Dorney Park 6/14/08 (Day 1)

If you even remotely keep up with me though coasterimage or my blog you know I'm out on a coaster run right now.

Today was officially Day 1 and we rolled into Allentown and spent a few hours at Dorney. Some thoughts:

- In typical Dorney fashion the parking lot is packed, the upper midway and waterpark are packed, but the coasters are basically one-train waits. Gotta love Dorney.

- We lived in Allentown from 2001-2003. I visited the park countless times back then. I visited once since then for the CoasterBuzz event in 2005. Now in 2008 after so much time away and seeing the park again I don't see how anyone can say it's a barren concrete wasteland. The park has grown in so much that it's crazy. There's plenty of trees and if it's grown in this much over the past 5 years, I can't wait to see it in another 5.

- Voodoo went down a couple of times. Usually when we were in line. Never did get a ride. We'll try again tomorrow.

- I really dig the inversions on Hydra. They're very well done and stellar examples of how each type of inversion should be. I like the pacing and I like the layout. But why is it the roughest, bangiest, shakiest B&M out there? The ride kills the ride. (you know what I mean)

- Thunderhawk isn't nearly as good as I remember it. What happened to those sick pops of air at the tops of the first couple hills? Did they add extra neutering to the ending? It just seems to sigh to a finish.

- We're heading back tomorrow for a little bit in the morning before heading out to Hershey, so we mostly let the kids get on flats and just hung out.

- Guns don't kill people. I kill people.

- Lazer still kicks ass. Those loops destroy. Schwarzkopf rules.

- I secretly really enjoy the Dragon Coaster.

- Steel Force wasn't biting hard at all on the midcourse. I still think that coaster is underrated.

- The Scrambler was flying. Seemed like it was running really fast to me.

- The older guy doing the spiel on the train was trying but he ending up doing the same stereotypical spoeech pattern that Strong Bad does on the Strong Badian Riverquest Safariventure.

- Ice cream cones were $3.19 each.

- Our passes actually scanned at the gate. It's officially the first time I was able to use a Cedar Fair pass at a park other than the one I bought it at and not go through guest relations! Yay! Welcome to 2002, Cedar Fair.

I think that's it for today. :)

They added more brakes at the end of the Thunderhawk to slow it down before the station. Don't know why they did that because that was one of the most fun parts of the ride, but they did it.

Well, it's not a secret anymore that you love the Dragon coaster. Ehehehe...I'll tell you a secret: I love it too. Haven't been on it in a while because I can't always fit (weird....some days I do, some days I don't), but it used to be the only coaster I would go on in my ride-aphobia days.

I wouldn't say Steel Force is underrated. It has been compared to Magnum due to their similar layouts, but Steel Force typically wins out in that comparison. I know many people say they absolutely LOVE Steel Force. I like that it feels like a real roller coaster, whereas Nitro was fast and smooth but felt a little TOO smooth to be as scary as Steel Force can be on the right day.

My luck with Voodoo has been fairly good other than getting stuck on it in the station for approx. 10 minutes. I've noticed many people saying that it has shut down for them earlier in the day, and the only time I visited Dorney before 5 pm, it was shut down then. Maybe try someday to hit it in the early evening. I've been on it six times in one week, all around 6 pm.

I've had really smooth rides on Hydra except for the back ride I wrote about in the last TR for Dorney. Did you try the front car? I still think B&M might have had such limitations on that coaster that they had trouble DOWNsizing. I mean, the drop is 90 feet. Sad. Had they had more room, I think Hydra really could have been kickass.

Glad you enjoyed the visit to my home park! :)

Oh, and what exactly is a coaster run? I think I may have been on a coaster run last week and didn't even know it. Hehehe...did 15 or 16 coasters in one week, not to mention all the re-rides. And am doing Knoebel's today.

Well, by next week at this time if all went well, we should have hit somewhere between 12 and 15 parks and 60 or 70 different coasters and traveled close to 1600 miles...

...and compared to some, we're lightweights. :)

I guess that's what I meant by 'coaster run' - most people would just call it a week's vacation. I suppose 'coaster run' does imply some agressive attempt to ride a lot of coasters. We're just heading out and doing some parks we haven't been to in a few years.

Dang. Just when I think I finally hit the big leagues with my trip last week [4 parks (KD, BGE, Caro, SFOG), 37 coasters, and 1339 mile driven] Gonch goes and crushes me.

Shades, I know how you feel! :P Been to four parks in the past week and a half and increased my coaster count by 10 and still don't even come close to the Gonch. I just don't have the money though. If I ever get rich, I'm going on a worldwide coaster tour. LOL

I also am jealous. I have the money... I just don't have the time.

I think the only coaster I've been on this year is the Lil Phantom.

I'm such a horrible enthusiast.

*** Edited 6/16/2008 4:00:36 PM UTC by kpjb***