Dorney Park, 8/15/18

[Yoshi]

I went to Dorney on Wednesday for yet another trip, I got to get those water park visits in before they close in 2 1/2 weeks.

 

Entering the park was interesting. There were 2 guys with a cardboard box full of sodas, lemonade, chips and other snacks. One employee at the entrance tells them they can't bring in those items. They get annoyed and say that just coolers aren't allowed and that isn't a cooler. She goes to call security and a manager and leaves the entrance. Everyone in front of me in line starts entering without having their tickets scanned. I stepped to the side since I need my season pass scanned in order for all the add-ons like the dining pass and Fast Lane to work. Some of those people could have entered without having a ticket or season pass and no one stopped them. A security guard tells the people with the food and drinks that they can't bring in the items and they start saying words and calling the guard names that I won't repeat here. I ended up going to the other line to enter the park.

 

Even at 4:00, most of the food places near the entrance were crowded. Wildwater Kingdom was even more crowded than last week. Jumping Jack Splash had a line out to the entrance (no switchbacks being used). This time there were more Fast Lane users and waits were 0 - 10 minutes for the slides. With Fast Lane users being at the Snake Pit slides the entire time, it turned what would have been probably a 20 - 25 minute wait for the slides into a 45 minute wait since it basically doubles the wait time if there are always people using Fast Lane. The red drop box slide was closed. Wildwater Rapids had just reopened when I walked past it and was able to get 7 slides in about 15 minutes before people realized it was open. After a trip around the lazy river and Thunder Canyon (probably a 30 minute wait) I went back to the dry rides.

 

The ride side was much more crowded than normal. Some flat rides had half full queues and the coasters had lines. One thing I found annoying was there was no one controlling the merge point at Thunderhawk and Steel Force. I skipped Thunderhawk because the station was full. With someone at the merge point there are usually only 1 - 2 trains worth of riders allowed in the station. It also meant that anyone with Fast Lane would have to force their way into the line at the merge point with the potential of an argument happening if people think you are cutting in line. At Steel Force there were others using Fast Lane so I just walked past the merge point at the same time with them. Steel Force looked like the wait was around 20 minutes. On the way to the other rides I also stopped at Possessed, going for the last row.

 

After getting dinner, I went back to the top of the park and rode Hydra, Talon and Wild Mouse. Wild Mouse was probably a 45 minute wait. While waiting in the station, a family walked up the exit, sat in a car and actually thought they would be allowed to ride. The ride operators weren't allowing it of course and the family got annoyed they weren't allowed to ride.

 

I'm hoping to get back to Dorney at least once more before Labor Day for another visit to focus on Wildwater Kingdom. Maybe if I visit in the fall, I'll actually spend more time on the ride side and go for multiple rides on some of the coasters.

 

Ride Count:

15 water slides

Lazy River

Thunder Canyon

Talon

Hydra

Whip

Steel Force

Cedar Creek Flyers

Possessed

Wild Mouse