Dorney Park, best hidden secret.

I know most of you have been to Dorney, but for those who haven't, go there. trust me this park has many thrill rides and absolutely NO lines. Are there any other secrets besides Dorney in other states? Write some feedback.

It really depends on when you go. The real secret is that you never, ever go on a Saturday. Monday-Thursday is best (expect Wed if its a SF park) Fri&Sun are iffy, but usually good.

Finally weekends (or even better weekdays) in March, April, May (pre memorial day,) Sept, and early Oct are usually dead for seasonal parks.

I can guarantee you there are no lines at Ghost Town In The Sky Amusement Park in Maggies Valley, NC.

I wouldn't call Dorney Park a secret.

SFMM has no lines on week days in the winter.

Here's a secret about Dorney:

Its a mediocre park with mediocre atmosphere filled to the brim with mediocre rides that would have a better than mediocre water park if it wasn't packed shoulder to shoulder with people whenever the temperature got over 75.....

...or at least that's what I would post here if I was in a trolling kinda mood! Good thing I'm not. ;)

*ducks tomatoes* *** Edited 6/24/2006 8:29:58 PM UTC by matt.***

I actually really like Talon. It's my favorite invert (have all the U.S. B&M's but Patriot).

But yeah, everything else is pretty mediocre.

It is a really odd place. They seem to play it really safe with everything they install. Not going to big, or too extreme. Every ride is very good, but not great.

They have some great water rides there as well.

I have never been there myself, but don't they usually have to battle issues with the neighboring residents about new rides? I heard it was a struggle to be allowed to install Steel Force as it was.

Would having to deal with that along with fitting into certain limitations with the city every time be a reason for "mediocre" rides there?

Not defending, just curious.

Being that, I have VF in my immediate area and I would say that DP has better rides as far as a CF park goes. At least they have two B&M's.

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ApolloAndy said:
I actually really like Talon. It's my favorite invert

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And remarkably, its my least favorite, and I think it may be my least favorite by quite a bit. But hey, that's what makes the world go 'round!

(Ooh, I should add. Least favorite of the B&M inverts. Gah, don't want to make that mistake!) *** Edited 6/24/2006 11:03:39 PM UTC by matt.***

Don't forget that Dorney USE to have a bunch of fun rides and charming atmoshere working with the limitations of the township and neighbors. And you don't need to build tall to make a great coaster, especially if you build with wood.

I just got back from Dorney about an hour ago. It's a Saturday and SF and Talon were walk-ons for everything but front and back seats. It's a great park for power riding. Talon is my second favorite of the 5 B&M inverts I have been on. This year it seems to be running better than ever and has moved closer to my favorite invert Top Gun at PCar. I will admit Dorney does not have the most charm,but it is a very clean,very well run park.

Gotta agree with Little matt's first post.

Lazer and the Raft rides are the two highlights of Dorney, Everything else is just Blah IMHO theyve ripped the charm right out of it.

Chuck, who would gladly visit hershey over it any day of the year.

ThunderHawk, aka Coaster, is a disgrace. I hate saying that, I was *so* impressed by it the first time I rode it....

Lazer still rocks - although I hate the loading procedure.

Talon works for me...Hydra, not so much.

Steel Force has kinda grown on me, I like it a little better each trip.

Unfortunately, the CF-style TPM is thick.

I'm actually a person who can say they visited the park way before Cedar Fair ever entered into the picture, since I had relatives in Allentown. That was back when it wasn't called Thunderhawk and it had an enclosed station. Back when there was a Galaxy near the road. Back when they had a speedway. Back when they had a pretzel dark ride. Back when there was no Wild Water Kingdom. And unfortunately, back when they had pay toilets.

I wouldn't say that Dorney is completely mediocre. They've got a really good selection of flats–Top Spin, Hawk 48, Revolution, and Swing-Out, Whip etc. The log flume is cool, Thunder Canyon is sadistic, and White-Water Landing is one big-ass shoot-the-chutes. It looks like they built a really nice go-kart track last year as well under the turnaround on Steel Force.

