Story by: Anthony Recchia (Follow Anthony on IG ride_the_thrills)

Featured Image : Possible drawings for a new coaster coming to Dorney Park.

Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom located in South Whitehall, Pennsylvania has very exciting plans for its future! Ever since the park’s Stinger roller coaster was removed from the property after the 2017 season, Dorney Park Fanatics started to ponder what could be coming next to one of the Lehigh Valley’s most popular entertainment destinations. One of the main features of Dorney Park is that it has a 30-acre waterpark connected to it which means you get two parks for the price of one. Their waterpark, Wildwater Kingdom, is extremely popular during most summer days leaving the roller coasters with barely any long waits. While this is amazing for Thrill Seekers, it is not so good for the people paying the bills as it costs the park a lot of money to pay for both the rides, and the employees operating them.

The park was in desperate need for a new large roller coaster that could attract guests from across the region to go to, not only the massive waterpark, but also the amusement park side of the property. By giving guests a reason to visit both, you gain more traffic flow throughout the midways, this allows visitors more access to a full range of Dorney Parks’ games and merchandise. Now the major question on everyone’s mind is, what type of attraction could the park add that could attract more people to come visit. The competition plays a huge role in this decision as just as any business, you want to have something special about your product that makes you stand out from the rest. This really narrows down the options for the park because they are located near many large amusement parks such as Hersheypark, Knoebels, and Six Flags Great Adventure.

Some coaster enthusiasts around the country were thinking that maybe Dorney Park could add the first single rail roller coaster on the East Coast made by one of the most famous coaster manufacturers, Rocky Mountain Construction. That would certainly get people’s attention! However, this quickly became a distant dream as Six Flags quickly jumped on the opportunity and announced the Jersey Devil Coaster, which is the tallest, fastest, and longest single rail coaster design ever to be created. The amount of options out there that would both fit in Stinger’s plot of land and provide a unique ride experience in the region became very slim, but Dorney Park seems to have something special up their sleeve for the future. They have recently submitted plans to South Whitehall Township that suggests that the park is looking to add a Wooden Coaster that goes both forwards and backwards. If this ends up happening, it will become just the second wooden roller coaster in the entire world to move in both directions.

If you want to ride the other one, you’ll have to travel 1,700 miles to Seguin, Texas! Dorney Park also submitted plans that include extending the Zephyr train ride so that it goes around this new attraction and removing a current attraction within the park. Many people are speculating that the ride on the chopping block will be Possessed, which is the park’s only launch coaster. While visitors might be upset about the decision to remove another roller coaster, it makes a lot of sense for the park. Possessed was a maintenance nightmare and always seemed to have the shortest line out of all the other currently operating coasters on property. This removal could give Dorney Park the opportunity to enhance their lineup once again to continue to solidify themselves as a Premiere Destination.

One thing to note about this is that the meeting to discuss these exciting plans has recently been canceled due to the recent situation our world is in right now. However, this does NOT mean these plans are just going to be canceled. They could either be waiting for the correct time frame that they can meet face-to-face with the township (the first meeting was going to be done virtually), or they might want to delay the project to a time where they know they will see more return on their large investment. In conclusion, Dorney Park has something special in the works, and they seem to have a bright future ahead of them!