Associated parks:
None
well, today i embarked on yet again another new park, and 6 new coasters for the 'ol TR!! its been such an awesome season, and ive had the chance to hit so many parks this year. today i ventured an hour north of school to Allentown, PA to tackle the collection of coasters at Dorney Park! i travelled with a few friends from my school. pulling into the parking lot, you can pretty much see the entire park, and looming high above everything is Steel Force and Dominator. but anyway....onto my fun filled, COLD day:)
Talon (B&M Invert)...sitting high above the main gate was my new #1 invert. i looked up at it, and to be honest, it didnt look THAT great, but i had yet to experience it so i hopped aboard. got a back seat ride first....all i can say is....well....i cant say anything...cause im still reeling from its perfection:) from drop to brakes, this thing is non stop!! the drop was fairly normal, but the loop was very intense....a not too fast, but VERY high zero-g roll followed, then a steep dive into a once again, VERY high Immelman :) this thing wasnt much smaller than the one on Alpengeist. anyways....the sharp uphill turn after that was really cool, VERY intense...the last 15 seconds of Talon pretty much sealed its victory in my mind....a tight, ground level helix, into a dizzifying flat spin, into another tight, ground level helix in the other direction, into an AIRTIME, yes AIRTIME bump, into the brakes :) ladies and gentleman, we have a winner. you heard me...airtime. dont flame me, and dont tell me im stupid, cause i swear on my own grave, it was there!! haha...and it was good :)
after such an amazing ride, i had to savour it for a second, and take a breath...and to think, it was only 11am on a very cold morning....imagine that beast on a 100degree day after a rain storm ;) onward....
Wild Mouse (somebody?? wild mouse) dont know who designed it...tell me it wasnt Mack....cause this mouse just didnt cut it for me. im one to usually enjoy a good Mouse coaster, but this thing was horrible. the car did not round the turns at all, instead would jolt and shimmy around. it was really rough...not sure what that was all about..but anyway, its on the count.....
i noticed that Hercules was still testing, but despite its preconcieved rep going into today, i wanted to wait for it, so we took a spin on Meteor...man i love Zamperla :) they are the next Huss im my book, if not better.....
Hercules....(Summers Dinn torture device, eerr woodie) yeah....what the heck? youve got to be kidding me. sorry 2Hostyl but im gonna have to step back from ya on this one. now, to be fair, it wasnt the trims that killed this ride for me, it was the bone jarring, sliding back and forth, bad laterals, almost crawl to a stop on the final turn, spine compressing, please God get me back before i mess myself type of violent coaster ride. this morning, they had the back two cars roped off, and that made me suspicious. but oh well....that first drop looks like it could take your breath away...well it does. cause once you finally slide off the trims (hey there MS) and reach the banked turn, your back is slammed so hard that the air is forced from your lungs. still wasnt trimmed as bad as Mean Streak, but it was enough. now i thought it was rough then...in the middle. later this evening, i got a back seat ride. i almost fainted, 'nuff said. im with GregLeg on this one...Hercules is on the count, where it will remain. its so sad, cause it could be a nice coaster. i just dont get it...why cant Cedar Fair pull off a good wooden masterpiece? tell me kara, you love ST so much...how does MIA do it? and why dont they let the rest of the company in on the secret?
ahh, moving on...i had to walk around a bit, shake the newborn knots outta my muscles after that. we took a spin on the Enterprise, which for those of you who know me i am obsessed with Enterprises, and this was a better one:)..from here we walked around a bit and took a ride on the Whip....walked a little more....took in the sights.....decided to take a spin on Woodstock Express, and was quite delighted that i was allowed on:) i needed to get either this or Little Laser in order to hit at least 125 today, so goal accomplished :)
Thunderhawk (who designed this? figure eight woodie) now i wish i had ridden more up front, as ive been told that there is some nice air up there. but i rode the back car, and to be honest, it didnt do it for me. actually, the second high turn in the figure of 8 about smacked my ribs into my chest, so that wasnt cool...still wasnt as bad as "Hurt Me Please". anyways.....didnt give it a second chance, just wasnt impressed at all...this park definitely got the shaft in the wood department...
Laser (Scwartzkopf looper) after two horrible coasters back to back, i needed something exciting....thank you Anton for saving my day:) while its not the greatest of his creations ive ridden, its still awesome!!! the loops were very intense, and being forced to sit towards the front stil didnt hamper any forces. very enjoyable. the helices were nice too, espcially the last one....very powerful:) way to go Mr. Scwartzkopf!! and now, onto #125, and my final new coaster for the year, my first ALL Morgan hyper:-D....
