Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom Discussion Thread

[AmyUD06]

Solid addition, no complaints (Okay, one:  It's not Laser.)

[Hilltopper39]

All of the letters I sent to B&M demanding that they bring back the tilted loop must have finally payed off. Tilted loops are so back baby.

[bert425]

so glad they're FINALLY putting something in that space where Stinger was at the front of the park (from the parking lot)

 

looks great.

[michaellynn4]

Looks to be a great addition. Glad to see this park getting something new!

Dumb little thing that probably only I appreciate, but I like how they figured out a layout to take more advantage of the weird little path tangent they've had there for a few years where the flyers were just kind of stuck out in the middle of nowhere.

[willh51]

This looks great, and is a perfect fit for Dorney.  I love the placement, color scheme, elements and general flow.  Dorney is always such a fun park to visit, and I can't believe it's been since 2005 that Hydra opened.  I used to visit frequently back then.  Talon still takes the cake, but this should be a crowd pleaser.

[swfan1988]

I'm excited for this! It seems a little short, but I love the whack layout for a dive coaster! I really enjoyed Dr. Diabolical at Fiesta Texas, so I hope B&M is on a role with small dive coasters. Would love to see more!

[Superbatboy]

Perfect addition for Dorney! 

[abovethesink]

I am very happy to see this, don't get me wrong, but I am a little surprised to see all the "perfect fit" comments. Of course I do get that literally any new coaster is basically a great fit because the park has been so starved for one. However, I wouldn't have chosen this model even though I expect to like it fine. Yeah, it has the beyond vertical drop, but otherwise it is a B&M sit down steel looper not too dissimilar to Hyrda and at least in the same realm as Talon. There are tons of models that would have been a better fit in my opinion. A modern woodie, any RMC, a B&M surf coaster, any flyer, anything that spins, a launched coaster with an actual layout, etc. I could keep going.

Beggars and choosers, I know. To be clear I am not remotely upset about this. I am thrilled, actually. I haven't been back to Dorney in close a decade even though I live in NY and visit PA parks almost annually. There just has been no reason to go back so I always skip it. Now there is a great reason and I look forward to not only checking this out but also re-experiencing the rest of the lineup. It is just that my reaction to this has been "wow, that's amazing that Dorney is getting this, but also kind of a weird choice" and everyone else seems to be thinking "great choice!" so I couldn't help but comment on that.

[thrillseeker4552]

^I understand what you're saying. I almost feel like Zambezi Zinger would've been a better fit at this park, and Iron Menace would've been better at Worlds of Fun.

Just interesting to think about and not a complaint either way. It's very refreshing to see Cedar Fair throw their small park a bone - and a B&M at that! Between this ride, Wildcat's Revenge, and whatever is coming to SFGAdv, I definitely need to hit up this area of the country again next summer!

[Twisterfan1995]

Love it! Glad to see one of my home parks finally get some love again from the Cedar Fair HQ. 

One of the things that also seems interesting about this addition is that park management said they wanted to emphasize theming with the ride, and giving it a decent backstory that both is locally relatable (Steelmaking being a major industry in the Lehigh Valley at one point)  and also ties into their Halloween events definitely help. A lot of the articles/videos also seem to be painting a picture that the park wants to go in a more theme-heavy direction moving forward as well, which I am excited to see.   

[MartinU]

Making my first trip to Dorney Park this weekend. Going Friday and Saturday. How are the Haunts this year? I watched some videos from LAST year, and saw a couple that look pretty good. 

Any First-timer tips? We will be there rope drop to close on Friday and ropedrop on Saturday (We'll leave early afternoon Sat. to drive home). Looking forward to Hydra and Talon, and Magnum's lil' brother. 

Thanks as always! 

[AmyUD06]

I was there this past Friday (TR incoming).

The new haunted maze, Ghost in the Shell, was absolutely incredible.  The others were not so much, but that's probably because I go to this park every year for their Halloween stuff and not much has changed in the other haunts.  The main theatrical show, Conjure the Night, was awesome.  Make sure you catch at least one showing of it.

