Dorney Park 8/31/03! (First Time)

We arrived at Dorney around 11:30. The Parking lot was about full, and it seemed like the park was going to be major crowded, but the majority of the crowd headed for Wild Water Kingdom. Thus my friend and I had little to no waits for the coasters and flats... at least until the waterpark closed.

The Coasters:
Talon: We took a total of 4 rides on this great machiene, two of which were front seat rides. I love the zero G roll above the line and station. the tilted veritcal loop is awesome as well. the diving element before the brake run was great too. Very smooth, all in all I give it a 9.5/10

Hercules: I have heard a lot of negative stuff about this coaster. I personally thought it was pretty good. It has a great setting, but the second part of the coaster seems to lack speed and air. I didnt find it that rough, but evryone else on the train seemed to want to beat the ride back. 7/10

Thunderhawk: This was a great ride. Filled with great laterals and air time. I wish they would remove that trim that was at the camel back towards the end of the ride, the train needs a little more oomph over those hills. 7.5/10

Laser: Hey this is great even if it is a portable model. The two loops are pure bliss, and the rest of the ride swoops all over, making you crush your partner a couple times pretty good.There nothing like a Swartzkoph looper no matter what... 8/10

Steel Force: Loved it, great setting, great speed, great height ( hmmm, really, its a hypercoaster). It seemed to have lacked air on the tops of the hills, but the back seat provides some good ejector air. I dont like Morgan Hyper train that much either, they just seem to obstruct the veiws. 8.5/10

The Park:
Overall the park was extremely clean, with wide enough paths, and soo much to do for everyone. You can defiantely see the Cedar Point influence here. I didnt understand why all coasters except for Talon and Steel Force only ran one train. After the water park closed the lines for everything really got quite long!

The Flats:
This park has got a great collection from the classic whip to the new age meteor. We rode about all the flats except for Hang time, musik express,scrambeler, and tilt o whirl.

Other Rides:
Dominator was a 200 foot S@S tower, with one side dropping and one side blasting, rode both sides. What happend to the second Turbo shot tower?? Thunder Canyon is a rapids ride, and boy do you get soaked, and that boat spins like crazy at points. Thunder Creek Mountain (Log flume) a very good log flume, with what seems to be a speed ramp for the largest drop, but boy was the water cold, and it wasnt chloirnated either(Wonder Why?). Then of course white water landing... shoot the shoots a la snake river falls.

The Food:
It was pretty good. I had an awesome Cheese steak sandwhich, my friend had a chicken wrap. we paid about $20.00 for a cheesteak, 2 chicken wraps, two drinks, and one small fry and one large fry. not too bad considering we bought enough food for a small army.

Overall I had a great time, didnt wat too leave. Dorney Park is Great, and I shall return again soon! Overall park experience 9/10

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Carowinds, a better place to fly!

Glad you had fun! I'm glad that you formed your own opinion about hercules. Just because everyone else thinks a certain way doesn't mean that you have to too. I also think its a good ride, not great, but certainly not bad. I also agree that that trim on the 2nd bunny hop on t-hawk kills the major ejector air. Also note that dorney typically only runs 2 trains on the newer coasters(talon n steel force). Only only really crowded days do they run 2 trains on herc, laser, and t-hawk.

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"You know its a good ride when you come into the final brake run wiping tears from your eyes."

I visited on Sunday as well and was waiting in line to enter around 11:30am too.

Hercules: Compared to my first rides on this coaster 2 years ago, it was running "smooth" (for Hercules) on Sunday... especially near the front. The back seat was rough, but not nearly as before (only required an outpatient visit to the ER... not an ICU visit with traction).

Steel Force and air: Did you ride up front or in back on all of your rides? To me, this is truely a front seat coaster (or at least a front car coaster). I have heard other's say a lack of air, but on the top of hills after the first drop and on the "bunny hops" (mighty big bunnies if you ask me), I was hardly in my seat.

T-Hawk and the Trim: Again, did you ride up front or in back? In the back the air time is okay... in the front it is better. The third seat I find is the best... air on the little speed bump between the first drop and the turn and on the first bunny hop before the trim and ejector seat type of air... ("thank goodness for the belt and bar" type of air) at the crest of the hill on the first turn (first major hill after the first drop), crest of the hill on the second turn and the crest of the hill and turn that leads into the bunny hops to the end.

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Half of the people surveyed agree, half disagree and another half are unsure.

Lack of air on Steel Force? That's rubbish. Also, I like the Morgan trains, they beat the hell out of the Arrow trains, are more roomy, and much more comfortable. I can imagine they would obstruct your view if you were about four feet tall.

I really wanted to like Hercules before I got to the park; my ride experience didn't match the anticipation. Talon sounds very cool - I need to revisit to ride it!

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"That's DOCTOR Evil. I didn't spend six years in evil medical school to be called 'Mr. Thank You Very Much.'"

Guess you won't have to worry about Hercules anymore. Good timing for your visit... two days later and you would have missed out on this oft maligned and misunderstood coaster.

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Half of the people surveyed agree, half disagree and another half are unsure.