Dorney Park is the northeast’s Cedar Fair park.
Located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, this amusement park opened way back in 1884 and Cedar Fair
acquired the park in 1992.
Today, the park features 7 roller coasters, a collection of classic and modern non-coasters,
and the full-fledged Wildwater Kingdom water park.
I have visited Dorney Park for the past 16 years and in this video, I will rank the best
15 rides and attractions at the park.
15) Wild Mouse- This Maurer wild mouse has awful capacity, but it’s a decent version
of the popular ride.
The hairpin turns in the first half offer great laterals and the ride’s largest drop
has some zip.
The rest of the ride is braked fairly heavily though.
14) Meteor- This Zamperla inverting pendulum rotates rather slowly, so it doesn’t offer
much in terms of positive Gs, but it does deliver plenty of hangtime on each rotation.
13) Whip- This classic flat ride is pure fun.
This one is well-taken care of and offer nice speed on the far turns.
12) Patriot’s Plunge- This is WIldwater Kingdom’s best tube slide.
The blue side is just ok, but the red and white side feature large drops at the end
that can give a tiny bit of airtime.
11) Revoluton- This Chance frisbee is decent.
Like Meteor, this pendulum is weak on positive Gs, but it does give some decent lifter airtime
on the max swings.
And it has a fulfilling cycle.
10) Dominator- This S&S drop tower features a space shot and turbo drop side.
This ranking assumes I’m on turbo drop side.
You get a nice view of Dorney from the top and you get a quick pop of air at the start
of the descent.
This isn’t my favorite type of drop tower.
Heck, it isn’t even my favorite drop tower in the park, but it’s still enjoyable.
9) Thunderhawk- The park’s oldest operating roller coaster is a decent wood coaster.
The initial speed hill gives a pinch of airtime, but the ride’s best part is the turnaround
section.
You get some strong pops of airtime and then some strong laterals.
The first bunny hill also gives a nice pop of airtime, but the remainder of the ride
is neutered by a harsh trim brake.
And despite the ride’s age, it’s fairly smooth.
Stinger- This Vekoma inverted boomerang had a very short stint at Dorney Park.
The ride was frequently closed, so I consider myself lucky to have ridden it.
I don’t have any video footage of Stinger, so I’m showing clips of Kings Island’s
Invertigo, which is an identical clone.
The initial drop gives a brief freefall sensation.
Then you have 6 very forceful inversions both forwards and backwards.
The cobra roll could cause me to greyout and the element had viscious snaps into and out
of it.
Then the vertical loop felt like it would rip my legs off from the positive Gs.
The ride did have some light headbanging due to the giant restraints, but this ride was
oddly smoother than the company’s SLCs and sit-down boomerangs.
8) Possessed- This Intamin impulse coaster has a simple but effective layout.
The initial launch has some good punch while the others aren’t particularly noteworthy.
You get a good blast of positive at the base of each spike.
Then you have freaky visuals and nice weightlessness on the spikes themselves.
The holding brake no longer works on this one, but it’s a fine launch coaster.
7) Thunder Canyon- This is an interesting river rapids ride.
This one doesn’t have much in terms of rapids.
Instead, this one has a seemingly endless series of waterfalls.
You may evade some of them, but it’s impossible to avoid all of them.
It’s comical how wet you come off this ride as the giant waterfalls soak you to the bone.
6) Thunder Creek Mountain- This log flume has a really nice setting.
It’s built on the side of a sizable hill.
You start with a super long lift hill.
Then you wind about getting some decent views of Hydra and Steel Force while also traversing
the occasional rapid that will gently splash the boat.
But the best part about this ride is the bizarre final plunge.
It’s super shallow.
The drop seemingly lasts forever and you build up speed like a coaster launch.
And it leads into a soaking final splash that feels good on those hot Pennsylvania summer
days.
5) Demon Drop- The lone remaining first generation Intamin freefall in America is one of the
scariest drop towers in existence.
There’s something freaky riding up the scaffolding-like elevator and then moving forwards into the
drop shaft.
And that plunge is exhilarating.
You get one of the best freefall sensations on any ride.
Then you traverse a forceful pullout that piles on the positive Gs.
The return into the station is really awkward and jerky, but if you lean forwards its just
a minor nuisance.
4) Python Plummet- The best ride at Wildwater Kingdom are these thrilling drop pod slides.
You have a sudden initial plunge with a fleeting freefall sensation.
Then you rip around some fast and mildly forceful turns.
And this one is smooth on your back despite its intensity.
3) Hydra the Revenge- This peculiar B&M floorless coaster has a weird layout.
And it’s surprisingly deficient on whip and positive Gs.
But it does have a first drop with some great floater airtime.
It feels like a miniature version of a B&M hyper drop, so make sure to ride this one
in the back.
And a few of the inversions have some nice hangtime and float with the most notable being
that insanely slow jojo roll out of the station.
The ride is still fairly smooth.
Laser- This removed Schwarzkopf now runs on the German fair circuit as Teststrecke.
This double looper has a near identical layout to Colossus at Lagoon.
This coaster had decent whip on the first drop followed by two very forceful vertical
loops.
The Gs were incredible.
But the most intense part was the snappy turn after the loops.
You got a viscous burst of laterals.
You then had two decently forceful helixes to end the ride.
2) Talon- This B&M invert has a familiar start with a solid first drop, moderately forceful
vertical loop, graceful zero-G roll and an ok Immelmann.
But Talon deviates for the rest of the ride.
The middle has a fine helix and a surprise drop with some floater airtime.
Then you have a snappy corkscrew followed by a leg-numbing turn and a few final dips.
Talon doesn’t have the power of the older inverts, but the creative second half and
smoothness makes it quite good.
1) Steel Force- This Morgan hyper gets unfairly lumped with the other two in the Cedar Fair
chain.
Whereas Mamba and Wild Thing are wrecked by harsh mid-course trims, Steel Force gives
sustained floater to fl-jector on the return run.
Honestly, the return run is the biggest strength on this hyper.
You also have some giant hills at the start have some particularly nice floater airtime
in the back.
And that airtime is very easy to experience with those super loose and unrestrictive lap
bars.
It’s surprising how much room you get on a hyper coaster.
Then the far turnaround is fun with the good speed, decent laterals, and mild force.
I have a separate review going into more detail, but this is a solid signature ride.
So those are the top 15 rides and attractions at Dorney Park.
What is your favorite ride at Dorney Park?
Let me know your thoughts on any of the rides I mentioned or any you think I missed down
in the comments.
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