mateony Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Decided to make the credit trek to Dorney Park last Monday (6/11). Hmmm..the park. If I only had one word to describe it...GHETTO. Lots of concrete, mediocre coasters, and garbage cans. Alas, it was still better than being at work! Had to leave Long Island early enough to miss the rush hour traffic, so I started my day bright and early.. ....to be continued.....(yeah, I take way too many pictures..hahah) Hey Great Adventure - THESE are humps. Look! Trees! The area by Steal Force is actually one of the nice parts of Dorney.. The trains are a HOT MESS! Talk about uncomfortable. Steel Force was my first Morgan hyper. Not in a rush to try out any others.. Up they go.. Hey! They have other coasters! Twisties! It does LOOK like a great ride though, doesn't it? ..and yeah, Hydra had THE worst/slowest OP's of ANY RIDE, ANYWHERE! We are in the clouds! I do love how Dorney integrated the queue & landscaping around the ride. We are the upsidedownz! OMG! :::rattle::: Doesn't everyone look bored? :::rattle::: The jojo has some nice hangtime, but that's about it. ...and it's not. Is this the Big Lots model of a B&M? I really wanted to like it. It looks sexy. It's got a unique layout, but it sucks. Sexy looking coaster! Should be good... Hey! They have rolly coastiez hurr! Hi! I'm Hydracortizone: The Ride. Thank god for all the shade! Oh wait...At least there's garbage cans! ..apparently the kids were still ON the buses. First thought upon entry: Concrete Jungle. My chariot for the day. Gave the car a fresh coat of wax the day before. And yeah...HOLY BUSES. Yay! I made it! With only one(!) near death collision. Bonus. Through the hilly fog o' death.. Nice toll. I heart NY. ..and were off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imbordisux Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Dorney's no five-star park, but I'm surprised at the utter disdain; I thought it was a nice little place with some good - but not "Mega Extreme" - coasters. And I actually like Hydra, I thought going relatively slowly through the inversions gave a nice sense of "hang time", though I can understand why most don't care for it. Really nice photos though, and informative captions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mateony Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share Posted June 18, 2007 ...coasterz... GRIM. ....finale is coming up... Hmmm..Don't my eyes wish this was enforced! The only thing better than this "Gangstaz" outfit/cornrows, is the "Bitch please!" look the little girl on the far left is giving him! Sunblock is your friend... I went back and forth in thinking that either A) This is a really nice section of the park or B) Gang rape alley. Still ain't sure.. Billy Ray Cyrus ridin' dirty... But it wasn't that bad.. Was kinda suprised by Thunderhawk. I was expecting to have the crap beat out of me.. ..tis old and ricketty! ..and they have a woody too! ..talk about holding on for dear life.. Helix o' death.. THROUGH THE HEDGES! Isn't Dorney trying to boot Laser? I know it's a portable, but the station & queue were in pretty sad shape. Mmmmm. Schwarzkopf goodness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mateony Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share Posted June 18, 2007 ..and the finale... They do have a decent B&M! ..and back over the bridge we go. Hope you enjoyed! Until next time... ...welcome to NY! Thus ending my day at Dorney. I really wasn't expecting the crowds that I fell upon, so that might've jaded my opinion from the start, but I still had fun! ..and they did clear the wave pool. Apocolypto! I decided to call it a day, and waited out the storm in the car.. WAVE POOL TIME!!!!!!!!!1!1!!!11 Uh oh, coasters got shut down, storms rolling in, you know what that means.................. That's a sexy looking flyer! Oh wait. Yikes! Those clouds don't look good. Hey, what's with those clouds? Zero-Gizzle! Ooh purty.. Upskirt.. Down we go! Now I realize why I had so much freaking sand on my face when I got home. Loopage I thought Talon was pretty fun. Not that intense, but a nice crowd pleaser.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarmor Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 lol this is one funny tr!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Granted, Dorney is not a top-tier park, but I don't think I'd call it "ghetto" (but that's just my opinion). