Last week Kaylee told me that she was planning to go to Dorney Park on Saturday, November 13. At the time, her plan was to go alone. Having no plans that day, I asked her if she wanted any company. She said sure. Fast forward a few days and she shared that her friend, Bernard, was going to come along with us. The two of them work together at Six Flags America (SFA).
Dorney’s hours on Saturday were 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. I knew we’d have plenty of time to get in all of the park’s coasters, with multiple rides on each. Or so we thought! Rain, wind, and low attendance caused the park to shut down at 2 p.m., only 2.5 hours after we arrived. Still, we made the most of the situation.
15 Rides on 6 Coasters in 2.5 Hours
I said we made the most out of our situation, didn’t I? When we arrived we started things off by grabbing the only credit Kaylee still needed at the park in Woodstock Express (unless you count Demon Drop). From there we’d go on to ride every coaster at least once, including 10 on Talon. The only coaster we weren’t able to ride was Wild Mouse due to it being closed on Saturday.
Talon
Bernard was so excited to ride Talon. I can’t say I blame him. This Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) inverted coaster is one I always bring up in “underrated coaster” conversations with other enthusiasts. It’s an amazing ride, with an eye-catching color scheme, and great landscaping. It’s also the coaster featured in this site’s logo, if you didn’t know.
Since park was so slow, we were allowed to re-ride as long as no one came up to board our row. That only happened twice, but since the rest of the train was wide open, we just moved to another row. We rode once in the front and then spent the rest of our time in Rows 7 and 8.
After our first few rides, Bernard teased the idea of riding Talon 20 to celebrate it’s 20th anniversary. We loved the idea. When it began raining a little harder, however, I recommended stopping after our 10th ride and going through the rest of the park to get in all the other coasters. I wanted to play it safe just in case they closed the park or any of the rides early. I said we could then circle back and ride it 10 more times to make the 20.
Thankfully we went with my recommendations there because had we tried to do all 20 non-stop, we probably would have missed most of, if not all of the other coasters at the park. Being this was Bernard’s first-ever visit to Dorney, I wanted to be sure he got to experience as much as possible. I also knew that Kaylee was really looking forward to getting on Possessed.
Possessed
It had been many years since Kaylee’s last ride on Possessed. She showed Bernard and I a video clip of her first-ever ride on the Intamin Impulse Coaster, which came in Row 8. When we entered the queue, Kaylee made a bee line straight to that row to ride it again on this visit. After the ride, she asked me to take a photo of her so she could have a “then and now” comparison.
Bernard and I sat together in the back row. We wanted the maximum amount of height on the rear spike and we sure got it. I love that weightless feel you get right as the coaster is about to plunge straight back down again. Speaking of that rear spike and drop, I sure do miss the holding brake. I wonder if it will ever be used again?
Steel Force
We came oh so close to not getting a ride on Steel Force, which was the only coaster we had still left to ride. As we approached the queue, Kaylee and Bernard wanted to take a picture in front of the ride sign. As I aimed my camera, a park employee came over and roped off the entrance. We thought the ride had went down. The employee told us the ride was closed for the day. We thought we’d have to look at the closed coaster for the rest of the day without being able to ride it. None of us knew, and it wasn’t yet announced, that it was closing down because the entire park was closing down.
Thankfully Kaylee told the employee that we were up from Baltimore and this was the last coaster we had yet to ride on the day. When she said that, he looked up at the station, saw the last train was boarding and there were open rows, and lowered the rope for us. Talk about an awesome staff member! I’m sure Kaylee’s sob story, combined with the fact that he knew we would have been in queue had we not been taking that picture, played into his decisions. We thanked him and want to thank him again if he reads this blog. Little things like that go a long way!
Now, as for the ride, ironically, it was the worst one we had all day. The rain was coming down harder and the wind had picked up by this point. We had already experienced the rain hitting us in the face on all the coasters, but these rain drops felt like sleet. Since we were so high up, perhaps it was? I’m still glad we were able to ride Steel Force, especially for Bernard.
Final Ride Counts
Hydra: The Revenge (1)
Possessed (1)
Steel Force (1)
Talon (10)
Thunderhawk (1)
Woodstock Express (1)
Even the Gift Shop Closed Early!?!?
When walked off Steel Force the park made an announcement over the PA system that the park was closing. We expected the park to close earlier than 6 p.m. for the day, but didn’t foresee them closing at 2 p.m. We were bummed, but not surprised. Oh well, onto the gift shop and the parking lot to figure out what to do with the rest of the day.
Okay… no gift shop. Straight to the car.
Both Kaylee and I wanted to pick up a couple gifts each from the park’s main shop before leaving. The park, however, also closed the gift shop early. You don’t normally see that. Gift shops usually stay open as guests make their way out of the park. I’d venture to bet that a good portion of gift shop sales come during the time people are leaving the park. Well, that wasn’t the case Saturday. Luckily for Bernard, he was able to pick up a shirt he wanted upon our arrival.
I know the park really won’t be affected a loss of $100 or so in merchandise sales on the day, but on a day that was surely not a profitable one for them, that caused them to lose just a few more potential dollars on top of it. I’m sure others in the park would have bought something too.
With that, we made our way out to the car to go find somewhere to eat lunch and figure out what to do with the rest of our day. After driving 2.5 hours from Baltimore to visit Dorney, none of us were ready to go back home. Worst of all, within 20 minutes of leaving the park, the sun came out for the rest of the day. It figures!
Ultimately we decided to make our way to Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) for the remainder of our day. We tossed around the idea of going to Hersheypark, the Strasburg Railroad, and even Crystal Cave, but I think we just wanted roller coasters. SFGAdv offered the most coasters and two potential new credits for Kaylee. They were also open until 9 p.m., so we had some time to make our way over to the park and squeeze in some rides.
And yes, that makes it twice in six days time that I visited SFGAdv on a whim to save a day with ruined/changed plans. The trip report for Saturday’s visit is coming soon. You can read about last week’s in the blog, “Six Flags Great Adventure – Dancing with the Devils.”
Dorney Park Photo Gallery - November 13, 2021
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your commercial and/or non-commercial projects, feel free to do so. I ask that you credit We Were Inverted whenever they’re used. I also ask that you do not alter the image or remove the watermarks. If you need any images/video resized or without the watermarks, please contact me directly.
CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): n/a
Kaylee
Commander
New Credit(s): Woodstock Express
