Dorney Park To Thrill Riders With Iron Menace Dive Coaster in 2024!

© Dorney Park

Dorney Park has announced that in 2024 visitors will be able to explore an abandoned steel mill with a sinister history on their way to experience Iron Menace, the park's brand new, custom designed, first of its kind in the Northeast roller coaster.  One of Bolliger and Mabillard's exciting Dive Coasters, Iron Menace will be the first totally custom roller coaster to open at the amusement park since Hydra in 2005.

 

© Dorney Park

This infographic gives a nice look at the entire layout of Iron Menace, so let us get to know the ride a bit, shall we?  The coaster will be located on the former site of Stinger, but then also it will extend back further into currently undeveloped land.  The ride's track is described as "Autumn Red" but looks distinctly orange in these renderings.  The support color is Umbra Gray.  Iron Menace's station will be located in the middle of the ride and will be themed as an abandoned steel mill, but much more on that later.

© Dorney Park

© Dorney Park

Directly out of the station the trains - which are three rows deep and 7 seats across - will ascend a lift hill to 160 feet above the park.  Then the Menace's first trick takes place - riders will hang over the beyond-vertical first drop for a full 3 seconds before plunging down!  That's more than enough time for some real thrills and adrenaline to kick in!  The trains will plummet down a 95 degree drop (that's 5 degrees past vertical) that extends 152 feet to the ground.  At the base of the drop the trains will be traveling a cool 64 miles per hour.

© Dorney Park

© Dorney Park

With no time to spare the trains will race up into a giant Immelmann inversion - sort of like a vertical loop but with a twist at the end.  After this element the inversions keep coming - there will be 4 in total - giving the ride a fast pace that will leave riders wondering which way is up.  Many Bolliger & Mabillard Dive Coasters pause the 'flow' so to say with a second vertical drop.  No harm in that tactic, but Iron Menace will relentlessly keep the thrills coming one after another with its exciting 2,169 feet of track.

© Dorney Park

© Dorney Park

© Dorney Park

The next inversion is a large Zero G-Roll that goes up and over the ride's maintenance area (which also creates a new tunnel of sort for the park's classic Zephyr Train) then into a first-of-its-kind-on-a-B&M-Dive-Coaster element, the Tilted Loop.  Like a vertical loop, only tilted on its side some, the element has been done on other B&M rides but never a Dive Coaster before.  The rapid fire elements conclude with an extended 360 degree flat spin and into an upward 180 degree turn before the final brake run.

 

© Dorney P ark

"The Northeast’s first dive roller coaster is one of the largest capital investments in park history," said Jessica Naderman, vice president and general manager of Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom. "With an exciting backstory that loosely connects riders to our area’s rich industrial roots, Iron Menace will become the eighth thrilling roller coaster at the park, bolstering what has been an impressive lineup for well over a decade. Our coaster lineup – along with our all-inclusive water park, Planet Snoopy kids’ area, great shows, dining and more – make Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom a must-visit family destination in 2024.”

 

Want to take an animated ride on Iron Menace?  Click below then continue reading for more on the ride's creation and theme!

 

 

© Dorney Park

So how about that backstory, though?  Dorney Park has put much attention and detail into giving Iron Menace a history that fits with the greater Lehigh Valley - which is well known for the Bethlehem Steel plant that created steel for many of the most important structures in the country.  However the specific backstory for how Iron Menace came to be is a bit more sinister.

© Dorney Park

We go back to the early 1900s when Scottish businessman Hiram S. McTavish opened the McTavish Steel Mill.  He led with greed, kept profits above people, and created a giant "Iron Menace" rail transporter machine to move workers and ore at a record pace.  One day the steel baron mysteriously disappeared, and soon the mill closed for good.  

 

It still stands, however, though it is just a decrepit shell of its former self.  In fact, there are wild tales of the owner's whereabouts and some say at night eerie and bizarre happenings take place at the site.  From shadowy figures to sudden temperature changes, visitors know they should run but curiosity always wins...

Once inside the mill visitors will be ushered onto the Iron Menace hauler by shadowy figures, hoping to escape the eeriness that abounds.

© Dorney Park

A fun and a little bit of a spooky story, right?  The park is proud to be adding the Iron Menace, and as Jessica Naderman, the park's vice president and general manager states, they believe it will "fundamentally change how people think about Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom."  The property started "planning for the ride last May or June," and has been furiously working on it since.  It's a large project, and its taken a lot of cooperation between the park and Cedar Fair corporate to get the job done.

Another interesting note from the park's leader, she explained that Iron Menace will "move from element to element" quickly, noting that it is quite dynamic and features "the newest B&M trains" which will allow the dive coaster to be "more agile and a little different than all the other ones that have been manufactured so far."

 

© Dorney Park

"The ride for us is a real turning point," explains the park's PR and Communications Manager Ryan Eldredge.  "It is a way that Cedar Fair and Dorney Park can show they're invested in this community.  Not only are we invested by bringing in a roller coaster - which is certainly a large investment - but we're invested in a way that we want to bring the rich tradition and history of the Lehigh Valley into this ride."  

 

It sounds like the addition of Iron Menace is almost a sort of start of a new era for Dorney Park.  According to Eldredge the ride "says not only that things are going to be different moving forward but also that we are going to invest... and we want to be a part of the community because we want to grow even more so that more generations of Dorney park fans can continue to come." 

© Dorney Park

© Dorney Park

Iron Menace is planned to be open by Spring 2024.  Right now guests who purchase a 2024 Gold season pass before September 4th, 2023 will be invited to "an exclusive Iron Menace event."  You can be sure that we'll be there as we are over-the-moon excited for Iron Menace!  We've been anxiously waiting for the park's next big development and now that it is here we couldn't be an more excited!

The park is planning to release details about a connected-in-theme new Halloween Haunt maze currently under construction next to the Iron Menace worksite.  More details on the actual coaster and its theming will come in the future as well - for now get ready to forge your own fate on Iron Menace at Dorney Park in 2024!