Demon Drop gets nod for Dorney Park

I find it interesting that the article says Dorney has more room for it than KBF, but then goes on to state that it will be replacing the Krazy Kars. Swapping one attraction for another doesn't sound like there is more room. I still wonder if anything will ever go where that huge empty plot of grass is.

It will be nice to get some foot traffic in that area though, it can be a dead spot. I go down there to see the lone remaining trout pond and if I feel like riding the Swan Boats.

It was going to be replacing a ride at Knotts too. Their Screaming Swing. That was going to go to Great America. But, as far as I know it is staying at Knotts now.

THAT is a bit of a shame. Knott's lame Screaming Swing would fit right in with the other lame rides at Great America. :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Who thinks Great America should send its Bayern Kurve to a park that will run it properly...

It's a shame to lose the Krazy Kars. They were a lot of fun. The gas fumes alone were worth the price of admission...:)

As much as I want to ride an Intamin 1st Gen Freefall ride and am looking forward to it being added, I am not happy it is replacing Krazy Kars. It is one of the few tamer rides in the park and it seems silly to get rid of a family ride in place of a thrill ride when a more modern version of the ride has been in the park since 1999. And with Great Adventure's bumper cars SBNO since 2008, now both my home parks no longer have bumper cars.

I also don't understand how they can say the park has a lot of room, the park is almost landlocked.

It is also fusturating to see almost every time a new ride is added to the park, one is taken away. Before this Laser was removed at the end of the same year Voodoo was added, the year before Aqua Racer was added but Torpedo Tubes taken away, Hydra was added but Joker and Hercules taken away etc.

Hey, that's better than Paramount's expansion plans at, say, Kings Island and Great America. In those parks, every time they added a ride, they took out two or three!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Operating costs couldn't possibly be so much that the parks have to remove rides in order to add new rides, couldn't they?

Adding more rides would cause lines to be shorter, right? Why can't crowded parks use additional attractions as a way to shorten lines? Seems like common sense to me.

In Dorney's case some ride removals were for bad reasons. Joker was removed because it was blocking the view of Hydra's cobra roll. Maybe Laser would have been removed from the park regardless of Voodoo but it seems to coincidental it gets removed the same season a new coaster gets added, and I can't help but think if Voodoo wasn't relocated maybe Laser would still be around. I can understand a ride like Hercules that was tearing itself apart and was very rough but most other removals haven't been like that. I guess I should just be glad they aren't acting like Great Adventure removing practically every flat and leaving even more SBNO.

Thankfully lines really aren't an issue at Dorney except in the waterpark, unless they decide to run 1 train on all coasters during the day like they did on closing day last year. That is unlike them and I hope it wasn't a test to see how lines were with only 1 train because Steel Force with a 30 minute wait on an very slow day at the park is annoying to see.

YoshiFan said: In Dorney's case some ride removals were for bad reasons. Joker was removed because it was blocking the view of Hydra's cobra roll.

Those rides are notoriously costly to maintain. I suspect the decision was based on budgets, not blocking a view.

The Krazy Kars were a waste of space in that area of the park. They should have been moved to a kidde area. I am ecstatic about having Demon Drop at my home park. I've never lived near one before (GAdv got rid of theirs before I moved here) and never gotten to ride them as much as I want to.

I agree with Mamoosh with Joker. It has nothing to do with the view. I believe that's a Rainbow model. Hersheypark took their model out a couple years ago, The Great Escape just did, Clementon Park's long time model was scrapped. I think it has to deal with maintenance costs. Dorney's was the 2nd in the area to go.

Maybe Dorney can now get real bumper cars. Are Geauga Lake's still available?

It was a Zamperla Joker model, I tried to look up where I heard about the Cobra Roll being the cause of removal which I remember reading a few years ago and I guess that isn't the case because it does sound like it was maintenance costs ( http://www.dorneyonline.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=597&start=15 ).

The Hersheypark model I liked a lot. It may have been called Rodeo. It was themed to a large covered wagon. By the middle of last decade it was a location for the 3d upcharge attraction I think.

I used to really like that ride as well since it was more intense than Joker, it's too bad they got rid of it. It's a shame that whole area of the park has really changed because of the Boardwalk.

Remember that Cedar Fair is fond of looking at rides in a cost-per-ride fashion. I seem to recall that Laser's metric was rather high, which comes as a combination of relatively low ridership and high maintenance cost. I loved that ride, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case.

CHILLERLC1 said:
The Hersheypark model I liked a lot. It may have been called Rodeo. It was themed to a large covered wagon. By the middle of last decade it was a location for the 3d upcharge attraction I think.

Hershey's was my favorite, but I like all the Rainbow type rides. Hershey's was called Conestoga and was relocated to Lake Winnie and still operates there. Rodeo was the Trabant(relocated to Dutch Wonderland as Twister last season).

Knoebels has 1001 Naught which is basicaly the same as Hershey's Conestoga but with an Arabian theme. But I did like the Conestoga theme better and it had single position lapbars like on the Pirat, so you didn't get crushed in like on 1001. I think 1001 is pretty much the last ride of that type in the general area (near Dorney I mean).

I wonder what the chances are the old Joker could show up at Coney Island? I know Dorney sold it back to Zamperla for refurbishment, wonder if they still have it. It should be intresting to see what kind of ride lineup they slap together for the boardwalk this summer.

Hersheypark's Rodeo was really fun. I miss that ride a lot. The Joker at Dorney was pretty tame the few times that I rode it.

It's nice to see Demon Drop getting a second life. Maybe it will be more popular at Dorney then it was at Cedar point.

Maybe things would have turned out differently if someone had a "thing" for Joker. :)

It's too bad the "platform" rides have been disappearing or being "slowed down". Geauga Lakes old Mirage used to run incredibly fast and the Hersheys was the best I had ever been on... I wonder if Lake Winnie still runs it like that. Holiday Worlds Banshee (Chance Falling Star) was also a great ride. Enjoy your favorite rides while you can, folks... they don't last forever!