Dorney Park 6/22 (Hydra Construction Continues)

I stopped by DP today for a few hours. (I was there roughly from 6:45 till 9:15.) There had to be less than 150 if not maybe even less than 100 cars in the entire parking lot. That's one thing I love about DP. If you go in the evening right after it rains, it's like walking through a ghost town. On most of the non-coaster rides that I was on, I was the only one. And, every coaster that I rode had less than 3/4 dozen people on it every time. I will try to break down how many times I was on each ride:

Talon - 8 rides (twice in the front)
Steel Force - 2 rides (once in the front and back)
Thunderhawk - 1 ride (Schmeck seat!)
Dominator - 1 ride on each tower
Joker - 1 ride
Thunder Creek Mountain - 1 ride
Wild Mouse - 1 ride

It was a lot of fun when I was the only person riding. I almost had a solo ride on T-hawk, but there was only one other person on the whole train, so I wasn't complaining. The op at the Joker even had to stop sweeping the exit ramp and came over and opened the gate for me and ran the ride with just me on it. I was the only person in line and on Dominator for both sides. What also amazed me was how nice the employees were today despite there being so few people in the park. Also, have any of you noticed a change in the music selection. Today's music was actually GOOD for once, I recognized most of the songs and I think they were actually from this decade. Perhaps this has changed because of the new general manager?

Now for my Revolution story. A little backdrop, Revolution hasn't been doing so well this year. I don't know about the versions on the West Coast, but out here on the East Coast, Claw and Revo have had bad reliability issues. Well I walked to the front of the line (about 4 people in front of me) in time to hear a guest ask the guy if they were closing it. He said yes. So obviously, I walked back out to the entrance. Warning! This is what the GP said! According to the guys in front of me (and this must have happened like 5 seconds before I got there) pieces of the ride fell off. Indeed, I had noticed that the ride was not braking itself to a stop, but instead they let the ride just swing and swing until it naturally stopped back into its original position. Disgusted with how much downtime I personally experienced with the ride so far this year, I didn't stick around to find out what really was wrong with it.

Now onto the best part! Hydra construction!

Just to let you guys know, I will discuss what I think the layout might be due to the position of the footers and some of my theories. So, read at your own risk!

I hadn't been to DP in a couple of weeks so I was anxious to see how the construction was coming along. I had to think from my first impression that they could very well be half way, if not more than half way done with all of the footers. It seems all of the footers are poured for the area next to and behind Joker and now, slowly but steadily, more of them are starting to appear up the hill and towards the old Herc bathrooms. I will briefly outline what we know for sure from the article from last year:

B&M floorless that will feature a nearly 3-minute ride time and 3,200 feet of track. Also, in relation to Herc's old location, Hydra will be located about 250 feet further back on the two sides that face Hanes Mills Road and Dorney Park Road. The ride will sport "5 below grade level sections" (Many people say tunnels/trenches, but I think it will just be 5 trenches.)

Ok, now I will post what I believe is a pretty good rumor. Many have been saying Hydra will feature 5-6 inversions, which seems plausible to me.

I didn't know how to group this with the others, so I will just put it here. Now, I know probably 99% of you will not believe me, but I know for a fact that Hydra will be 95 feet tall. About 2 days after the article in the Morning Call came out on September 4th of last year, I checked South Whitehall Township's website. Sure enough, the application for the floorless was there and it said it would be 95 feet tall. I think the only other person who can back this up for me is DorneyDante, I think he saw it too.

Final conclusions based on the evidence above: If you look hard enough when you are standing in front of Joker, you can see the footers make a pretty distinct turn and then go back up the hill. I can also pretty surely say there will be a cobra roll located next to this turn by Joker. My final conclusion on the ride is that Hydra will have the same layout as Herc did from the station to the top of the lift (Herc was 95 feet tall also) The only difference is, it will be pushed back a bit. It is easy to tell this if you go on Thunder Creek Mountain where you can see footers. You can easily tell that the lift is going to go over top of that turn on Thunder Creek Mountain because there are about 3 footers located outside of the green construction fence right by or inside TCM. One of them is a normal footer while the other two are 'giant large squares' (didn't know how else to describe them)

To wrap up my report, two more things. I also saw a HUGE A** footer located almost directly behind the Dippin Dots stand (which stands right next to the Hydra logo sign) Now, just to warn you, I have NO spacial sense. But, this thing was massive. I would say (based on pics that I have seen) that this footers was comparible to the ones for RipTide at KBF. It had to be a square at least 8 by 10 feet. The rebar was in place and they were getting ready to pour it I believe. Second thing, you can tell they have started to pour concrete for one of the 5 "below grade level" sections and it is pretty easy to tell where another of these sections will be (right next to Herc's old bathrooms). All I can say is, they are digging pretty damn deep. Sorry guys, but I didn't take any photos. Please, post your comments and thoughts to add or disagree/discuss with my theories. I can't wait until the announcement (which according to recent rumors won't be until mid-late fall.) *** Edited 6/23/2004 3:47:47 AM UTC by DorneyMan88***

