Dorney Park Update, January 2nd, 2015

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Dorney Park Update, January 2nd, 2015

It is always a strange sight to see a park in full winter dormancy. There was not even a peep on the property on Friday. Naturally we must stop to take pictures when we pass by. The main parts for the new Larson made, Cedar Creek Flyers, are still staged in the parking lot.

It is such a far cry to hear complete silence in this spot, as opposed to the clacking of a train going off of the end of the chain on Steel Force, the rush of the train plummeting down the first drop, the sounds of a Thunderhawk train rushing through the twisted course, the screeching sounds of a Possessed train's LIM launch motors, and the squealing of dozens of thrilled riders. The compact nature of this valley area of the park lends itself to lots of emanating pleasant sounds

Talon! Home to my first job way back when. The main entry plaza is looking lonely. It is so odd seeing it so barren.

After all of these years, the giant Steel Force is still one of the most picturesque coasters out there. Zoom test!

Yeah I don't care for zooming in too much, but it is fun to do sometimes. You can see the star that they set on top of the coaster for the holidays, in addition to the FAA and locality mandated aircraft warning lights for aircraft safety.

Off-center....darn

120X max digital.

Dominator zoom test! This is fun!

Strange clouds. It was around noon time, and there was a pinkish hue to the clouds as if it were sunset. Very odd. It fully cleared up as we continued our ride back to Pittsburgh.

The clouds dissipated that quickly.

Beautiful

The Cedar Creek Flyers will be debuting in the midway across from Stinger when the park opens in May.

Thunderhawk standing proud at 92 years young amidst the giants. 92 years and countless generations of families have enjoyed this coaster. I am glad that it still receives love from the park.

Nothing particularly special about this picture, something captivated me about it though. Lots of coaster action in this photo I guess.

So the last time we checked, this was the edge of the paved overflow parking for the park. It still remains that way.

This tract of land was purchased in the last year or so by the park. The area that was being graded in the last year has now been fully sodded, had a rope fence installed, and a shed put in. I don't think we will be seeing any action in this area, considering the growing parking needs that the park demands on the busiest days, but I would love to see it happen. The edge of the property has concrete median barriers added, presumably to prevent out of control cars from I-78's westbound on-ramp from careening into this section of land. Here is the progression of work on the section of land:

A significant amount of bulldozing was necessary to flatten out this land. I presume this is for parking, but keep your fingers crossed that some expansion is brought out to some of this land at some point.

Big difference in the excavation!

Now for the final product on this day with weird cloud cover and lighting.

There is a pretty large amount of land back here, but it gets mostly filled on the busiest days. If further large expansion happens and it cuts back on overflow parking, they will need to come up with a solution.

I crudely outlined the area on Google Maps right here of the land within the expansion. The area that run the width of the highlighted area to the top of the photo, is all under park control, although ordinances limit what this land can be used for.

This is the area on the other side of the road. It has been utilized for overflow parking for decades, although I think a modern wooden roller coaster would be ideal over here. A while back when a wooden roller coaster was predicted to be constructed instead of Possessed, the newspaper even picked up a story about the excitement around this rumor. Maybe the new Cedar Fair management can pick up upon the enthusiasm the community has for wooden roller coasters and follow through with a design from Great Coasters International, or Gravity Group within this section of land that could perfectly house a coaster.