Steel Force (Morgan out and back hyper) ok, again, i boarded this coaster with many preconcieved notions about it. mainly bad ones. i had been told time and time over about how lame it was. fortunatly, and much to my suprise, the 'Force (hehe, in your face CPers) delivered! i rode the back seat, as i alwasy do on a new hyper, and found myself floating down the first drop into ...whats this?....a tunnel!! and a nice pop back in my seat...weak? i think not. the second hill isnt that much lesser than Magnum....anyways, not much air goin into the turnaround, but when you have a turn around like that, who needs air? :) that was such an awesome turnaround, just incredible how you far downhill you travel....the positive Gs were amazing :)....after a not so hard midcourse, the return trip, although not quite Maggie, was very rewarding for me:) i, despite what many others said, found a few decent moments of air that made the ride enjoyable. all in all, while its definitely not the greatest coaster ive ridden, Steel Force was awesome, and i really enjoyed it, a VERY fun, all around enjoyable hypercoaster that can entertain families and thrill enthusiasts that will give it the chance (ive heard it has its good days and bad...id like to think today i caught it on a good day:))
well, we rode a few more flats, made another lap around the park. i thoroughly enjoyed Dorney Park. it is pretty well laid out, and minus the hills, its not hard at all to get around. today was definitely worth the admission, as i got to experience Talon, and got to prove to myself that no matter what everyone else has told me, i really liked Steel Force. and....with a nice laugh, got to wave goodbye to Hercules. if you are ever in the area, definitely hit up Dorney. its a farely cheap park, especially if you catch it on a bonus weekend.....well....till next season, i bid you all fare the well...and i will see you in General Buzz section!!
Tim, signing off....(well...maybe....theres a CHANCE of hitting Vegas and LA over Christmas break....but just case, see ya on the flip side :))
-----------------
Holiday World; Knoebel's-today's cures for today's common theme park :-D
Legend...who would have thought that a tree could be turned into such madness :-D
Wild Mouse was made by Maurer Sohne.
Thunderhawk was made by Herbert Schmeck and the PTC.
I'm sorry you didn't like Hercules, cuz it's not as bad as everyone makes it sound. If i'm ever there and the line is 20 minutes or less, I'll jump in the line over and over. Thunderhawk is a decent woodie for being made in 1923, and being changed from a out and back to a figure eight layout. Glad you liked Talon and Steel Force.
-----------------
http://www.onridecentral.com
*** This post was edited by SFGAdv lover on 10/21/2002. ***
Nice TR Tim! Sounds like Talon made you give birth (again). Dorney is definitely on my list of parks to hit next year...but then again, what ISN'T? Anyway, glad you had a good time.
One quick question...did the park remind you of a mini-CP at all?
-----------------
- Chris Moore
9/28 and 10/5 2002: Legend and Raven and Phoenix...OH MY!
SFGAdv lover said:
I'm sorry you didn't like Hercules, cuz it's not as bad as everyone makes it sound
Ain't that the darn truth. I dunno why everyone always has to rip so much on this ride. And did you ever notice that when they do rip on it they right a gosh dang book about it. I mean come on if I dont like a ride I would just say I didnt like it and give one sentence why and end it at that. I just dont see the point in keeping on writing about something you have no interest in. Did u notice this mature adult male wrote just as much about the ride he loved(Talon) as he did about the ride he disliked(hercules). I mean just build a bridge and get over it already.
Dante, who likes hercules! Wahooooooo
Btw, I'm glad you liked my park, aint it the best!
*** This post was edited by DorneyDante on 10/21/2002. ***
*** This post was edited by DorneyDante on 10/22/2002. ***
dante....sorry to bash Herc as much as i did, but i wanted to get my point across. yeah, Talon was awesome enough for me to write a lot about it...and...Hercules sucked enough for me to write a lot about it as well. so get over it....i hear countless negative posts about SFA and PKD, two of my home parks, and i totally dont mind what someone has to say, or at what lengths they feel they must go to say it. and one more thing....dont refer to me as kid. im 22 years old, which is older than about probably 80% of the people who post on this site..and your welcome for liking your park ;)
Tim ----who INDEED thought that Dorney was a CP junior, haha :-D
-----------------
Holiday World; Knoebel's-today's cures for today's common theme park :-D
Legend...who would have thought that a tree could be turned into such madness :-D
Hercules makes Mean Streak a day in the park by comparison. The most awful woody I have ever rode and this includes Rolling Thunder. If somone thinks its awful more power to them, if you like it more power to you. Big deal.
