Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom

 

Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, LP, Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom is a world-class amusement park and a major source of tourism dollars for the Lehigh Valley region, attracting over a million visitors during a single season.

BIA has provided engineering services to the park for 20 years and has been most active since Dorney's 1992 acquisition by Cedar Fair, LP, of Sandusky, OH.

Cedar Fair management retools the park each year with new rides and upgrades to attract new visitors and returning guests. All innovations are confined within the boundaries of the park's 200 acres, which has no obvious room for expansion. The main tool in these constant upgrades is one of our early park projects: the preparation of an overall boundary and topographical survey plan using aerial photography. The base plan prepared in 1993 (and updated regularly) is the framework for the park's master planning, presentation drawings and site development plans for all new rides and attractions.

Talon Roller Coaster

In 2000, BIA completed site design for the Talon Roller Coaster, the longest inverted roller coaster in the Northeast. The Talon screams at 58 miles per hour, with a looping track of 3,110 feet, a vertical drop of 120 feet, and a maximum angle of descent of 50 degrees.  

The Talon was built on an aggressive schedule to be ready for opening day May 5, 2001. The ride involved coordinating project needs with the ride designer, B&M Group in Switzerland, and the U.S. foundation designer.  

The ride station, designed in Sandusky, OH, also required coordination between European and American designers. BIA's coordination continued throughout the construction phase with the excavation and foundation contractors, the erectors, and BIA's own construction stakeout and construction observation.

Over the years, BIA projects have included site design for:

• The Main Midway (planned to accomodate new rides each year)
• Steel Force Roller Coaster (one of the tallest and longest coasters in the nation)
• The Dominator (a 170-foot drop and thrust tower ride)
• Restaurants, gift shops, game arcades, a new park entrance, parking areas, and picnic groves
• Reconfigured plans to shift existing rides to maximize space, requiring modifications to storm water management plans, utility lines, and erosion and soil control plans. (Obtaining municipal approvals can sometimes present a challenge, particularly when introducing an innovative ride.)