Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom Discussion Thread

[DorneyKid14]

I would have rather seen that land go toward a new ride

 

Height limit is only around 30 feet back in that area I believe. Can't really build a coaster there.

[ImNotOneOfYou]

I would have rather seen that land go toward a new ride

 

Height limit is only around 30 feet back in that area I believe. Can't really build a coaster there.

 

Is there a source other than a dippin dots cart that confirms that? There's a multitude of reasons that enthusiasts use to explain why their respective parks haven't built anything notable.

[DorneyKid14]

I would have rather seen that land go toward a new ride

 

Height limit is only around 30 feet back in that area I believe. Can't really build a coaster there.

 

Is there a source other than a dippin dots cart that confirms that? There's a multitude of reasons that enthusiasts use to explain why their respective parks haven't built anything notable.

 

This is when they rezoned the whole park when they put possessed in.

[ImNotOneOfYou]

I would have rather seen that land go toward a new ride

 

Height limit is only around 30 feet back in that area I believe. Can't really build a coaster there.

 

Is there a source other than a dippin dots cart that confirms that? There's a multitude of reasons that enthusiasts use to explain why their respective parks haven't built anything notable.

 

This is when they rezoned the whole park when they put possessed in.

 

 

Was that a 540 elevation limit I see? #DorneyPolerCoaster2018

[Physical]

I would have rather seen that land go toward a new ride

 

Height limit is only around 30 feet back in that area I believe. Can't really build a coaster there.

 

Is there a source other than a dippin dots cart that confirms that? There's a multitude of reasons that enthusiasts use to explain why their respective parks haven't built anything notable.

 

This is when they rezoned the whole park when they put possessed in.

 

 

Was that a 540 elevation limit I see? #DorneyPolerCoaster2018

 

Probably MSL (Mean Sea Level) instead of AGL (Above Ground Level)

[ImNotOneOfYou]

I would have rather seen that land go toward a new ride

 

Height limit is only around 30 feet back in that area I believe. Can't really build a coaster there.

 

Is there a source other than a dippin dots cart that confirms that? There's a multitude of reasons that enthusiasts use to explain why their respective parks haven't built anything notable.

 

This is when they rezoned the whole park when they put possessed in.

 

 

Was that a 540 elevation limit I see? #DorneyPolerCoaster2018

 

Probably MSL (Mean Sea Level) instead of AGL (Above Ground Level)

 

No Dorney is getting that Polercoaster. It could be BFS (Built From Scratch) or RFE (Relocated From Elsewhere). I believe

[rwk]

Dorney Park just announced their new haunt mazes! Blood on the Bayou (replaces Desolation) and The Ward (replaces Asylum). Also, there is a new show, The Awakening: Power Struggle located at White Water Landing Stage and Cut Throat Island is now on Possessed Midway. Everything else is the same as last year but Mansion House Hotel is supposed to have renovations. I would have liked to seen Asylum completely gutted and turned into a new theme, Ward sounds like a mental hospital theme based on the short description and a ward is a unit of a hospital dedicated for a specific purpose, like a maternity ward. Well, they are probably keeping the facade since they painted it so the theme will be similar.

[boldikus]

I dunno if it's because I've been going to Moreys exclusively since Memorial Day or what but I have to say I'm kinda stoked to pop up Dorney this weekend.

[Jcoaster]

I dunno if it's because I've been going to Moreys exclusively since Memorial Day or what but I have to say I'm kinda stoked to pop up Dorney this weekend.

 

Talon and Possessed are never a bad time.

[Iby coaster]

Here are pics of the new haunts.

The Ward is a hospital theme.

The Blood on the bayou will be cool.

[boldikus]

I dunno if it's because I've been going to Moreys exclusively since Memorial Day or what but I have to say I'm kinda stoked to pop up Dorney this weekend.

 

Talon and Possessed and Demon Drop are never a bad time.

 

[boldikus]

Here now. Lot is busy dry park is dead. Did Possessed, Stinger, Revolution, Steel Force, Thunderhawk, Thunder Creek Mountain (soaked) and Hydra in first hour and a half. Two train wait for front of SF. Thunderhawk blows with the new trains but painting job sure looks pretty. Had a back seat ride on Hydra and had maybe my best ride on it yet. Eating lunch. Off to Dominator Demon Drop and then Talon.

[ejot]

Thunderhawk blows with the new trains but painting job sure looks pretty.

Couldn't agree more. The beige has to be the prettiest color I've ever seen on a woodie. But what was last year a definite re-ride is this year a one-n-done

[coasterbill]

To be fair, Thunderhawk blew with the old trains too.