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almightyfire Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 I felt the same way when I went. I thought it was a kiddie park. Now I thought it was extremely clean and coiffed landscape wise but I was ready to leave an hr after I got there. I still say Cedar Fair gives all the good rides to Cedar Point. There need to be more thrills there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shavethewhales Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Not to sound snobby, but why does everyone use the word 'ghetto' to describe anything that's not in prime condition? If you think Dorney Park is ghetto... you must have a pretty superb life. Mediocre rides? And Hydra sucks? Damn... my entire state has a total of 3 roller coasters, and none of them come anywhere close to anything Dorney has. Why is Hydra so bad? It looks absolutely incredible. Amazing photos though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECZenith Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 I liked Hydra for what it was when I visited in its debut year, I wasn't expecting a great, huge B&M but it's at least unique in layout and has some unusual elements. There's some great photos in there! Thanks for posting these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mateony Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share Posted June 18, 2007 Why is Hydra so bad? It looks absolutely incredible. Which I think is part of the problem. It *does* look stunning, in addition to the fact that the layout is so unique, especially for B&M. I also wondered why everyone hated on it so much. It is basically forceless, and worst of all, boring. It sure is pretty to look at though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleFan344 Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 I wasn't a big fan of Dorney either. Allentown is a $hithole. It was also around 100 degrees the day I visited so I was prolly in a bad mood. They have a few good coasters but no great ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoshiFan Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Not to sound snobby, but why does everyone use the word 'ghetto' to describe anything that's not in prime condition? If you think Dorney Park is ghetto... you must have a pretty superb life. Mediocre rides? And Hydra sucks? Damn... my entire state has a total of 3 roller coasters, and none of them come anywhere close to anything Dorney has. Why is Hydra so bad? It looks absolutely incredible. Amazing photos though. I think the problem with Dorney is its location. It's so close to Hershey and Great Adventure both of which I think have better coaster collections so Dorney is sort of overlooked. If Dorney or the same collection of rides was in another part of the country where there aren't as many parks or not as many great parks I think it would be more highly regarded. I mean a park with 2 B&M's and a hyper (regardless of how they compare to other rides of the same category) would be a huge lineup somewhere such as Washington (state), Alabama much of the Midwest etc. where there aren't mega parks all over the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CP_RULES Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Why does it seem that people go to parks not looking to have fun, but looking for ways NOT to have fun? Many TRs I read nowadays aren't about going to parks to have fun, they are about how the park has too much concrete or not enough theming. To be quite honest, I LOVED your pics, but the overall bashing mood of the TR made it not enjoyable to read. I wish people weren't so critical, and just had more fun. Hearing people rant about bad rides and ugly midways isn't what I want to hear, but thats just my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 I look at Dorney as a nice, traditional, "nieghborhood" park--not as a theme park. When I was there two weeks ago, the weather was perfect, and the grounds were quite green and attractive; in short, the environment there was more pleasant than, say, Kings Dominion (then again, Dorney was all new to me). I do agree that Hydra looks better than it rides (in fact, it's a bit rough in the front seat, of all places). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DECoasterMom Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Wow, your TR was downer (although your photos did rock). Dorney is one of my favorite family parks ~ yes, it doesn't have the coaster thrills that other parks do but I still think it does a pretty good job with what it has. The only "concrete alley" I've ever noticed (beside the waterpark area, of course) is the front entrance area...the same area in your photos criticizing the lack of shade. I do agree w/a couple things in your TR. Hydra is pretty but the ride is blah. Laser is ridiculous ~ it was a once-and-never-again for me. Steel Force is a fun ride which I can happily ride multiple times (and do!). Thunderhawk (woodie) is rough during the day but flies on hot summer nights. Talon is enjoyable but not as crazy fun as it could be (and the entrance is ridiculously hidden). We were there on Wednesday 6/13 (two days after your TR) and had the opposite experience of you. Crowds were minimal with non-existent queues. Our group of two adults and six kids (14, 12, 9, 7, 7, and 21 mos) had a great time. Our only bummer was that the toddler was too