The U.S. northeast will be getting its first B&M Dive Coaster next year, with the opening of Iron Menace in Pennsylvania's Dorney Park.
The Allentown park announced its 2024 new ride plans today. Themed to an old steel mill, Iron Menace will be a 160-foot-tall Bolliger & Mabillard Dive Coaster, with a 152-foot, 95-degree drop, four inversions and a top speed of 64 miles per hour on 2,169 feet of track. Let's look at the concept POV.
Iron Menace will be Dorney Park's first new construction coaster since 2005's Hydra, a Bolliger & Mabillard floorless coaster. It will be the third B&M dive at Cedar Fair parks, following 2019's Yukon Striker at Canada's Wonderland and 2016's Valravn at Cedar Point.
"With an exciting backstory that loosely connects riders to our area’s rich industrial roots, Iron Menace will become the eighth thrilling roller coaster at the park, bolstering what has been an impressive lineup for well over a decade," Vice President and General Manager Jessica Naderman said, calling the coaster "one of the largest capital investments in park history."
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it is absolutely nuts that this is the first new coaster installation since I was in junior high lmao
It's gratifying to see that Dorney is finally getting something new. That park has been very much overlooked. Theming it after the steel industry is so appropriate. Both of my parents were born and raised in Bethlehem, which like Allentown is in PA'S Lehigh Valley. At the time Bethlehem Steel was the largest employer in the area. And I feel a certain sentimental attachment to Dorney because when I was 12 years old (60 years ago!) my Aunt Agnes, who was crippled with polio but loved roller coasters, took me there to ride Thunderhawk,f/k/a The Coaster. Dorney may be a minor park but has the distinction of housing the first hypercoaster on the East Coast and that coaster contains an exceptionally good helix. As for what Russell said about lack of visible theming, perhaps that will be added as construction of the new coaster nears completion.
Compared to the other dive coasters in the US, this one admittedly looks a bit lacking. While offering more inversions, it's shorter than Emperor and doesn't offer many elements that can't be found on the park's other two B&M coasters. That said, it still looks like a good ride that will probably be in the top three at Dorney, and it's nice to see Cedar Fair investing in this park that has got very little of note since the late 2000s.
Finally providing some love to one of it's stepchildren I see. I initially didn't expect anything mind-blowing with this design, but with no mid course brake run and at a 95 degree drop, this gives me something to look forward to. Although small and quaint, they do have a nice selection of quality attractions and have made drastic changes to their food & beverage lineup, even if it is with the addition of local food trucks.
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This will also be the first B&M Dive Machine in North America with no turn at the top of the lift hill (like Baron at Efteling). However, it's a bit disappointing that Cedar Fair is indicating a relatively detailed backstory for the coaster, but very little theming is indicated in the concept video. No tunnels, no fly-throughs, no other near miss elements, and no large thematic structures are shown in a part of the park that is about as much of a "blank slate" as you can find in an American theme park.
Dorney Park is not known for putting intricate theming on their coasters, but I was hoping that the increase in theming on recent Cedar Fair attractions would extend to this addition - shame.