[Physical]

To be fair, Thunderhawk blew with the old trains too.

 

At least it had redeeming factors. Awesome ejector on the first two turnarounds.

[Philrad71]

^ I have sat in the front right row (the two times that I have ridden it) and noticed the same thing. Not the most fun ride out there, but I did have to laugh at the ejector air that I was catching at the tops of the hills.

[boldikus]

Saved Talon for last and goddamn that things rocks my f*ckin socks. Two back to back laps. Back left and front right seats all day.

Lines, as expected, we're ridiculous today. Lol

[Jcoaster]

^ All the proof you need as to why Dorney will never get a new coaster.

[DorneyKid14]

https://www.change.org/p/dorney-park-wildwater-kingdom-keep-all-wheel-sports

 

Must of got the idea from the KD person who started that petition.

[njcoasterguy34]

Saved Talon for last and goddamn that things rocks my f*ckin socks. Two back to back laps. Back left and front right seats all day.

 

I always ride Talon in the back left. In my opinion, it's the only seat to ride.

[DILinator]

^ All the proof you need as to why Dorney will never get a new coaster.

 

Ok... I've got to say something, because this reeks of extremely fallacious reasoning to me!

 

Now, I've never been to Dorney, so maybe it runs differently than other places I have been to. But let me ask this... Did the place draw large crowds prior to Cedar Fair purchasing the Paramount parks in 2006? Did they draw large crowds, and have full line queues prior to the addition of Hydra in 2005? Because if they did, why did people suddenly stop coming? And if they didn't, then why would Cedar Fair even add Hydra - a new coaster? Again, I've never been to the park, so I don't know the story here, that's why I'm asking those who do know.

 

What I'm driving at is two-fold... If the crowds used to come in larger quantities, why did they stop in recent years? Because from my experience - not as an enthusiast, but as somebody among the GP and not enthusiast crowd most of the past 12 years - your average park-goer is MORE interested in coming when something new and significant is added, not less interested. Dorney's lack of attention from Cedar Fair could have as much to do with those empty queue lines as anything else.

 

Now, if Dorney has never drawn significant crowds, why did CF used to add large new coasters there? I would contend that they did, because a park operator who cares about keeping things fresh at a park, and keeping the people (GP, not enthusiasts) interested in coming, knows they need to add a large, marquee attraction (typically a coaster, but it doesn't have to be) every so often. CF has clearly stopped running parks like DP, VF, and WoF like they used to, back when those WERE some of their premiere parks (behind CP, of course), and that is directly related to their acquisition of the much larger, and more highly attended Paramount Parks.

 

TL:DR - Bottom line, I think there are a number of reasons why Dorney hasn't received a large coaster recently, and may not get another one for years to come. However, I think simply pointing to empty queues, and saying that's why, is erroneous. Because unless DP suddenly saw a drop in attendance exactly when CF purchased the Paramount parks, the empty queues were probably there before the large coasters were added years ago...

 

(Jcoaster, I'm not specifically targeting you in this response, rather questioning the line of thought you invoked, which I have seen others utilize as well, because it doesn't ring true to me, from where I'm sitting. No offense is intended.)

[YoshiFan]

The park still gets large crowds, on weekends the overflow lot fills up and cars have to park on the grass. It's just that almost everyone there is going to the water park. In the 90s before Great Adventure and Hershey added so many coasters it seemed like Dorney wasn't far behind but now both other parks have much better coaster collections and I feel like most people go to Dorney for the water park and go to the coasters later in the day after the water park closes compared to a park like Great Adventure where the coasters are the main draw.

[Jcoaster]

^ All the proof you need as to why Dorney will never get a new coaster.

 

Ok... I've got to say something, because this reeks of extremely fallacious reasoning to me!

 

Now, I've never been to Dorney, so maybe it runs differently than other places I have been to. But let me ask this... Did the place draw large crowds prior to Cedar Fair purchasing the Paramount parks in 2006? Did they draw large crowds, and have full line queues prior to the addition of Hydra in 2005? Because if they did, why did people suddenly stop coming? And if they didn't, then why would Cedar Fair even add Hydra - a new coaster? Again, I've never been to the park, so I don't know the story here, that's why I'm asking those who do know.

 

What I'm driving at is two-fold... If the crowds used to come in larger quantities, why did they stop in recent years? Because from my experience - not as an enthusiast, but as somebody among the GP and not enthusiast crowd most of the past 12 years - your average park-goer is MORE interested in coming when something new and significant is added, not less interested. Dorney's lack of attention from Cedar Fair could have as much to do with those empty queue lines as anything else.

