Episode 288 - The Grand Opening Day

We NEVER go to opening day when it comes to amusement parks but we had the day off so off to Dorney Park.  So how was their opening day?  Let's find out!!

Transcript

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Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to the 125 Roller Coaster Challenge. It's the Trimmed and Staple Podcast, guys, and I'm Paul, and today we're talking about the grand opening. Now, what can I mean by the grand opening here? What grand opening would actually have us and actually think that we should be at? Well, you know what? Our classic Cedar Fair Park, uh home park, actually, our now current um Six Flags Park opened up and I had the day off, and I was like, you know what? I never, never do opening days, but I'm gonna do it for Dorney Park people. Now, don't get excited. Sit down, sit down. When you're listening to this, it's right before Memorial Day. The water park will be opening up in a few days. Uh today, uh, let's see, we're dropping this, I think the Wednesday, the 20th. So sit back, relax. But for this grand opening, it was just a dry park. So today's episode, we're gonna go through everything we did on that first day there. We're gonna take you from the beginning to the end and um, you know, all the rides we did, uh, what videos we did, the whole nine yards. But before we get started, guys, we are just closing in right now as I am recording this. We are closing on eighty one hundred. Eighty one hundred subscribers on the YouTube channel. A nineteen hundred more to go to hit our goal. So if you listen to this uh over on YouTube, just uh hit that like button, of course. You always gotta hit the like button, but make sure that you also hit the subscribe button because we are hitting um what are we hitting? We're hitting 50 parks this year. We just did park 11 yesterday uh with another episode, you know. But I did hit my 11th park yesterday. We are currently at 24 roller coasters, 17 water slides, so we got a long way to go to get to our goal of uh 125 for both. But make sure you like and subscribe. And if you're uh listening to us on Podbean and all that, make sure you follow because there is no rhyme, there is no reason. We are dropping these whenever we drop these. Um, you know, we we we bank a couple of them so we have some ready to go at all times, but um, you know, we can drop them every three days, every four days, every two days, every five days. Whenever we feel like, you know what, I think we need to put an episode in there, we're gonna do it. And the best thing about this is we keep it under a half hour, so you can listen to this during your drive time. Guys, this is not the Joe Rogan experience. This is not our friends over at In the Loop where they start and they keep going and going and going and going until they drop. Uh, this is uh we always keep it under a half hour. So without further ado, guys, make sure you like and subscribe, make sure you follow us, and let's talk about Dwight Park. Now, if you're not familiar with Downy Park, it is located in beautiful scenic okay, Allentown. All right, not beautiful, not really scenic, but it is Allentown. It's right off of uh Route 78, so it's right off the highway. Uh Prime Real Estate, actually, and this is a park that I've always been worried about in the Cedar Fair chain because it's so close, especially since the merger, it's so darn close to Six Flags Grant Adventure that you don't know if they're going to keep it in the chain or not. There, they're they're kind of competing. I think the thing that keeps it safe is Wildwater Kingdom. Wildwater Kingdom is one of the best uh water parks. They've got two wave pools, they've got two lazy rivers, they got everything you could want except a um a um water coaster. But you know there's one sitting over there at uh Six Lags America. So if you want to kind of kick it to Dorney Park, you know, don't have to give everything the Great Adventure. You can kick that over to Dorney Park. Downy Park would greatly appreciate. But I woke up and I'm like, you know what? I never do opening days. But I looked and I was like, you know what? It's Dorney Park, it's one of my home parks. We go there eight, nine times a year. So let's do opening day. So I jump in the car, but I realize I don't want to be there at rope drop. Not a big fan of rope drop ever, to be honest with you. I don't like standing in giant lines to come in when I know if I come 15 minutes later, I'm walking right in. So on this end here, I also knew there's very limited videos I need to do at Darwin Park. We already have the let's eat, we have the let's play, we have the explore. So my main goal was I want to knock out the what's new. What's new at Donny Park because this time of year, those are very popular videos. And actually, at the time of recording this, it has over 500 to 700 views already on that on that front. So I was like, okay, that's my main goal. And also uh there's nothing for me really to ride uh for the 125 roller coaster challenge because um we did them all last year, and any rides that we did last year, we don't count for this year. We we don't want to be like, oh, I did Hershey Park again, there's seventh credits, oh we did Dorney Park again, there's blah blah blah. We want this 125 to be of rides that we did not do in the past. So because of that, um I kind of had an easy day. Uh and kind of like um Hershey Park, because I go to this park so often, it's very easy for me to notice things that are different than people who don't visit all the time would know. And I'll go over some of the things later on in this episode. So I decide okay, I'm gonna get there, I'm gonna aim for one o'clock, get there and stay until about four or five. Quick little