Dorney Park 5-26-2006

This was my fourth visit to Dorney in four years and I've always found the park to be an enjoyable attraction. This visit was my worst of the four, but it was by no means terrible. Since I've done trip reports for this park before, I'll just cover the basics of the day.

After driving to Allentown in torrential rains, we reached the park. Unfortunately today was unofficial "middle school day" and young kids were everywhere.

Talon:

Rode this first and it was hauling as usual, great ride in the back seat. This is still one of my favorite inverted coasters. Something about the pacing, smooth and intense ride, and great asthetics make it a near perfect coaster. 2 train op with decent crew besides the person controlling the station flow (read on for explanation).

After riding the Swings and skipping Hang Time because people were getting soaked, we moved on.

Hydra: 2 train op.

I rode this last year soon after it opened and my feelings remain the same; it is a good coaster but not incredible. My first ride lacked the vibration of last season, but our second ride had it. I love the jojo roll and the first drop and the rest of the ride is fun. Overall it's a solid, if not exceptional ride. Our second ride later in the day occured after a 20 minute breakdown. Apparently two of the restraints were causing the train to remain in the station. Unfortunately the second time this occured was after the first breakdown and we were stuck on the brake run as employees cluelessly argued over the loudspeaker and gave us no indication of what was going on. I realize some of these employees were new, but this is not like Dorney Park. If communication does not improve, we're in for a long summer. Bad employees also had people waiting in line for Talon and didn't allow many into the station, therefore while the front row had a long line, some of the others were leaving empty.

Steel Force: 2 train op.

Despite the Valleyfair! incident this was running and we got several rides. The midcourse was on moderately but the ride was running fast, smooth, and I got decent airtime. I love how they painted the part of the ride over the midway but nothing else...classy.

We also rode Dominator and Revolution, ate some cotton candy and rode Thunderhawk (1 train op.), which was hauling ass.

While crowds of middle schoolers and clueless employees made the trip a little worse for the wear, I once again had a good time at Dorney Park.

*** Edited 6/2/2006 3:05:53 AM UTC by Willh51*** *** Edited 6/2/2006 4:01:22 AM UTC by Willh51***

I have noticed the same problem with Talon as well, where everyone on the stairs seems to be waiting for the front and no one else in line realizes you can go around them to get to the other rows and the employees don't always say something. It's very fusturating to see empty rows on the trains when there is a line (even if the line is only 5 or 10 minutes)

Very unlike Dorney. My two trips there have been great. I can understand that happening on Talon though, they should add some signage like they have on Nitro that asks those waiting for the front seat to stand to the side and let everyone else by.

Once in awhile, someone pokes their head over the top landing and yells to people to stand aside. I guess when they notice only 6 or 8 people getting on the train. But then they have the person sitting at the top who doesn't let the station get too full.

You'd think the people who've been on the ride so many times would get a clue and not sprawl all across the entire stairway if they're waiting for the front row.

Good station design should prevent the kind of back-ups you're describing. SFA has some of the worst stations I've seen anywhere, and RoS, Wild One, and JJ all seem to have the problem where people who are either *confused*, or just waiting for the front/back, clog up the on-ramp and prevent other riders from joining in on the fun of RIDING.... ;)