Dorney Park 8.22.11 Update

After being away for a while I needed to check in at Dorney Park and see what's up. Here's the latest:

It was brought to my attention that the park's Swan Boats are gone.  Indeed they are.  There's not even signs up for them anymore - I think the weeds in the lake got too high and they were pretty much unable to operate anymore.

The Monster.  Looks like we won't see this guy until next year at this point. Moving on...

It's almost Haunt time!  The park has their annual display up near White Water Landing.  Interesting to go with a pirate themed sign, don't you think?

Judging from the signs at the display, there looks to be another three new attractions this fall.  They all replace a previous Haunt in some way, though.

Age Of Darkness looks like they're taking the medieval theming that was in the Gauntlet up a level, hopefully presenting a 'fuller' attraction.

Cut Throat Island is a new pirate themed attraction, said to be replacing the Pirates' Passage, which would no longer make sense in Planet Snoopy.  No idea where this one is going, though.

Finally - Grave Walkers:

This attraction has started to show up in the empty field behind Revolution and next to Steel Force's station.  This should be replacing Headstone Hollow, or at least I'd hope so since it's using most of its props.

This one looks like it could be pretty neat - it potentially could be quite dark back there, and they already have a walled section (above) up with plenty of more work to do.

I noticed a bunch of flags located behind the Steel Force restrooms.  This could just be part of the setup for Backwoods, or perhaps a paving project related to Backwoods.  Or maybe it is the start of the GCI coaster that Dorney's never going to build.  I kid, I kid.

Finally in Haunt related items, Death Trap is well underway.  Most of the maze's walls are already standing!

This year's Haunt website is now live, you can visit and see the listed attractions (and interesting sounding shows) here.  Make sure to check the hours, as this year many October Sundays feature no Haunt at all, just Boo Blast! for kids.

Switching gears to the 2012 project, here are some additional photos of the track and supports sitting in nearby Allentown.  Here's some of the track that looks ready to go, shiny new paint and all.

Here's some additional track pieces, but also some finished supports and some that look to have been sanded down so they can be repainted.  2012 must be Cedar Fair's year of the blue coasters!

One last photo shows the train for the ride stripped all the way down.  The base of the trains were the same colors in California, but the paint looks new - so I can't really be sure if this is the color for Dorney or not.

Inside the park, things have picked up considerably since my last visit.  That big drill that had just arrived to dig footers has been busy!

See?  There's plenty of these located all over the construction site at this point.  I don't see any that have been poured, though.  Perhaps for a project that doesn't require a ton of footers it's easier to dig first, and pour many at once.

The walkway near the construction is still in place, which makes sense considering that the Asylum is listed as being open for Haunt.  Should provide great construction photos!

And here is one last shot of the site, with another footer in the middle.

I leave you with a shot of Dominator - my visit had great lighting for shots like these!