Hercules to be replaced by B&M floorless at Dorney

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TalonJosh1491 wrote:

I have a great idea for the wood, give it to campers to use as firewood....

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Actually, not so great an idea, unless you like toxic fumes.

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DP4life wrote:

I mean they have to know that if they screw this up the whole park may come with it right?

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Wow, that is SERIOUSLY overstating Hercules' importance. Despite what some people might think, Hercules is not the showpiece of Dorney Park. I've been to Dorney without so much as glacing over in that direction -- Thunderhawk, Talon, and even Steel Force are far more interesting rides. My opinion, yes, but not exactly a minority.

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--Greg, aka Oat Boy
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"What do you want, you moon-faced assassin of joy?" -- Londo Mollari, Babylon 5

*** This post was edited by GregLeg 9/5/2003 3:09:14 PM ***

I find the people most sad to see hercules go are the ones who A.) are from the area
B.) were around when it first opened
Other than that, you all just don't understand.

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This space will forever be dedicated to Hercules-R.I.P. 1989-2003

Well keep a ride for those two people or put something in that might appeal to the other tens of thousands of daily visitors. I think they made a good business decision.

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What time does the water show start?

Does anyone remember when the two Herc trains crashed?

I was a ride attendant on the platform the day that happened.

There was always something wrong with that ride, a maintenance nightmare. Herc had his time. I'm glad Dorney is making the decision to remove what I believe has been a scar and what has turned into being a terrible ride.

Herc was my favorite coaster when it first opened, but the mega woodies seem to get worse over time. I'm a firm believer that bigger is not better when it comes to wood coasters.

I do not believe this was metioned but I heard that the main reason it isnt coming untill 2005 is because they are going to wait for Hersehy Park's new launched ride. The Dorney Park ride was orginally planned for 2004. But because the Hershey Park ride was announced first they decided to hold it for a year.

No, its because its gonna take awhile to dismantle hercules.

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This space will forever be dedicated to Hercules-R.I.P. 1989-2003

Yeah, Dante got it, Hercules is going to be one of the biggest deconstruction projects ever. I agree with everything the park had done EXCEPT I wish they would have let it run until the season was over or announced it's demise ahead of time. I hope this huge project brings back popular sites such as RideZone to update. They can cover the construction of the new rocket and the deconstruction of Hercules at the same time.

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Enjoy the rest of your day at Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom.

Good point bs13, I'm sure Joel Styer's camera will be getting plenty of shots if he can find time in his busy schedule.

Do any of you Dorney employees remember Lou Kogelman, the 80+ year old ACE member who had amassed well over 1000 rides on Herc in its early years. I don't think he even wants to ride it anymore.

And a note to Mike Buscema, who left this message:

On an unrelated note, I find it humorous (and quite strange) that Carl Hittner would register specifically to say, and quite adamantly so: 'It was NOT a misprint in the newspaper!'

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-Mike Buscema

If you had noticed I registered on the site to make the original news story post, and later in the day made my comment about it not being a misprint because I had first hand knowledge of the information and was able to establish that it was NOT a misprint.

I was never a Dorney employee but I do remember Lou Kogelman. He was on the local news one time back in early-mid nineties. They did a whole news story on him about how long he had been going to Dorney Park and how he was 70 years old and still went on rollercoasters. On the segement he bragged about his Hercules count, it was something like 500 at the time. Yes, I do remember him! Ya know the strangest thing is I was just thinkin about him recently and was wondering if he was still around and if he was still ridin the coasters at Dorney and if he was still a fan of Herc. I guess not.

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This space will forever be dedicated to Hercules-R.I.P. 1989-2003

Well, I guess I should put my 2 cents in now...

I think this is a pretty good decision. The ride was indeed rough, and uninteresting though it did provide a good visual. Im always a little sad to see "any" coaster go, but there wasen't much that could have been done with it without an extensive rebuild. It would have been nicer to see Dorney build an Arrow Mine Ride, but right now, they are marketing to a higher thrill audience.

Although most of us would have rather seen a terrain GCI at Dorney, their decision to put a steel in Herc's spot makes sense. The competition between Hershey, SFGAd, and Dorney has only grown more and more over the past 3-4 years. Dorney is trying to make a statement, especially with Great Adventure, they got an inverted cause they needed a big looper and they made it better (which is the general consensus) than Batman. Now, they are getting a terrain steelie (ala Great Bear) and hope to make it an overall better experience than Medusa and to compete with Hershey's new rocket. I can probably bet that Hershey will go all out with advertising. "Come ride Pennsylvania's first launching coaster" And, I can bet that Dorney will advertise their floorless the same. "Come ride Pennsylvania's first floorless coaster. Right now, Dorney is caught up in the steel race of the area. Most of can guess that Dorney's next objective is to bring in a modern woodie. The good news is, since most woodies cost less than beemers, I think we could see one in 2-3 years after the floorless instead of the usual 4 years between major coaster addititons.

