Dorney Park, 6/12/18

I went to Dorney yesterday for my first trip of the season after not being at the park since last September. I'm kind of burned out of the ride side and when Wildwater Kingdom is closed, I would rather drive to Hersheypark or Great Adventure.

Before going to the rides, I started the day at Wildwater Kingdom. No slides more than a few people in line except Aquablast. Everything was open except the smaller lazy river, 1 side of the older wavepool and the yellow drop box slide. Even with hardly anyone in line, there were some getting scared of the drop box slides. The first time I was at the top of the tower, with less than 10 people in line, 3 people got out of the box and left. The 2nd time, 1 person left. That happens almost every time I go to those slides.

After getting 15 slides in and the lazy river, I went to the water rides in the amusement park. Thunder Canyon now has 1 ride operator in the booth near the top of the lift hill and there are no longer ride operators throughout the course on those lifeguard type chairs. Instead there are cameras next to those chairs and in other spots throughout the ride that the ride operator in that booth is probably constantly watching. Every 30 seconds there is an announcement from the speakers next to the cameras reminding riders to remain seated and to keep the seatbelts fastened. It got kind of annoying to hear that message 5 or 6 times.

Thunderhawk's retracked section was a noticeable improvement but the rest of the ride has some rough spots. The trim brake at the end of the ride was off. It was still good to see the park try to make the ride better.

The area where Stinger was looks strange without the coaster there. Now the flags on the path are all flags featuring Cedar Creek Flyers on them. No one was at the ride except the ride operator waiting for riders. If hardly anyone went to the ride before, now I'm sure it will be even less with not much of a reason to go to that section of the park. I was half expecting them to be closed this year. The cycle is much shorter than the ones at Knoebels or even Hersheypark.

After riding the whip at Hershey a few times this season, it was nice to ride a Mangels version that is more intense.

There are also new soda machines and refill stations. It's a shame they added all these new machines over the last few seasons and didn't get 1 Freestyle machine.

Being used to Hershey and Great Adventure after multiple trips to both this year, I was reminded about what it means to be in a Cedar Fair park again. Being asked every time I got to the top of some of the slide towers if I had read the slide rules and warnings, even if I had just been at the tower less than 5 minutes ago with no line (I don't blame the lifeguards since they are just following policy) or having seatbelts on rides pulled tighter by the ride operators compared to Hershey where they just look to make sure the seatbelts is buckled.

Nice TR. completely agree. We typically visit. Dorney in the off season. Last visit we were in and out in 2 to 3 hours. Kings Dominion is our preferred Cedar Fair park.

I'm hoping they add a good replacement for Stinger. One of the RMC clones of the ride(Railblazer) at Great America is what I'm hoping they add.

I am hoping to add a few hours at Dorney to a trip at the end of the month. It sounds as if it is never very crowded. My only real chance at going would be on a Saturday evening.. is it still managable? I can’t imagine it gets Cedar Point crowded on a Saturday.

It might be more crowded after the water park closes for the day but even then I would be surprised if the coasters were more than 15 - 30 minutes. Wild Mouse is the exception since even on a slow day it can have a 30+ minute wait because of only 4 cars usually running, added seat belts, a confusing loading system and a rule of no more than 2 adults per car.

Coasterfantom2 said:

Nice TR. completely agree. We typically visit. Dorney in the off season. Last visit we were in and out in 2 to 3 hours. Kings Dominion is our preferred Cedar Fair park.

I'm hoping they add a good replacement for Stinger. One of the RMC clones of the ride(Railblazer) at Great America is what I'm hoping they add.

Thanks. I'd be happy with a Railblazer clone or even Kanonen (if the rumors over the past offseason have any truth to them). I'm not expecting anything next year but I hope something is added.