Dorney Park Opening Day, 5/7/05

[Thunderhawk]

I arrived at the park around 1 in the afternoon. I instantly went to Talon, being that it was the closest coaster to the entrance. Surprisingly, despite the large amount of cars in the parking lot (the season pass lot was full), there was maybe a ten minute wait. Excellent ride as always, though the ops were slow. There was stacking most of the time. Overall though, given the slight wait, the slow dispatch times weren’t bothersome.



And now, probably the reason you’re reading this, I headed over to Hydra: The Revenge. The line was not very long, and even better yet, the wait was only 15 minutes. I thought it’d be an hour wait. Those ride ops have it down to a science. Unfortunately, this was the last thing about Hydra that impressed me.



The ride does not suck. Understand this. But it is only “okay”, or about average. Of the three floorless coasters I’ve ridden (Kraken and Medusa at SFGADV being the others), this is easily the worst. I did not hate it, but when I got off the ride all I could summon was “eh.” The ride seems to “die” (slow down pacing wise) when you pass the station on the way to the back half of the ride after the cobra roll. It isn’t a very fast ride, and the Jojo roll is not enough to make up for the deficiencies of this ride. Did I mention that, for the first time in my life, I experienced headbanging on a B&M? Yes, you did read that right.



Next was Thunderhawk. I don’t know why, but this coaster is magical. I love this thing. However, I may be nuts but I swear one of the bunny hops on the way to the brake run was re-profiled. Unless I am losing it, it looks like the first bunny hop on the run of bunny hops was reprofiled to make it level to the ground; the paint on the ties supporting the track is new, and for some reason, it just conflicts with what I remember. I really remember this bunny hop being diagonal to the ground, not parallel. If anyone can confirm or deny this, I’d really like to know.



Next was Steel Force. Same great ride as always, but I think this (and Thunderhawk) could use a paint job. Dominator was also cool.



I returned to Hydra: The Revenge. Again, the line was deceptively long for the short wait (10 minutes) that I had. This ride, in my opinion, is much better in the back than the front. The pacing felt better and faster, and there was less headbanging. Even though I liked it better in the back, I still am, frankly, just not impressed. I hope when I return to Dorney later this season that I am more impressed.



Of course, I went on my name sake and everything else a bunch more times. I can’t wait to visit Cedar Point, Geauga Lake, and PKI next week! Ah, the wonder of having no exams exam week in college. If anyone has any questions about my trip to Dorney, let me know. And if anyone can confirm/comment on my Thunderhawk idea, let me know.

[Jerry S]

^The Thunderhawk thing, I think I agree with you, check the photos in my TR.

It's a shame you didn't like Hydra, I thought it was much better than I expected.

[GAcoasterguy]

The ride does not suck. Understand this. But it is only “okay”, or about average. Of the three floorless coasters I’ve ridden (Kraken and Medusa at SFGADV being the others), this is easily the worst. I did not hate it, but when I got off the ride all I could summon was “eh.” The ride seems to “die” (slow down pacing wise) when you pass the station on the way to the back half of the ride after the cobra roll. It isn’t a very fast ride, and the Jojo roll is not enough to make up for the deficiencies of this ride. Did I mention that, for the first time in my life, I experienced headbanging on a B&M? Yes, you did read that right.

I totally agree! Not a great ride, but not bad either. I thought it was rough too (as bad as or worse than Scream).

At least it looks nice!

[slnewbus]

First off. I wasn't working until 3:30 on opening day, and the time you rode is when the slower workers were working it.

You are dead wrong about hydra. lol.

Thunderhawk was not reprofiled, the trim brake is alot less powerful than before. (I rode it without them on at all .