hidden hidden run. So I pull in a little bit before one o'clock, and as soon as I pull in, the first thing I noticed was so many buses. So many buses. And a few of them were just emptying out then. So instead of me like sitting in my car and getting all my stuff together and okay, let's get ready to go, make sure you have the relief band, all that stuff, I beelined to the entrance because I realized once those buses, those I think it was three or four buses that were walking towards the front gate, once they hit that security line's gonna be 10 minutes, 15 minutes, especially if you got people with bags and all that kind of stuff there. So I rushed in there, beat the crowd, got into the front. So I get there. Um, and my main goal is let's film what's new. So I go right to guest services. I always go to guest services uh at the beginning of the year, and most parks I actually go to guest services right away because I want them to know who I am, what I'm doing. Um I've always kind of done this. I don't do it all the time at Hershey Park because they know me. Uh, but when I go to a park, I do this. And it saved me once. Uh, and because of that, I make sure I do it every time. Um, the incident that I'm talking about is usually when I go, you know, I'm I'm filming, I'm going there. Most people nowadays are immune to it. Uh, and I never like, oh, there's a person, let me focus on them, focus on. It's always, you know, I shoot above kids, you know, so if there's kids in front of me, I'll hold the camera up higher. So I'm shooting over them to show what I'm doing and stuff like that. Uh, but I did have an incident at Waldemere where I had a guy come right up to me in my face and start yelling, you can't do this, you're blah blah blah, blah, blah, blah. And thank God, I we that morning I went to Waldemere when I went to guest services, told him who I was, gave him my card, and said what I was going to do. Because this guy's rating and raving, and he's at one point he's like, I'm gonna get security here right now. And I'm like, Go ahead, bring security over. He brings security over, starts yelling at the security guard, he can't do this, there's people here, and nobody wants to be filmed, and it's illegal and all that kind of stuff there. And the security guard's professional attack, he's taking it, taking it, taking it. Then he looks at me and I just said, uh, I believe the guy was Rick or something ago, uh, Rick said, I'm good to go. That was the GM, general manager of the park. Uh don't know if it's still Rick or whatever, but uh, and then the security guard just looked at him and said, He's good to go. And it was kind of funny. And um, I went to the guy then I said, Listen, I'll come back to this section in two hours. If you don't want to be filmed, don't be here. Um, I felt that was a good compromise because I had a feeling that if I started to pick up filming right there, it would have been a problem. So, because of that, I'm glad I went there and did what I do at Waldemere. So when that problem happened, the first uh first and only time knocking on wood that that happened, at least I had permission. They knew who I was, I wasn't doing anything there, they know that they know the channel, and every day the channel is growing. So, you know, back then I might have had 4,000 subscribers, been a little, you know, one of the smaller guys. We're we're now double that. Once we hit 10,000, I kind of think we're legit. That's why I'm pushing so much for 10,000. I swear to the heavens that the second we hit 10,000, I'm not gonna mention it until it somehow we get close to 100,000, which I doubt. I don't think we're ever gonna hit that number. But once I hit 10,000, I'm not gonna keep saying, look and subscribe, can you please subscribe? Blah blah blah. To me, 10,000 has always been a goal where I'm like, you know what? If I get to 10,000, we're a legit channel. It's just in my mind, there's um, you know, one two percent of channels make 10,000. So that's why for me it's a big push to get to 10,000, is more in my mind, it makes me makes us more legitimate on that end. Um so with that being said, I went right to Dwende Park and I asked guys what's new. And they didn't give me much. They did not give me much. Um but I knew enough about the park to figure out where there might be some new stuff there. Now, later on in the day, um I did get some more inside information, which I'll share today. Um, yeah, they asked me not to put it in the video, they did not ask anything about the podcast. So um so I went there and I I walked around the park and I filmed, and of course, um with these school buses, there they're bigger lines, but most of the lines were not for the rides. The biggest lines we had were for food. It seemed like every restaurant, and they had most of the restaurants open now. Without Waterwater Wildwater Kingdom open, their top uh food place, Tidal Wave or Tidal Waters, whatever it is, cafe, uh, that was closed. Um, but most of the other standard ones were open. The only one I noticed that was not open that day that I was kind of shocked was the newest one that's located over in the steel yard section. Um that wasn't open, and I figured, well, I like kind of like the flatbed pizza there. So um end up not eating there at all, but uh jumped on Demon Drop. I always go to Demon Drop because as I love to say, you never know when your last ride is going to be your last ride. So it's an older one, it's the last Intamin uh drop tower in existence. I always got jump on it. So with that, uh I knocked that out there. Uh the water, uh, the log flume was not going, so I wasn't able to do that, which was good because I've yet to buy the meta glasses. As of recording this, I've not bought the meta glasses yet. And I