Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom Discussion Thread

[Zoltan_Kodaly]

Someone needs to upstage him. You and Robb should just call up the parks, and be all, "Robb and Elissa Alvey wish to be red carpet media representatives for your upcoming event - the coverage will be earth-shattering! What do you mean, you don't know us? We're only the biggest thing in the coastering world since gravity!"

 

For some reason I think it's that tactic that got Paul Rueben and George Lopez their celebrity status in the first place. Especially George Lopez. He just appeared one day, saying, "As a celebrity, I love doing charity work."

[Coasters 4 ever]

Who's Paul Reuben? Is he that old guy that's on all the roller coaster TV specials?

[Not For Sale]

^Correct.

[Meteornotes]

He gets his status for a couple of reasons. First, he runs/edits a print magazine, which is still of a higher status to PR and Media Relations people than any web or internet presence. Second, he's good in front of the camera, and is known for saying something positive about any new ride he encounters, which is what PR people want.

 

I've heard that he's not as popular as he used to be in park circles, but it seems he's not totally worn out his welcome everywhere yet, so I guess he'll be making appearances at random media days for years to come...

 

dt

[PhishyBrewer]

PEE-WEE'S Coaster Playhouse

 

I have it Tivo'd, don't you?

[Red Benny]

For a second I seriously thought you meant Pee Wee was taking coaster pics (weird mental image).

 

Is he the old guy they always have riding coasters on the Travel channel?

[Jordan Shankman]

Yessum.

[Mind Eraser]

I once sat near him in a hotel restaurant eating breakfast. I about died when I heard him say "Hot tea! It must be HOT!" I wanted to throw my fork at him and scream:

 

"YOU'RE NOT IN A F**KING CHINESE RESTAURANT! GET ORANGE JUICE YOU FREAK!"

 

 

-kip-

[Zoltan_Kodaly]

^Every restaurant in the world has tea, Chinese or not, but that's hilarious he had to double check that it would be 'hot'.

[SharkTums]

I used to have this evil Step-Grandmother that would order:

 

"Hot Tea, and I want it HOT"

 

in this really obnoxious fake British accent. It was bad!

 

Elissa "grrrr" Alvey

[thunder001]

So I take it that the lack of Coaster and Park based shows here in Australia and therefore not having seen or heard of this person is a good thing?

 

Wayne "Bonus for living in Oz" C.

[bgwfreak]

...so I guess he'll be making appearances at random media days for years to come...

 

 

So do I, but you don't see me begging parks to let me climb lift hills.

 

I'll be at PKI's Italian Job Media Day this week

 

 

http://www.johnnyupsidedown.com/files/events/2002/sup9.jpg?SSImageQuality=Full I found a pic of him.

 

I thought he was much younger that that. lol

 

He sounds like one of those persons that you feel ashamed to be grouped in the same category with (an enthusiast).

 

Like those enthusiasts that go around spouting facts at you while in the que lines. I'm like shut up!!! I know where rcdb.com is!!!

 

If I was 70 years old too (lol) I guess I could have easily ridden 600 coasters. I'm already at 101 and I'm only 33. lol I guess at this rate I'll pass him before I reach his age. lol

[imbordisux]

I see a TON of negative reviews of the ride, and I'm just curious why; I know it's not exactly a monster coaster, but I loved it as soon as I rode it.

 

It seems that many reviews say that it's "too slow" or "forceless", which I completely agree with, but, IMO, that was the entire POINT of the ride - instead of speeding through the inversions and getting pinned to the seat, I was under the impression that it was *designed* to take the inversions slowly and with little force, creating the sensation of negative-Gs while upside-down.

 

It seems that most people liked the Jojo Roll, but not the rest, which is confusing to me; I thought that the entire ride as a whole was meant to create the same sensation as the Jojo Roll, namely falling out of ones seat while upside-down. I thought it was a hell of an idea, to make a coaster that basically feels like an inverting flat-ride.

 

Then again, maybe I'm wrong, and people do "get it", and they just think it's a boring and/or uncomfortable ride anyway, which I can understand; I just think it's odd that so many reviews praise the slow, forceless Jojo Roll, and then complain about the rest of the ride being the same way.

[Tomizzle For Rizzle]

Don't hate the playa, hate the game.

[Hercules]

I guess this is my calling on this site since my homepark has been Dorney since I was three.

