Dorney Park, The Haunt 10/13/19

[The Master]

  I visited Dorney's Haunt on their bonus Sunday, the only Sunday they have the Haunt. Normally you only have the choice of either Friday or Saturday. Usually I would have been there a couple of times by now, but this was my first Haunt visit for the year, and likely my only one. I did decide to renew my pass for thid year, so I got one free Fastlane ticket to use for the remainder of this season. 

 

  After arriving at the park, I was surprised how crowded it was on a a Sunday, even minor rides had long lines. Because of this, I decided to use my free Fastlane. Even that was only marginal on many of the normal rides as there were no employees metering the lines, Faetlane users had to blend themselves into the main lines, which was not fun. Also many of the ride dispatches were insanely slow. Even with Fastlane, I could only ride Steel Force once because it was taking them 15 min to dispatch trains, which they were running two of. At least they were running two trains on most of the coasters. Ride operations at Dorney are abysmal.

 

  This year, Dorney pushed back the opening of the Haunt attractions until 7:30, which is pretty late. All the houses are the same as last year, through they did enhance a few such as Cornstalkers. The haunted houses is one of the few areas that Dorney still shines, all were well done and staffed very well, much better than GADV FF in those regards. Dorney aleo has much better scareactors than GADV, as well as being more consistently decorated for Halloween than GADV which has big bare areas anymore. Dorney did replace two of their outdoor scare zones this year. One is The Lair, which is themed as a Vampire castle which was pretty good, and Steamworxs, a steampunk style scare zone that  was meh. Nothing really scary about it, just gears and some people running around in steampunk attire. Dorney still had their impressive pirate shipwreck set out near the swings.

 

  Fastlane worked well for the houses, as they had employees to meter the lines. Besides the three main scare zones, Dorney has several mini zones scattered around the park. One was a slasher zone with Scream Face, Michael Myers, Leather Face, Jason Voorhes, and even Jack Torrance. Another mini zone had masquerade characters, who took their masks off to reveal skinned faces. There was also a mini prison zone where scareactors hid behind the cells. There was even a farm mini zone in front of Cornstalkers that featured overhead Jackolanterns and scarecrow stilt walkers. Sadly Dorney cut back their pumpkin soft serve ice cream this year. Instead of serving it at their ice cream stands like in past years, this year they only serve it as a topping on funnel cakes which was disappointing. The Haunt is also down to just one show this year, Blood Drums which I didn't bother to see. They axed their circus show they had for several years. 

 

The crowds were very large there most of the night, but it did thin out quickly during the last hour and a half. The crowds were rougher than at GADV, lots of cursing and smoking. The park was also pretty dirty which is a shame, as Dorney used to be s spotless park years ago. Most of the long lines seemed to be caused by the ultra slow operations. Overall, it was a very mixed trip there. They have better Halloween attractions, decorations, and scaractors than FF at GADV, but are worse in normal operations, shows, and clientele. 

Edited October 22, 2019 by The Master

[Yoshi]

Not having anyone at the Fast Lane merge points has been a problem all season. It's uncomfortable to have to force your way into the regular line right outside the station and the potential for anyone waiting the regular line thinking you are cutting in front of them. I mention it every time I get a survey but it doesn't seem to help.

 

I didn't realize Haunt attractions opened so late, I think they should be like Great Adventure and open the indoor Haunt attractions earlier in the day.

 

 

[The Master]

I was surprised too. Last year the Haunt attractions opened at 7:00. There is only 4 and a half hours of Haunt time at night now.