Dorney Park reopens, with safety measures
Visitors must register online, pass screening, use cellphone app, and will have limits on rides
Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom opened Wednesday, more than two months after the South Whitehall Township amusement park was originally scheduled to swing open its gates for its 137th season in what has been a roller coaster of a year, stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
Inside the park, which opened exclusively to seasonpass holders but plans to welcome daily ticket holders starting Saturday, several new protocols were in place, including temperature checks in tents outside the main entrance and ride capacity limits to keep guests safe as they seek an escape from isolation. Wildwater Kingdom remains closed and doesn’t yet have an opening date, but Wednesday still represented a return — albeit one dampened by afternoon rain — of one of the area’s largest tourism drivers and seasonal employers.
“I couldn’t be more excited to get the park opened,” Dorney Vice President and General Manager Michael Fehnel told
The Morning Call during a media walk-through of the property before it opened Wednesday. “For our guests and our associates, it’s a sign of summer being here and being able to get out and do some things safely. We worked really, really hard to get the park ready for everybody, and we’re just excited to deliver some fun and laughter and make some memories for guests.”
Guests noticed several changes before they even entered the gates.
For one, all visitors must make reservations through the park’s new online reservation system before coming, helping the facility regulate how many people attend. Visitors also are required to complete a health screening declaration 24 hours prior to admission.
At the park, staff members, who went through COVID-19 training, conduct touchless temperature screens of guests. Anyone with a temperature of 100.4 degrees or higher will be asked to reschedule their visit. Masks are required at all times at the park, unless you’re eating, drinking or on a water ride, such as Thunder Canyon. Three rides at the park, Possessed, Meteor and White Water Landing, are closed for the season for maintenance, spokeswoman Tana Korpics said.
At least one member of a group must have the park’s mobile app on their phone while at the park, which has free Wi-Fi, allowing for touchless entry, transactions and access to an interactive map. The app also lets guests know which rides are momentarily paused for sanitizing.
Teal markers stuck to the ground remind guests to maintain social distancing of at least 6 feet, including while in line for rides. On rides, certain seats are blocked to keep riders apart. On roller coasters, every other row is open.
In another change, Dorney Park is now smoke-free, with a designated smoking area just outside the main entrance.
The park also enhanced its cleaning, added hand-sanitizing stations and limited operating hours — the usual 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. has become 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. — to allow for a deep cleaning every evening.
One of the biggest challenges Wednesday was Mother Nature, which soaked Dorney Park in the afternoon and cut the day short for some patrons.
That included Larry Abrams and his four children, Forks Township residents who arrived about 2:30 p.m. but were getting ready to leave shortly before 5 p.m., as the rain shut down some of the rides.
While Abrams said he wasn’t crazy about having to wear a mask, his family planned on returning soon to the place they usually visit 30-40 times a year.
“We have reservations for tomorrow, too,” he said.
With four fewer hours daily, capacity restrictions and Wildwater Kingdom not yet open, Dorney Park has about 1,500 seasonal workers, compared with its usual 3,000. Korpics said, however, the park is still hiring and plans to ramp up employment as needed.
In Pennsylvania, amusement parks weren’t allowed to open until their host counties reached the green phase of the state’s reopening plan. Hersheypark in Dauphin County opened Friday, and Knoebels Amusement Resort, which straddles Columbia and Northumberland counties, opened July 1.
The pandemic dealt a major blow to the U.S. theme park industry, which typically draws more than 375 million visits annually. Dorney Park’s parent company, Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., which owns more than a dozen amusement parks, watched its stock price hit a bottom of around $13 a share in mid-March, compared with a price that was north of $50 the month before. The stock has since rebounded to near $30 a share.
In mid-April, Cedar Fair outlined cost-reduction measures that included eliminating almost all of its seasonal and part-time labor costs until parks approached reopening dates, reducing executives’ base salaries, and trimming scheduled hours for full-time employees by 25%, to 30 hours per week.
Given the uncertainty about 2020, Cedar Fair also extended its season passes and add-on products through the 2021 season.
At Dorney Park, some events also were pushed back. Grand Carnivale, the evening parade and international street festival, has been postponed to 2021, as have the new Summer Nights evening block parties.
For Fehnel, who started his career at Dorney Park in 1992 at age 14 running the whack-amole game, 2020 has been a strange year, but he’s happy his longtime home is finally open.
“There’s no doubt 2020 is an unprecedented year,” he said. “But you know what? We’re ready for the challenge.”