Yoshi Posted July 8, 2016 Report Share Posted July 8, 2016 No pictures today since my phone was in a locker almost the entire day. I haven't been to Dorney since the end of May and decided to go to the park today mostly to spend time in Wildwater Kingdom. Parking was $15 last year, $17 earlier this year and now $20 for regular, $25 for preferred. The preferred section of the lot was also increased. Metal detectors were not being used today, at bag check when I put my bag at the table, the guard didn't even look at it and just waved his hand for me to go to the park entrance. What's the point of bag check if they aren't even looking at the bags? All day lockers are back to $20 for the small size after being $15 earlier this season. Even worse the lockers by Whitewater Landing that used to be $2 per hour up until at least May are now $5 per hour. They were good when you just need a locker for 3 or 4 hours since it was only $6 or $8. Before the electronic lockers that were added in I think 2014 the lockers in that spot used to be $3 for 1 time use (and were $1 for a while before that). The 3 point challenge was $5 since it opened except for a short time it was $10 and then changed back to $5. It is now $10 again and you get a bottle of Dasani water, Powerade or Coke. I think that will hurt the amount of people playing. When it was $5, there was almost always someone playing the game and sometimes a small line. Today I only saw 1 person play, although it may not be the greatest sample size since the park wasn't crowded. There was also Bands, Brews & BBQ on the midway near Possessed. It looked like a mini version of the Food and Wine Festival at Disney. Tickets were 5 for $10 or 20 for $25. Food items seemed expensive with a slice of apple pie 4 tickets, and a pulled pork slider also 4 tickets. There was a band playing with about 8 people watching. I didn't see anyone at the food stands. With the temperature around 90, Wildwater Kingdom was surprisingly empty. Other than Aquablast and the Python Plummet (drop box) slides, everything else was 5 - 10 minutes. There was more inconsistency with the lifeguards. I saw people with jean shorts that can scratch the slides and people wearing socks on the slides. At Patriot's Plunge the chains were down and people were allowed to line up for each individual slide which was good to see since a lot of times everyone will want a certain color slide and the line won't move if no one close to the front wants to slide down the other 2 slides. After 13 slides and going to the shorter of the 2 lazy rivers (another change was not enforcing people to be sitting in a tube) I went to Thunder Canyon where they were loading 6 rafts at a time, Whitewater Landing twice with no wait and Thunder Creek Mountain twice also with no wait. With the water rides done, I took a quick lap around the ride side. Nothing had a wait of more than a few minutes. I rode all the coasters except Woodstock's Express and also rode Cedar Creek Flyers, The Whip and the Turbo Drop side of Dominator. When I went back for a 2nd ride at Talon around 9:00, it seemed like it was faster than normal, maybe because I normally am not in the park that late at night and it had already been running for 11 hours. I decided to give Stinger another chance after my last ride in May 2013. It was smoother this time although I hear it's still having issues so I probably won't ride the coaster that often. It's difficult not to have a good day at Dorney, especially when Wildwater Kingdom is open and this trip was no different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted July 8, 2016 Report Share Posted July 8, 2016 Really bad they are no longer enforcing people to keep their feet up as it cuts down on pushing and shoving in the rivers. Seems like operations and management in all the local water parks have deteriorated this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pashacar Posted July 8, 2016 Report Share Posted July 8, 2016 It's difficult not to have a good day at Dorney, especially when Wildwater Kingdom is open and this trip was no different. Nicely said. I know they don't do everything right, but SF could learn a thing or two from CF.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted July 8, 2016 Report Share Posted July 8, 2016 Agreed, WWK does maintain much better order and efficiency than HH. Even their fast pass has a better setup that doesn't impact standby waits nearly as bad as HH does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pashacar Posted July 8, 2016 Report Share Posted July 8, 2016 ^ WWK has a fast pass? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoshi Posted July 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2016 Fast Lane Plus has all the ride side rides plus both lazy rivers, Aqua Racer, Aqua Blast and all 6 Snake Pit slides. Any future additions will probably have it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted July 8, 2016 Report Share Posted July 8, 2016 (edited) The water park fast lane is an add on to the regular fast lane, a add on for a add on LOL. Because of that their are fewer people who purchase fast lane plus, plus many of the towers have dual stairways so standby guests don't have to wait in ground queues, not moving like HH. Very few places don't have a fast pass of some kind anymore, Hersheypark has it too. Edited July 8, 2016 by The Master Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pashacar Posted July 8, 2016 Report Share Posted July 8, 2016 ^I think it's all a matter of how it's administered. I actually give SF a lot of credit for how they integrate it in their dry parks. But apparently it all goes to s*** once you set foot in HH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RC98 Posted July 8, 2016 Report Share Posted July 8, 2016 (edited) ^ Agreed, the SF system works well especially compared to my trip to Cedar Point a couple of years ago. I haven't been in HH to compare it to though, what do they do there that makes it so bad? How does getting tubes work in the waterpark? Does each slide have its own tubes or is there a spot to get one to use for the day? I'm going for the first time on Sunday. Edited July 8, 2016 by RC98 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted July 9, 2016 Report Share Posted July 9, 2016 The fast pass in HH makes stand by lines artificially longer by design, creating the need for a fast pass just to have a decent time there. WWK doesn't do it that way, every tube slide has its own tubes, they don't rent tubes. I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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