Dorney Park on the Summer Road Trip

Yeah, I've been incredibly busy lately, so my reports will show up as slow as a snail... lol.

On our way back from Hershey (which was great... read my previous reports), we drove by Dorney and decided it'd be another fun day on our vacation and took a stop to my first Cedar Fair park. Glad I did, because it's my favorite park next to SFGAdv and Canobie. They're all tied lol

Dorney is immaculately clean. No garbage ANYWHERE. It really provided for a fun park atmosphere. Also, around the park, there are special 130 anniversary billboards showing park history facts on them. For example, ALFUNDO the clown. He was the mascot apparently for Dorney Park in the early days. ALFUNDO stands for "Always Fun Dorney".

Dorney's staff is okay... I guess some of them are friendly. Some are really cranky (and another word that begins with a B...) that just need to get out of there. It's not just a boring summer job, they should at least show cooperation and happiness with their guests.

The Funnel Cake we bought was delicious. Easily the best on the trip. The funnel cake was absolutely rich and their souvenir cups are cheaper then Six Flags.

Cedar Fair's operations are a lot better then Six Flags. Sorry die hard Six Flags junkies, but Cedar Fair takes the cake on many reasons. Most of their ride dispatches were very quickly, and one train rides were only 10 minutes with a half a queue and one train. Dorney sells food cheaper then Six Flags does, and is a lot cleaner.

Dorney's wurlitzer is where the Chance Kiddie Carousel is. It's out of whack and it's quite annoying walking passed it. It's horribly out of sync and needs to retire.

RIDE REVIEWS:

Thunderhawk: This was one of the highlights of excitement on this trip. Kinda let me down a bit, but nonetheless fun. I braced myself for a rough ride, and thank God I did. I got the front row the first time, and boy, was it rough. There are two trims throughout the rides that I'm actually grateful are there. It bangs you up A LOT in the front. The entrance to the Figure eight is ejector air and kinda painful. In the front at least. You can hear the upstops having to come into play quickly. There's a TRIM right before this! It acts like it does nothing! The back hills have ejector even with the trim in the front. The back was amazing, but ouch! If your riding the back, do not put your hands up. Many transitions are extremely painful at times. It's kinda like Goliath at SFNE at the bottom of the drops on the first drop on this. Let me tell you the second hill provides NO AIRTIME. NONE! Oh well. None the less, the airtime is great in the camelback hills near the end even with the trims. I love wooden coasters, but this one is in the bottom half of my list. Very sad to do that to a classic.
8/10

Steel Force: Let me tell you, if you want me to be your enemy, then call this Steel Snore. I dare you. Lol. I did have pretty low expectations for this ride reading the reviews, but I should of had them much higher! Steel Force is great! The first drop provides NICE airtime in the back! All the hills do! In the front, the trims have a heavy effect, but the airtime is great on the bunny hills. I need another Bizarro ride, because this is my #1 steel right now. The Morgans are very comfortable and they don't hurt. It's smooth and quite enjoyable!
10/10

Hydra: The Revenge: Hydra is a decent ride. I had high expectations because I heard it's one of the few rides you feel as if your upside down. That's definitely true, because that Jojo Roll really saved the ride. A lot. You feel as if your gonna fly out! It's amazing! All the inversions have nice hangtime. But, the headbanging sucks in some places, especially the overbank after the first drop. That killed the vibe a lot for me. The drop is fun, especially without the stupid chain stress relievers. Love B&M took a brake from those and the mid brakes. It made the ride much more fun.
7/10

Talon: The Grip of Fear: Talon seemed like an okay ride, because I'm not an invert fan. I had my expectations to extremely low. Umm, to put it the best way, I wasn't gripping with fear. The ride was pretty fun, but it was not intense. The headbanging sucked in the corkscrew. Most of the ride is fantastic, but again, those damn corkscrews. Is it just me, or do most coasters that have Corkscrews have head banging. Not a corkscrew fan. Front or nothing on this one. The signs going up the hill below you intimidate you. A lot. It was fun, but I've been on better inverts.
8/10

Possessed: I have always wanted to ride an Intamin Impulse. Let me say, this did not disappoint. I had a lot of fun. The first launch is intense. Free falling down is a bonus. The operator likes to mess with you like saying "Alright riders, you will be possessed in 3.." and she'll launch you unexpectedly. They seemed to be entertained and it makes the ride more adrenaline pumping. Really loved this and I want one of these at SFNE SOON!
10/10

*Stinger was unfortunately closed still after the accident. Many employees said it may not open for the rest of the season.*

Wild Mouse had an hour wait and was crawling along its tracks so I skipped it.

