Photo TR: 2005 Dorney Halloweekends Opening Night

Hercules · October 1, 2005

For those of you who may not know, Dorney Park has been my home park, I would like to think, since I was about 3 years old (when I got my head stuck in a fence at the park, but that is a whole other story). I love the park. I have so many memories from the park. I can be very hard on Cedar Fair and Dorney for some of the decisions that they make sometimes, but deep down inside, I just can't get over my love for the park itself. Every time I make the turn on the off ramp of Rt. 78 and get the first glimpse of the park coming around the corner, I get a joyess tingle all throughout my body. To night was no exception...

The park opened at 6, and I got there at about 6:05 because I had to make a stop at the bank. The parking lot was empty, as expected. I made the U-Turn and made my way to the season pass holder entrance. The season pass parking lot is now closed off and they are starting to bring in materials and starting to dig around the area in preparation for the new wave pool ("Wave Pool #2 is the name that they are giving it ) that they are putting into Wildwater Kingdom for next year in hopes of evening out the crowds a little more. I parked and then i was off.

I entered the park and made my way around taking in the decor and such throughout the park. The entire park is decked out in corn stalks, pumpkins and a basic fall foliage, with some scenes around involving not so creepy ghosts and ghouls and tombstones and caskets. Basically, it is the same thing every year, in the same spots, but still fun to see. I went thought the midway taking pictures and then I made my way to an empty Hydra queue. I walked onto the back row and had a somewhat decent ride.

I then made a lap around the rest of the park, snapping shots as I went. It was a nice day here in PA and the night was looking very promising. I went to the back of the park in hopes of getting some shots of the Fright Zone before they let the monsters loose, but they had already begun the fog, so it was impossible to see a foot in front of you let alone take pictures. I wasn't able to take my usual ride on Thunderhawk, as it closes at 6 during Halloweekends in preparation for the Fright Zone, so I made my way to Steel Force. Oh what a surprise, a walk-on :shock: I took the very back seat on the red train. Let me tell you, this ride was killer tonight. Some people don't like Morgan hypers and claim that they are rough and don't have "real" airtime, but I really like Steel Force, especially when it runs like this. I had never experienced a ride like that this on this coaster before. I was completely out of my seat all the way down the first and second drops, and it was not slamming me back down into the seat like it normally does. The train was running surprisingly smoothly around the track. And then... barely any mid-course brakes. Great ride. So then I venture off, taking more shots of the park.

I made my way all the way throughout the entire park, so I figured that I would hop onto Talon. Dare I say, walk-on? Yup. I made my way to my favorite seat - back row, far left. Side note: I actually got a solo ride a couple of weeks ago on this ride when the park was emptier than what it was tonight and it was a great ride experience End Side Note. Anyway, I can always count on Talon to put a big smile on my face. However, it did not do it for me. I was highly disappointed and extremely confused. The ride seemed to rattle a lot more than what it usually does, and was not as intense as usual. The only good part was the final turn, which is the main reason why I enjoy the far left seats so much. Oh well, it must have just been an off night or something for the ride.

I ended up going back to Hydra for a couple more rides to work my ride count on "The Monster Coaster" up to 61 for the season, which could be a lot more but the ride bores me after one time.

I walked down a little bit to Center Stage and noticed that there was a large group of people sitting on the bleachers. Sweet, a show is going to start soon. I love the shows that the park puts together, especially the halloween shows. I took a seat, then, I realized what the show was: Haunted Illusions Starring The Magic of David Caserta. Oh dear God. I made the mistake of sitting through this one last year. Now, I know I said that I love the shows at Dorney, but this is the exception. This is by far the worst show of all time, point blank period. I don't need to see all of the shows in the world to know that this is the worst. I figured that I would give it a chance, but after 2 minutes, I just had to get out of there. Not only is the magic something that could be done by a 5 year old, but the illusions and mind games don't exactly take a rocket scientist to figure out. Hell, it doesn't even take Jessica Simpson to figure them out. Yet, this being Pennsylvania, people are still amazed Go figure. It's not just that, but he tries to be funny and just isn't. The fake plastic corpes that are around the park have more personality than this guy. But, I guess you have to bring back what the people want. If it works, it works.

