YoshiFan

I always go to WaWa, either before I go to the park or afterwards since it is a real pain to leave the park and then re-enter just to get food. It could take close to an hour by the time you walk out of the park to the car, leave the lot, go to WaWa, order the sandwiches, eat and then go back into the parking lot, walk to the gates and go through the metal detectors again.

I rode Steel Force last Tuesday, the MCBR isn't as strong as it was in past years (in 2005 it was bad, 2006 - now has been better). I get plenty of airtime in the front of the train and sometimes in the back of the train. I am probably going tomorrow as well and will probably ride it (if I make it over to the ride side since I might just be going to WWK for an hour).

When I went to the park last year I ate at the Alamo. I couldn't believe the prices for a sitdown restaurant. It was cheap for a restaurant let alone one in a park. $3.25 for a tuna salad sandwich with chips. I regret not trying anything in the International Food Court or Cesari's.

Yeah the Mouse usually has a crazy line because of the stupid rules (no more than 2 adults per car, seatbelts, not many cars on the track) As others have said on weekdays Dorney never has lines for most rides. That is because 2 trains are always on Talon, Hydra and Steel Force and operations are very fast. It is very rare to see a train stack for more than a few seconds. I would get to the waterpark at opening or try to go later in the day in the last few hours it is open since that is where the crowds are. I went last Tuesday, on the ride side nothing had a wait at all unless you wanted the front (and even then it was less than 10 minutes) except the mouse. The waterpark had lines of 0 - 20 minutes, not bad considering how crowded it can get (Aquablast was 20 minutes) but that is the main draw of Dorney.

I went to the park on July 4th a while ago but it was on a weekday. Waits weren't horrible. I remember the person at the entrance of BBW saying it was 20 minutes in the middle of the day. Of course since it is on a Saturday this year that might make the park a lot more crowded.

It was running when I was there on the 22nd, only a 10 minute wait too.

Weekdays in May and early to mid June are usually quiet (exception is days like Student Council Day which also happened to be the day Bizarro opened). Then during the summer, weekdays can get busy but not jammed usually. I went on a Tuesday in July last year and in the middle of the day, waits for rides like Batman and Nitro were 20 minutes. August is usually worse, with lines a lot longer. That is why I usually stop going to the park around this time of year and just go to Dorney where lines aren't bad on the ride side and start going back to Great Adventure in September.

It's Buy 1 Get 1 free with a can of coke on weekdays. WaWa right outside the park also sells tickets for $29.99 but that is a little more expensive than Buy 1 Get 1 Free.

Crazy lines can differ that much in a day. Great Adventure wasn't crowded at all yesterday. Kingda Ka was 10 minutes, Bizarro was 10 minutes, Toro looked to be around 15 minutes, everything else was less than 10 minutes. Dorney was empty today, at one point Talon had 3 riders on a train. All coasters except the Wild Mouse were walk ons. The only lines were in the watepark but it wasn't too bad there either. I'm sure it will be the same tomorrow.

Dorney is away from actual downtown Allentown and is in an ok area. Security is serious at Dorney, most of the guards carry guns and are there in a few minutes when there is a problem (the only problems I have witneseed are line cutting). I have been to the park 50+ times since 2005 and never felt unsafe. I would avoid going on a weekend if possible since the summer weekends have a lot of bus trips with some questionable crowds (to put it nicely, not really dangerous but more trouble making) but I always go during the week and like I said I have never felt unsafe during those visits.

No, I didn't see you. I was there from around 3 - 5:30 but didn't go to the 3rd floor at all and spent a lot of the time in Macy's (Father's Day gift shopping)

They haven't allowed the running of the bulls since last summer. On a Friday night Frightfest last October they were stopping everyone from running, I was walking at a fast pace but not running and the guard told me to slow down. I remember reading TR after TR about how bad opening day was this year, I was upset at missing opening day at first but seeing so much closed made me glad I didn't go. I went on Sunday of opening weekend and it was much better. All coasters except Nitro were open and everything was a walk on.

I was at the Willow Grove mall today too. I hate the fact I live less than 10 minutes from what was once a park and now it's just a boring mall (all the fun stores like Challenge's arcade are gone) but it closed before I had a chance to go. I always used to like watching that merry go round display above the fountain when I was younger. I also had no idea there was a park in Glenside. So that makes 2 local parks lost.

