Jer goes to: Zombie Invasion @ Dorney Park - PTR

Hello everyone for another great PTR, this trip was to replace my broken dreams this year of going to SFNE, Lake Compounce, and Canobie. Basically it was a Zombie walk at Dorney park, with the the intent of breaking a world record, this one being for Most Costumed Riders on a ride. The previous record being 250, i'll let you know about that later!

We arrived there the latest i've ever been to Dorney which was at 3:00, the make up for the event started at 6 and the park would be closed down at 7 to the public for the event.





This is Frank, it was his first time being at Dorney



We did my usual circuit to begin, so we hit up Thunderhawk first, this ride is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, and they are refurbishing some of the wood on the turn around.

After Thunderhawk came Steel Force, another ride that is just pure fun, and still smooth as glass





speaking of smooth as glass, we did the complete opposite afterwards and hit up Hydra, Frank needed quite the buddy pop to fit into the big boy seats on this, No idea why, he usually fits on B&M seats pretty well.





To say the least, Hydra is very photogenic....





Hydra, you suck for a B&M, But then, not even a 5min walk away.....Talon, which well....doesn't suck....at all for any manufacturer of coaster. It was odd that Frank fit so well on Talon, but not on Hydra, can anyone confirm that Floorless, and Invert OTSRs are different?









Then we did Possessed, the only ride that scares the living poop out of me, I still ride it, but it actually scares me.






We did Steel Force one more time before heading for make-up, food, and judging (you needed to be a certain way before they let you participate in the record.



Greg getting his Make Up Done



Zombie Frank

My camera sucks at night shots, so here are some Zombie highlights



Zombie Santa



The longest wait i've ever had for Steel Force



As for the record, we not only beat the record, we shattered it, previous being 250, now current 330! The ride we did it on Steel Force, and my train was the second out of the station, they were dispatching so fast they were beating the blocks, as soon as we hit the lift, the other train just cleared the MCBR

Hope you enjoyed my report guys, that night was intense!

I wasn't working Talon last night as I was off but I was thrilled to here we broke the record! Congrats to everyone who was involved and of course our fabulous Steel Force crew!

Hydra is great.

yeah i was there 11 days ago, good to get back after about 6 years cuz they had just built hydra the last time i was there but it was awesome got my first ride on well everything soooo yeah looks awesome though.

Originally posted by Kyle Sloane

Hydra is great.

compared to? being stabbed, as far as B&Ms go it's one of the worst.


oh and ride count:
Steel Force x4
Talon x3
Possessed x2
Thunderhawk x1
Hydra x1

Looks like you had a fun time.

^^You rode near the front didnt you..

good pics man! i've always wanted to visit dorney. hydra looks to be bad ass. can't see why it wouldn't be...

Its REAALLY rattly near the front middle, but the second to back is amazing. Its much better than talon imo.

I had to ride 5th row, but trust me i've ridden everywhere to try and find a row that wasn't rattly, and they all were, simply. I distinctly remember the worse areas to be right after the jo-jo roll, entering the cobra roll, and entering the corkscrew. Given if the ride was smoother I would love it, the layout is very unique, and the location is great, it's the wayy to rattly for a B&M. I mean I'm not an expert on B&Ms, i've ridden 13, and ironically my #1 and my #13 are right next to each other.

Originally posted by Jer

I had to ride 5th row, but trust me i've ridden everywhere to try and find a row that wasn't rattly, and they all were, simply. I distinctly remember the worse areas to be right after the jo-jo roll, entering the cobra roll, and entering the corkscrew. Given if the ride was smoother I would love it, the layout is very unique, and the location is great, it's the wayy to rattly for a B&M. I mean I'm not an expert on B&Ms, i've ridden 13, and ironically my #1 and my #13 are right next to each other.

so i is now like how the hulk is going, kumba is a good b&m that's still smooth and doesn't rattle about like most b&ms i have been on

Theres a difference between rattly and rough, it is not ROUGH it doesnt have a single headbang, but is very rattly in most rows, i wonder what makes it rattle.

Speak for yourself for no head bangs dude, Those spots I mentioned were the most prominent for rattling, and actual head bangs.

Looks like I picked a good night to be off. /scarsam

Really, the one freaking day we close at 7 that I would have liked to stay and work but no... I got crappy Jew nights...

Glad you had a good time. And congrats to the SF team. That is a rare happening 'round here.

I agree that Hydra is prob. my least favorite B&M, and I ride it alot. I have ridden in just about every seat and its too rattly to be in the league of B:TDK, Kraken, and Dominator. Talon is much stronger and intense and smooth as glass.

i really must have gotten lucky that day cuz i thought it was incredible. Then again i have a high tolerance for rough rides. People say storm runner or cyclone sfne are rough, as well as twister knoebels, but i think they are all great rides and far from rough.

Hydra looks pretty damn awesome!

^and same with me, I think Iron Wolf is far from rough, despite it's reputation. The only coaster that really gave me a headache was Shivering Timbers after 50+ rides. Cedar Fail. Now that is a rough ride.

I didnt find Twister or Storm Runner to be rough at all,

And Hydra looks good, it's very photogenic, it just doesn't ride well.

I didn't mind SR Twister or Cyclone either. It's not that Hydra is rough or bad, it's just way below B&M standards in a lot of people's opinions.

awsome world record to beat, hydra looks awsome and id love to go on it one day

Good stuff at Dorney, might be headed up there at the end of the month.

gazag, ignore Jer. Hydra is a very good ride. I've been on it 15ish times. It's not really that rough. I've been on MUCH worse. *cough* wildcat *cough*

Originally posted by Jer


speaking of smooth as glass, we did the complete opposite afterwards and hit up Hydra, Frank needed quite the buddy pop to fit into the big boy seats on this, No idea why, he usually fits on B&M seats pretty well.

I NEVER had a problem with Hydra, and I'm not what you would call a "twig".

Tell Frank that if he dosen't want to be faced with grave dissapointment, avoid Cedar Point.