I was very curious as to how Dorney would treat us. They weren't the primary stop on the convention. As it turned out, they were pretty nice hosts. They served breakfast both mornings, lunch Thursday afternoon, and had several surprise treats in store for us.
The treats were announced at the lunch. The first was a "surprise snack" for us at the evening ERT (more on that in a bit). The second surprise? They would allow adults on Little Laser during the Friday morning ERT! (Special surprise credit #3 ;) )
The snack on Thursday night turned out to be pretzels and drinks. But not just any pretzels. We had a choice of pretzels filled with an apple filling, or cream cheese. I went for the apple, which was VERY good. The cream cheese looked good, as well (I’ve had cream cheese on pretzels before, so it’s a natural combo). We came away from Dorney impressed with how nicely they were treating us :)
As for the coasters:
Hercules (2 laps) – Ugh. Somebody kill me now. That’s what I was thinking when I was riding this coaster. The first lap was in the back seat just after the Thursday morning ERT, and it was horrible. I rode it again later in the day closer to the front to see if it was any better. Nope. This coaster steals the title of "most deserving of lighter fluid" from Mean Streak in my book.
Laser (4 laps) – MUCH better. An old, fairly intense looper. The lift hill is hysterically slow, and the loading procedure during park hours stinks (fill in from front to back, you MUST fill seats in in order even if there’s not enough to fill the train and the back seat goes empty). During the Friday ERT, we were actually allowed to take any open seat, not just fill in from front to back. The 2nd looper on the trip with lapbars instead of the OTSR abominations (Superdooperlooper being the other).
Lil Laser (1 lap) – The Friday Morning Bonus Coaster. Very few adults can take credit for riding this one, as Dorney normally doesn’t allow adults on at all, even with a kid. Like the Kiddie Coaster at William’s Grove, the park was only allowing 3 adults on at a time.
Steel Force (8 laps) – I wanted to love this coaster. Really I did. My second Morgan-built Hyper, after Phantom’s Revenge. But Dorney had the midcourse on pretty heavy, killing what looked like it could have been GREAT airtime. It was still a good coaster, but it just didn’t compare to Phantom, Magnum, S:ROS, or a certain ride in New Jersey that I haven’t gotten to the report on yet…
Talon (17 laps) – I LOVE this inverted. It isn’t big, it isn’t the most intense ride out there, but WOW. People who call it “forceless” aren’t reriding it enough ;) It warmed up a lot during the day on Thursday, and the visuals (footchoppers, etc.) are great. I’d put it slightly above Great Bear at Hershey for the much better ending.
Thunderhawk (20 laps) – The surprise gem of the Con. In spite of some trims, this ride was running amazingly well during the Thursday PM ERT. Most of the Con attendees were over on Steel Force, allowing Tim and I an amazing 10 laps in a row without getting up. Maybe we just got very lucky, but this coaster lands pretty high up on my list of "underrated hidden gems".
Wild Mouse (1 lap) – Eh. Another mouse. Ding.
Woodstock’s Express (1 lap) – Another cute little junior steelie. Ding.
Souviners: 1 Talon shirt, 1 Steel Force mug. I couldn't find any magnets that I liked, so the ERT Button that Dorney gave us will become a magnet.
Dorney was a nice stop for the con. The pair of woodies at Dorney showed me just how middling Cedar Point’s woodies are. Thunderhawk is just so much better than Blue Streak, and at the other end of the spectrum as much as I want to hate Mean Streak, Hercules is even worse...
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--Greg
http://www.pobox.com/~gregleg/
*** This post was edited by GregLeg on 6/26/2001. ***