100 minute wait on a weekday in June? Sounds horrible. Were all 3 trains running? Hershey should have never installed a ride with such horrible capacity.

I don't know it if will happen next year but I see Sidewinder, the Dry Gulch Railroad and maybe the flats like the flyers and kiddie rides in the area removed next time they want to expand the boardwalk. I'd hate to see that actually happen since Sidewinder isn't that bad of a ride and the Dry Gulch is a great family ride but they are really lacking in slides there and I could see more rides being removed for another waterpark expansion.

I don't know why they are so strict about Little Laser, it never has a line so it's not like adults riding will make kids have to wait longer plus I know at a coaster event a while ago they did let adults ride so it's not like they can say it's dangerous to let adults ride. At least they got rid of the maximum height for Woodstock's Express. When it first opened in 2000, that and all the other rides in Camp Snoopy were if you were over 54", you had to ride with someone under 54" It also looks like it was very crowded for Dorney if Thunderhawk was 20 minutes and Talon was 30 minutes. It's very rare to see Talon with a 10 minute line let alone 30 minutes.

You will have no problems with Kingda Ka or Bizarro. Even if you can't fit in a regular seat on Bizarro, row 5 has larger seat but if you can fit on Batman, you should be able to fit in a regular seat on Bizarro. Kingda Ka is very accomodating, I have never seen anyone turned away. Hydra and Talon also have the larger seats if neccessary in rows 4 and 5. Voodoo might be a tight fit, the ride ops will help you buckle the seatbelt if you can't get it yourself. Do NOT go by the test seat, the belt is way shorter than the actual ride belts. I couldn't get the test seat buckled last year but when I actually tried the ride (with the advice from people on another site to ignore the test seat) I was able to buckle it myself.

It's possible it was more than just season pass holders there. Great Adventure had Coasters After Dark on May 1 and this year and in 2008 they allowed schools that were there for physics day and music in the parks to stay in the park (the park was closed that day to the general public). Lines were still short but it was still fusturating to have multiple school groups there when they advertised it as season pass holders only.

Unfortunately late August is a very crowded time to visit the park. If you are going on a weekend it is going to be jammed, weekdays are less crowded but lines are still going to be 30 minutes - 1 hour for the major rides during a lot of the day. What I would do is get there at opening and try to ride Kingda Ka, El Toro, Bizarro and Superman before crowds get bad as those are going to be the longest lines in the park. If you are planning on staying until closing, the last hour the park is open lines tend to die down as well. I would save Nitro until later since it has a very fast moving line when all 3 trains are running. A line up to the 90 minute wait time sign is roughly 30 minutes.

Great pictures, I went to the original park in the late 80's and really like it. I remember those mice cars and the pumpkin coach and the little toot boat. I remember the ride op said the boat stops at some mountain with slides in it but it was closed. I was very disappointed about that. It's kind of strange to see all those ride vehicles and other items somewhere else 20 years later.

My top 5 are: 1. Talon, 136 rides 2. Hydra, 98 rides 3. Steel Force, 91 rides 4. Nitro, 85 rides 5. Laser, 60 rides (Skull Mountain is right after that at 59 rides which will pass Laser into the top 5 since I doubt I will ever ride Laser again). I started keeping track in 2006 and have my ride numbers for every coaster at Dorney and Great Adventure but don't have accurate numbers for Rolling Thunder, Runaway Mine Train and Thunderhawk as I rode those a bunch of times before I started keeping track of rides.

It's likely no water bottles were allowed because some kids put vodka in them.

If there is lightning a certain distance from the park, the rides can't run. Last year I was there in April, Nitro shut down because of lightning and it was sunny out. Apparently there was lightning a certain distance away from the other end of the park so most if not all rides were shut down for a little while.

2 hours of SDL? Awesome, I'd really like to try that. It is such a fun ride.

I'm also surprised it was so empty, it is usually that weekdays are dead at Dorney and weekends are jammed, both the waterpark and ride side. It was empty today as well, no lines for anything even in the waterpark.