Dorney Park Help?

I was wondering since I work with Cedar Fair and Valleyfair, Dorney Park is operated by Cedar Fair I get Free Admisson to Cedar Fair parks. I'm thinking of going to Dorney Park August 19th through the 26th, is it worth an extra 5 hour drive from Cedar Point, the reason I'm going is I want to see the success on Talon Grip OF Fear and how it impacted Dorney Park, because Valleyfair is rumored of getting a smililar coaster called Falcon Bird OF Prey combine Talon & Raptor together its supposed to open 2002 or 2003. Also whats Steel Force like and what are wait times at Dorney Park plus do they have a good quality selections of coasters I would like to know what the attandance has been plus were is a good hotel to stay at? I would like to here froom locals and who has been to Dorney this year. Any help would be great.

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*** This post was edited by VIPER on 7/20/2001. ***

When I went (during Coaster Con), I noticed the lines were pretty small on a weekday. Talon looked like it was a 15 minute wait. But that was a weekday during June, and I'm not sure what the lines are like during August.

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Dorneys lines aren't bad during the week most of the time. After the water park closes is when the lines get longer usually around 6 pm. Until then everything has a fairly short wait.

I don't think you'd need to spend that entire week at Dorney though. Within an hour and a half of Dorney you have two other great parks Hershey and my favorite Knoebels. I think you'd be missing out if you drove the 5 hours and missed these two parks.

I'm not sure on this one but don't parks give out free passes to other park chains as well? I heard people who work at Knoebels get passes to visit other parks such as Six Flags. You might want to check into that before your trip.

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Hello, My name is Dan and I'm a coasterholic.

VIPER Dorney is definatly not worth the drive. Steel Force and Talon are the most boring rides ever. Hershey however is worth the drive because every coaster exept Sidewinder and including Wild Mouse is great. If you want to drive from Hershey to New Jersey you can go to Six Flags Great Adventure but its not worth it. Nitro and Medusa are great but those are usually the only coasters out of 13 running. In my opinion go to Hershey and skip the rest.

He didn't ask if it was worth the drive, he asked about crowds and hotels. On a more positive note, I visited Dorney Park on a Tuesday in June and Talon was a walk on most of the day with wait times reaching 5 minutes max. We stayed at a hotel called the McIntosh Inn (http://www.mcintoshinn.com/) a few exits down Route 22 from Dorney. Prices were very reasonable and the rooms were very comfortable. The place looked pretty new and is located right next to a Denny's, I highly recommend it.

If at all possible, I suggest you go to Hershey and Knoebel's as well. Both are terrific parks and are not that far from Dorney.
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Lines for me wasn't all that bad during Thursday, and Friday wasn't bad either, but both days were 90+ degrees and humid, so most people were in the waterpark. Me and my mom stayed at the Holiday Inn Express which is a very short walk to the park. Rates probably have climbed, but we paid 170 bucks for 2 nights.

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Steel Force+ me= floating airtime!

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Medusafanatic said:
"VIPER Dorney is definatly not worth the drive. Steel Force and Talon are the most boring rides ever. Hershey however is worth the drive because every coaster exept Sidewinder and including Wild Mouse is great. If you want to drive from Hershey to New Jersey you can go to Six Flags Great Adventure but its not worth it. Nitro and Medusa are great but those are usually the only coasters out of 13 running. In my opinion go to Hershey and skip the rest."

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Ok pro-Hershey person, for your information, I've went to both Dorney and Hershey and found Dorney more fun, don't ask me why, because then you'll hate me.


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Steel Force+ me= floating airtime!

I great place to stay is the Howard Johnson across the street, or any of the hotels there for that fact, but please dont attempt to be stupid and try to cross it to avoid parking just pay the extra six bucks and be safe. The lines durning the week are not bad at all its varys from walk right on to a five minute wait. And since your going to be in the area for a while, and i gaurantee your going to get bored of the park and the town, just take an extra hour long trip down to hershey or hour and half to six flagsga. and have fun despite the fact that i believe dorney sucks.

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so much fun stuff to see and do Hershey Hershey Park:)