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Enjoy the rest of your day at Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom.

Yo I think It was A ridse that gave Headaches but it's Fun ya Know. I'm only 13 and i Dont know much But that was A great Ride and i will NEVER FORGET IT.!!!!!!!!!

dorneydante wrote,

I find the people most sad to see hercules go are the ones who A.) are from the area
B.) were around when it first opened
Other than that, you all just don't understand.

i'm from the area and have been going to DP since the 70's. i couldn't be happier :).

Well thats you and I was making a general statement. I didn't say everybody. Don't mince words.

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This space will forever be dedicated to Hercules-R.I.P. 1989-2003

Geez - I don't log onto Coasterbuzz for four days and all hell breaks loose - a death at Disneyland, Hercules being torn down -

Honestly, I am surprised at the move in two respects; one, that they are removing the attraction, and two, that they are replacing the attraction with a B&M floorless. It has been mentioned several times in this thread that this is a somewhat redundant move and I might agree with that. I think details of the new floorless coaster sound interesting, though, and I have new reason to revisit the park in 2005.

From an economic point of view, the only "cheaper" option would have been to close the attraction and leave it standing as BGW had done with Drachen Fire. But to find a buyer for such a custom wooden coaster would be difficult at best. I'm sure they looked at the savings in maintenance, as well as income potential from a new coaster and decided that this made the most sense. Sad to see a coaster torn down, anyway, even though I didn't like 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.'"

not mincing any words, just stating my opinion so you don't appear to be the majority. i owe alot to herc, it was the coaster that opened my eyes to bigger and better coasters, but it was well past it's prime.

i found a link this am that had a quicktime movie but now i can't seem to find it again. can anyone help?

Leave it standing, cut some holes in the structure with clearance for the new ride, "TERMITE TERROR", to pass through it.

You can find the Quicktime POV at http://www.dorneypark.com/_upload/videos/hercules.mov

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For me, this is a sad story because of memories I hold of Hercules in its prime. It was 1989, and waiting in line you could still smell fresh southern pine. Towering over Centronia was the tallest drop on a wooden roller coaster. People would wait an hour to ride Herc! (I did a few times) Back then, it was a single position lap bar, with a singe seatbelt both riders shared. View-blocking headrests were nowhere to be found. Know the air you can catch sitting in the back seat of Steel Force? Sitting in the back, Hercules delivered that same kind of whip over the top too! When the train released from the chain, there was some speed built up as you crested the drop. The first drop used to be steeper than it is now, before the drop and transition into the banked turn was reprofiled. Back then, Herc actually went 65mph--trim brakes were not part of Hercules vocab. (imagine that!) After the drop, the climb used to be higher than it does now, before dropping under the station. (again, reprofiling killed that)From under the station, the two turn arounds where never that exciting, but for the longest time, there was one last treat for those sitting in the back--some good slammer airtime on the last drop before rising into the station. In the first season or two, the control booth was at the back of the station on the loading side of the platform. Ah, those were the good ol'days before the bright lights of Thunder Creek Speedway were installed, and while going up the lift, all you could see of the structure were the trace lights following the drop and banked turn.

Anyone catch onto a lot of the wording in some of my memories--and even in ther other threads? Many of them are past tense. The way the first drop USED to be, the way the second drop USED to be. Before the trim brake was installed. BEFORE the head rests. Before the speedway lights. Before the trains used to crawl thru the last turn around. The problem is Hercules has been beated into submission. The strong and wild young man he used to be, is now an old man. His number has been called, and now it will fade into coaster history.

With that said, DP/B&M better have great ride (ala Talon) to fill Herc's shoes. (something to compete with/beat Medusa) I wanna see some originality. I want new inversions never seen before on a B&M. I sure hope someone had enough sense not to repeat Talon's inversions in floorless format! A 170' drop sure would be sweet.

I'm sure I'll have more to say later....but for now, I'll say "Thanks for the memories Herc!"

-SteelForceGuy
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PUSH the gates open! Exit to your LEFT! Oh, this ride has seatbelts? (Duh) Never under estimate the supidity of people in large groups!