short for most flats (have to be a minimum of 36" at Dorney) although he had just come back from BGE & KD where he rode most baby flats by himself ... oh well. He still managed a mini-marathon on the horsie ride Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ccron10 Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Why does it seem that people go to parks not looking to have fun, but looking for ways NOT to have fun? Many TRs I read nowadays aren't about going to parks to have fun, they are about how the park has too much concrete or not enough theming. To be quite honest, I LOVED your pics, but the overall bashing mood of the TR made it not enjoyable to read. I wish people weren't so critical, and just had more fun. Hearing people rant about bad rides and ugly midways isn't what I want to hear, but thats just my opinion. I kind of agree with you.Most of the TR's lately have been more about bashing and less about having fun. Dorney is a great park, even though they don't have as many coasters as Hersheypark and Great Adventure, they are still unique to the area. I went there last year and Hydra was my first looping coaster which I enjoyed. I don't understand why everybody hates it , because which is better, a large restaurant there or a B&M coaster? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 ^I don't think this is bashing a park just for the sake of it. Remember the name of this site is called Theme Park Review. I saw this photo with only a few trees and it brought back some bad memories from Michigan's Adventure... It's like looking in a mirror! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatOne Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Why does it seem that people go to parks not looking to have fun, but looking for ways NOT to have fun? Many TRs I read nowadays aren't about going to parks to have fun, they are about how the park has too much concrete or not enough theming. To be quite honest, I LOVED your pics, but the overall bashing mood of the TR made it not enjoyable to read. I wish people weren't so critical, and just had more fun. Hearing people rant about bad rides and ugly midways isn't what I want to hear, but thats just my opinion. I don't think his TR is looking for ways not to have fun. His complaint about Dorney's concrete jungle is absolutely legit. My last visit to Dorney was in the 90's and sunny. It was unbearable and made me feel sluggish. Last week, I made a visit to Dollywood with exactly similar conditions, but with the great amount of shade at Dollywood, it never effected me or the 8 million old people in motorized scooters there. Cedar Fair knows that happier guests make for better guests who are more inclined to spend money. However, they always fail at providing adequate shade at their parks except for tiny strips (Frontier Trail at CP and "Thunderhawk Alley" at Dorney). For the record, I do like Dorney, but I'm not a big fan of it's sterile atmosphere and the fact that CF has ripped almost all of the great history right out of the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 This is awesome, I had no idea I went to Dorney! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axman Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 I really loved Dorney, but they really need to tear some of their concrete and place more trees, but then again, thats waht we all think. Talon a Steel Force were outstanding, but the trims on SF are a bit strong. Hydra is an aquired taste. I liked it better than Medusa@SFDK for several reasons; 1) Not in a parking lot. 2) Unique inversions as apposed to cookie-cutters 3) No block break 4) No pre drop. All of the inversions were great, including the dive loop after the lift. The jojo-roll-on-ride-photo was inspired. Granted, the ride is not very intense or forcefull, but its extremely enjoyable in the very back. Best airtime in the park off the first lift in the back. Lazer is a diamond in the rough. Extremely forcefull loops and helixes, which put virtually every Arrow to shame. I missed out on Thunderhwak because of maintnence, but there were several other rides that stood out, such as Revolution, Hang Time, Thunder Canyon, Thunder Creek Mountain, and Screamin' Swing. Over all, a wonderfull CF experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LcHg5265 Posted June 22, 2007 Share Posted June 22, 2007 Steel Force Trains...uncomfortable? What do you think about the Intamin restraints then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastercrazed49 Posted June 22, 2007 Share Posted June 22, 2007 Nice trip Report. I was at Canobie a few weeks ago when it was thundering its not fun! Just earlier today I was running to my car with a electric guitar and a lightning bult stikes about ten feet away from me, and I couldn't move any thing for about five seconds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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