Dorney Park Announces First Brand New Roller Coaster In Area In Almost Twenty Years
Summer might be winding down, but we can look forward to Summer 2024. Dorney Park just announced the first brand-new roller coaster in the area in almost twenty years! That is a pretty crazy fact when you think about it. There haven’t been any new roller coasters in the area since 2005. Even crazier 2005 is almost 20 years ago.
“We took a lot of our leads, our inspiration, from the ruins in Bethlehem,” said Dorney Park Public Relations Manager Ryan Eldredge. “It’s going to look and feel more like a steel mill. As you get onto the ride, you’re going to have all those dips and dives and inversions that will make you feel like you’re on a car maneuvering your way through a steel mill.”
Bethlehem Steel was a staple in the Lehigh Valley, so many people worked there, including family members of mine. The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Until its closure in 2003, it was one of the world’s largest steel-producing and shipbuilding companies. It’s very sad because the Lehigh Valley was such a money-making machine with its steel, but like many American manufacturing companies, production shut down or moved overseas.
Billy Joel wrote his famous song “Allentown” about the steel factories as well.
So the graduations hang on the wall
But they never really helped us at all
No they never taught us what was real
Iron and coke, chromium steel
And we’re waiting here in Allentown
But they’ve taken all the coal from the ground
And the union people crawled away
Dorney Park Announces First Brand New Roller Coaster:
The new roller coaster is called Iron Menace, and it is set to open in the spring of 2024. In case you aren’t familiar with Dorney Park, it’s located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, known as the Lehigh Valley, about 60 miles from Philadelphia. The new roller coaster will climb 160 feet, then a three-second pause at the top will allow you to look straight down. Then, the park says riders will go “beyond vertical,” plummeting down a 95-degree drop. That’s followed by twists and turns with speeds up to 64 miles per hour. Iron Menace will be the park’s eighth roller coaster, the first new coaster since Hydra opened in 2005, and the largest since Steel Force opened in 1997.
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