I can say that you probably won't need a day and a half at this park, unless you intent to hit every adult flat too, but Friday only will definitely not be enough time to do all of the coasters and Haunt mazes and shows.

Note that the Haunt stuff doesn't start until 7 on Friday (not sure what time on Saturday), so if you get there right at opening you will have time to hit Talon, Hydra, and the flats in the main entry midway prior to the Haunt stuff starting.

EDIT:  Oh, and if you have any bag-carrying-people in your group, note that the bag policy stated on the website (5"x8"x2" if non-clear, 12"x12"x6" if clear) was not what they were actually doing at the park, which was 6.5"x4.5"x2" no matter what.

[MartinU]

17 hours ago, AmyUD06 said:

EDIT:  Oh, and if you have any bag-carrying-people in your group, note that the bag policy stated on the website (5"x8"x2" if non-clear, 12"x12"x6" if clear) was not what they were actually doing at the park, which was 6.5"x4.5"x2" no matter what.

Thanks for the update, especially about the bags. I've been seeing a few people comment how the new bag policy at a few CF parks has been confusing or caused people to walk back to their cars. 

As for as a day and a half, Friday we really want to hit the haunts and a few night rides on coasters. Hopefully it's not too busy. We've been to CP on Halloweekends once, and got really lucky with weather and the park was dead (pun intended). 

Thanks again!

[MartinU]

Tiny pseudo trip report, 

I went to Dorney Park for the first time this weekend and it was GREAT! Thank you @AmyUD06 for your help. 

I'm terrible at taking pictures while in the park, so nothing to share that way, but our impressions were:

Smooth Coasters!

• Talon is amazing! so smooth, great transitions and no line the whole time! Great, great, GREAT ride. (We like Raptor at CP a lot, but this one is just so much more fun. Less intense, but more fun!). 
• Hydra is a blast, and the back is so fun floating down the first hill. 
• Steel Force is a great classic Arrow Hyper! So smooth, good airtime, and the g-force in the turn around is perfect. Just a great ride (Again, sorry Magnum, SF is more re-ridable than you). 
• Possessed, that launch and back row!! IYKYK.  

The only weak coaster was Thunderhawk, the parks woodie. And weak does not mean bad, just weak, and could use some love. Yes, it's almost 95 years old, but it feels... rough in sports. Not painful... IDK, just not great. 

Again, we loved the coasters. Oh, and did we mention NO LINES on Friday (6-11pm) or Sat. (we left Sat. at 2). Our longest wait the entire weekend was for the Wild Mouse which was 15 minutes. Even the haunts, longest wait was less than 10 minutes. 

The Haunts were all pretty good. We went to Busch Gardens Williamsburg a few years ago and the haunts all felt the same, show buildings and rooms with black curtains. HOWEVER, Dorney had houses and environments.

• Best house by far was their new one, Ghost in the Machine! So much detail, lots of actors and variety of rooms with a few cool surprises. 
• Stop and Chop was probably my next favorite. It's outside, so make sure it's dark before you start this maze. 
•  Black Out was nice for those who don't like jump scares. It's mostly pitch black and only a few actors made any noise. There may have been more, but we didn't "see" them. I laughed because as I'm groping in the dark, I blindly grabbed the chest of one actor. I didn't see him, but I felt him. haha. 
• Tourist Trap and Blood on the Bayou  were both good. (Both had nice surprise endings. That's all I'll say. 
• Trick-or-Treat was ok. Felt sort and only a few witches 
• Necropolis- Meh. We laughed in this one the most. One actor was totally phoning it in, "I want your brains" in the most highschooler-I'm-too-cool-be-here voice ever. 

Again, first time in the park, it's a great one day park. Small enough to be done in one day, easy to navigate, and all the rides are close so you don't have to hike to get to the next thing. 

