Dorney Park, 7/19/17

[The Master]

Hate to say it, but things were even worse in WWK today. The rivers did not have bad lines, and their Thunder Creek flume had no line with quick dispatches. But on their slides, they were even slower dispatching sliders than the last time I was there. The slide lines hardly moved, and it seemed with all their slides they would shut them down every 20 minutes and send a lifeguard to dive in the landing pools. Could be part of some new safety protocol on top of not dispatching until the prior sliders have exited the landing pool.

 

They also have a lot of camp groups now, and the kids really misbehave, especially in the rivers. Chains of camp kids just shoved people out of their way in the rivers while the life guards just ignored it. Overall I only got on 8 slides today, about this time last year I did over 20 slides. I just can't believe how much worse WWK has gotten this year, Aug will be a nightmare if they do not turn things around.

 

Operations in the dry park were better, such as the flume. They were running Talon normally this time, no weird station pulsing backing up the line, so it had its usual short line. However, riders were very obnoxious at the station bins than they used to be, pushing each out of the way. One jerk almost shut the bin door on my hand, had to grab the door to stop it and push it back on him. Hydra for some reason had a long line so I skipped it, I suspected they might have been running only one train. The ride op on the Whip was very slow. Possessed was broken down again. Was able to ride Steel Force 6 times today near closing which was nice. However, I saw on two trains people had their cell phones out during the ride to film it and the rides ops did nothing about it. They upgraded the lighting in Steel Forces station with very bright LEDs.

 

Overall it was another disappointing trip there this year, and I do not recommend their water park this year. Perhaps the big chains just are no longer good at running water parks. Last week I went to Moreys Raging Waters and Ocean Oasis and did 40 slides in one day, they know how to keep lines moving. Maybe a good year for me to finally try Camelbeach.

Edited July 20, 2017 by The Master

[Yoshi]

I was going to say maybe life guards were going in the water to look for a lost item but it sounds like it was happening too frequently for that to be the reason.

 

It's a shame about the life guards not enforcing people misbehaving in the rivers. I liked in past years that they were strict about it and from the times I have been there this year, some are still like that, others aren't saying anything.

 

If you go to Camelbeach, I'll be curious to hear how it is. I considered going last year but it didn't look like there were too many slides that weren't for single riders compared to Dorney where everything can be ridden as a single rider except Aqublast. Their indoor water park Aquatopia looks good too.

[Mrpq]

sounds like a not so fun time. I usually have a great time at Dorney. Hopefully it gets better

[dougdrummer]

it's depressing to think that these big parks can't get water parks right....

[The Master]

I was going to say maybe life guards were going in the water to look for a lost item but it sounds like it was happening too frequently for that to be the reason.

It's a shame about the life guards not enforcing people misbehaving in the rivers. I liked in past years that they were strict about it and from the times I have been there this year, some are still like that, others aren't saying anything.

If you go to Camelbeach, I'll be curious to hear how it is. I considered going last year but it didn't look like there were too many slides that weren't for single riders compared to Dorney where everything can be ridden as a single rider except Aqublast. Their indoor water park Aquatopia looks good too.

I think they probably were looking for lost items, but they were doing it at regular intervals instead of when an item is reported lost. Just another way to slow down lines.

 

One lifeguard did half heartedly blow his whistle at a girl who was hogging 3 tubes in the Wildwater River, and she gave up one but still kept two. Of the two rivers, people behaved worse in the Runaway River where the lifeguards just ignored everything. Surprisingly the river lines were not long, but that did not stop some kids from running up the exits to get on. There was some line cutting going on in some of the slide lines too.

 

Forgot to mention that all the slide towers were using chains at the top of the stairs. The lifeguards would only let the next group of people up onto the platform, then close the chain, walk over to their dispatch position, let the sliders go, then walk back to the chain and let the next group up. They also did not bother to fill all the slides on a platform with each group. So having to walk back and forth to fiddle with a chain takes further time.

 

Except for the camp kids, most of the clientele were not English speakers this trip, as were some of the lifeguards.

 

Surprisingly, there was not a huge park exodus after closing time at 10. So I stopped at the McDonalds across from the park. Walked in there was only one group of 3 in front of me ordering. They just kept ordering and ordering for 10 minutes and the cashier had to explain every last thing to them. I could not wait all night for them so I ended up leaving and getting a crappy premade sandwich at the gas station next door. As I walked backed to my car, the same people were still at the cashier ordering! I know the Allentown area is supposed to be circling the drain, maybe it is affecting Dorney really badly now.