YoshiFan

Okay. I need to but in here. Chiller was out on it's own reasons! That ride was a hex. Had nothing but problems, had a bad accident and cost the park too much money. BUT, TDK did NOT replace Chiller. TDK is actually on the spot of MTWE. Directly next to Chiller. Also, Autobahn (bumber cars), Music Express and Houdini are still there. I've walked by Autobahn and Music Express this seasn and I'll tell you it's still there. And Houdiniis still operational. Corprate told the park not to open it. But they are fighing for it next year. Music Express and Autobahn might also open next year. I know Chiller has nothing to do with TDK. But most people don't, that's why I mentioned it. On family fun fall night, I was talking with some people and one made that exact comment how TDK is a horrible replacement for the Chiller. I also know those rides are still there but with them being SBNO, it feels like we lost so much and gained little.

I was there last Sunday also. I was there from 6:30 - 9:30. I couldn't believe how empty it was. Voodoo, Steel Force, Hydra and Talon were all walk ons. I didn't know there was a hot dog eating contest, that would have been cool to see. The only bad thing was Laser was closed the entire time I was there (and it was closed on October 5th as well). I am leaving in a few minutes to go back tonight for a few hours, I am hoping it is just as empty as it was last week,

People who aren't enthusiasts have no idea it is a wild mouse. At GADV, the entrance sign describes it as a "high thrill." I believe it was mentioned in another thread possibly on another site that a spokesperson for Great Adventure said last year, "If you like Kingda Ka and El Toro, you will like the Dark Knight" So when people wait in that line and find out it is just a mouse, they get upset. Lines for it haven't been that bad at Great Adventure. I rode it with a less than 10 minute wait on Friday night and since the next pre-show had not let out yet, it was empty in the loading area and I got a re-ride. Even so, I still see lots of people giving the thumbs down sign when they exit or saying how bad it is. Even families with younger kids have come out of the exit disappointed. Another reason people are upset is because they say, "they got rid of Chiller for this?!" In a season where we lost Chiller, Movietown Water Effect (Splashdown boat), Swings, Bumper Cars, Music Express and Houdini, the Dark Knight doesn't make up for all of that. It's a fun ride, but I will never wait more than 15 minutes for it.

It opened at 12 because the park wanted to save money since they felt it wasn't pulling enough crowds in the morning. I agree about the slow loading, it made running 3 trains useless because 1 or 2 were always sitting on the brake run. I blame the park more than the crew though. It's difficult to check a 32 seat train with only 2 people and not stack. That was a problem at all the coasters this year. They really need 4 people checking restraints on all 4 B&M coasters

I think more people would be willing to try the test seat if it wasn't right out in the front of the entrance where everyone is watching. It would also help if the test seats at all rides were accurate. Voodoo for example has a belt on the test seat that is much shorter than the actual belts on the ride. I see people try the test seat can't get it buckled and think they can't ride. I want to tell them they should try the ride anyway if they are close but I always keep my mouth shut since I don't want to get their hopes up and then they may not be able to ride.

Voodoo at Dorney Park last night around 8:30 p.m. It was a walk on.

I used to be a huge Phillies fan. Back around 1991 - 1993, I watched a lot of the games on TV, knew the entire roster. Even into 1994 I was still really into baseball but the strike kind of ruined it for me and I never was interested in the game the way I used to be. I started watching more games at the end of the season and hopefully this will be enough for me to get back into watching most of the games next season. It would be nice to see them win the World Series since I still am upset about 1993.

I didn't think it was that crowded on that day at least compared to previous visits. I was there but not with TPR (couldn't get there by 8:00 or else I would have wanted join TPR for the day with that offer they had). It was just the operations were horrible, 1 train on Storm Runner, 2 trains on Fahrenheit with no single rider line open, 1 train on Sooperdooperlooper, slow loading etc.

I was there from a little after opening to just after 3. It was nice and empty but I was very annoyed that Laser was closed. It must have opened after I left.

That rapids ride with the red water is awesome. I never saw anything like that before.

The 5 minute dispatches have been a problem all season. Very fusturating when a 2 train wait turns into 15 minutes from the time you enter the line until you exit the ride.

They used to but stopped because they were getting annoyed people were getting their pictures online for free. Now you only get to view the photos online if you buy the picture first.

I wish that worked at Great Adventure, there it is $35 to upgrade to a 2009 SP but only if you pay gate price for the ticket. If you use a discount, that discount amount gets added to the pass price.

Those green trashcans at Great Adventure are for the parade route, before the parade starts they put up yellow chain links on the trashcans. Otherwise they normally don't have so many (most of them have been removed since the parade is done for the season)

I agree, it seems like a lot of parks are removing 1 and 2 inversion coasters. They are very important for people who are unsure about going upside down. My first looping coaster was Sooperdooperlooper which only has 1 loop. I convinced myself to try it by saying if I didn't like the loop, it was only 1 so I wouldn't have to go through more inversions. I might not have been willing to try a 3 - 7 inversion coaster for my first looping coaster.

I guess GASM is a love it or hate it type of ride. I try to ride it every time I am at the park, I barely have any headbanging. Superman always has a crazy line thanks to the slow dispatching and the popularity. I also agree with what you said about the flat rides being non existant. I guess that is a result of around 12 or so rides being removed in the past 3 seasons and with rumors of Fantasy Fling (Round Up) leaving this year, it makes all the coaster lines longer.

I find it interesting Comet is listed at 1500 riders an hour when the website says 830 an hour. Could the seat dividers and seatbelts reduce the capacity in half or is it that they really loaded the riders faster back then?

Was this Saturday or Sunday? If it was Sunday that makes it the 3rd day in a row the park closed early without warning or updating the website. Very fusturating.