Staffing was great. Friendly people everywhere and lots of management around making sure everything was running smoothly and that guests were being good. 

Bags- I was warned about this, however, when we were there on Friday Night, I saw bags of all sizes coming in. So, not sure what's up with that. 

We are looking forward to going again this summer and hitting up the waterpark. 

LAST THING - Food outside the park, look up Lazeez Grill. It's real Mediterranean food made from scratch. It's only 5 minutes from the park. Show them some love and stop in for the best Shawarma I've ever had, the the Namoora (A type of coconut, almond flavored cake) was so good!  The owner is so friendly and helpful, he loves what he does. 

 

 

 

 

[Coasterfreak18]

When renewing my season pass, can I renew it for the sale price I got it at, or will it only be available to renew at the current price that new season pass holders can buy it for?

[AmyUD06]

You renew at whatever price they're selling the renewal for when you do it. There is no "price lock" or anything like that.  It should be a very slight discount from a brand new pass. 

[MartinU]

I was out walking my dog when WHAT DO I SEE? Two trucks with some new track! I snapped a pic as quick as I could. These appear to be brake run sections. Many of the fins were already in place. This was in western Maryland on I-68. So, if you're between here and Allentown, keep an eye out. Only 3.5 hours away! 

[ricklap77]

Can't wait to ride this new beast!  My only visit to the park was in 2003!  A lot has changed since then.  I wish they kept Hercules.  I got to ride it several times the Sunday of the Labor Day weekend.  The next day it was giving its last rides but no one knew.  

[DannySixFlags]

This park seems to love Pig-Pen. He's been there BOTH TIMES I went last season. Hopefully I meet Lucy at KD, because that's who I wanna meet.

[tndank]

Great news for the kids.  Iron Menace is only a 48" height requirement.  

 

[MartinU]

Just got back from a little getaway, and Dorney Park was one of our stops. It was sandwiched between Knobles (first time visit) and Hershey. Unpopular opinion... Dorney was our favorite! Why? Small crowds, great line up, fun waterpark, and just a really "fun" experience. Things to note:

Talon is an underrated B&M invert! Thunderhawk winter refurb was AWESOME! We rode it last year and it was rough, one and done. Gave it another chance this year for it's 100th, and very glad we did! Sure it feels like a woodie, but no longer a pot-hole-filled journey to the chiropractor. Hydra is funky and fun. For a B&M floorless, it's still quite smooth and still so fun to ride. Steel Force is so much fun. The fact that this was a walk-on our entire time there blows me away! This thing is fast, smooth and pulls some serious G's in the turnaround. 

Now, what about Iron Menace? We rode it twice... and I was good. It has a LOT of vibration! That was the biggest surprise to me. So much that it really took away from the "fun" factor of the ride. The first drop is great, and then after that... it does stuff I guess? I will say riding on the LEFT side is a smoother ride, especially that final transition into the break run (you've probably seen that video floating around of that transition). On a positive note: The theming, lights, music and the whole atmosphere in that section of the park is great! I wished the park as open later than 8pm so we could have seen it in all it's beauty. If Dorney repainted Possessed that whole area would feel really cohesive. 

The new food option at Iron Mill Grill and Bar is great! The flatbread pizzas and pirogies are fantastic. The desserts looks good too. 

This was our third time visiting this park in the last year. Because there are other bigger, flashier parks less than 2 hours away I feel Dorney gets overlooked. We loved it. Great rides, good ops, good variety, and just a fun park to be in. We may be back there for Halloween again, we'll see

[coasternut]

Good review. Dorney is one of my favorite parks to visit. I'll be there for several days next week. Yes that's not a typo - several days. I'm a little worried about Iron Menace after your comments. That's okay, I love so many of their other rides. Steel Force is one of my favs. I can't wait to ride Thunderhawk again. Yes, it was a one & done last year.

