Dorney Park 7/26 A Revelation
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Yesterday was our church trip to Dorney Park. It consisted of 4 youth groups and kids ages 10-20+. After my last trip to Dorney Park I wasnt VERY excited, but I knew I was going to have a good time. And although the weather was looking pretty bad (high 60's, low 70's chance of showers) we decided to take the chance.
The car I was in got to the park very quickly, so seeing that I no one else was there and I had a wonderful season pass, I ran into the park and rode Talon!!! Great ride! I exited the park and met up with the rest of the people.
Everyone got their tickets and we divided into groups. All of my friends (5 of them) and I got into one group. I knew this was going to be great.
Since everyone goes to Talon first, I advised that we head to Steel Force, Thunderhawk and Laser. We hit Thunderhawk with a walk on to the front seat. Same great ride with 2 points of ejector air. But, alas, the trim brake ruins the end bunny hills.. Well, except for one. 6/10
Then we go to Steel Force to find no line, and BARELY anyone in the station. One of my friends and I decide to wait out the front seat, and we board after 5 minutes. The front seat ride was good, great hangtime over the drop, but I was about to find out that the back was better. We hopped right onto the back with no line and I was prepared for airtime. Going over the first drop was easily one of the highlights of this trip. The pure ejector airtime was so nice along with the great airtime on most hills.
While riding steel force multiple times, our group is having a great time making different poses, shouting things on the ride and we are just having such a great time!! We finally realize that we had ridden steel force too much so we head over to Laser.
Laser is fun, intense, fast and mostly smooth. There are great headchoppers and just such intense g-forces. The whole ride is a blur! Everyone that rode it liked it, and all reported black outs on the second loop! 7/10
We then headed to dominator and decided to wait for the green tower (Shoots you down). It was a fun ride, but after being on many Intamin drop towers, it just felt weak. Im not sure how to rate it, but I had fun and its a nice ride in the park.
The whip was right there so we hopped on without a wait. It was a lot of fun! I mean, the whip is a great ride, no one can say otherwise to that. The group loved it so much that we rode again.
We headed up to the Talon area to check out the line. "45 minutes to an hour" the person told us. NO WAY AM I WAITING! I knew that the line would die down eventually (and was I right) so I convinced our group not to wait. Instead, we ate lunch.
We ate lunch at a 50's diner near the entrance of the park. The name escapes me, but it was a cool little place. Unfortunately, the french fries were pretty bad. They were just lacking. But the pizza and malts were great, though I still cant understand how you can charge almost $19 for a pizza!? Anyway, we ate lunch and walked to the carousel where we would meet everyone else. We met them, were told to meet again at 5:00, and walked away. We headed over to the log flume and got wet! Definately a fun ride. Once again, Im not sure how to rate it. Although, later, the water left a somewhat nasty smell on my clothes.. Or maybe that was just me!
Meteor was next on our list. Only 2 other members of my group were going to ride it, as the rest went and rode whitewater landing. We got an inside seat, but that was ok. In my past rides I have only been on the ends. I JUST LOVE THIS RIDE!! The visuals, the thrill and just the sheer fun of it. We got off and got back in line.. We got an end seat this time. WOW is all I have to say. This was easily my best ride on this..ride. It was just pure ecstasy being thrown up into the clouds. Definately, one of my favorite flat rides in the park.
My friend wanted to ride the wild mouse, and even though most people were against it, we obliged. It was a 20 minute wait. Now, if a slow moving line wasnt agonizing enough, the attended SHOVED The lapbar into my stomach. Now, I could have delt with it, but the lapbar pushed my seat belt buckle into my stomach. OWWW!!! Bah, it only hurt for a second and then we were off. I love the no braking on the first part of the ride. Extreme laterals, and the psychological aspect of thinking you are going to go right off the track. The rest of the ride was pretty boring as the speed was braked off. Fun none the less.
From the top of the lift hill of the mouse, I spotted a walkoon for Talon!! We "Power walked" (OK, we practically sprinted) to it and got on. Front seat ride is what we wanted, and was it worth it! This was my best ride on talon so far. Great visuals, fast and furious. I just love this ride. We went right back onto the ride and got a backseat ride. Getting whipped through the entire course is quite the experience!
Im just going to skip ahead to the night rides we had. Mainly due to the fact that I cant remember quite what we did after Talon.. But I do remember getting more rides on Steel Force. Thats about it...
Our first ride of the night was Dominator, red side (Shoots you up). Some members of our party were terrified, even I was a little anxious. But once it launched, it was great! The view of the park was spectacular, and of course, the airtime at the peak was very well liked! Better than the green side in my opinion.
Steel Force was the night ride we were all looking forward to. There was a line, but not much of one. About 5 minutes. We waited for the back and wow. The airtime done the first drop feels even better in the dark. We rode that twice and decided that we HAD to get to Talon before it closed. Once again, we "Powerwalked" over and waited for the front. 5 minute wait, and this was practically a religious exprience. I cant explain how amazing a front seat night ride on talon is. It is just incredible.
I ran back into the station, and got a backseat ride. Wow! Still amazing and then for the last ride of the night, we waited for the front again. This was the best. Outside left, front seat. Just.. even better than my first night ride. Now something that I noticed in the station of Talon.. Everyone was having a great time! People were cheering when the train was dispatched, clapping and even howling (and one guy claimed he was "Getting ready"). If a ride like this can produce that, its a winner. And dorney park has a winner.
We left the park at closing, and spent the whole day. Wow! And let me tell you, this was easily one of my best visits to an amusement park. It was the park, the rides and most of all, the people. If you have a great, TRULY great group of friends with you at an amusement park, no matter how terrible it is, you can have a great time. And I had a great time. So Dorney gets a 9/10 from me for being a great park. Although I still cant understand that $19 pizza.. Hmm...
Final Ride Ratings-
Talon- Day Ride front seat 9/10. Night ride front seat 10/10. Great ride, Dorney park has a winner.
Thunderhawk - 6/10. Great ride except for.. dare I say? The trim brake??
Steel Force- 8/10. Great ride, but it just cant get a 9 or 10 from me. The ascent into the MCBR is really jerky, I wonder if Dorney Park can fix that.
Laser - 7/10. Fast, furious and intense. Lots of fun. Great headchoppers!!
Honorable mentions of the day - Meteor, Whip and red side of Dominator!
Great Day, and Dorney is truly a great park. Im still wondering why I had such a bad time my last trip.
*** This post was edited by Blitzjade on 7/27/2002. ***
jeremy
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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do
Talon is my favorite invert - ahead of Montu.
Talon at night is amazing. I don't know what it is, but the ride just gets so much faster as the day goes on. By the end of the day it's almost and entirely different ride.
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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park visits in 2002: 14
Another "revelation"....
You're right, no matter how bad a day at the park is, if you're with friends, you'll always have a good time!
Good TR, by the way...
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