Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom Discussion Thread

[DILinator]

Wild idea for the group: Stop thinking about whether each ride you're on is a "top ten ride". In the case of steel coasters, almost anything you ride is not. Just enjoy the damn thing.

 

Here's the thing: different strokes, for different folks... In my Top 10, I only have 3 wooden coasters, and in my Top 20, I only have 4. And that doesn't make me wrong, it just makes me different. Besides, I never worry about where a ride ranks when I'm riding it... As you suggested, I just enjoy it! Coaster forums, on the other hand, are where you can reflect, dissect, and rank your experiences. Hence, our reasonable discussion here!

[Physical]

To me, Hydra is one of those coasters that I ride for fun, not for thrills. It's not necessarily a bad coaster in my books, just not as thrilling as the other floorless coasters out there.

[LiftThrill]

Hydra looks like it has more hangtime than a Super Loop, and not in a bad way. It looks pretty fun imo

[dchang11]

^Look, coaster rides are subjective. If people like Hydra, good for them. I have no problem with people who like it. I just fail to see any appeal whatsoever. I've ridden it each time I've been to the park and it gets more boring every time.

 

I've said it before but I'll say it again. Hydra has tons of potential. It looks GREAT. It's layout is extremely unique. In theory it should be a great ride but no matter where I sit, what time of day, what type of weather, etc the ride is a total snoozefest. The drop is small and shallow, it has a terrible flow of elements from that point on, the "airtime hill" passed the station is laughable, and the end of the ride is weak. And I personally hate the jo-jo roll, it's nothing but an awkward novelty that offers nothing to the ride experience except "oh we're going upside down... really slow. There goes all the change in everyones pockets".

 

I want to like Hydra, and I'll ride it when I'm there, especially with people who have never ridden it, but its probably my least favorite coaster in the park (that includes Stinger and WM). If people find Hydra enjoyable, at least someone is.

 

On the flip, out of 5 B&M inverts I've ridden (2 Batmans, Raptor, Great Bear) Talon is my absolute fave. It has to do with the fact that its got just the right amount of intensity. I could not marathon Batman or Raptor - they are great, but too intense, though I can ride Talon repeatedly. It's just perfect. The initial run of elements after the drop (loop, zero-G, etc) is perfect, the 2nd drop into the finale/low to the ground corkscrew/turn is fantastic including the decent pop of air into the brake run (experienced best in the front row).

 

And Possessed is just Possessed. In any other park I could see it being one of the weaker coasters in the line-up but I freaking love it. Back, front, wherever, I LOVE that ride.

 

Talon is one of my favorite inverts. Everytime I went to Dorney as a teenager, I rode the coaster at least five times. In my opinion its one of the best inverts around. Batman at Great Adventure is my second favorite. Great Bear at Hershey is great, but the layout is whack.

[Iby coaster]

^ Yes, I realize coaster rides are subjunctive. I also agree that B&M inverts are vastly superior to B&M Floorless coasters. I actually find the first drop to be one of the better ones I've experienced on the 5 floorless coasters I've ridden. I tend to get some airtime on the drop, especially the back. I don't know, maybe I just enjoy the non cookie cutter layout found on most B&M's.

I agree with you. If you don't have your lap bar down all the way and have it up a little bit, you will get air time on the first drop if you sit in the back of Hydra.

[CoasterTony]

I agree with you. If you don't have your OTSR down all the way and have it up a little bit, you will get air time on the first drop if you sit in the back of Hydra, but at the same time you then realize that you should be on Talon instead.

 

I fixed that for you and gave it a little extra sugar at the end of it .

[I Like Theme Parks.]

I was expecting Steel Force to be my favorite at Dorney, and it delivered what I expected. It's just fast and fun with good floater air, not the best hyper, but nice. But Talon blew me away! It's still in my bottom-half of inverts I've been on, but that's just because those types of coasters have incredible layouts. It's one of those rides where you can't really judge it by the POV, just like most inverts. It has great forces, and I love the forceful turns close to the ground hidden by the trees with the flowers that make it smell so good!

[Genx24]

Talon is probably my 2nd favourite invert, after the Batman clones. Hydra is at the bottom of my floorless list, albeit I've only ridden five rides of the type. I actually like Hydra, a lot more than most, it seems.