know it's something I really want to do is I the log flumes, POVs. So I was kind of glad it wasn't open. I've only done one log flume so far at King's Dominion, and I have to go back to King's Dominion anyway because I gotta get that damn water park. But all in all, um, you know, we did what we needed to do. So some of the new things that I discovered was um, first of all, there's some new food items. Uh the one thing I didn't mention was over at Whitewater Tavern, which is right across from Whitewater Landings. Uh, they do have a new pizza, a pan pizza actually, and they do have a new chicken sandwich. So there's food there. I went into the arcade, and I'm not a huge arcade guy. You know, we do the let's play, but I went in there and I noticed a couple new games. And I went to the attendant, I go, listen, I've seen some new games. Um, you know, what what do you got new? And she actually took the time and said, This one's new, this one's new, this one's new. The highlight for me, and it's one I've been seeing a lot and a lot of arcades now. And especially when I look at it, I always think about the Jersey Shore because that's where I first saw it. But it's stinky feet, the one where you shoot the water guns at the feet or the nose, and you know, the sparse soap and stuff like that on this guy in the tub. Um, it's funny that that one stands out to you right away. As soon as you walk in, you're like, oh, that is a that that is stinky feet right there. So that was new. Um, some of the other stuff too. I found out later on when I jumped on Talon. Um, the big new is Talon is 25 years old. And I am so glad Thorny always had decent pr uh above average um merch when it comes to their roller coasters. But they are definitely highlighting Talon. There is whole um uh end caps with t-shirts and baseball pendants, which baseball pendants I never really realized were a thing again, but apparently they are a thing because uh at other parks since this Dawnee Park one, uh I've noticed there is a lot of um baseball pendants and stuff like that. So that one, um, you know, talent is definitely being promoted uh for their 25th, and rightfully so. Uh Talent has always been a top 25 coaster for us. It is very underappreciated, uh, which is surprising to me because it is, you know, no offense to Steel Force or Hydra or even the new boy, uh Iron Menace, but for me, Talon just hits different. Uh it's the only BM invert that I remember right now, off the top of my head, that I consistently get airtime in. And those are hard to get because you're they're not made for airtime, they're made for uh twists and turns and you know inversions and stuff like that. So the fact that consistently, the one section right off of the breaker run, you get a pop of air is always neat to me. But um, yeah, that's a big celebration, is Talon. And then uh they told me two things uh when I got in line for Talon, because of course I had to ride Talon. Um, when I got in line, they mentioned two things that I want to share with you real quick. So the one is uh for the members. So they are Six Flags Parked now, and at other parks I've noticed that they're doing this now too. At King's Dominion, I recently went to Cedar Point, which we'll be doing an episode on that. Um they do have VIP lounges, so there will be a VIP lounge coming to Dorney Park. Uh so this is uh the classic memberships, um, legacy memberships, uh where you have uh the plat, I believe the platinum, you have the Diamond Elite, then you have the Diamond Elite VIP. And if you have those, there's gonna be a lounge coming. And then near August, there's gonna be an announcement about the haunt. Now, if you're familiar with Haunty Park, yeah, the Water Kingdom is King, but right behind them is the haunt. Uh this is a premiere, I'm gonna say premiere, uh place to go if you want to be scared during the um the autumn season. They are known for their haunt houses. Uh and they keep most of them up there. Uh the Bayou house is always open, the one behind um Iron Menace, they kind of keep them going. They don't tear them down and send them back up. And there is something new going on with the haunt in 2026. So that's a little inside information there. But all in all, um Dorney Park is Dorney Park. Um, and they're going to be opening up, you know, the water park in two days uh for the season. And once that opens up there, I will be doing an art park day there uh because of the water slide challenge. I have only done inside water parks right now. I almost went on an outside water slide yesterday at Sesame Place, but I decided they only had one. The lines were crazy. It was a hundred degrees, guys. So everybody was in that uh getting in line for that raft ride. So I figure a tube slide. So I figure at that point I'll skip it. But soon I will be going back to Dorney Park and I will be doing the water slide aspect of it. And when I do that, I'll do the R Park days and stuff like that. Uh, but hey, we're at the end of this episode. So let us know in the comment section what you love about Dorney Park or what you do not love about Dorney Park. Uh, we're here to uh you know see. If you have a comment or anything about the podcast, yes, you can always leave comments on Spotify, um, Amazon, all that stuff. But if you want me to see it, uh go to our Instagram, Facebook, or Tickety Talk. They're all 125 Roller Coaster. Um, once you go there, you can like, subscribe there. Uh, I think we have 13,000 people on Facebook. We have 3300 on Instagram, and we have 2,700, and it's growing every day on Tickety Talk. So, um, and then of course you can always go to the YouTube channel and stuff like that. So, once again, guys, I can't wait to see you in the queue in 2026 and have yourself an amazing Memorial Day weekend.