Dorney Park, 10/30/09 and 11/1/09

I spent the entire weekend in the Allentown area so Dorney was where I spent closing weekend.

On Friday 10/30, I got to the park at 9:15, it didn't seem too crowded at first with Talon being a 1 train wait but I saw it was only the top part of the park that wasn't crowded. Hydra looked to have a long line so I went to the bottom of the park going through Pirate's Passage. It was on the tamer side which I thought was good for people who didn't want to be scared too much.

Both sides of Dominator had a huge line, so I stopped at the Whip with a 1 cycle wait. Possessed was into the first switchback which looked to be around 30 minutes so I went to Steel Force. The entire set of 1st switchbacks were filled. I have never seen that long of a line except when the ride first opened. It was a 25 minute wait with 2 trains running. I also noticed there was a guard watching the line the entire time looking for line cutters whichwas great.

Walking back I went through the Gauntlet which was also tame like Pirate's Passage, again not a bad thing. Dominator's Space Shot line was down to a little under 10 minutes so I stopped there and went to Hydra which was a 2 train wait.

I had only planned to spend a little over an hour in the park since I knew I was going back Sunday and possibly Saturday, and left with spending around75 minutes in the park.

Saturday had bad weather and I figured it might be crowded anyway since it was Halloween so decided to skip it and go back on Sunday. I went to the park with my sister and got there around 3:45. The first thing I noticed was only 1 train running on Talon but it was only a 2 train wait. We walked onto Cedar Creek Cannonball and it was cool to see Thunder Canyon without water. I think Hydra was also only running 1 train because it looked to have a line past the stairs and the train was going through the circuit not enough to make it looks like 2 trains were running.

We stopped at the Whip, 1 cycle wait and Krazy Kars, 2 cycle wait. Thunderhawk also had 1 train running with a 2 train wait.

While riding Thunderhawk I saw Steel Force was running 1 train with a huge line. It looked to be at least 30 minutes. We both decided it wasn't worth the wait and skipped it this trip. It was a shame to see no coasters running 2 trains, especially since I have only seen Steel Force run 1 train on one visit, closing day 2006 which was due to weather. Possessed was a 2 cycle wait so I stopped for a ride there and we finished the day at the Carousel. It was another short trip at around 75 minutes again because we didn't have the time for a longer visit.

I was glad to get to the park twice this weekend to end the season and look forward to next season.

Ride Count for the weekend:
Talon, 2x
Hydra, 1x
Steel Force, 1x
Possessed, 1x
Thunderhawk, 1x
Dominator, 1x
Cedar Creek Cannonball, 1x
Whip, 2x
Krazy Kars, 1x

I didn't make it to Dorney for Halloween at all this year. Shame that they only had one train running on their coasters on Sunday. I wonder why? The weather was pretty nice, and it sounds like they had a decent crowd. Not a bad ride count for two short trips.

YoshiFan said:

Both sides of Dominator had a huge line, so I stopped at the Whip with a 1 cycle wait. Possessed was into the first switchback which looked to be around 30 minutes so I went to Steel Force. The entire set of 1st switchbacks were filled. I have never seen that long of a line except when the ride first opened. It was a 25 minute wait with 2 trains running. I also noticed there was a guard watching the line the entire time looking for line cutters whichwas great.

Funny you should mention that. We took a trip out to Dorney last October on a Saturday and encounted a 45 minute wait for Talon and saw a FULL QUEUE for Steel Force. Not sure how long that line would have been but needless to say we waited in it for about ten minutes and then took off. Interestingly enough, we took a return trip out during PPP weekend, on a Saturday no less, and had walk-ons on every coaster except for Possessed, which had a three train-wait. Craziest variance I've seen between visits ever.