 

Steel Force, on the other hand is one of my least favourite coasters ever. Just a glorified mine train that has nothing of note besides a decent helix and some mild air on the return hills.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Genx24

[boldikus]

Marathoning Steel Force last year @ C4Ks really made me learn to appreciate it for what it is. First off, its only good in the first car, great airtime on the return hills and the speed it goes through the helix is very apparent up there. The whole thing sucks the further back you get in the train - we rode it all afternoon and they kept making us switch seats so we were sitting everywhere. I moved it up in my rankings that night. We rode it again @ Haunt later in the season once, in the front car (2nd/3rd row?), and I liked it then too but it was freakin freezing that night which kinda sucked some of the fun out of it lol. It's totally a front seat ride. 2nd or 3rd row is decent too.

 

Talon is so great. Have I mentioned that yet?

[njcoasterguy34]

I only ever ride Steel Force in the very front row. Rode it in the back once and it was pretty much a snooze fest. On the other hand, I love Talon in the very back row in the left-most seat. It's awesome getting whipped through those elements.

[boldikus]

^ YES! I love the back left and the front right seats of Talon, specifically for the zero-G and the flatspin/corkscrew/whatever that thing is at the end.

[Physical]

^ YES! I love the back left and the front right seats of Talon, specifically for the zero-G and the flatspin/corkscrew/whatever that thing is at the end.

 

Back Left is also great for that "Holy shit I'm going to wind up in the parking lot" moment on the first drop.

[Intimidated305]

Well, Talon was running fine this morning, but now a maintenance worker is taking a drill to the lift motor. Also saw Steel Force get stopped on the lift and saw two workers go up and talk to someone towards the middle of the train. After I got off Steel Force, me and my dad got the "winner picture," so we got a free photo. What an interesting day so far.

[njcoasterguy34]

Maybe someone on Steel Force had a camera out.

[glucky11801]

I love the zero-G on Talon, especially because it is COUNTER CLOCKWISE! That is very unusual for a B & M Invert.

[Intimidated305]

Well, Talon opened finally, and my first ride of the day on it was in the famous back left seat. The positive Gs are insane, and the drop truly is a great one.

[amy_mel]

Looks like Stinger is giving the park some fits already.

 

http://m.wfmz.com/lehigh-valley-regional-news/Riders-stuck-on-Dorney-Park-roller-coaster-for-90-minutes/14665790#.V11qFisZ8pY.facebook

[SkyToro]

Looks like Stinger is giving the park some fits already.

 

http://m.wfmz.com/lehigh-valley-regional-news/Riders-stuck-on-Dorney-Park-roller-coaster-for-90-minutes/14665790#.V11qFisZ8pY.facebook

That's an article from 2012.

[neil009]

I tried an experiment with Hydra on my last visit. B&M is nothing if not frighteningly precise with their engineering, so i decided to try the dead center of the train to get exactly what the designers had in mind, with no distortions. And it clicked! Every inversion besides the jojo roll and the zero G is engineered so that you feel exactly 1 G through the entire maneuver. No hangtime, no positive Gs, just 1 normal G the whole time, as if you were never upside down. Try it, it's crazy! Especially when you think about how much math and expertise is involved in designing it that way, that all vertical forces are completely negated despite all the crazy directions you're moving in. The zero G lets you lift off your seat but just barely, and mostly all you feel is the force of the rotation.

 

To me Hydra must be the absolute pinnacle of B&M designing all the forces out of their rides. Possibly it also explains the bizarre amoebic appearance of the inversions. There's really only two problems with this:

 

1. Hydra has a terrible rattle which means the magical engineering has to be admired through a distracting veil of shuttering and shaking.

 

2. Holy hell B&M what the f*ck were you thinking, this design philosophy makes for THE MOST BORING RIDES EVER. It's like they never stopped to consider if anybody would actually prefer to ride a ride like this where you close your eyes and it's like you're cruising down the highway with the windows rolled down.

 

Let's just be thankful they seem to have gotten away from this kind of, um, shall we say, "purity of design".

[gilly_bob]

I was at Dorney yesterday and had a really weird experience. The park was "crowded" for Dorney terms, but it was nowhere near the grass lot completely full experience I had last summer. Operations were absolutely abysmal on the dry side of the park. For instance:

 

Talon

First ride of the day and the line was on the steps. Great should be 10 minutes!

