Dorney 7-14-24

Being a Sunday thought might be a little less busy, being 97 meant it was the fullest I have ever seen Dorney, every piece of grass parked on.

Dorney Summer Nights - blew me away that a smaller CF legacy parks understands it’s market so well.

The latin food was good and diverse, the music was ok not mind blowing, and the amount of theming added surprised me.

And the Intamin rapids seat balancing knocking 4 seats a raft is killing capacity, but here we are in overweight Murica.

And Thunderhawk was on two train.

And Steel Force makes me want to head west and try the other CF Morgans which I have not ridden, or gone to either of those parks in ages.

FYI their rapids isn’t Intamin.

Summer Nights seem to be the replacement for Grand Carnivale, so it's possible we'll see something like this next summer at Kings Island and California's Great America (Kings Dominion will presumably be focusing on its 50th celebration in 2025). Good to hear that Dorney did a nice job with it.

Im not so sure about a 100% match as the crowd makeup at Dorney is like 40% latino 40% black and 20% white…

KI does not have beach to precisely copy Boardwalk Nights at CP.

But a better food mix and more variety to the Live E could help.

Went yesterday, Friday, August 2, 2024. With it being a weekday and thunderstorms forecasted for the afternoon, it was a pretty light day for attendance, park side. Most everything was a walk-on. All of the "big" coasters were running 2 trains, with the exception of Thunderhawk which was running 1 train (preferable so you actually get people on board with you).

In the revamped Steel Yard section, there's a nice covered area with couches, tables, and lounge chairs, which is wonderful for some relaxation on a hot summer day. The Iron Mill Grill & Bar leaves a lot to be desired, pre-prepared food sitting under heat lamps, and pretty limited seating outdoors (nothing indoors and it's not actually a bar). We hit up Sipping Container for a beer; Funk Brewing makes a decent American lager themed to the ride. Always appreciate a middle ground between domestics and craft IPAs.

Iron Menace is fun, right-sized for Dorney. It looks underwhelming from the parking lot, given that section of the park sits at a lower elevation and Steel Force is taller in the backdrop. Speaking of, Steel Force is running better than ever, even with less than half-loaded trains.

Really appreciate that they haven't gone the locker route, even on Iron Menace, every coaster still has bins.

We left well before Summer Nights, but I did see that Talon closes at 9pm to accommodate the show.