DORNEY PARK ANNIVERSARY: 10 fun facts about Dorney Park

I'm one of those people who went to Dorney Park in the 50's and early 60's when we'd visit relatives in PA. Lots and lots of great memories!

clcjtn wrote:

I used to work at Dorney Park at the game Fascination. I loved that game. My first real job was at Dorney as a 'string girl'. Does anyone remember that? I used to clip colored strings onto the wrists of people if they were having a function there. Ohh, the memories.

OMG! I forgot about the string, lol! I, like alot of others, loved the bumper cars.

So many memories..........
The park was fun back then. More family oriented. Very similar to Knoebels.
I visited DP last summer with my son and his family. I was amazed, sometimes a bit saddened, at the changes.

Does anyone else remember Coca-Cola and report card day at Dorney Park? For every A and B you got on your report card, you got a free ride. If you brought in 100 Coca-Cola bottle caps, you were able to ride the rides all day for free.

Boy, how 'bout that old A&B hot dog stand! It was always packed, the dogs tasted much better than they should have, and one could throw a few bits of hot dog roll over the railing to the ducks!

clek wrote:

Does anyone else remember Coca-Cola and report card day at Dorney Park? For every A and B you got on your report card, you got a free ride. If you brought in 100 Coca-Cola bottle caps, you were able to ride the rides all day for free.

I still have my report cards that are written on from the Park attendant "scoring" how many tickets I'd get... The Wild Mouse used to scare the devil out of me!

make your own abstract art....squirt paint from a plastic bottle onto a piece of paper as it went around in a circle.

the postcard machines in the arcade; those cheap postcards are probably worth something now.

Krissa wrote:

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OMG I'm sorry to hear that story - but I'm glad it did not tarnish your memories of the place.:)

She said she would take us swimming at Dorney... remember the pool?! The Merry-Go-Round was my favorite and the Paratrooper and Tilt-A-Whirl! Oh, and the zoo! It's all coming back now! And the race track! More recent I liked the laser show, too.

Sad For Society wrote:

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She said she would take us swimming at Dorney... remember the pool?! The Merry-Go-Round was my favorite and the Paratrooper and Tilt-A-Whirl! Oh, and the zoo! It's all coming back now! And the race track! More recent I liked the laser show, too.

I can vaguely remember the pool. I am 42 now, so that was a little bit before my time... but I remember when Journey to the Center of the Earth was called "The Old Mill". I also remember how the Roller Coaster (when the old yellow roller coaster was the ONLY roller coaster so it didn't even have a name) seemed so huge, and I was so proud when I was tall enough to ride. I got to ride w/ my dad... and it was a BIG deal. Good memories :)

clek wrote:

Does anyone else remember Coca-Cola and report card day at Dorney Park? For every A and B you got on your report card, you got a free ride. If you brought in 100 Coca-Cola bottle caps, you were able to ride the rides all day for free.

Yes I remember Report card day! That was incentive to get good grades (that and not getting grounded...lol)

The Whip is still there. If you get there this summer- you must ride it. Check out the cars- they have Coney Island NY metal tags inside the cars. VINTAGE!!!

How about the shooting gallery? The haunted house (I don't remember the exact name) that burned down? The glass house? The sky ride?

clcjtn wrote:

How about the shooting gallery? The haunted house (I don't remember the exact name) that burned down? The glass house? The sky ride?

I think that was The Gold Mine....:)

Don't forget the most important date for Dorney park, and that's 2001that would be the last and final time I will ever be seen in or around that rat hole. The influx of degenerates from neighboring NJ, NY, and Philly, which I believe is part of Jersey anyway, make it impossible to go there and have a good time with your family. All the thugs and punks thinking the world revolves around them you just want to grab one of them and slap the ever loving crap out of them. Pants hanging down under the boxers, sideways hats, and white girls with no self respect hanging around their thug punk boyfriend, looking like he’s going to take a swing at the next guy that looks at his thick girlfriend that has already been through the hood.

The Truth wrote:

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The Flying Dutchman always seemed particularly unsafe. There were a ton of classic rides at Dorney:
The whip, the iceberg, music express, the scrambler, tilt-a-whirl, journey to the center of the earth, the gold mine, bucket of blood, yellow rollercoaster, bumper cars,, seadragon. I remember how big a deal it was when thunder creek mountain opened.

My god....they were all my favorite. I remember when they took down Journey to the Center of the Earth. That was my first sorta roller coaster ride. You must be about my age for you to remember the iceberg. Because it was actually an open ride efore they closed it up and threw the AC on in there.
Does anyone rememebr that mirror maze? Some were windows and some mirrors and you had to find your way out? And every single kid would walk out of there with red foreheads from banging into the glass at fullspeed. Good times.

Let's also give a shout-out to those EXCELLENT vanilla ice cream waffles! Waffles fresh and hot, ice cream melting in-between, ummmm!

Was there something there called 'The Wacky Shack'? Could that have been the name? I do remember The Gold Mine, just not sure if that was the name.

Krissa wrote:

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I think that was The Gold Mine....:)

They tore down the iceberg for camp snoopy- what a waste! I never go to dorney- too many people and too expensive!

clcjtn wrote:

Was there something there called 'The Wacky Shack'? Could that have been the name? I do remember The Gold Mine, just not sure if that was the name.<quoted text>

I think maybe (?) the Gold Mine was called the Wacky Shack previously? An earlier poster talked about the Wacky Shack, too..

I am almost 60. I remeber driving through the park, parking up on the hill, feeding the seals, the whale boats, the Zoo and most of all, hanging out at Castle Rock dances.