I was there on the 18th and there does appear to be a turn around of some kind going in the area next to Joker - some footers in this picture are hidden behind the near bushes. I'm still trying to get the right angle to show the direction of what appears to be the lift hill. There are several footers in a straight line in the same direction as Hercules. These two show the line from the middle looking left and right. What really interests me is that Herc's lake turn footers are still in place. Is it at all possible that they could be re-used for The Revenge?

geneticfreak, I highly doubt that herc's old lake footers will be reused for the revenge for the simple fact that the article stated that the ride would be pushed back 250 some feet from Dorney Park Road (this would be the road directly across from herc's old turn on the lake). Therefore, if the ride is being pushed back that much, it probably won't interact with the lake at all.

Okay, I'll play along.

The footers you suggest will be a cobra roll can be nearly proven to serve that function. If you look at them, they are in almost perfect alignment with all footers for B&M Floorless Cobra Rolls.

If you really want, you can take a good, hard look at this:

http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery2169.htm?Picture=18

...and then stand down by the Joker and see just how it matches by looking at the completed footers on that part of the hill. There's a slight difference in footer placement due to what I'll assume will be two of the below grade trenches.

These are some pretty good guesses we're making.

Mike

Sounds interesting, I can't wait until they release the official layout/stats! How early does track usually arrive? Also, 95 feet seems really short to me, especially if it is *maybe* going to have 5-6 inversions. Is this because it dives down the hill after the lift?

FlyInBack, I don't think it's going to dive down the hill at all (except by Joker into the Cobra Roll if that's what you call diving down the hill) I think that is why it is going to have trenches. The purpose of the trenches solely could be to allow it to dive deeper, gaining more speed, and making the next element/inversion bigger.

No tunnels...sorry folks. Hydra will stay above ground but go below grade 5 times. And no dive down the hill.

Regarding Hydra's layout, author Flare posted this to RRC on the 14th of May:

"From what I've gathered: Meandering drop to lift, lift, straight drop, dive loop, zero g, flatspin, cobra (roll), flatspin, helix."

"No long drops down to the lake, and (no) huge tunnels. That you can count on; I understand this ride will do most of it's talking on the opposite side of the mountain, interfacing more with the midway."

I have no idea if this information is accurate, but it certainly sounds feasible from what I've already been able to confirm. Hope you DP locals have fun piecing this one together! ;)

It's accurate...Flare got it from me.

I know this will seem stupid, but after about a year of posting I still do not know what RRC means. Can anyone help me out?

I have heard that layout before and it got me thinking. What is that first corkscrew/flat spin gonna be like? Because, if it was right above the ground like the interlocking corks on the other floorlesses, it would hurt a lot if you were going through it at the ride's mid-speed.

RRC = rec.roller-coaster. You can access it via Google Groups. And I share your thoughts about the cork [or, flatspin as B&M call it] between the zero-g and cobra roll. I suspect it will be larger than a standard cork.

Why couldn't it be higher above the ground? I'm thinking something along the lines of Vortex at PKI.

I figured Flare was on the money, but I hadn't seen any word elsewhere. Thanks mOOSH, I guess that clinches it.

It could be, Gonch...that sure would provide an interesting segue from the exit of the flatspin to the cobra roll.

If that ride description is accurate (and I have every reason to believe it is), would this be the first B&M looping coaster (aside from the flyers) to do without a traditional vertical loop? That'd be a shame because I think B&M's vertical loops are great because of the hangtime they produce!

Oh well... can't have it all, I s'pose.

Rob, the B&M loops are great, but I'm glad to see a change from the typical loop, zero-G, immelman-ish element/cobra roll/loop. Cheers to them. :)

I don't mind a change in element sequence- it'll just be odd to see a "loop-less" B&M looper!

No loop on Hydra.

95', 6 inversions....Hrm. Sounds kind of sketchy to me. Then again, Nemesis is only 42' tall and has 4 inversions, so...Trenchwork? Small, tight inversions? (B:DK style) I guess it can't really have an MCBR, can it?

Andy - no MCBR. The six inversions are, in order, Inclined Dive Loop, Zero-G, Flat Spin, Cobra Roll [2], Flat Spin.