Thursday, December 9, 2010

Mike's Fill-In Brochure Spotlight: Dorney Park 1988


Don't worry folks, I only have so many Dorney Park brochures in my collection, so this series can only go on for so long! I sorta expect to see an online petition or something soon to get Sabrina back from maternity leave!

But as for this week's 1988 Dorney Park brochure - the theme of the year seemed to be lots of new rides and attractions, and the color yellow.  And Care Bears.

The park did see a lot of expansion in 1998 - ten new rides, three new water slides, kiddie attractions, live entertainment, and the aforementioned Bears.  It was an epic expansion akin to the Six Flags mega-spending years of the mid 1990s.

Also of note is that many of the rides that were new in '88, such as the Dragon Coaster and Balloon Race, are leaving the park this off season.  Actually, the "class of '88" new rides must have been cursed.  Top Gun, the Joker, Dragon Coaster, Balloon Race, kiddie rides including Convoy and the Kiddie-Go-Round, Torpedo Tubes, Care Bears, StarGazer Showplace and Tank Tag have all been, or currently are being removed from Dorney Park.

That pretty much leaves Center Stage as the only one not removed, but not really even since the original Center Stage was indeed torn down and replaced some years ago.

The animated Care Bears show was much like the performances that took place at Chucky Cheese, only even more creepy.  No really, I hate to be down on it, but take a look for yourself - the kids watching even look a little confused by the whole thing.

The gentlemen in the front seat of Laser, complete with cool sunglasses, just got back from filming the Breakfast Club.  Also for super Dorney geeks like myself, check out the lazy river in the water park photo - that was before it was expanded.  The far turnaround is where the cave section was built to expand its course (which I think was actually done for 1988).

This is probably the most unique map that I've seen in any of the Dorney brochures.  It's quite a creation.  It says photograph by Hub Willson, so am I to take it this was a 3-D creation that someone made?  I almost wish there was a way to find out more on that.


1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow that brings back memories, and I have all the Dorney brochures from that era 1988--1992 when the Care Bears appeared there. I even have video of the Care Bears show at Center Stage...
Song & Dance Revue 1 - Part 1
Song & Dance Revue 1 - Part 2