 

I personally "get" the ride. That is it, it is exactly what the park wanted. This is what Cedar Fair and Dorney wanted when they went to B&M, and that is what they got. It is not overly fast and intimidating, but something that the whole family can enjoy. Of course, the add campaign was a little misleading and such. I think that there was just so much hype around the ride that people were kind of confused. Of course though, it is not like they could have been like "Hydra: The Revenge, it's a baby coaster! And it's only at Dorney Park!". However, some people have gotten disappointed by the ride. That can be seen by the lines throughout the day - people ride the ride once and then that is it, an empty station awaits.

 

My goal by the end of the season was to get 100 rides on it, but right now I'm at 58 with about 21 visits to my credit for this season. To tell you the truth, I was just plain bored with the ride. There were some visits that I passed up a ride on it eventhough it was a walk-on for every row.

 

On opening day I got 19 rides in a period of about 4 hours. As you can see by the name, I was a major Hercules fan. Without lying, I can say that I entered the park having a little bit of bias towards the ride. But when I got on it, I was very open-minded. However, it just did not deliver for me. The Jojo roll was good and I was excited, but it just didn't give me what I wanted. I spent the first couple of months going to the park and trying to get to like it. Eventually, I ended up just accepting it. I can't say that I like it, but, I have accepted it. It took me a while, but I have. And that is where my "getting" the coaster has come into play.

 

I have heard varies remarks on the coaster throughout this time from people at the park ranging from "Great ride" to "That was it?" It has basically been 50/50. And of course there are the people that have come up from Philadelphia all excited that they "conquered the beast", especially the teens and younger folk, which is what I think the park wanted anyway. They did something intense with Talon, and now they have Hydra to even things out.

 

Overall, yes I was disappointed, but I understand why the ride is there. It is better to have that there than a lawsuit waiting to happen and a fiscal disaster in that Summers creation. It is a perfect fit for the park and exactly what the park wanted. I haven't been on it in a few weeks, so I'll be sure to get on it a few times tomorrow night at the opening of Halloweekends.

 

I do have to say though, my girlfriend really liked it

 

Jay "I still don't think that the dive loop and cobra roll should count as inversions" Willis

[ParkTrips]

Jay echos my thoughts (and funny enough Christina liked it too), even if he did like Hercules

 

I hate when a ride's best part comes before the lift and the rest of the elements are forceless, slow and lame...

[CoasterFanatic]

I was pretty underwhelmed with the coaster. It didn't seem to make any aggressive moves at all and it suffers from the same rattle that has plagued every floorless since Batman (Now Dominator).

[Hercules]

That rattling depends on the day and the seat. Sometimes it doesn't rattle at all, but on other days the rattling is horrible. I don't really think there is much that can be done about that though.

 

Whatever, I'll ride it tomorrow night, but if anyone is at the park you will most likely find me in the back row, far left seat of Talon

[YoshiFan]

I enjoyed the ride enough to go on 4 times when I was there 1 1/2 weeks ago. I haven't been on any other floorless coasters so I can't compare it to another floorless but I sort of liked the forcelessness of the ride. In the past month I started to try out more thrilling coasters (before August 2005, the most intense coaster I had been on was Loch Ness Monster). I don't think I would have liked it as much if it really had a lot of forces like the earlier B&M coasters supposedly have.

[CoasterCrazy]

It's pretty bad when the JoJo is the only good part of a coaster!

 

I can't hate it to much since it was my 100th coaster, I wonder if my 200th coaster will be better or worser!

[nannerdw]

I don't think I would have liked it as much if it really had a lot of forces like the earlier B&M coasters supposedly have.

 

Early B&M's really are intense. Batman: The Ride was probably the most intense ride I have ever ridden. I blacked out 3 to 4 times while riding it. Most of the ride has very strong positive g's.

 

I would probably enjoy Hydra, since I hate when I have to worry about going unconcious through every loop. I'm more of a fan of intense negative g's and floater air than blackout-inducing positive g's.

[ParkTrips]

I can't hate it to much since it was my 100th coaster...

 

It was my 100th too and it worked out that way after receiving the advice that it would be a good excuse to say the word "jojo"

[robbalvey]

First the Orignial Berry Stand at Knott's, now this!

 

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b1_5dorneynov16,0,7048067.story?coll=all

 

'Where it all began'

Dorney Park's oldest building, the former Mansion House Hotel, is coming down.

By Ron Devlin

Of The Morning Call

 

Before it passes into history, Bob Ott took one last look at the old building in the center of Dorney Park.

