Dorney Park Opens for 2021 Season - A Look at the Park's New Season of Fun
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As is the usual, we took a stroll around the park and checked out everything that is going on - and even got a preview of some changes in Wildwater Kingdom that are new for 2021. This is a long one, so get a snack and maybe a beverage and read on!
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Up first, Dorney Park's Antique Carousel is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The ride dates back to 1921 and was created by William Dentzel who's very famous for his now treasured carousels located around the country. The park has added new historical signage and festive decorations on the Antique Carousel to mark this major anniversary.
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Dorney Park never disappoints with their celebrating of their historical rides and attractions, and additional signage celebrating the Antique Carousel can be found near the main entrance. The ride originally called its home Illinois, then Cedar Point for a couple decades before finally calling Dorney Park its home. Make sure you take a ride on this classic to celebrating it's 100th anniversary!
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Over on the other side of the Carousel the park had their Welcome Back Weekend festivities in full swing. The park had special Alfundo cornhole games set up, a giant checker board, coloring tables and more as part of the event.
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And as you probably noticed in the background of that first photo, yes, Alfundo is back during the Welcome Back Weekend event! He's happy to meet everyone and post for photos, and he really seems genuinely excited to be featured at the park again. If you're still not familiar, Alfundo was the park's mascot for many years, mainly the 1960s through the '80s, and stands for ALlentown has FUN at DOrney park.
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If you were at the park today you might have seen a lot of stuffed unicorns of different varieties that met their new owners and that's also a part of Welcome Back Weekend. The park has set up a play-till-you-win "Unicorn Round Up" game right on the midway and what you win is, you guessed it, a unicorn! Cute idea and kids love winning, so that works out nicely.
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Another milestone has been reached in 2021 as Talon is celebrating its 20th anniversary at the park! I remember watching the ride be constructed at the park so... feeling old over here! Regardless, the park is celebrating the ride with special merchandise and plenty of special signage.
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Elsewhere in the ride's plaza is a big banner that has some of the ride's featured statistics and a bunch of cool construction photos of the attraction. Many of them I can recall from the park's website for Talon, which was super in-depth as the interwebs were much younger then and really detailed new ride websites were common. Again, I feel old!
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Actually if you back up a bit there's another nice celebration sign at the main entrance, again with the ride's statistics and some additional construction photos. The park really does an awesome celebrating things like this!
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So a quick update on the pandemic and how the park is operating this year - earlier I said things are mostly back to normal, and that includes now loading every row on all coasters and other rides to offer 100% capacity. There are plastic dividers up in the coaster stations, as seen above in Steel Force's loading area. No big deal there, as we are all pretty accustomed to these at, well, everywhere.
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With regard to masks, last week Dorney Park (along with many other Cedar Fair parks, giant parks in Orlando and parks all over the place) adapted CDC guidelines and suggest that vaccinated individuals do not need to wear a mask at the park. I don't touch any sort of mask debate with a ten foot pole, but I saw no issues at the park, never felt uncomfortable and actually saw a significant amount of people wearing masks on the midways - for what its worth.
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Back to other changes spotted around the park - down at the end of the Main Midway there is a new stand called The Candy Bar, which offers guests bulk candy and other treats.
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Dorney Park's food truck will be located in front of White Water Landing this season and will be part of a much larger culinary event called Midway Eats. The event will feature different foods that represent different Cedar Fair parks across the country and will go on for the entire summer season. Some of the offerings sound really delicious - you can read more about it on Dorney Park's website.
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Dorney Park is also debuting a new custom brew this year, called Ale-Fundo. It's an Alfundo kinda year! This one is brewed specially for the park by HiJinx Brewing in Allentown. It's available at Chickie's & Pete's.
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Meteor has returned this season after taking last year off. The ride has received some refurbishment and is once again ready to turn visitors head over heels over and over again. And while on the subject of operating rides, the only attraction that wasn't ready for opening day was White Water Landing and that should be ready in the next couple weeks or sooner - that ride had a bunch of structural improvements done this offseason.