 

Now, if Dorney has never drawn significant crowds, why did CF used to add large new coasters there? I would contend that they did, because a park operator who cares about keeping things fresh at a park, and keeping the people (GP, not enthusiasts) interested in coming, knows they need to add a large, marquee attraction (typically a coaster, but it doesn't have to be) every so often. CF has clearly stopped running parks like DP, VF, and WoF like they used to, back when those WERE some of their premiere parks (behind CP, of course), and that is directly related to their acquisition of the much larger, and more highly attended Paramount Parks.

 

TL:DR - Bottom line, I think there are a number of reasons why Dorney hasn't received a large coaster recently, and may not get another one for years to come. However, I think simply pointing to empty queues, and saying that's why, is erroneous. Because unless DP suddenly saw a drop in attendance exactly when CF purchased the Paramount parks, the empty queues were probably there before the large coasters were added years ago...

 

(Jcoaster, I'm not specifically targeting you in this response, rather questioning the line of thought you invoked, which I have seen others utilize as well, because it doesn't ring true to me, from where I'm sitting. No offense is intended.)

 

They gave up on the dryside of the park when they realized that the waterpark is the main draw and people are content with riding the stuff they have on the dry side for 3 hours once the waterpark closes. After adding Hydra and it not getting the feedback they thought it would Cedar Fair decided that the park would not be able to compete with Great Adventure and Hershey so why keep spending on huge coasters.

[coasterbill]

The coaster lines were never long barring some off day with a million groups in the park. This has been true since at least the late 90's. The flat rides and Wildwater Kingdom have always seemed to be bigger draws.

 

My guess (and that's all that it is, I have no basis for this and don't pretend to) is that they added Steel Force, Hydra and Talon to try to take some market share from the bigger players in the market as the market in the NYC / Philadelphia market is obviously enormous. While we don't have access to the numbers, my guess based on the the fact that the rides never have lines despite the enormous queue areas they built for them is that they never drew the crowds they were hoping for and now they're focusing on smaller water park and flat ride investments which probably give them a much better response compared to the relatively low costs involved. Ride lines haven't gotten shorter over time, I think their aggressive strategy in the mid to late 90's to the mid 2000's was an attempt to change the status quo and it never quite paid off.

 

Again. That's all a guess. I could easily be way off base but that's what it looks like to me.

[boldikus]

^ Agreed. Seems like a pretty plausible theory imo.

 

Couldn't agree more. The beige has to be the prettiest color I've ever seen on a woodie. But what was last year a definite re-ride is this year a one-n-done

Yeah it looks great!

 

To be fair, Thunderhawk blew with the old trains too.

This is true. I just wish they were somehow able to come up with more comfy trains (like the seats on millennium flyers) with the buzz bars. I'd settle for a seatbelt as a compromise.

 

At least it had redeeming factors. Awesome ejector on the first two turnarounds.

^ I have sat in the front right row (the two times that I have ridden it) and noticed the same thing. Not the most fun ride out there, but I did have to laugh at the ejector air that I was catching at the tops of the hills.

It still does have 3 nice pops of ejector when in the front of the train at the top of each of the turnarounds. That trim on the bunnyhop is completely disappointing and made me giggle in a sad type of way.

 

I always ride Talon in the back left. In my opinion, it's the only seat to ride.

Out of my two rides - the back left was great but the front right was *exceptional*. I really love Talon a whole lot.

 

The park still gets large crowds, on weekends the overflow lot fills up and cars have to park on the grass. It's just that almost everyone there is going to the water park.

We left around 6 and the parking lot was packed, with the overflow lot being used. We rode Talon later in the day and finally got a look at how insanely packed the waterpark was. I'll share some pics below (I took a ton) so you can see how mostly deserted the dry side was.

 

Mornin' Dorney

While I do love their Haunt event, I had absolutely no plans to visit Dorney this year but my buddy Ed had an extra ticket for this thing his work does there at the end of every summer. He couldn't get rid of the ticket and it included free lunch and beer (!!) at the picnic pavilion from 12-2. I was up early AF had to take a Septa regional rail to get out to where Ed lives in Doylestown where he, his wife, 5 year old son and newborn in tow, scooped me up and we made the quick 30 minute drive up to the park, arriving right around 10:30am.

 

Getting through bag check/security/etc 5 minutes

We were also meeting Ed's friend Mike (who also brought along the wife and kids). I had a little panic over the possibility that we'd spend a bunch of time in Planet Snoopy but I was quickly relieved once we entered the park and the moms headed right in that direction while more or less shooing us dudes off in the direction of the big boy rides.

 

See you later, babe.