 

Its original elegance had long been masked by additions, facades and signs that read ''Gold Mine Arcade'' and ''Dippin' Dots Ice Cream.''

 

Few, other than Ott, 87, former Dorney Park chairman, know that beneath the fake brick and aluminum siding lies a jewel that was at the center of the 121-year-old amusement park's history.

 

It's the Mansion House Hotel & Restaurant, the oldest building in Dorney Park, and today it will fall to the wrecking ball.

 

''I get a tear in my eye when I think of it being torn down,'' confessed Ott, who worked at the park for 40 years. ''But it's time for it to go.''

 

Dorney Park management had considered renovating the structure, spokeswoman Heather Kramer said, but its age and condition made the work too expensive.

 

''We had no choice but to tear it down,'' Kramer said.

 

The building, next to center stage, will be replaced by a Subway sandwich shop and an outdoor plaza when the park reopens next year.

 

Ott, who retired in 1986, revisited the old structure Tuesday and reminisced about the park's history.

 

The Mansion House Hotel & Restaurant was owned by Solomon Dorney, the park's founder, in the 1880s. Dorney, who farmed the area around the hotel, raised trout and served them as a delicacy in his restaurant.

 

''It had a big front porch with rocking chairs, like most of the hotels of the day,'' said Ott, who has reproductions of old Mansion House photographs. ''This is where it all began.''

 

Solomon Dorney added crude amusement rides to the hotel — the Old Mill, the Ferris wheel and the Scenic Railway. In 1884, with more rides added, Dorney Park was born.

 

Installation of a double-track trolley line in 1899 was a key factor in the park's development, Ott said. At a time when few had automobiles, the trolley provided a convenient way for Allentown residents to get to the park.

 

''That's what made the park,'' Ott said. ''Transportation.''

 

The Allentown-Kutztown Traction Co., which owned the trolley system, bought the park in 1901. The trolley line operated it until 1923, the year the first wooden roller coaster was built, when the company sold the park to Robert Plarr, Bill Ruske and Ray Sandt. Plarr bought out the partners a few years later, initiating the park's modern era.

 

Ott married Plarr's daughter, Sally, in 1940. After a stint in the Merchant Marine during World War II, he began working at the park in 1946.

 

''I did everything from slinging hot dogs to painting buildings,'' he recalled. ''In those days, you did everything.''

 

In 1966, after the death of then-President Steven Plarr, Ott became president. He was elevated to chairman of the board in 1980 and retired six years later.

 

Tramping through the dark innards of the old Mansion House, Ott recalled milestones in the park's history.

 

Ott recalled one incident in the big-band era, when top bands like Tommy Dorsey's played at Castle Garden dance hall on the park grounds. Eddy Duchin, a big-band pianist, was playing ''Stormy Weather'' when a bolt of lightning knocked out the lights.

 

''Nobody minded. They just kept on dancing,'' Ott said.

 

Then there was the nun who did an unintentional back-flip off the rowboat ride when the operator jerked the boat. And the woman who peeled potatoes in her bare feet at the french fries stand.

 

Ott was ''flabbergasted'' at the $2 million price tag of Thunder Creek Mountain, the park's flume ride. He just signed the loan papers and hoped it was the right thing to do.

 

''You had to gamble in this business,'' Ott said. ''Sun or rain makes the difference between profit or loss.''

 

Ott scoured the deteriorating upper floors of the old Mansion House, where he found old Dorney Park envelopes and a sound speaker from the 1940s.

 

Insignificant to most, they were treasures to a man who invested four decades of his life in the park, run by Cedar Fair L.P. of Ohio since 1992. He's comfortable with Cedar Fair's modernization, which has turned the park into a fiesta of 100 rides on 200 acres.

 

Yet, it was hard for the old amusement park warrior to let go of the one remaining symbol of the park's 19th century origin.

 

''It's hard to see it go,'' said Ott, wearing a Dorney Park baseball hat. ''But that's progress.''

 

http://www.mcall.com/media/photo/2005-11/20514041.jpg

[Canadmos]

Its looks like quite a nice building..only to be replaced with a Subway stand?

 

Pathetic if you ask me....

[PhishyBrewer]

They could of least of got a MrHero like they have at Geagua Lake.

 

Does anyone here know of MrHero? I thinks it's just a small midwest thing.

Mmm... Roman Burger!