Anyway nice TR Tim, hopefully we can make it to Cali in December.
-----------------
PPP Quote of the Year:
"I got a B and M shirt"
Let's go ride The Fonicks
I'll tell you how, BY NOT BEING A WUSS that's how. With the exception of the Knoebels woodies, I've ridden all those on your list and can even add great coasters like Cyclops, Zeus, and Gwazi to that list. And with the exceptions of The Legend and Lightning Racer I think Hercules is right there with all of them (yes EVEN RAVEN!) I dunno, I just didnt find it "painful" at all. Shakey? Maybe. Violent? Yeah perhaps. But there was ZERO pain involved. I guess I'm just not as affected by pain.
But hey, not a damn thing any of you says is gonna stop me from riding it anyway (assuming I *ever* go to Dorney again...)
-----------------
"To get into this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do
My thoughts on Hercules...
When I rode it around 1994, it was an incredible ride. I mean just about nothing to complain about (Except maybe the roughness on the turn after the drop). It was smooth, fun, and gave an action packed ride. My thoughts on its current state..
The ride is terrible. Hands down, one of the worst roller coasters I have ever been on. Not only is it rough, its trimmed to death and is boring. Im not sure what caused this, but its a poor reflection of its former glory. At least theres a wonderful B&M Invert, Schwartzkopf, Old Woody and Morgan Hyper in the park to keep me happy :)
Glad you had a good time Tim! But I tell ya, you should have gone with me. Lol :)
Vacoasterfreak, I aggree with you about Steel Force. I found alot of airtime on it.
I liked Talon. It wasn't that intense, but I wouldn't call it forceless. It does have some airtime.
As for Hercules, I did not find it as rough as alot of people say it is, but it is not one of my favorites eighter.
vacoasterfreak- "whats this...a tunnel?"
LOL! That's certainly *not* a tunnel! That's a lame ass excuse for a tunnel and I'd refer to it as a TUBE, which is all it really is, a glorified tube.
I hate those things...
*** This post was edited by RobCoasting on 10/21/2002. ***
RobCoasting....it dropped into a tunnel, tube, building, whatever you wanna call it....pretty sad argument, thanks for the response. i loved it, and in my mind it really made the ride all the more special....
Jeremy, i totally see your point man....but, i swear, you must have great luck in catching hercules on a good day...the other 99% of us just didnt seem to have your luck. no worries though...hey, i remember you telling me how violent Legend was, and i got off thinking i had just ridden wooden perfection :) so definitely to each his own...its all in a man's definition of coaster violence, and what suits him best!!
although Jeremy...id always jump on the opportunity to argue with ya because its fun gettin ya riled up, haha :)...(ducks for cover)...cause you are definitely one to freely speak his mind :)
Tim....who still is ticked off that Dante called me kid, and yet misspelled many words in his post, and didnt even make that much sense....simply because Dorney is his home park . oh well, what can ya do :)
-----------------
Holiday World; Knoebel's-today's cures for today's common theme park :-D
Legend...who would have thought that a tree could be turned into such madness :-D
vacoasterfreak said:
Tim....who still is ticked off that Dante called me kid, and yet misspelled many words in his post, and didnt even make that much sense....simply because Dorney is his home park . oh well, what can ya do
-----------------
I'll tell ya what you can do,,,,,,,,,,,,,build a bridge and get over it already. By the way, I changed my post for you, happy?
Dante, who doesnt have any mispellings in his post, except the shorthand form of the word "you."
ahh.. Talon sure was awesome.. Only really bad thing was is the gravity roll was kinda taken at a slow pace.. Unlike Great Bears Roll that was pure B&M bliss.. I have never felt anything like it in my life.. 3rd row, far left seat.. ahh.. the feeling of literally poping out of your seat with airtime, and being pushed to the side with lateral movement while still out of your seat, and then leveling out and falling back into your seat.. I thought I was imagining things.. But no, I felt it over and over.. Plus, even the immelman had airtime!
On Talon, I tried the "money" seat, but no luck.. Just lateral movement and a little lacking in speed.. But that didn't stop it being my number one invert.. With Great Bear just inches behind it at 2.. Yes, Im one of the few who concider Great Bear an extreme and wonderful B&M creation.
I have never ridden Talon, so I can't give my opinions on it yet. I'm thinking about going on it on my trip up to Dorney on saturday.
-----------------
Fav Steel: Millenium Force Fav Wood: Viper
You must be logged in to post