I remember climbing that spiral staircase in the Statue of Liberty when I went on my 10th grade class trip, the stairs were steep and weren't big and it was very difficult to climb up them especially since it took about 45 minutes.

We were discussing that last night on another site. Last night some people were told they were closing the park due to attendance (I am guessing around 200 people were there at the most), others were told it was due to the weather and it wasn't even raining out at 7:30 when the park closed. Last night was a season pass night so as much as I hated the early closing, I could see why they did it since they had to have lost a ton of money since no one paid admission except for maybe a few who paid the $14.99 friend deal. Multiple people called, myself included last night and we were all told the park as open until 10:00 with no mention of a possible early closing. As I mentioned in my first post, I got plenty of rides in but others only got a handful of rides, and even some were stopped from entering the lot since the park was closing early. I would have been annoyed if I drove that far and the park was supposed to be open until 10 on a regular operating day and they closed 6 hours early if the weather was ok. Even worse I just checked the website and it still says they are open until 10:00 tonight! I know hours are subject to change without notice but you would expect them to change the website like they usually do like 3 weeks ago when they closed at 2:00 due to the horrible storm. What if someone checked the site at 5:00 and saw 10:00 and figured they had a few hours to go to the park only to find out it closed.

Someone on a Great Adventure site said they rode El Toro 23 times in a row just having to switch seats. It will probably be on the ligher side on Sunday but I don't think it will be as empty as it was tonight.

Yeah, only 1 train running, but it was going out about 40% full.

No photos but I wish I had brought a camera today to show how empty the parking lot and the actual park was. I have been looking forward to Family Fall Fun Night after the awesome time I had at Coasters After Dark in May where I had basically no waits. Since the park tonight was also only open to Premium SP holders, I expected the park to not be that crowded. The forecast for tonight was horrible all week with it saying 80 - 90% chance of rain as of yesterday. I decided to take the chance and go to the park because it wasn't raining and was only misting/drizzling on the way to the park. I got to the park a little after 5:00 and it almost looked like the place was closed. There couldn't have been more than 20 - 25 cars in the lot and rides weren't running, because they had no one riding! By the time I got to the entrance it was a little before 5:15 and the security guard told me the park might be closing at 6:00 or 7:00 so I knew I would have to move fast to get on a lot of the coasters today. I went to Nitro first since I wanted to power ride today and I missed it on my last trip. Unfortunately it was closed for minor technical difficulties and remained that way the entire night. Batman was closed when I first got to the park and was listed as closed on the rides board but I saw it running with people so I went there instead. 2 trains running, station was empty except for 2 people waiting for the front. I was going to go for a re-ride but they ended up taking a train off and I think it closed shortly after that for the rest of the night. The Dark Knight was empty but after I and 3 others went into the pre-show room, the op said they would start the pre-show in around 5 minutes after more people entered. I didn't want to waste close to 15 minutes (5 minutes waiting, 5 minutes pre-show, and a few minutes riding the coaster) so I left. I went to Skull Mountain next and the ops were standing around waiting for riders, I was the only one on the train. I took the sky ride to the other side of the park. Very few cars running but I was the only one in line so it didn't matter. From the sky ride, the park looked closed, I think I saw a total of 5 non employees walking around the park. Runaway Mine Train also had no one in the station, I got a solo ride in the front, and took a re-ride again in the front. 2 trains running. Medusa only had people waiting for the front. 2 trains running and I got 4 rides without leaving the train. The tigers were right up to the viewing windows in the Golden Kingdom which was cool but since Kingda Ka was closed, I went to the Boardwalk. Scream Machine had just the blue train running, another solo ride. I took a re-ride in the 3rd row and this time there were actually 4 other riders. Superman was also running 1 train but it was a 1 train wait for the front. I moved around to different seats to get 3 total rides but the train never has more than 3 - 4 rows with riders. On the way back to check Nitro, it was 6:50 and I heard the dreaded, the park is closing at 7:30 announcement (it was supposed to be closing at 10:00). Nitro was still closed so I went back to the Dark Knight where they were still letting people in the pre-show room even though the pre-show was almost over. The room was about 1/2 filled. About 2 minutes later I was boarding the ride and by the time I got to the end of the ride, there was no one waiting to ride so I stayed on for 2 more rides. It was 7:10 at this point and Nitro was still closed and I knew it wouldn't be opening tonight so I went back to Skull Mountain to finish the night. I got 6 more rides in only having to change seats once. Although it was dissapointing to have the park close 2 1/2 hours early, I guess they figured it wasn't worth it to keep the park open for around 200 people at most. Still, I got more rides (23) in those 2 1/4 hours than most people get during a full day in the park so it was well worth visiting, if only to see what it feels like to almost have the entire park to yourself. Ride Count: Batman The Ride, 1x Skull Mountain, 7x Skyway, 1x Runaway Mine Train, 2x Medusa, 4x Superman, 3x Scream Machine, 2x The Dark Knight, 3x

Yeah Saturday night was way more crowded than I expected. I only was able to ride Runaway Mine Train (10 minutes), Scream Machine (walk on) and Superman (a little over 20 minutes) because it was so crowded. I couldn't believe Nitro was into the switchbacks. As for The Dark Knight, I waited 30 minutes for it back in May, I refuse to wait more than 15 for it now. It's a fun ride but not worth more than a short wait. I think I saw that guy at Superman. He was looking down at his phone the entire time I watched him and wasn't checking to see if people entered the line with stuff not permitted to be left at the station.

I see you encountered the typical Dorney crowds, that's why I love the park. It may not have the greatest coasters in the area but you can almost always be sure you won't have waits to deal with. Now if they only allowed re-rides.