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

I find it interesting that only Great Adventure has that policy for Joker when none of the other parks in the chain with the same ride don't. I would have thought it would apply to that ride in every Six Flags park.

It's a shame there was another fire after they just had the one at Escape from Pompeii earlier this summer.

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/play/rides/kings-mills-antique-autos With so many parks removing antique car rides over the last 10 years, it's good to see 1 park bringing them back. It will probably also give Kings Island another ride they can have open for Winterfest.

Nice report, sounds like you had a good visit to the park. When I type up a multi part trip report, I like keeping it all in 1 thread rather than create a new topic for each post. You could also create a new topic for each report if you prefer that.

I like that Six Flags is giving notice that the ride is closing so everyone who wants to has a chance to get their final rides in. We will probably find out in a few weeks if it is a ride removal or conversion to a floorless coaster.

I think Dorney is getting some kind of new ride for 2019. For 2019 All Season Fast Lane Plus the description states: " Valid for one FAST LANE PLUS wristband per visit during the 2019 season. Bypass the regular lines on 22 rides and attractions in Dorney Park PLUS 5 attractions in Wildwater Kingdom, including SNAKE PIT! " I'm only counting 21 rides (not including anything from Wildwater Kingdom) in the list of current rides Fast Lane works with: https://www.dorneypark.com/tickets-passes/fast-lane

That is good to see season passes will still be available. If they remain somewhat close to the same pricing as the last few years, I will probably choose the season pass over the membership.

That looks way better than the RMC Raptor coasters. 😄 Great capacity too, 8 riders in that small section of track.

Yeah, those stairs open would help. I guess allowing people to stay for multiple laps is another one of those policies that is inconsistent depending on the lifeguard. The last 2 times I was at a lazy river in the park, there was someone near the exit making sure people got out of their tubes before the stairs.

That's great to see, I hate that water park seasons typically lend on Labor Day when it's warm enough for much of September to remain open.

The Dragon coaster looks better than I was expecting (looking at RCDB it is a Zierer Force 5), from watching a POV of a clone in another Legoland, it appears to have a similar thrill level to Runaway Mine Train and Skull Mountain.

It would be good to see them all in use again. Maybe because they don't allow multiple laps they stopped? I remember when my family used to go to Sesame Place they had 2 different color inner tubes. Blue tubes entered and exited at one set of stairs, yellow at the other.

I went to Dorney yesterday for another visit to the park. I am focusing mostly on Dorney trips before the water park season ends and will then start going back to Hershey and Great Adventure more (and still need to get to Knoebels at least once) The 2nd lot was being used which I haven't seen this season. Wildwater Kingdom was the most crowded I have seen it all year. Aquablast and Patriot's Plunge were at the bottom of the stairs, same with Snake Pit and Aqua Racer. The lazy rivers actually had lines. Unfortunately operations were also the worst I have seen this season. Even with a few people in front of me in the Fast Lane line it was taking up to 10 minutes. I'm not complaining about having to wait 10 minutes in general, just that because of how the slides were being operated that caused the wait. If there was a single rider in front of me in line, the lifeguard only let them on the platform and wouldn't let others take the 2 empty slides even if someone wanted them. Other times, they lifeguards weren't letting people even enter the platform until all 3 lights had turned green. Normally, they let people wait at the top of the slides and then tell them to go when the lights turn green. I was thinking if the Fast Lane line was taking this long, the regular lines must not be moving much at all. Thunder Canyon had at least a 30 minute standby line. Someone asked me how much Fast Lane was and I told them $125 for the whole season. He told me he paid $101 just for the day. I think he was mistaken and that probably was a combo deal that included admission since Fast Lane doesn't go above $68 but I didn't question him. I rode twice and went back to the water park for a few more slides. I went to the ride side of the park and was going to ride each coaster once and a few flats but after 4 rides, the heat and humidity was really getting to me and I decided to just get dinner and leave. The ride side was mostly empty as expected. The only dry rides that had lines were Thunderhawk and Wild Mouse. Haunt is starting up soon and the park is working on setting everything up. The maze near Thunderhawk looked like it was almost complete. Ride Count: 12 water slides Lazy River 2 Thunder Canyon Thunderhawk Steel Force Cedar Creek Flyers Whip

After Stinger closing this past offseason, I'm going to expect something else gets removed Dorney. I also saw the post mentioned reduced operating hours, I hope they don't reduce Wildwater Kingdom's hours to not be open on weekdays until mid to late June. Maybe ignoring the smaller parks in the chain is hurting attendance. If I'm a non coaster enthusiast who visits one park a year in this area, I'm probably going to pick Hersheypark or Great Adventure where there is almost always something new being added every year and a much better selection of rides at both of those parks. It will probably be the same for 2019. Major coasters for Canada's Wonderland and Carowinds while Dorney, Valleyfair, Michigan's Adventure and Worlds of Fun will not have had a operating coaster added since 2007 / 2008.