Dorney Park August Update - Haunt + 2017 Views

The summer is now in its last leg, meaning that attentions at the park turn full force to both Haunt prep and now also planning for all of Dorney Park's recently announced 2017 additions. Let's check out what's going on.

The park's annual Haunt hearse display is out front of the security checkpoint, but if you take the stroll over to it you can see this year's attraction logos on the back.  As they've done in recent years, the new additions to Haunt are only question marks... for now.

Returning mazes include Mansion House Hotel, Trick Or Treat, CornStalkers, Grave Walkers, Chamber of Horrors, and Blackout.  Scare zones shown are Cut Throat Island, Age of Darkness and CarnEvil.

That means that Desolation has been retired, though we've expected that.  It also means the Asylum is missing, the facade of which we saw get repainted earlier in the season.

These signs advertising all the new attractions for Dorney Park's 2017 season have popped up all over - this is just one example of the larger ones.  I'm glad the park is so happy to promote the expansion... we all love new rides and shows, but some of the other changes (Parkside Pavilion I'm looking at you) really have a huge significance for the future of the park.  It's great the capital for all of them came together at once!

On the park's Main Midway this sign for Kaleidoscope has gone up in the area that the Screamin' Swing occupied until this year.

This photo is intended to show the midway now, compared to an aerial view to help folks locate just where Kaleidoscope will go up.  I was missing around with aerial views of the Trokias at Kings Dominion and Cedar Point, wondering how the park will fit the ride in the available space.  It will be quite close, and I'm assuming that the lockers in the area will have to be moved.  The positioning of the Wild Mouse on an angle is the complicating factor in my opinion.

Over toward Talon, a similar sign has gone up for Dodgem, the park's new bumper cars.  This shot shows the ride's future home - we will have to say goodbye to the clean views of Thunder Canyon but I'm a-okay with that!  Just to the left of this photo is the arcade and just to the right is the entrance to Talon.  I think we might see some midway changes here to accommodate the rectangle layout of the cars, but that's just a guess.

Since the worksite is in a backstage area, there's not much to show for Parkside Pavilion, the large new catering area going up in 2017.  But, this is the walkway that will lead to the area's entrance, fairly secluded but will create a significant amount of new foot traffic in the area.  The restrooms that are back at the end of the park will be incorporated into the new facility.

Back to Haunt work, here is the progress on the new maze's facade - this is the park-facing side of the former Desolation building.  You can start to get a feel for the theme of the maze here - it has quite a New Orleans feel to it.  I'm sure the park will make the name and theme of this maze official before long.

Most of Age of Darkness is already standing - here is the exit from the mini-maze section of the scare zone.  Much of Grave Walkers is also up, though obscured by a fence so a photo would be most uninteresting.  CornStalkers was never really fully taken down after last fall, so that's getting more prep for this year's event as well.

That's all for now, stay tuned for more Haunt and 2017 updates!