So down the hill we headed for an early morning burst of Intamin sweetness. They were loading a cycle as we walked up and we walked right on. Love this ride so much. Back seat back seat back seat.

 

YES!

Yall can compare it all you want to other impulse coasters but it's the only one I have nearby and I seriously love everything about it - the false countdowns, the launch itself, the brain rattling Gs getting launched up the back spike, the insane stupidly awesome holding break and the airtime all the way down the spike. What a way to wake up. 10/10

 

While I certainly could have kept riding Possessed all day we decided to take advantage of the fact that we were literally the only people in this area we kept it moving. Oh look Stinger is running and there's people on it. Like three whole people. Let's ride. This coaster always turns out to better than I expect, it's probably one of my favorite local Vekomas. Really smooth, zero headbanging. Some nice heavy force going through the backwards loop and it crawls over the 2nd half of the cobra roll going backwards resulting in some nice hangtime for a second. Out of my 4 trips to the park since 2014 it's been down for 2.75 of them. It's a shame it's always broken, it's definitely not a bad ride. 7/10

 

Thunderhawks pain job is really nice.

Skipping over the dumbest flyers ever we stopped at Revolution since they were loading a handful of people. We loaded and of course my fat ass had to be stapled in quite uncomfortably. I was excited for my first ever ride on this thanks to my newfound love for Moreys "IT" claw ride, which is similar but just has lapbars and runs a by far exceptional, much longer batsh*t insane program. I swear on Revolution we got two full swings when it came to a sudden and disappointing stop. Dud of the day. 2/10

 

Moving on we worked our way to the world's largest mine train arriving to an empty station with a train being dispatched and a couple waiting for the front. Ed and I jumped in behind them and Mike waited for us in row 2.

 

Pays to feel the force early.

I have to say it was running quite well with some fantastic air over the bunny hops. Nice to get the front without having to wait at all. 7/10

 

For some reason I took a lot of pictures of Steel Force and Dominator all day.

 

Strolling under Thunderhawk we decided it would be imprudent to skip it considering all the positive hype for the removal of those terrible old pesky buzzbars for shiny new ratchet bars and a cozy new seat divider. The new trains look really nice and the paint job the ride got is great.

 

New train is pretty. RIP buzzbars.

Also maybe I've just never noticed it before but all of the landscaping around the ride seemed spruced up, it all looks really nice. I just wish they'd get rid of that dumb trim at the end. Those bunnyhops could be marvelous. I was lucky to not get stapled so as mentioned I got a few great pops of air at the tops of each turnaround. 6/10

 

Not yet...

The main goal of the day was to get my buddy on both sides of Dominator and of course Demon Drop. He absolute loathes drop rides and usually won't go near them but agreed after lunch and some free beers in his system he'd give one of them a shot.

 

I can barely move in these horrendous crowds.

First time

On our way up to Planet Snoop to meet back up with the wives we took a little detour on Thunder Creek Mountain since it was now starting to get HOT and there was literally no wait at all for it. Believe it or not this was my TCM cherry pop. I sat in the front and what an awesome flume. I really love the sections up top underneath Hydra and Steel Force and like a dumb ass was trying to take some photos when I got yelled at over the loudspeaker and immediately after (just after I put my phone back in my pocket) all three of us managed to get drenched down some stupid little drop up there. Then down the drop - tsunami action. Soaked head to tow, amazed my phone survived as the pocket it was in was drenched. I didn't mind being that wet really as it was hot AF. Great ride, probably one of my favorite flumes. 9/10

 

We needed to dry off a bit so we climbed up and around to Hydra and I have to admit with all of my sh*t talking on this ride I actually enjoyed it today (other than that ridiculous jo-jo roll).

 

One day I'll ride Meteor.

One train wait for the last row and I got really nice air down the drop, some nice yank through the first half of the course and for the first time ever got really nice floater air over the hill next to the station. I've never denied that the ride is beautiful, love the colors and the funky layout is super photogenic. Just wish the ride blew me away as much as looking at it does. After yesterdays ride 7/10.

 

Planet Snoopy is nice. If you like being run over by 3 year olds.

Random shots around the park.

It was just about time for free lunch so we met the moms and babies and down to the picnic pavilion we went - the food was standard fair, similar to what we had at Coasting For Kids - burgers, fried chicken, chips, mac and cheese, salads, fruit, and the most deliciously soft baked chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. Seriously I ate like 5 of them. Oh and free beer. Sam Adams Octoberfest x4. Pretty sure I kicked the keg. 10/10

 

Maybe expand the midways to accommodate these crowds.