[Zand]

Fun day at Dorney yesterday! Did a loop of the park to start (which takes all of an hour and a half at Dorney) and then spent a lot of time on the many classic flat rides that they still have. Everyone shits on this place but honestly as someone who has SFNE as a home park, I would trade in a heartbeat. Flat rides are important, and the fact that Dorney still has an Enterprise, Whip, Tilt-a-whirl, and whatever the hell Apollo is supposed to be is really awesome to me.

As far as coasters go, Steel Force was actually running really well, with abundant ejector in the 3rd row on the return hops, and even some good moments in the first half. No one is gonna confuse it with Magnum, but it definitely wasn't keeping to the Steel Forceless moniker.

Iron Menace was pretty good, quite intense for a Dive Coaster. However a few posts back someone said it's kind of redundant in the same park as Hydra and I can't help but agree. They ride almost exactly the same. They probably would've been better off with that rumored switchback woodie in that spot. But hey, at least Dorney finally got something new and the theming is great. It's almost bizarroworld how in the past couple years BGW built a totally unthemed coaster in an open field and meanwhile Dorney nicely themed something.

Talon, Hydra, Possessed, Thunderhawk all running pretty normal. That death trim on Thunderhawk is really a killer, those ending bunny hops would probably be really good!

I finally rode the Flume for the first time. It's basically a brother to Lake Compounce's flume, with the nice layout on the hillside and complete with the terrible capacity! I got drenched by a rogue wave in the section before the big drop (riding alone, mind you) and other people were coming off almost totally dry, so good luck figuring this one out.

The real star of Dorney is Demon Drop, which I rode probably 6 or 7 times. I loved these 1st gens as a kid, and was sad when Cedar Point announced they were removing it as it was the only one remaining on this side of the country. For some reason, instead of scrapping it like everyone else did with their 1st gens, they moved it to Dorney where 15 years later it still operates somehow. The thing looks, feels, and sounds like a deathtrap but it's just so much fun. Even ran into Bill and Brit on one ride who also stopped in to partake in some 1st gen goodness.

My two biggest negatives on this park are the ops and the cleanliness. The ops are slow (which is fine at this place) and also love to chain off the stations for 3 minutes at a time while trains dispatch half empty and a line builds up outside the station (I saw this happen at Talon, Hydra, and Steel Force). This made no sense to me. Also, if you're planning on eating at Dorney expect to sit at a dirty and sticky table. Never saw a single table get cleaned all day. Hopefully Six Flags improves the cleanliness.

Unfortunately my PA swing is over but it was a great time! If there ends up being a Six Flags mega pass next year I could definitely see myself at Dorney more often, mainly to ride Demon Drop a bunch of times.

[coasterbill]

Great running into you on Friday!

[abovethesink]

Road Trip Day 5, Part 2 - Dorney Park - 7/18/24

If you want to catch up, Day 1 was King's Dominion, Day 2 Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Day 3 was Six Flags America, and Day 4 was Morey's Piers. Day 5, Part 1 was a quick stop at Sesame Place. Reports are in their respective threads. The trip was myself and my oldest son, soon to be 14.

We had been to Dorney Park once before when my oldest son was very young, so probably 11 or 12 years ago. Of all the parks I had been to, Dorney was probably the one I somehow remembered the least. I knew the lineup and knew I had ridden everything in terms of coasters, but my only strong memory was not a true coaster, but Demon Drop, and I was excited to have a chance to get back on it. We stayed across the street at a Holiday Inn Express and had an easy walk to the park across a busy road.

Talon -- As I said, I had no memory of this park for the most part, which quickly showed up when we took a bad route to Talon and ended up some kind of dead end next to what looked like the waterpark entrance. Woops. A backtrack got us in the right direction and we boarded this B&M Invert without much of a wait at all. This is a very good ride! My son absolutely loved it, putting it right up there with his favorite invert in Montu. I wouldn't go that far, but it was excellent. We got front and back and preferred the front. The rattle was almost non-existent up there and I always like seeing the chopper effects coming best on inverts.

