Dorney 6/20, plus some on Camel Beach

Whenever I go on a vacation I try to hit an amusement park or two and since I was visiting my uncle who lives 15 minutes from Allentown, PA I decided to go up to Dorney for a few hours at night. I was originally going to go on Saturday but we arived at my uncles at around 4:00 pm on Thursday so we just decided to get a bite to eat and go up there that night because we knew crowds would be lighter and it just would work out better. My uncle, cousin, brother, sister, and dad got to Dorney at about 5:45.

This was the first time I had been to Dorney since the year Steel Force opened so it had been a while and I have grown a lot. There are only a few complaints I will say right now. First, almost all the coasters were running limited amounts of trains, making short lines long waits. Second, the ride ops were always talking to eachother and taking there good old time. And third, at the end of the night we were at Talon and they closed the front line early. So early trains were running empty front row. I'll go into more detail laterabout what we ended up doing. Other than those few things I thought this park is really coming along and has a good future.

When we got in we headed straight to Talon for a ride in the 2nd and last rows. I do have to say I like Raptor better but Talon is an awesome ride with some nice air for an inverted coaster.

Next we hit Hang Time - I do like TR:TR better and was a little dissapointed the water was turned off but it was still an intense Top Spin

After that we headed towards the mouse but skipped it due to a mechanical problem on it and went to Meteor - this is a unique ride that to my understanding is new. You sit in rows of 3 and face another row of three in cars like Face/Off at PKI. Then you do a lot of spins and rotations for a nice long intense ride. Only thing wrong here was how slow the ride ops moved.

Next to Hercules. I have riden this before and didnt think it was that bad but then again I was a lot younger and after hearing all the complaints about it I was not sure what to expect. The line had really nobody in it but took a long time due to the one train operation. I rode in 2-1 and I enjoyed the very beginning right out of the station to the lift but after this the ride is terrible. The car is braked almost all the way the down the first hill and doesn't have anything special after the run over the water.

After this we hit a few flats in the area including the tilt-a-whirl, enterprise and music express. All are nice flats and fit well into that area of the park. While we were around we headed to Dominator for two rides on the shot up side. I wasn't expecting much because of how much higher Power Tower was at CP but in the end I think I like this one better. It shoots you off so fast on the small tower that the air time at the top is just amazing. One question for anyone who knows, was the third tower originally going to be used but not for soem reason, It looks like it just needs the tubes in the middle and a car.

After stopping to get a drink we headed to Thunder Hawk for two rounds. I was expecting so little from this because I thought of how bad Hercules was but boy was I amazed. This was so much better than Hercules with its great head choppers and great air time hills. Two complaints though, badly placed trim on the bunnies at the end and only one train operating.

Next to the Lazer. We took to rounds on this nice little steel also. This is just a great little ride and brings back the memorys as it was my first looping coaster. Only on train operation also.

It was now starting to get some what dark and we headed to Steel Force. This is a good ride wioth nice air time. I liked it better than Magnum at CP but thats my opinion. This had two of its three trains running and after taking two rides we remembered about the wild mouse.

It was a little after 9:45 when we arived at the ride. It was your typical mouse with some nice turns and drops. Got on it fairly fast even with only half the trains in operation.

The park was getting ready to close so we ran over to Talon for one last night ride. As we got inot the station we noticed that the front line was closed with 4 people in line for it and a good 3 or 4 trains left of people else where. So I asked if we could get in the front and the op said no. I didn't see the point in letting it go empty so I just stuck around until I noticed people in teh 2nd row were hoppin up there so we got in the line for the 2nd row. I don't see why they just don't keep it open and when they have a few more trains left anounce that only so many people can ride in the front and teh rest need to find a seat like at a lot of other places instead of closing it. I ended up really happy though when I found out we were last ride of the night in the front because we waited in the 2nd row. I was even better in teh front and not to mention last ride of the anybody which was awesome.

Well as I said earlier overall its a great park and I can't wait to go back but while I was in town I went to a place called Camel Back/Beach that wasn't too far away. This place in the summer is a water park and in the winter a ski resort. I have been goin to the water park since it had 2 body slides and that was about it and I have watched it grow and it has turned into a great water park which also oncludes alpine slides you can ride which are very fun. I just wanted to mention this place and I won't go into to detail but you know what i'm talking about if you have been there. This place is going to be a top 10 water park soon with them adding attractions nearly every year now, includeing the new tolet bowl type water slide which is extremely fun. If your ever out that way check it out its a nice place.

The third tower was going to be a Space Shot for more capacity but they decided just to leave it a tower. Nice Trip Report.

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-Sean Newman
83 coasters in Track Record!! Hypersonic XLC # 100 in July. Waiting for the 305 foot drop tower in 2003. Thank you PKD.

I guess thats why I didn't see you at Dorney when I went on Saturday.

I picked up a brocure for Camel Beach the other week. I plan on going sometime this summer. Last time I was there it was only the 2 water slides and Alpine Slides as well.

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Knoebels visits in 2002. 4

Sorry about that coasterpunk, i know i told you I was going on Saturday but my dad decided to change plans. If the last time you went to Camel Beach was when they had 2 slides you would be amazed if you go back

Glad to see some recognition of Camelbeach here. It's relatively close to many other parks, so it's easy to fit in with a coaster trip!

Did you ride Vortex and Spin Cycle (the bowl slides)? Try out the wave pool? Sounds like you had fun!

evvdave, I did ride Vortex and Spin Cycle and let me tell you on Vortex you really can pick up speed, that was a nice edition for this year. I was talking to a life gaurd that was just at the park as a guest that day and he said the waves (which already are large) are ran at half power. He said that for life gaurd traning they turn it up full power and its just amazn=ing how high the waves can get.