Roller Coaster Guide to Dorney Park: Every Coaster Ranked
Dorney Park's best coasters span a century of thrills, from Iron Menace, the Northeast's first B&M dive coaster with a 95-degree drop and four inversions, to Steel Force, a 200-foot hypercoaster with floater airtime and a pitch-black tunnel, plus Talon's four inversions and Thunderhawk, a wooden coaster running since 1924.
Dorney Park is the Lehigh Valley's low-key coaster gem: a lineup with a modern B&M dive machine, a 200 foot hyper, and a wooden coaster that has been running since 1924, all in a park where the waits are shockingly short. Here is every major coaster ranked.
1. Iron Menace
The 2024 headliner and the Northeast's first B&M dive coaster, themed to a villainous steel magnate.
- Ride experience: a 160 foot climb, a creep over the edge, a held pause staring straight down, then a 95 degree drop into four inversions and a surprisingly snappy layout for a dive machine.
- Height requirement: 48 inches
- Best seat: front row, outside seat. The hold over the drop is the whole point.
- Best time to ride: whenever you want. Our wait data has it averaging under 5 minutes, absurd for a new-for-2024 headliner. Weekday afternoons it is often a station wait.
2. Steel Force
A 200 foot Morgan hypercoaster from 1997 and still the park's signature skyline.
- Ride experience: a 75 mph first drop into a tunnel, two enormous camelback hills, a swooping turnaround over the lake, and a long bunny hop run home with honest floater airtime.
- Height requirement: 48 inches
- Best seat: back row for drop pull, middle for the smoothest ride.
- Best time to ride: night. It averages just 5 minutes in our data, so save your laps for after sunset when the tunnel goes pitch black.
3. Talon
A B&M inverted coaster from 2001 with the classic four-inversion recipe and famously quiet track.
- Ride experience: 135 feet up, then a drop into a loop, zero-g roll, Immelmann, and corkscrew with your feet dangling. Forceful, smooth, endlessly re-rideable.
- Height requirement: 54 inches
- Best seat: front row for the swing, back left for intensity.
- Best time to ride: morning laps. It averages under 6 minutes, so marathon at will.
4. Hydra the Revenge
A floorless B&M with a party trick no other coaster copies: the jojo roll, a slow heartline inversion immediately out of the station, before the lift hill.
- Ride experience: seven inversions total, taken with a floaty, almost lazy grace. The jojo roll hanging you upside down at walking speed is worth the ride alone.
- Height requirement: 52 inches
- Best seat: front row for the jojo roll visuals; outside seats for everything else.
- Best time to ride: midday. Averages about 7 minutes.
5. Possessed
An Intamin impulse coaster: twin vertical spikes, a launch that fires you forward and backward at up to around 70 mph.
- Ride experience: repeated launches, a twisting front spike you climb face-up, and a rear spike with a holding brake that dangles you facing straight down at the ground.
- Height requirement: 52 inches
- Best seat: front row, both for the twist and the view down the back spike.
- Best time to ride: early evening when the launches glow. Averages under 5 minutes.
6. Thunderhawk
Running since 1924, one of the oldest operating coasters on the planet.
- Ride experience: a compact figure-eight layout with genuine airtime pops and a vintage rattle that is part of the charm.
- Height requirement: 48 inches
- Best seat: back row.
- Best time to ride: anytime, it is a walk-on more often than not. Respect your elders.
7. Wild Mouse
The family wild mouse is, hilariously, the longest wait in the park: 20.6 minutes on average in our data, four times Iron Menace's. Tiny cars, slow loading, endless families. Ride it in the first hour or skip it without guilt.
First-Timers Guide Order
- Wild Mouse at rope drop, seriously, the data demands it
- Iron Menace and Talon in the morning
- Hydra and Possessed after lunch
- Thunderhawk whenever you pass it
- Steel Force at night
Enthusiast Order
- Iron Menace front row at open
- Talon morning marathon
- Hydra, Possessed, Thunderhawk through midday
- Skip Wild Mouse unless the credit matters to you
- Steel Force back row night laps until close
Thoosie