FLATS REVIEWS:

Dorney is definitely about the flat rides. They have a nice balance between classic and new. Let's review.

Apollo: My favorite flat ever. Hands down! The arms will lift you automatically at random times and you will have pure weightlessness. It was fantastic and I recommend you give this ride a spin. It breaks down a lot, so ride it ASAP when you see it open!
10/10

Monster: Another great ride. Monster is a classic flat that I won't soon forget about. It's got a long time ride (including 5 minutes of other riders boarding as your sitting in the boiling sun...) and the ride sends you for 5 straight minutes for Positive and Negative G's. The operations on this ride were efficient. When on the ride, a kid hated it, so he started going off at the operator swearing, and so on. He got thrown out.
10/10

Enterprise: Boy, I must of hit this on a lousy day. I heard Dorney runs their Enterprise usually outstandingly. I had fun, but it didn't go anywhere near vertical, and I felt no forces at all! I heard that it runs different operations on different days, so maybe I chose a bad day to ride it.
7/10

The Whip: The second oldest operating Whip in the country is still going strong. Man, this thing truly does whip you unlike Hershey's! The little bar that does nothing is not locked, it pops up a bit on every whip, and it's rickety! You hear and feel bangs! when you finish the turns. It smells like grease, which is good because they maintain it.
10/10

Demon Drop: From Rocky Point in RI, and Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH, this drop tower was more frightening than an S&S. You feel really unsafe going up like the carts gonna malfunction and roll over. Lol. Waiting for the drop feels like your waiting to die. Free falling is unbelievable, and all of a sudden you'll feel sideways and really dizzy, the roll back down in the station, out of breath. Easily the best and most frightening drop tower I've been on. This might be my favorite flat.
10/10

The Dominator: Their S&S lets you choose where you sit!! Yay!!! I chose the red tower as it shoots you up. It was alright, felt and is smaller then SFNE's scream!. It was enjoyable, and the views are outstanding.
6/10

*Almost rode Meteor, a Time Warp style ride. Went for another Thunderhawk ride though to end my trip instead. 7 times on Thunderhawk by the way! *

WATER PARK REVIEW:

Let me suggest the following to you: The lines in the dry park have no lines when the water park is open until around 4. Do the dry park at opening to 4-ish (that is, if you even want to go to the water park...), then go to the water park, the lines have somewhat died down.

The waits are horrendous! What is this, water park and deserted dry park? Seriously! My mom and sister waited 90 minutes for a god damn kiddie slide! Their Patriot slides were 2 hour waits! I just rode the overshadowed Body Slides below them with a 10 minute wait. Only water ride there with no wait. It's ridiculous. But it's clean. Cleaner then Hershey's.
5/10

CROWDS:

Crowds at the dry park are practically deserted from opening to around 4-ish. One station waits with one train operation on a warm summer day. Do all you want in the dry park then. During that time on a good summer day, the water park is beyond jam packed. It's awful! People were leaving the water park saying "I got on 2 slides in 3 hours!" or "Seriously? The smallest wait is 1 hour!?" It was bad. Around 4-ish, people actually admit the waits are awful in the water park and go to the dry park. Now the dry park is packed, and the water park is pretty dead 4-6 (last two hours of operation for the day at water park...) Take advantage of the water park then, then ride the coasters again. WARNING: don't become spoiled. The waits suck after people leave the water park at around 4-ish in the dry park!


Hope you enjoyed this review. Yeah, lots to take in I know, but I knew you could do it!
Toodle-oo (or however the hell you spell it...)!
--CanobieFan

Awesome report!
Actually the rocky point free fall went to Geauga Lake and ran as "Mr. Hyde's Nasty Fall" until it was scrapped in 2006.
Demon Drop actually uses some of rocky point's free fall parts but it is not the same ride.

i remember dorney was somewhat the same for me but the weather was raining off and on all day. somehow after riding bigger and better coasters steel force moved UP in my steel coaster listing. anyway glad you had fun and as sombody said to me last year. Dorney is one of cedar fair's weaker parks so if you think that's good then you should like the rest of the chain (except mabye Michigans Adventure).

ScreamHD is easily the best person to go to a theme park with