-a train was on the course when we entered the queue and then the next one didn't cycle for 5 minutes (i overlooked this thinking it was a handicap assist)

- next train takes another 5 minutes to load and continues to repeat.

We get into the station and see that DP is now waiting for the last person to leave the station (completely leave the station), the ops are then slowly unlocking the unused seats from the last ride, the safety spiel goes off, and then you are allowed to enter your seat.... Then the ops lethargically meander and check your restraint.

 

The same thing happened on Hydra (the line wrapped from the station around the switchbacks to the entrance sign) I've never seen a line here. It was also true for Stinger, and Thunderhawk. Luckily Stinger had a 1 train wait and Thunderhawk was a two train wait with 1 train raining.

 

Is this system something new that Dorney is doing? I don't recall this being in use at CP in May and KD 3 weeks ago when I went. It felt almost like they were trying to make lines at Dorney

 

Regardless of that small annoyance the day was fun and our friends who just moved from Georgia had a good time. The water park was packed so while my fiance and I friends waiting for the Python Plummet slides I was able to ride the Boa Blasters 9 times while they rode once (I hate the trap door slides and wasn't going to wait an hour fro them)

 

Thunderhawk felt much better with the new trains and work! It still beats you up but it's enjoyable!

[Genx24]

I tried an experiment with Hydra on my last visit. B&M is nothing if not frighteningly precise with their engineering, so i decided to try the dead center of the train to get exactly what the designers had in mind, with no distortions. And it clicked! Every inversion besides the jojo roll and the zero G is engineered so that you feel exactly 1 G through the entire maneuver. No hangtime, no positive Gs, just 1 normal G the whole time, as if you were never upside down. Try it, it's crazy! Especially when you think about how much math and expertise is involved in designing it that way, that all vertical forces are completely negated despite all the crazy directions you're moving in. The zero G lets you lift off your seat but just barely, and mostly all you feel is the force of the rotation.

 

To me Hydra must be the absolute pinnacle of B&M designing all the forces out of their rides. Possibly it also explains the bizarre amoebic appearance of the inversions. There's really only two problems with this:

 

1. Hydra has a terrible rattle which means the magical engineering has to be admired through a distracting veil of shuttering and shaking.

 

2. Holy hell B&M what the f*ck were you thinking, this design philosophy makes for THE MOST BORING RIDES EVER. It's like they never stopped to consider if anybody would actually prefer to ride a ride like this where you close your eyes and it's like you're cruising down the highway with the windows rolled down.

 

Let's just be thankful they seem to have gotten away from this kind of, um, shall we say, "purity of design".

Do you remember which row you sat in, exactly? I'm very curious about this and want to give it a shot when I head back to the park in a couple of weeks.

[snapfordakids]

Hydra is for sure an oddly designed B&M. I haven't been on it yet, but I feel like I would enjoy it. As I'm growing older I've noticed that I'm starting to like coasters that are on the calmer side. The rides that make you feel like your floating on air Instead of having your spine ripped apart.

[neil009]

^^Row 4. Sit in the inner seats and you'll get less lateral force from the twisting track, then you'll really be able to tell.

 

^Floating on air is great! Hydra doesn't give you that. You stay firmly in your seat the entire time, basically no lift at all except the 1st drop and *slightly* on the zero G. When the ride opened it was actually quite smooth and relaxing, kind of a nice chill contrast to the craziness of Talon. Now it's not even that because it's too shaky and rough. Just not a good ride.

[snapfordakids]

^^Row 4. Sit in the inner seats and you'll get less lateral force from the twisting track, then you'll really be able to tell.

 

^Floating on air is great! Hydra doesn't give you that. You stay firmly in your seat the entire time, basically no lift at all except the 1st drop and *slightly* on the zero G. When the ride opened it was actually quite smooth and relaxing, kind of a nice chill contrast to the craziness of Talon. Now it's not even that because it's too shaky and rough. Just not a good ride.

 

Oh sigh, that doesn't sound fun then. I'll make it to the park this summer to see what the non-fuss is about. haha

[coasterbill]

Hydra is not rough in any way, shape or form. God you people are fragile...