Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom Late June 2019 Update

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The summer season has set in at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, and while the amusement and water parks are operating at full speed the property is also preparing for their upcoming festivals and making other improvements.  This past weekend featured probably the best weather we've seen thus far in 2019, and we enjoyed a beautiful evening at the park - let's take a look at what's going on.

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But first - I was excited to see my first Pass Perks reward hit my inbox a couple weeks ago.  I got a free Fast Lane Plus ticket, which was valid for around two weeks after I got notified.  Now all jokes about Dorney not having long lines for the coasters aside, their water park is packed most sunny days, and this bad boy would let you skip all those legitimately long lines.  A big benefit in my opinion.  Plus, a Fast Lane Plus ticket sells for anywhere from $55 to $70, so this Pass Perk has quite a lot of value to it.  Excited to see what my next one will be.

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Dorney Park is continuing to get ready for Grand Carnivale, which starts on July 20 - less than a month away!  The center of the party atmosphere will be along the Main Midway, and the park is continuing to prepare the area for the festivities.  The new light/sound poles have been equipped with a bunch of new lights, in addition to speakers.  There are also new speakers in some of the flower beds along the walkway.

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Even more lighting is showing up in the flower beds as well - these uplights are certain to makes the trees looks beautiful once the evening sets in.  The new stage (seen in the far background of this photo) is all ready to go, with new steps installed for performers.

If you haven't checked out coverage of Grand Carnivale at Kings Island or Kings Dominion, there's plenty out there and the event looks even better than I expected!

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The park had installed a ton of new electrical boxes to support all the lights and glitter behind Grand Carnivale, and has now installed signs on the boxes to make them a bit more useful and easier on the eye.  Most of them are advertising the park's new free Wifi, and their new mobile app.

Speaking of, the park now has the mobile app version that we've seen in use at many Cedar Fair parks in the past few seasons.  That means it includes wait times for the largest attractions, above is a screen shot from my visit this weekend.  Generally the estimates were pretty accurate with only a small exception here and there - a great way to plan your day when at the park!

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Now that summer is in full swing, the park has expanded their live entertainment schedule as well.  This year the largest show is at Center Stage, named Hot Rhythm Nights.  Other shows include Chart Toppers on the midway stage, The Tidal Waves and Krank Up The Kingdom inside Wildwater Kingdom, and three different family shows featuring Snoopy in Planet Snoopy.

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I caught a little bit of Hot Rhythm Nights at Center Stage, and the live band combined with some talented performers made for one of the most entertaining shows in a few seasons.  Worth checking out if you want to get off your feet for a bit while at the park.

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Lastly for this trip - if you stop by the Whip you may notice something new had been added to the center of each turntables.  That's right, the park has created special birthday cake decorations to help celebrate the Whip's 100th anniversary!

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Here is a closer view of the birthday cake, like I said there is one at each end of the ride.  The classic attraction is receiving a ton of attention for it's 100th anniversary, much deserved in my book.  It's so awesome to see the park go all out for their classic ride.  And if you're wondering why the birthday cakes look a little generic... that's absolutely on purpose.

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Reference this photo of the Whip, which had birthday cakes installed on its turntables back in 1984 when Dorney Park celebrated their 100th anniversary.  So not only is it cool that Dorney Park is further celebrating the Whip's 100th anniversary, but they even connected it to the park's 100th anniversary!  Neat.

That's it for this run, stay tuned for more Dorney Park updates throughout the season.