kids' age range (2 to almost 9). Just like any good park, you enter through a midway of games, shops, and food, but once you get past that the entire park is walkable and not too spread out. The smaller kiddo area (Beaver Brothers Bay) is sort of in the middle of all the excitement, so if parents need to split up the older kids, it is nice and easy.

There really wasn't anything ride-wise that we didn't get to do in about 5 hours on a relatively quiet Sunday "fall" afternoon at the amusement park. Like I noted, we visited during the Harvest Festival; however, we never did get a chance to head over to the area with the food trucks and beer. (The kids were having too good of a time!) Greg and Tom got to experience The Viper which celebrated its 35th "birthday" this summer. Greg says, "It was fun, it was pretty intense and I didn't stop yelling until we came to a stop!" With several loops and a tunnel, it definitely belongs in Darien Lake's "Thrill Ride" category!

Missy and I kept things pretty low key, enjoying watching the kids but also laughing lots on Grizzly Run, a wet ride on "rapids". (I'd really been wanting to ride a rapid ride with Greg, this was our first chance to do this because our local park closes our rapids down for the fall!)

We ended the day with a classic fish pond game, too! Our trip to Darien Lake was definitely full of fun and memories that will last a lifetime.

If you'd like to visit Darien Lake, check out their website for details on the 2018 season!