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The UpRights are back again this season at Center Stage, and were drawing a nice crowd today. The dueling pianos were an instant hit at the park last year, and for 2021 the viewing area has been made even better with the additional of patio style sofas so that families can give their feet a rest while enjoying the show. The atmosphere the park has created with this space keeps improving, great work on their part!
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Dorney Park's live entertainment has changed over the years, less focused on large stage shows and more on unique performances in renovated settings. A smart move. In addition to the UpRights and plenty of Snoopy meet and greets, the park will also feature the Coastal Currents in Wildwater Kingdom - more on that in a bit.
Plus, don't forget, Grand Carnival makes its return in 2021 starting July 24th and running through August 8th!
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Possessed is running again this season, rejoice! The Intamin Impulse lives on, blasting rides backward and forward much to their delight.
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In case you were wondering, nope, nothing here, no changes. Just keep your fingers crossed!
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The park has also stepped up their merchandise game, at least in my opinion, and is featuring a bunch of retro and Alfundo items - some of which can be seen above. I love this kind of stuff, so it's a major win for me. We've seen Cedar Fair parks really reach back to their roots and celebrate their histories - I hope Dorney can keep moving in that direction!
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And now for some of the changes guests will see when Wildwater Kingdom opens next weekend. Up first, here is the new area, tucked near the Wildwater cove wavepool, where the Coastal Currents will be performing. Adjacent to The Oasis, this will be perfect for enjoying a beverage and some great live entertainment.
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The park notes that the Coastal Currents are a family friendly duo (seen practicing above) that cover "current hits and golden oldies" that everyone loves. This will be a popular spot in Wildwater Kingdom this year, no doubt!
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Last year's new attraction, and now this year's new attraction, is Seaside Splashworks, a giant new interactive water area that I was able to check out today. Note that while I got these photos the attraction wasn't "running" - for lack of better terminology - so it will be a bit more impressive when up and splashing. This is the redeveloped toddler area, a vast improvement over what was here before.
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The park is also surrounding the toddler area, and the entire Seaside Splashworks area, with Adirondack chairs for guests to relax on. It makes for a nice setting that families can make their 'homebase' during a visit to Wildwater Kingdom.
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The star attraction is the actual water play house area, which is too large to fit into one photo. This is the far side of the attraction which has three large waterslides attached on the back end. In total there are 75 different play elements built into the structure seen here.
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These next two photos are the rest of the structure moving from left to right - Seaside Splashworks is a much larger structure than what it replaced. It should be able to handle considerably more guests which will be a big bonus for the park. There are also several small waterslides built into the attraction as well. Overall a ton for kids and families to discover!
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Here is a view of the bigger kid water slides that extend off the back of the tallest part of Seaside Splashworks - there are three body slides in total. These will be perfect training slides for kids before they are ready for the big attractions like Aquablast and Snake Pit!
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Other changes in Wildwater Kingdom this year include some new family changing areas near Seaside Splashworks - seen above, which are another great offering for visitors. Another set of restrooms have been totally renovated and modernized as well for 2021. Small changes like this build into a much nicer experience for visitors over the long haul!
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3 comments:
I still miss that carousel every time I'm at Cedar Point – because that's where I rode it as a kid.
I am sorry the new Carousel signs don't say where Cedar Point bought the ride from. It had been at Lake Lansing (Michigan) Amusement Park until that park closed and, as a Lansing resident I'm happy having this link to Cedar Point and Dorney Park.
The former Lake Lansing Amusement Park still has the carousel building, which is now some kind of administrative building. It's also got a track that I think was the Turnpike track, but I haven't been able to find a photograph that clinches the argument. The park also has a kiddie play area with carousel animal pictures on it, but that might be coincidence.
2 Things:
Seaside Splashworks looks dinky. Hersheypark's was built 13 years ago and that is bigger
Is there any Alfundo Soda?
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