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Author Dorney Park - August 10, 2002
Cyclonic
Posts: 2636
Registered: 7/19/2002

Rank: Experiment 626
8/11/2002 8:11:00 PM
Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom


Originally, I and my friend Greg were going to venture up to Lake Compounce, however, another friend, Ray, said he had gotten some extra free tickets from work for Dorney park. Free is my favorite flavor, and neither of us had been there in a few years, so we went and were to meet everyone up there.


We left early, about 7 AM, got breakfast, fiddled around a little, stop at the Wawa to pick up a few hoagies for lunch, and finally got to the park at about 9:30. Ten minutes later the gates opened.


We went straight for Talon, Dorney’s B&M invert. We waited 20 minutes for the ride to open, and were one of the first ones on, we hopped in line for the front seats, and a few minutes later we were climbing the 135’ lift hill. Talon is a great ride, smooth, quite and fast. It is a typical B&M in regards to its performance. I really enjoyed it.


Next we started to make our way towards Steel Force. A nice stop along the way was Dominator. Again, no line, the crowds had not yet made their way back here. We did the drop tower first, which is a whole load of fun, it is cool because you sit up top, and they leave you there for a solid 20 seconds to ponder you fate as you gaze upon the rest of the park, then without warning you are sent hurtling earthward. What really surprised me was the up tower. After being fired up it give a good 5 seconds of 0 G’s at the peak.


Steel Force. It is the dominating ride of the park, towering over all others. It would be well worth any wait, if there were one. Steel Force is in the very back of the park, and even by 10:30 very few patrons had worked their way back this far. We waited two trains for the front seat, well worth it, because looking down that first 200’ drop is incredible. The ride is actually pretty simple in layout, first hill drops into a tunnel, second hill, third hill into the double helix, which is a fantastic element, then you hit the break run (I hate break runs) then a series of bunny hops into the station breaks. We got back to the station, and to our joy, it is still empty of people, so we do a quick seat switch (others were waiting for the front seat) and re-rode.


At this point Greg was getting a little antsy to get to the water park, he loves the water park, I am not a big fan. Before we head to the water park, we do one last ride, the Thunderhawk. I love this old coaster, though I feel it has lost much of it’s charm since Cedar Fair took over. Gone is the station that was combined with an arcade an a bumper car ride (Lusse Skooters too if I remember correctly. Gone is the tunnel under the station, and the station itself used to be on the bend to the lift hill. And finally, gone is The Journey, a dark boat ride with a mill chute that used to run under the Thunderhawk. They are all missed, and Cedar Fair did a great disservice to Dorney by removing these unique elements. Well, enough ranting, I still love the Thunderhawk, though they made one little change that really bothers me. They added a break just before the bunny hops into the station. I could not believe they would do this to this grand old coaster!


That being done, we made our way to the water park, and hit a wall of people. The day was down hill from here, we found our friends by the wave pool, and then went for some of the water slides, and waited, and waited, and waited. The place was packed beyond belief. The water park had made zero changes since I was last there. No new attractions at all. We fooled around in the water park until about 4, Then headed over to ride Thunder Canyon while we were still wet.


Thunder Canyon is one of the best river rapid rides I have ever been on. There are no safe spots on these boats, everyone gets wet, very wet. It is a ride that every visitor to Dorney must experience. When we were done getting drenched on Thunder Canyon, we went out to the car and grabbed our hoagies out of th

bb_dg
Posts: 3568
Registered: 7/31/2001

Rank: Site Moderator
8/12/2002 12:18:00 PM
sounds like a great day at DP. talon is a great front seater, as is steel force, but the back seat on steel force is insane. the break run is bad, but in the back, the drop off the brakes provides a huge amount of air. steel force also has the best drop in the back- you float all the way down.

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