Last year during the Coasterbuzz event, we got to power ride Hydra first, and it was ok, but then we moved over to the other side to power ride Talon, and let me tell you it was an amazing ride and very forceful at 10pm (or later) at night!

I will agree that Cedar Fair slowly stripped the atmosphere out of DP. For example, my late grandfather gave me pictures he took of Steel Force's construction, and you wouldn't believe how different the park looked back then. On the other hand, without Cedar Fair, would there even be a Steel Force–which was my first hyper?

It sucks for the park that the neighbors are there. From what I could determine back in 01', it looked like there was more development built near the park since the last time I had visited back in the mid to late 90's. Why do people move near amusement parks and then complain?

An awful lot of those complainers lived there well before Dorney became the major park it is today. Hurt-me-please was built in 1989 which wasn't really that long ago, as far as home ownership goes.

Still, I'm glad that CF took over Dorney. Even if it does lack some atmosphere, I can deal with that if we still have a clean, well-run park with some nice offerings.

Like has been said, Dorney has a nice collection of flats. Their water ride selection isn't bad, either. Their log flume is fairly good and gets you wet. The rapids and STCs are good, too. Dorney also has a great waterpark included in admission--let's not forget this.

The coaster selection is decent. 2 of their coasters make 2 of my top ten lists--wood and steel--Thunderhawk and Talon. Hercules was crappy, and Hydra is definitely a nicer ride, but like I've said before, the JoJo roll kinda ruins this for me. Steel Force is nice, but weak in the air dept. Laser is a decent, positive-G filled Schwartzkopf (sp?), and I supposed the 2-3 kiddie coasters are ok for what they are. 1 or 2 more adult coasters would be nice, but it's still one of my favorite parks.

I also like not having to wait in lines too much in the amusement park portion. The same can be said for Geauga Lake, but not always for CP and KBF. I hope the park isn't doing poorly. I hope to get up there at least once this year.

My experience with Dorney was prior to Talon/Hydra; I took advantage of my Cedar Point season pass (which seemed to cause Waaay too much confusion at the gate; they acted like they had never even heard of Cedar Point) and combined my visit there with a trip to Hershey Park. Hershey was the stronger of the two parks, and with a heck of a lot more atmosphere.

Hidden Secret - maybe - the only people I know who have ever even heard of it are coaster enthusiasts (and I am from Ohio). I felt the park was like a big, very clean county fair with a few coasters - I really liked Steel Force; and I can say my visit wasn't a waste of time because of that, but nothing else was worth remembering. They had a series of well maintained but unremarkable smaller rides, and that's about it. Hurt-me-please was an embarassment, and I applaud Cedar Fair for removing it. Its multiple reworks left it a pacing nightmare. Best thing about it - the drop down through the woods to the chain lift, which was memorable.

I would need a better reason than another B&M inverted and floorless coaster to ever make a special trip back (I would stop by if I were ever in the area again, though).

Camden Park here in WV and Idlewild in PA are nice little secrets, although they are not THAT secret. ;-)

As far as Dorney it's ok overall. I consider it an "on the way" park and only if I have a Cedar Fair pass.

The last time I went to Dorney as last year. I was on my way to Great Adventure. I needed Hydra so I literally went into the park, rode Hydra twice and Talon once, and then left. I was there about 20 minutes and it was POURING rain. :-)

-Tina

*** Edited 6/25/2006 4:01:27 AM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

Don't blame CF for all the loss of Dorney's old time charm. Although I do miss Alfundo. You can also thank several arson fires in the late 70's and early 80's that torched a number of old buildings, including the original carousel, I believe.

There were some other old rides and attractions, including several dark rides, that were also removed before CF purchased the park. Years ago, the road you use to enter the park (before you make the sharp turn into the parking lot) went through the park. This basically divided the lower section of the park in half with a lot of non-park traffic driving through. That part was NOT charming.

Hercules was a really good ride when first constructed. It just aged really badly.