My first Dorney Park visit.

From advice I had gotten from others here I conned the significant other into taking a final trip for the year. It was only a 2 hour drive to Allentown PA and Dorney Park, mainly because I wanted to ride Talon. She likes coasters enough to allow me my fun. And our six year old likes to go to the parks too, so off we went on Sunday morning, 9-2. I was going to plan this trip for next year, but the occasion arose, so I went with it.

First stop was the Wild Mouse. Do they have terrible capacity on this one? I hoped the slow moving line was not an indicator for the rest of the park. My first Wild Mouse also, so it was fun, nothing thrilling, got the 6 yr old to ride and she actually enjoyed it and she hates coasters with drops. 3thumbs(on a 5 thumb scale).

Next we went on the traditional swings, the kid loves em, and they are always pleasant.

The first thing I noticed about the park was that I could watch Talon but not hear it. So strange when all the B&M's I rode are loud. Magic sand in those beams. Anyways, the long line at the Mouse was not an omen, since I waited 15 minutes for the last row. The kid waited for us. Wow, great ride! Keeps on coming and hitting you fast. Not as intense as B:TR, but more fun. Love the 0-G roll and fast helices. 5 thumbs

After a pit stop, I got on the first row of Hercules in 10 minutes while they changed so they could ride water rides. Not as bad as I read on here, but man those trims on the drop suck. Fun, but nothing too special. 3.5 thumbs.

Now we had to let the child play in Camp Snoopy some. Then we did the bumper cars, tilt-a-whirl, enterprise,cars, and whip. Oh and the flume ride, who put that little waterfall there? Cold water, and it was a beautiful cool day out. So we shivered a bit.

Next we got on the Thunderhawk. OUCH! Bruises man. But a fun ride, not too rough. Just smacked the side of the train a few times. 3 Thumbs

On to the Steel Force, my lovely lady would not ride it since she hates high coasters with steep drops. She just likes the inversions and helices and twists. Anyways, I rode and I will say it was a very nice ride. Not as good as S:ROS, similar to Magnum XL-200 on my opinion scale. Nothing new though to it, but a fun ride, good drop and second hill. 4 thumbs.

Next we rode her favorite and the only ride we go to do 2 runs on due to time and other activities. Laser, a fast, high-g, Schwarzkopf looper. Fun, fun, fun all the way through. Slow lift, once you drop though, you do not stop and just keeps throwing you around. Love it. 5 thumbs.

Overall it was a fun and pleasant trip. Nice clean park, with friendly people, except for the Wild Mouse ops. Nice little laser light show at night. Will definitely try to head there again sometime in the future.

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Any resemblance to living or
dead people is purely coincidental.

I don't understand how most of you can like Talon so much, it isn't that great IMO, is it just because Talon was my first invert or something?
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The dunce has spoke!

skysox: Your report could have been written by (for) me as I feel the same way about the coasters as you.  I have been to Dorney in 1999 and twice this year (had to ride Talon!).  One question:  the flume ride waterfall when I rode it was just a teaser, it let you see it coming, but stopped before you went under it (other than some drippage).   That wasn't that the case for you?  Maybe the shutoff sensor was broken...

Mr. Teen: wait until you ride other inverteds until you judge Talon too harshly.  It is among the best out there, for its design and size.

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Yeah, same here on the Waterfall during our visit in July. My wife had wanted to bring her back pack (includes towels, ponchos, etc etc etc) but decided against it when I commented how close we parked to the entrance and we could get our hand stamped and get the stuff if we wanted to ride the really wet rides. We boarded the log flume and she was commenting "we should have brought our ponchos." At the top, you can imaging our thoughts when we saw that water fall. "We're going to get soaked!" she said. "You and your bright idea about leaving the stuff in the car!" I don't know what I was regretting most... the water fall up ahead or the fact that she would be "reminding" me about leaving the ponchos behind. Anyway, we both broke out laughing hystericall when we got right up to the falls and they suddenly stopped. All we got were a few drops. Like MABrider said, the sensor may not have been working properly.

Also, to echo MABrider...
Reserve your harsh judgement of Talon, Mr.Teen, until after you have experienced other B&M inverteds. Of the ones I have run into, I rank it tops...
1. Talon (intense with good twists and truns)
2. Great Bear (Fast and "graceful")
3. Montu (Good ride, but yet lacking next to Talon)
4. Dueling Dragons Fire (Good ride, but bad pacing)
5. Dueling Dragons Ice (Okay ride, but bad pacing)

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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."

*** This post was edited by SLFAKE on 9/5/2001. ***

Hey it is my opinion of Talon, and you are entitled to yours. But do try and give it a chance first, and then ride some others to see how it is. Anyway, I have ridden Talon, Raptor, B:TR(one in IL and one in NJ), Dueling Dragons, and Top Gun. Talon is so far the most fun and the most exciting. It is not as intense as B:TR, which just hits you and never stops. Next year I will get Great Bear, and possibly Alpengeist. I rate the B&M inverts I have ridden as:

Talon
B:TR
Raptor
Dragons
Top Gun

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Any resemblance to living or
dead people is purely coincidental.