News: Hydra ready to open on May 7th

Posted at 2:33 PM EDT (1833 GMT)

Apr. 27th, 2005 -- ALLENTOWN, Pa., April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The myth becomes reality in 2005 with HYDRA The Revenge, the first and only floorless coaster in Pennsylvania. This $13 million monster coaster offers a one-of-a-kind experience with several unique design features. Dorney Park called upon scream-machine mavens Bollinger & Mabillard of Monthey, Switzerland, to create this exclusively- designed coaster.Known as a floorless coaster because there is no floor, riders are positioned above the track with their legs hanging freely and nothing above, beneath, or to the sides of them. Riders will experience the sensation of floating in air.

Before leaving the station, the floor will drop out from under the train. Riders will twist upside-down after exiting the station in what park officials call the first-of-its-kind jojo roll. Riders will then climb up a 95-foot- tall lift hill and plunge down a 105-foot drop at 53 m.p.h. After racing through a rock-hewn canyon, riders experience an inclined dive loop, a zero- gravity roll, two flat-spins with inversions, and Hydra's signature design element, a tight cobra roll.

HYDRA The Revenge is made up of 3,198 feet of tubular steel track and weighs in at approximately 1,368,000 pounds. Open-air trains seat riders four abreast in eight rows to accommodate 32 passengers per ride for an estimated 1,245 riders per hour.

"The addition of this exciting attraction is the perfect complement to our collection of thrill rides and family entertainment," said Greg Scheid, vice president and general manager of Dorney Park. "After checking out the innovative ride market, we decided that Dorney Park needed its own first-and- only-for-Pennsylvania ride."

The eighth addition to Dorney Park's world-famous line-up of coasters, HYDRA The Revenge is a thrill-machine like no other with a non-stop mix of twists, rolls, spirals and breath-taking drops into rock-strewn ravines that keeps its riders wondering what comes next.

HYDRA The Revenge is scheduled to open on May 7, 2005, Dorney Park's opening day of the 2005 season.

Dorney Park is owned and operated by Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE: FUN), a publicly traded partnership that is listed for trading on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "FUN." In addition to Dorney Park, Cedar Fair owns and operates six other amusement parks, five water parks and one indoor water park resort.