On July 10th, I visited Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was an organized trip put on for the staff at my summer camp in New York state. The park has a variety of rides from thrillers to the more tame as well as full-sized, jam-packed waterpark.
Dorney Park
We went between the hours of 12pm-9pm on a Tuesday in July. The rollercoaster park was virtually empty aside from the many sleep-away camps who were also visiting for the day. We waited no longer than 5 minutes for the rides, aside from the Log Flume/Rapids “Thunder Creek Mountain” which was a 15-minute wait but worth it nonetheless; be warned though, it’s deceiving, you get absolutely soaked but not as drenched as “White Water Landing”.
It was our mission to ride all the main 8 big coasters, which we did all within the first few hours of our trip. My favourites include: Steel Force, Possessed and Hydra the Revenge. My least favourite rides being: Demon Drop and Thunderhawk for two different reasons.
Thunderhawk is a traditional wooden rollercoaster meaning that it is super rickety and rough; fun but it throws your body around a lot in limited seatbelt support provided.
Demon Drop is a vertical drop ride that takes you up in a cage slowly and then drops you suddenly but you end up in a lying down, still seated, position. I was terrified about this ride when getting on and I’d never do it again.
Wildwater Kingdom
As for the waterpark, we arrived there at around 6pm without realizing that this section of Dorney Park closes at 7pm. We managed to hop onto the Rapids, a waterslide with rubber rings and a tube slide that was pretty intense. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it as far as the Snake Pit, of whom’s enclosed tube-style slide as a disappearing floor that plummets you suddenly into the water; aka, absolutely terrifying. I was relieved that wasn’t on our ride agenda for the day to be honest, despite its Facebook/Buzzfeed fame lately.
Food & Drinks
I’ll be honest, the food and drink were not as expensive as I’d assumed it would be. I had for lunch: chicken and chips. It was a decent sized portion that I couldn’t finish and cost $12.99 in the Planet Snoopy part of the park. Then for dinner, I had: a cheeseburger and chips (again) which was around $11.99 from the Diner on site. Both of which filled the hunger gap. There were other cheaper options as well as a larger variety of food choices including pizza, burritos, Subway, burgers, pretzels, ice-cream and crab fries.
For drinks, I’d recommend one thing: buy the $13.99 unlimited refill daily plastic cup. It was the best thing I bought all day. The weather was super hot, around 34C degrees so we needed to drink a lot of fluids throughout the day. A top tip would be to buy one cup and simply share it amongst your family. There is a variety of Soda options available to put into these cups.
Conclusion
I would highly recommend Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom to everyone. There is a lot to do for children as well as adults. The park tickets cost around $50 if bought online which makes it an incredibly fairly-priced amusement park, in my opinion. You can make a day of your trip with the rollercoaster park side not closing until late; although, ensure that you set aside enough time to explore the waterpark and make the most of its rides!
