Talon- 8.5/10: B&M has done it again. An amazing and unique (besides patriot [at worlds of fun]) design brings joy and amusement to me. Sadly, I could not sit in the front, for my group does not like long waits. I rode it 3 times- second row, 3rd, and 2nd to last. My shortest wait for this of the day was 5-10 minutes, and the longest was 20. I noticed that Talon's loading station is highly elevated from the ground, and the end of the ride has to climb back up another 20 feet from the ground level to get to the brake run. The whole ride is very fast paced and exciting. Although it only has 4 inversions, it has an overall good height, speed, drop, and special effects. Yes, it has a photo, but it also has an onride video! It films your reverse POV during the ride!
Hydra: the Revenge- 9/10: I rode it 5 times, 2ce of which in the front. Everything on this coaster is amazing, from the first 5 mph. inversion, to the inclined turn-around loop, to the 4 strait inversions without interuption, to the saddining brake run. Just so you know, I don't count incline loops as an inversion. My biggest wait was 20 minutes, and the que moves quickly. This coaster is probably as custimized as Great Bear (at Hershey Park), but put into a smaller space and a better ride overall. It has 6(.5 from the inclined loop) inversions and major parts of the ride, in order- 5 mph. barrel roll; 95 foot lift hill; 105 foot drop; inclined loop; heartline roll (Zero-G roll); huge flat spin (corkskrew); small-scale Cobra roll; a couple of elevated turns; airtime hill; last inversion (flat spin); a few more turns and then the brake run. Like Talon, Hydra's loading station is elevated from ground level. To get to the station, you have to climb about 2 flights of stairs. Me and my group had to leave the park beofre it was dark, but it was almost sundown when we left, and Hydra's lift hill had red lights flashing up the lift hill, which was astonishing and fun to look at.
Voodoo-7.5/10: I love the blast offs, and how the speed keeps increasing every time through the station. I also love how the second time up the verticle end, the train just completely stops for about a second. The first launch had a lot of suspense, but also slow and kind of dull.
Steel Force-5/10: The only good part about this ride is the first drop and the airtime on the last camlebacks. If you've been on other hyper coasters, you'll agree that steel force gives you an aching backbone and a boring ride after you've experienced it. I thought it was completely boring, even with the airtime. On the last 7 hills or something, you'll notice airtime on the top of the hills, and a huge amount of bad G's at the bottem of them. If steel force was an Intamin hypercoaster, I think it would have more respect from me instead of a terrible morgan design.
Thunderhawk-6/10: I respect how old it is, but 'the hawk' is too rough and needs to either be redone with some improvements and new cars, or needs to be put to sleep.
Laser-3/10: BOOORRRIINNNGGGG! If you ever go to dorney, avoid this coaster. It is very rough. It may seem fast, but that's to make up for the lack or excitement. Do not go on this ride especially if you have a bag, because you have to hold it in your lap.
Alright, done with that. It's all out of my system.
The park is very clean and neat, with helpful and friendly employees. The other guests didn't seem to have a problem with anything, and I saw no vandilizing. Cedar Fair does a nice job with the park, but lacks somewhat in the coaster department. I recomend this park if you have toddlers, because they have some kiddie rides, and younger section of the water park, and a bunch peanuts characters and stuff to do with snoopy.
Out of everything, Dorney is an 8/10 park for me.
And if you are planning a trip to WOF, just make sure it is a day trip, because there really is not a day's worth of stuff to do at the park (unless you go to Oceans of Fun as well - which is a separate ticket). I submitted a trip report for Worlds of Fun from May of this year if you missed it.
Honestly, if you do plan on going to a theme park in Missouri, you should probably go to Silver Dollar City in Branson first. It has excellent rides, great theming, top notch shows, first rate customer service, and wonderful food. Not to mention Table Rock Lake is nearby and is a great place to swim and (if you are so inclined) party!
No affense to Patriot, but Talon was made 5 years before it. I'm not saying Patriot is a bad ride, I'm just saying that Talon shouldn't be put to waste because it's on a smaller scale (not like you said that, though, James).
Does Patriot have a little video that the park records on the ride, like inbetween the seats infront of you? I think that's a really cool 'special effects' part of Talon.