Wild Mouse -- I think this is the only coaster I sat out on the trip. I don't care for the ride type and already had the credit. Plus, I knew it would be our longest wait of the day, sadly, and figured I would be happier on a bench. Since I didn't remember the ride really at all, I probably would have ridden it again if it would have been unique to me, but it is the same model as SFNE's. I didn't pay close attention to time, but it was probably close to an hour before my son came out of the exit. He said it wasn't worth the wait, unsurprisingly, but credit achieved. 

Hydra the Revenge -- Holy rattle, B&M. Other than the standup conversions, this was the worst B&M rattle I have experienced. Hydra isn't aging well. As I have said in the other reports on this trip, thankfully these generally don't really impact me. Hydra might have if I had tried to lap it though. It was strong. As for the ride, the roll out of the station is fun and the layout is good. The only sit down/floorless I really love from B&M is Kraken, so this slotted in as expected. I liked the ride. It was good. I would expect most people to like the ride if the rattle doesn't bother them too. Unfortunately, it was after Hydra that we walked to Demon Drop and learned it was down and closed. We would not get on to my great disappointment. 

Thunderhawk -- I was looking forward to Thunderhawk. I have generally found that if a century-ish old woodie is still around, that is because it is a good ride. The bad ones get ripped out over time. Many of the good ones get to live. Unfortunately, I didn't really care for this one. It wasn't awful or anything, but I was surprised how many twists and turns this thing made. Usually the older woodies stay fun for me largely by not turning. They go out and back with a slow, high turnaround, but Thunderhawk was built to weave its way around its track and the old woodie laterals are not my cup of tea. I am not saying this is some modern GCI twister layout or anything, mind you, but it did twist more than I would have liked and wasn't super comfortable for it. Also, the paint job that looks a lot like new wood made me laugh. No idea if that was intentional. 

Steel Force -- This Morgan Hyper was the largest disconnect between my son and I on the trip. For me, this ride was fine, but a little boring. It wasn't rough or uncomfortable. The first drop was good and it started to have airtime a couple times. My son liked it a lot though. He somehow felt a lot more airtime than I did, somehow, despite sitting right next to me. I left the ride largely without thoughts on it at all. It was a thing I did, a credit on the list. He really liked it though, so I am glad for that at least.

Iron Menace -- The new for 2024 B&M dive with a beyond vertical drop was the reason for my long delayed revisit to the park and, with an asterisk, it did not disappoint. Let me start with the note: A ride op was directing what row to enter, so we didn't get to pick. In both our rides by pure luck, we were placed in the front row in the exact middle seat and a seat next to it. I have read this thing has an alarmingly strong rattle for a new B&M and that the shaking is strongest on the outside seats and in the back of the train. Well, that means we got the smoothest seats possible both times and the ride was smooth. The layout was also really great, I thought. Griffon has remained my favorite dive after all these year, standing up to newer challengers like Yukon Striker and Valravyn, and this trip reaffirmed this for me. If Iron Menace was longer, and the ride is as smooth and comfortable as we experienced it, it would challenge Griffon. Alas, it is over in a blink and far too short to truly contend, but I really the short track that is there to ride. Hopefully they sort out the rattle before it gets worse, if it is as bad in other seats as I have read.

Possessed -- We end on a pleasant surprise for me. I had only previously ridden Wicked Twister at Cedar Point for these Intamin impulse coasters and it made me sick, more like a spinning flat ride than a rollercoaster. I was not looking forward to Possessed for this reason, but I ended up really enjoying it! I especially liked putting my arms out and essentially going limp at the airtime peaks on the spike. Fun ride.

All in all, it was a pretty quick and enjoyable stop at Dorney. We went out for dinner and considered going back into the park to see if Demon Drop would open, but we ended up deciding to just rest after going day after day on this roadtrip. Dorney is a nice park and hopefully I am back in less than a decade. Coney Island, Nickelodeon Universe, and Not-Rye's Playland Park were remaining on our agenda at this point.