Allentown, Pennsylvania – Sunday, July 15th, 2012
The Whip is another one of those things to like about Dorney Park.
The Whip is a W. F. Mangels creation, and has been around since 1920, making it the oldest ride in Dorney Park.
Even by today's standards, whipping around these corners in a small buggy on rollers is a fairly entertaining flat ride that can be enjoyed despite its historical interest.
My last ride for today would be the Zephyr, a miniature railway that circles Cedar Creek, around since 1935.
If there's one other way that Dorney Park is somewhat unique in the Cedar Fair pantheon, it's that they not only have historic amusement rides but are also proud of the fact.
While today this streamlined locomotive is considered vintage, there was a time when it would have been seen as very modern.
This ride is supposedly what saved Dorney Park from the Great Depression. I wonder if Possessed or Stinger will eventually be considered the rides that saved Dorney from the 2008 crash?
All aboard the Zephyr.
The first part of the train gives us a rear-view look at several of Dorney's rides including the Monster...
Possessed with lens flare...
More of Possessed and Stinger...
Stinger from the Zephyr.
Stinger's loading platform
The ride then circles around an empty field with a real cemetery arbitrarily placed in the middle and where a GCI wooden coaster should someday go.
But then we cross the creek and get a pleasant scenic ride through the woods.
Okay, this strip of eastern Pennsylvanian second-growth forest isn't exactly worthy of a national park, but it's nice enough to look at for a miniature train ride.
"I hope that we don't lose sight of one thing... that it was all started by a creek." ~Solomon Dorney
Venturing back toward the amusement area.
Random shot of Cedar Creek.
Thunderhawk from the Zephyr.
Nearing the end of the train ride.
Once more crossing back over the creek.
Could almost be mistaken for somewhere else if Possessed didn't give it away.
And that's the Zephyr.
Quick peek into the engineer's booth.
Final shot of the Zephyr
In the end I lapped the park twice, rode everything I wanted once if not several times, including mini-marathoning each of the major coasters for more than an hour each, and was on the road before six. Nearly everything was walk-on all day, and this was a Sunday in peak season. Based on prior experiences here and based on other people's reports, this seems to be the standard rather than the exception. Dorney Park just doesn't draw the crowds that some of their competitors do, and I somewhat worry about their future health if these are the types of crowds they draw. It seems the string of relocated rides they've received over the past half decade are a way to beef up the park's offerings on the cheap, but if it still doesn't work out I wonder what their next strategy will be.
Dorney is a decent park but if asked what their competitive advantage is I would have no idea what to say. The only reason I took the day to visit was because it was completely covered by my platinum pass and they had a new coaster I wanted to add to my count, so why not? Short of that I really can't think of any reason I would want to return, unless they get a major new attraction. It's a clean park, with pleasant landscaping, some fun rides, efficient operations, and is generally well-managed. The biggest sin is a complete lack of imagination from both the design and marketing departments, who have created the park everyone expects rather than the park that everyone wants. Maybe someday it will find its niche, but until then it can only expect me as a repeat customer if I can find time to squeeze it in between visits to all the better parks in the region.
Yeah, that’s pretty much all the highlights there. I love the log flume there and am a huge fan of the Zeyphr, but Thunderhawk is a shell of itself circa 10 years ago before the trims were really turned up. Once upon a time, the opening 2/3 of the ride was all standup air with a trim killing the run to the station. Then they installed one after the first drop and, well, that was that.
Demon Drop is Awesome! It’s the clanking at the top and the release. Great review!
I have a strategy I’d like them to try, it’s called building better rides.
What happened to these 2012 photo galleries?
Looks like the app I was using for a few updates back in 2012 to connect to Flickr is no longer supported and I’ll have to import them manually. Not at the top of my priority list but thanks for bringing it to my attention. This was the gallery it pulled from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rollercoasterphilosophy/albums/72157635051168226