Dominator steady photobombing

Drop ride wars

After imbibing for a good while we got Ed's beer balls firmly secured, Mike and I dragged him to Dominator... but got side tracked by the Whip!

 

Short cycle but fun as hell.

Amazingly we only had a one cycle wait (I feel like this is one of those rides that always has a wait here) but I feel like the cycle is so damn short. Dorney has a great Whip though. 7/10

 

#DP2017

Finally to Dominator, us three dudes hopped on while the ladies and kiddies watched. Ed hated it but admitted it wasn't as bad as he had expected it to be.

 

So naturally I forced him to go around and ride the shoot up side. He liked it a lot better. I love both of them, a sucker for S&S towers. I love the sadistic hissing sounds you can hear from all over the park and they have some really nice airtime on both the drop and shot sides. 8/10

 

Since its right next door we kept the drops coming with the craziest of all them all Demon Drop - absolutely no wait at all we were loaded and ascending in a flash - enjoying the horrifying clanks and bangs of this old yet still amazing Intamin creation. like a good friend I warned them to lift their heads up before the infamous ker-chunk! After Dominator Ed didnt seem to mind DD as much. I'm breaking him in. My next challenge w/ him is Zumanjaro. 9/10

 

Panorama

Since we were back in the area it was even hotter than balls at this point decided another ride on Thunder Creek Mountain was a good idea so we all hopped in line, which it actually had.

 

TCM pulling a line mid afternoon

Longest wait of the day at about 25 minutes. Worth the wait in the heat since once again I got soaked. Like fresh out of the shower in my clothes soaked. Felt great tho.

 

Sploosh!

Smart to put my phone in my back pocket since my ass was the only thing that did not get drenched. I will definitely ride this everytime I go to the park. 9/10

 

Not loading both sides. Lametown.

Love this pic.

After this we wound up in the games area near Sea Dragon/Chickies and I kidnapped Ed for a quick spin on Apollo. I think they fed that thing meth cause it was one of the craziest rides I've had on it. Cranked up to 11. So much fun, I love this ride, I just giggle the entire time. 8/10

 

Did a little shopping and picked up more fridge magnets (as always - actually bought hydra magnet finally in honor of having an enjoyable lap on it!) and checked out some of the food trucks down the main midway which were part of a Food Truck Fest the park was having. Lots of good looking selections but were were stuffed from all the food we had earlier. Until I came across the cheesecake truck.

 

Cheesecake is my not-so-secret addiction. I cannot say no. So of course I had to try cheesecake shoved into a f*cking Canoli - which just so happens to my other favorite desert. Seriously WTF. 11/10

 

OMG Cheesecake inside a canoli on a stick!

I also got one of the most amazing limeaids Ive had in my life. 10/10

 

Get grippin

At this point we had thing left on our must do list: and that was to get gripped by fear. Lucky for us the lines were completely nonexistent so we were able to quick hop right into the back seat as they were loading the next train. Back left - amazing.

 

5pm on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Got a good look of the waterpark and I seriously don't know how they can fit that many people in a wavepool comfortably. The rest of the park was mobbed in every direction. We enjoyed kicking the sky and decided to walk right around for a one train wait for the front and it was ever better.

 

I get when people say that Talon is the standout at Dorney because so many of the other coasters are mediocre but it goes beyond that for me. Talon has a perfect flow, a balance of fun and forcefulness, and I just want to ride it over and over. I love inverts but I cant ride them repeatedly. Not the case with this piece of perfection. Glad we made this our last ride of the day, nice bookend to our early morning Possessed ride. 10/10

 

Yummy dinner.

It was after 5 and Mike and his wife and kids hit the road while Ed and his clan wanted to get a quick bite before we bounced so we stopped at Chickies for some crab fries and a summer shandy. Delicious. 10/10

 

Overall we had a really nice day. I've said it before - I like Dorney for what it is and I'm a fan. Its a very well kept park with decent operations, some really good (and a few exceptional) rides. I like that its nearby and I can usually stop in and more often than not have a day like we did yesterday. Free admission, lunch and beer sure was nice too! To me enthusiasts seem to focus on and prefer extreme intensity insanity, and Dorney falls pretty short on that outside of Demon Drop, Possessed and Talon but it I'm OK with that and it doesn't mean fun can't be had at this park. Call me a Dorney fan. I like that it exists and I'll go back again for sure.

 

Possessed x1

Stinger x1

Revolution x1

Steel Force x1

Thunderhawk x1

Hydra x1

Apollo x1

Thunder Creek Mountain x2

The Whip x1

Demon Drop x1

Dominator x2 (both sides)

Talon x2

Edited August 29, 2016 by boldikus