I was feeling a little hungry, so, where do I go when I need something to eat? Of course, Center Stage Fresh Cut Fries. How convenient. I love Center Stage Fries. I would live on them if I could, but just the fact that each fry brings me one step closer to a triple bypass at the age of 32 just isn't that appealing to me (you will come to know that I am a health freak the more you get to know me). They are a nice treat that I like to enjoy whenever I go to the park. They really are the best fries that I have ever had, and believe me, I have had fries at a lot of places. Sometimes they aren't that great, like tonight, but they are still really good even when they aren't at their best. Now, this brings up something else. Some people think that Dorney is a park with a great small, family park feel. I personally happen to disagree, probably because I have grown up with the park and have seen it evolve from a true small park feel to a Cedar Fair production. Nonetheless, I have my ways to get that feel back and these fries are part of that. I have a special little spot in the park that I like to sit that still have that small park feel to it. I sit there. I enjoy my fries. I take in the day/night and enjoy it for everything that it is worth and just reflect on life. It is a great experience, and it is exactly what I did tonight.

After my fries, I took a spin on the Zephyr. This is not the haunted train that the Cedar Creek ("Freak") Cannonball is, but I just enjoy taking a spin on this classic and seeing some of the things that the decorated.

Everything was in full gear. The Fright Zone was open, rides were going, people were having fun (well, the few that were there). Everything was in full, all out action... especially the fog machines. Let me tell you, the park went all out on fog this year. 3/4 of the park was filled with it. Even some of the parking lot was foggy. I guess it was kind of cool though.

I hit up Laser for a nice ride of Anton goodness. I was never a big fan of the ride until this past Coaster Madness when I got two solo rides on it. I guess I just bonded with the ride or something. I'll be sad when it eventually leaves the park. After my ride on this, I took another spin on Steel Force. This was interesting because the fog took the ride as its hostage. The entire ride, except the helix, was covered with fog, making the ride that much better. The bunny hills on the back end of the ride were great because there was no way to see anything. It was just another unique experience to chalk up for the ride.

I made my way around to the front of the park and caught another ride on Hydra, this time being a walk-on front seater. I usually don't ride the front seat, but come on, it was a walk-on. Well, actually, sometimes I don't even go to the front even if it is a walk-on, but, I wanted to get the visual with all of the fog and stuff. It was pretty cool.

It was around 9:20 by this time, and I was getting a little lonely (not bored) so I decided to call it a night eventhough the park is open until 11 on Friday's during Halloweekends. I stopped at a gift shop just to see what kinds of great end of season buys I could get. With little money on me I couldn't get much, but I saw a few things that I will definately get on my next visit, one of them being a Talon golf shirt for 10 dollars. I ended up getting an indiviually numbered coin set: "Monster of the Midway". They are in a tin that contains a limited edition, numbered to 1500 coins of Steel Force and Talon. Not a bad buy for $4.95 marked down from $9.95. I was happy with the newest addition to my collection. I left the park on a happy note and made the 5 minute ride back to my dorm.

Now, I'm sure you saying "It is a halloween event and you didn't do any halloween stuff?". Well, basically, the stuff doesn't really change, at least it didn't this year. Dr. of Doom was new last year but I'm sure was just the same as it was. ScreamWorks isn't worth the wait. The Magical House on Boo Hill is a kiddie thing. And the Cedar "Freak" Cannonball is just a joke and is pretty lame.

Dr. of Doom, located in the Fun Zone Arcade on the main midway, is a 3D walk though with various scenes through out of crazy, messed up doctor's assistants doing weird things to patients and such. There are I believe 3-4 scenes. There are also like 2 people that jump out and try to scare you, which is decent. The rest is basically kiddie stuff, making it good for children to go through with their parents or others. FYI - the 3D glasses are an extra dollar, of course.

ScreamWorks, located in the back of the park by Laser (where Chester Cheetah Land used to be years and years ago), was "new" last year too. I say "new" because they always had a haunted house back there. The weird thing was that they always took the haunted house down. This year, ScreamWorks was up the entire season. Oh well, back to the attraction. It is a walk through and is not that bad either. You can clearly see most of the "ghosts and monsters" and there are only like 3 people that jump out at you. Nothing too bad here, and I am someone that is normally not that great with walk throughs.

The Magical House on Boo Hill is pretty good. I actually enjoy it more than anything else. It is not scary at all being for the little ones. I think it is executed pretty well and I think it is worth a stop in even if you don't have little kids.

Cedar "Freak" Cannonball is just an altering of the C.P. Huntington train (Cedar Creek Cannonball) that is located over near the Thunder Cannon rapids ride. It is not that great. There is fog and stuff and some scenes and cardboard cut outs and such. If I remember correctly there are some lights and strobes and a couple of people that jump out, but nothing too thrilling. Even the little kids say that it is nothing.

That is basically it. I just enjoy going to the park during Halloweekends because I have so many great memories from it and I love fall weather. If you go to Dorney, don't expect to get freaked out by the haunted attractions. If you go expecting something like that, you will be disappointed. Basically, just go to enjoy the day and surroundings. That is all I do and I love it.