Dorney Park, 9/24/10

Tonight was opening night of Haunt and I figured with it being a Friday night and it still early for people to be thinking about Halloween, that the park would be dead. I was right as there couldn't have been more than a few hundred cars in the lot. It felt more like a Wildwater Kingdom day than a Haunt day with temperatures in the 90s and still were in the 80s after sunset.

First ride of the day was Wild Mouse. I usually skip this ride because of the slow moving line but since it was only 5 minutes I decided to ride it today. The brakes didn't seem to be as forceful at the end as in past years. Only 4 cars were running but tonight that was enough.

I walked to Possessed next and found an almost empty station. Steel Force also was going out with single digit riders. I got 4 rides, including 1 front row ride waiting an extra train for the front row. Road Rally's cars are by the first tunnel of Steel Force since it is closed for the rest of the season and you were able to get a good look at Terror Square while in the helix. The outdoor haunts seem like they would be less scary if you walk through them before it gets dark out but I guess it is more fun to wait until it is dark.

I went back to Possessed for 2 more rides, and then went to the Zephyr. The engineer was really great giving lots of interesting information about the park like when the train passed the Laser site, he talked about how there used to be a zoo, and a sea lion pool, a pool, whale boats and of course Laser. After that stopped at Dominator and rode both sides, having a solo ride on the Space Shot side.

Music Express was loading so I grabbed a ride there and stopped at Balloon Race only because it is leaving after this season. Hydra had people waiting for the front but the rest of the station was empty. I got 2 rides and went back to Wild Mouse for another walk on and finished the night at Talon with 2 walk on rides.

I was surprised to see so many little kids out in the park tonight. The park suggests anyone under 13 not go to Haunt and there was hardly anything open for younger kids to ride since all the kiddie areas, Road Rally and Cedar Creek Cannonball are closed for Haunt. There were a few roaming characters throughout the park but mostly in the upper part of the park.

The hotel walkthrough had a bride outside and a horse drawn carriage with 2 horses in front of the building which was cool to see.

I didn't go into any of the Haunt attractions since I am not really interested in them.

Overall it was another great trip to Dorney and I hope to get back at least once more before the season is over.