By Jeff
My fiancee and I have a thing for amusement parks and zoos. We love them and went Dorney Park in Allentown, Pa., for the first time yesterday. It was fun, but nothing special.
You have to know that the park is owned by the same company that owns Cedar Point, the best amusement park I've ever been to. So my hopes were high for Dorney, despite it being a fraction of the size of Cedar Point. This relationship is evident by the Peanuts theme and all of the restuarants and vendors around Dorney, as they are the same as Cedar Point.
As for the rides, it's like Cedar Point's rides had children and shipped them to Dorney. There are five roller coasters (I will never consider the Wild Mouse a roller coaster), and they are decent but not incredible. First, we rode Talon, an inverted coaster with a 135-foot drop and a high speed of 58 mph. It was a smooth and fun ride. If Cedar Point's Raptor and Mantis had a baby, it would be Talon. While the speed and height is nearly identical to Raptor, it's not as fun. There are less loops and turns, kind of like Mantis.
Next up was Hydra, which was our least favorite of the five. It's only 95 feet and barely tops 50 mph. It boasts that it begins with a unique twist that flips riders upside-down to start out, but you're going like 5 mph through the twist. It would be one thing to be shot through the twist to start, but ou slowly roll through it, so what's the point? The rest of the ride is pretty lame. If Mantis and Corkscrew had a child and then left it at the firestation it would be Hydra.
The only wooden coaster at Dorney is Thunderhawk and it's great. Thunderhawk is 87 years old and you can tell during your ride. You are tossed around from side to side and never feel safe, but it doesn't hurt your body either. It's exactly what you want from a wooden coaster. Thunderhawk would be the child of Mean Streak and Blue Streak at Cedar Point. It has the speed and excitement of Mean Streak, but you can enjoy it pain-free like Blue Streak.
The gem of Dorney's coasters is Steel Force. The logo is like a ripoff of Kennywood's Steel Phantom/Phantom's Revenge, but the ride itself is a ripoff of Cedar Point's Magnum XL-200. Steel Force has practically the same height and speed as Magnum, and it even has the tunnels that Magnum does. Hell, it's even red. But guess what? Magnum is an incredible coaster and Steel Force does it's daddy proud. Basically, it is Magnum's adopted child.
The final coaster at Dorney is Possessed, which is one of those coasters that consists of two towers and riders are propelled up the towers a few times. It's a fun ride, but only one side twists, whereas Cedar Point's Wicked Twister has twists on both towers. If you're a man, there is also the fact it kind of hurts your tenders, especially when you go up the tower backward. Make sure you push down on your harness to relieve pressure on your groin and you should be OK. Rather than being Wicked Twister's child, Possessed is more like Wicked Twister's sibling that was never as successful.
Other fun rides at Dorney were Dominator (A mini Power Tower), Meteor (Identical to Kennywood's Aero 360), Enterprise and Screamin' Swing (Kennywood's Swing Shot). I wanted to do Thunder Creek Mountain (Kennywood's Log Jammer) but my fiancee does not like water rides.
Dorney also has a nice looking waterpark, but we did not go in there at all as we didn't know the night riders' passes were good for the waterpark as well. Hmm. That kind of sounds like Cedar Point!
The Who - The Kids Are All Right
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