We Returned to Dorney Park 4 Years Later!
This year, we made our glorious return to Dorney Park, the closest Cedar Fair park to our home base in Baltimore - and the home of the new-for-2024 B&M dive coaster Iron Menace! The park’s latest addition is its first new coaster in almost twenty years, and stands at 160 feet with a 95-degree drop all but consuming the skyline. Naturally, a coaster of this make, scale and reputation drew coaster enthusiasts from all over the country, and we were proud to be among them. We hadn’t been to Dorney since 2020, when many of the rides were closed or SBNO (Standing but not operating) due to the pandemic, so we were very much looking forward to getting our missed coaster credits. The only thing better than new coasters is new coasters with friends, and luckily Chad and Venessa from Two Tickets to Adventure were able to join us.
What with our time being limited, we all went in on Cedar Fair’s “Fast Lane” wristbands ($45/person) so that we could do as much as possible with our single-day visit. Our first stop after picking redeeming our Fast Lane wristbands was to head to the brand new Steel Yard area, home of the brand new Iron Menace. Right away we were impressed with the new theming and sound loops. The whole area has been themed - or, in some cases re-themed - to accommodate the new coaster, with stray steel mill elements scattered between pre-existing attractions such as ‘Possessed’ and ‘Cedar Creek Flyers’, the latter of which is now known as ‘MT Buckets’. There was even a sign to tell the story of the Iron Menace, which was a fun surprise and nice touch. The queue line and loading platform continued the theming as well.
Above: Timandkt with friends Chad and Venessa from Two Tickets to Adventure queuing for Dorney Park's new ride, Iron Menace.
Now, if you know us, you know that we love a good dive coaster…so we had fairly high hopes for Iron Menace. Although the ride is a bit shorter than some of the older coasters elsewhere in the park, we can safely say that our expectations were met head-on. After our first front row ride, our first impression was that it was a great ride that was over all too quickly. There is also additional theming within the ride’s layout that can really only be appreciated from the top of the lift hill, such as the “burning” coal chute into which the coaster makes its signature dive. Overall, we thought that it was a great new addition to the park line-up…and the overall theming of the Steel Yard area was a win for Cedar Fair parks across the board. To be fair, this area also includes an inverted shuttle coaster (“Possessed”) that looked like a fun time, but - as we quickly found out after racing to claim a missing credit from 2020 - is actually a torture device.
The next coaster of the day was the fan favorite Steel Force. We’ve ridden this coaster before, but we all four agreed that it seemed to be running even smoother in 2024 than in 2020 and was one of our favorites of the day. The views from the top were spectacular, and the coaster has some of the best airtime of any ride in the region. After three back-to-back coasters, it was about time for a meal break. We opted to try the new Iron Mill Grill & Bar, which turned out to be the one weak spot of the newly-minted Steel Yard. The food offerings all sounded good and the staff were friendly and excited to serve, but the food itself was a bit of a letdown. This wasn’t necessarily a problem as we weren’t expecting much more than standardized carnival food, but it is an area where we anticipate that Dorney will be seeking to improve performance over the next few years. With only a few more hours remaining with our friends, we opted to prioritize more rides so as to get the most out of our Fast Lane wristbands. Together we conquered the Antique Carousel, the Wild Mouse (new credit!), Talon: The Grip of Fear, and a second ride on Iron Menace. We did note that this second ride in the third (back) row was quite a bit rougher than our first, which may have had more to do with the train than our position on the train - something else that Dorney could easily improve over the ride’s next season in operation. With quite a few rides and a number of new experiences under our belt, we bid Chad and Venessa farewell and enjoyed a last ride on Hydra: The Revenge before packing it in for the long road home.
Above: Other notable attractions at Dorney Park include inverted coaster 'Talon: the Grip of Fear' and other coasters.
So, the final verdict - has the Dorney Park experience been improved by the new coaster? In our humble opinion, absolutely. The park has its weaknesses, with attractions like ‘Possessed’ riding rather rough, the parking lot being torn apart by decades of foot traffic and the food being generally subpar…but generally, it’s quite clear that this park cares deeply about its history, its guests and its overall atmosphere. Dorney’s staff are friendly and helpful, its rides are well cared for and its landscaping is beautiful. If anything, the park’s multi-million dollar investment in Iron Menace the Steel Yard theming exercise is a testament to its intention to build a better experience for new guests visiting for the first time. This will certainly not be our last visit to Dorney Park…and maybe the next visit will need to be sooner than four years’ time. Looking for realtime reactions and the unabridged park experience? Check out our vlog below to see how our day at Dorney went!
