The current entrance to Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom with Talon's lift hill in the background
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Slogan | Thrills Connect |
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Location | Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States |
Coordinates | 40°34′40.59″N 75°31′53.50″W / 40.5779417°N 75.5315278°WCoordinates: 40°34′40.59″N 75°31′53.50″W / 40.5779417°N 75.5315278°W |
Owner | Cedar Fair Entertainment Company |
General Manager | Michael Fehnel |
Opened | 1884 |
Operating season | April through early November |
Area | 200 acres (0.81 km2) |
Rides | |
Total | 47 |
Roller coasters | 8 |
Water rides | 3 |
Website | Official website |
Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom is an amusement and water park owned and operated by Cedar Fair and located in between Allentown, Pennsylvania and Emmaus, Pennsylvania. The park features eight roller coasters, other adult and children's rides, and a waterpark, Wildwater Kingdom.
It features some of the world's most prominent roller coasters, including Steel Force, the ninth longest steel roller coaster in the world and the second longest on the U.S. East Coast.
The park is accessible from Interstate 78, U.S. Route 222 (Hamilton Blvd.) and CedaCrest Boulevard. The region is served by Lehigh Valley International Airport, about 10 miles (16 km) east of Dorney Park. Bieber Tourways has a nearby bus terminal at the former Charcoal Drive-In (at junction of U.S. Route 222 and Hamilton Boulevard), with daily service to and from New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal, Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal and other regional locations.
Dorney Park traces its history to 1860, when Solomon Dorney built a trout hatchery and summer resort on his estate outside of Allentown. In 1870, Dorney decided to convert the estate into a public attraction. Initially, the facility featured games, playground-style rides, refreshment stands, picnic groves, a hotel, and a restaurant. By the 1880s, Dorney had added a small zoo, and gardens.
When the Allentown-Kutztown Traction Company completed its trolley line from Allentown to Kutztown in 1899, the company added a stop at Dorney's park. Two years later, the traction company purchased the park, operating it until 1923. That year, the park was sold to Robert Plarr and two other partners. Plarr soon bought out his partners and ran Dorney Park until his death in 1966. Plarr built a house for his estranged wife Wiltracy Plarr in the 30's under the first hill of Thunder Hawk in hopes of driving her to divorce. She lived there until the late 1980's, never granting him the divorce. Ownership then passed to Plarr's son, Stephen, who died within a year. Robert Ott, Plarr's son-in-law, took over as owner in 1967. In 1985, Ott sold Dorney Park to Harris Weinstein. Weinstein owned it until 1992, when he sold the park to Cedar Fair Entertainment Co.