TR 8/10 Dorney Park is closed.....

due to capacity.

Rich and I decided to head to Dorney on Saturday to meet up with our friend, Steve, who was visiting from CT. We had expected crowds, but not nearly as much as we encountered.

We got there at opening and headed to Talon. The line was already in the switchbacks, but with 2 trains running we got on in about 15 minutes. Not my favorite inverted, but still a great ride.

Our next ride was the Wild Mouse with close to 1/2 hour wait. They now have a ridiculous new rule of only 2 adults per car and just about every car going out only had 2 people in it, adults or not. This causes an already slow line to absolutely crawl.

When we got to Hercules, we saw something we hadn't seen in a long time--2 FULL trains in use!! Normally, it's 1/2 of one train. Rich and Steve rode this one while I happily waved from the bench. I already rode once this year and that's more than enough.

We then took a ride on Thunderhawk before heading to Steel Force. With 2 trains running(they even added the 3rd in early afternoon), the line was quite short and we got 7 rides on it. Part of the reason we rode so much was to see the "chaos" going on--seeing the main lot fill up, seeing the overflow grass/gravel lot fill up, seeing the former lake area by SF which is now dried out fill up, and finally seeing 1/2 of the employee lot filled up by the GP. The line of cars coming in was just non-stop for as far as the eye could see! They had cash registers set up behind the SF photo booth for the people parking in the employee lot to purchase tickets. They had the gate open by SF for the people to enter the park.

Before leaving around 2, we also took a ride on Laser which only had a couple trains wait. We then HAD to take a walk through Wildwater Kingdom. Being that the coaster lines weren't bad at all, we knew that was where the masses were. It was hard to even move in there--the wave pool was so full that you couldn't see the water and all the slide lines were overflowing onto the midways.

Even when we left at 2, it was hard to get out of the lot due to the bumper-to-bumper traffic on Hamilton Blvd. of people still trying to get into the park. The Allentown police were out there blocking off the left turn lane and the ramp into the park.

The crowds really didn't matter to Rich and I since we have season passes, but I was glad that Steve got to do everything he wanted since he paid for admission. Overall, we had a good time!

Sue

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Sue Barry
CoasterSue@aol.com

Wow... it's amazing the way Dorney is setting all kinds of attendance records even this year without a big-ticket addition. I loved visiting for the first time last year and can't wait to get back again!

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM

The overfill lot was full when I went too last Sunday, that's where we parked even. I think the place was more crowded than CP on a Sunday.

I'm glad to hear they found their trains and used them unlike when I went.

Dorney has become one of my favorite parks. Moving to the area for the first time and living a few miles away has helped. We haven't been over for a while though. Might be time for a quick stop one of these evenings.

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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park visits in 2002: 15

Did they actually close the park????

Funny, I was there yesterday and the main lot filled up and the grassy lot across the road did too. There seemed to be a lot of people in the park, but I never waited more than 30 minutes for anything (Thunder Canyon and Talon). And that's even with a Talon crew that finds a way to stack two trains at least half the time. Overall, I did have a real good time. I was impressed with some things about the park and disappointed about others. I think I'll post a TR later... :)

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-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

Wow, that is great for Dorneypark, I remember back a few years ago they struggeled to fill up the main lot,the after the adttion of Dominator there popularity went up , then after they repaved the park,and did some work on there older rides (monster), (no more ashfault trails), the addtion of the wildmouse too, then with Talon in 2001 there popularity sky rocketed, I was amazed when I viseted in 2001 how many people there were in the midways etc. I think the reason is the value you get with the purchase of one ticket, you get a Waterpark, and Amusmentpark for under $39pp vs Sixflags which offers a seprated price Amusmentpark at nearly $50pp,and Waterpark for another $30pp. Not to say that Sixflags isent bringing in ticket sales, (becuase every time I go it is has been crowded),but with dorneys value its great. I cant wait to get to Dorneypark in the fall, at least they have candy appels, Great Adventure todl me they only sale them in the fall Dorney sales them year around ,and they are made fresh next to coaster eat in. Oh yea I never rode there Wildmouse becuase every time I go the line is way too long! they only run like 4 cars, The only complaint about Dorneypark is the way they been running the rides capaict lately, but its good to hear on the day you went they had mulitaple trains running.

*** This post was edited by WoodenCyclone on 8/12/2002. ***

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B&M ROCKS said:
Did they actually close the park????

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Yes, they really did. There were signs out on Hamilton Blvd. saying "Dorney Park is closed due to capacity". The Allentown police were also blocking off the road to the entrance.

Sue

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Sue Barry
CoasterSue@aol.com

Dorney's attendance was up something like 14 or 15 percent last year and is up another 4 percent so far this year so they're definitely creating a name for themselves. Capacity wasn't as great as say CP, but it was in line with Great Adventure or Hershey and certainly better than a place like SFNE or SFDL.

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-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

Im going tomorrow (Thursday) I hope there won't be long lines or nothing and its going to be hot out.

i was tat Dorney for my senior class trip ('01), and havent been back yet, but in the couple times ive been there i remember seeing the grass area by SF filled, so seems they're getting enough attendance...but that's just unreal

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Insert clever signature.
"We love Megan!"

I've never seen the grass lot used, let alone the overflow lot by SF, but I always go on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Even then WWK is jammed. It's great to see that the attendance is this strong. This strengthens my theory that Dorney is the #2 park in Cedar Fair.

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