- Ride Review
- RIDE:
Hydra: The Revenge
- PARK:
Dorney Park
- DATE:
June 4, 2005
- REPORTER:
Mike Collins
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One of the great things about the internet is that we can experience things virtually before we ever get to try them in real life.
For instance, last year I booked a vacation to Las Vegas and got to virtually tour hotels online before I got there. It helped me make up my mind on where to stay.
These days, you can do the same thing with roller coasters.
In the case of Hydra: The Revenge at Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom, I got a chance to take a ride on the their new B&M Floorless a whole year before it was built.
How did I do it? Well, the marketing people at Dorney decided to post animation of the roller coaster on their website to show people what they could expect.
For me, the animation was so good that I planned a trip to Allentown, PA in the summer of 2005 to ride this beast. After all, they tore down their wooden coaster Hercules to make room for this thing, so it had to be good.
I got to Dorney Park about a month after they opened Hydra. It is a really picturesque roller coaster. Dorney Park didn't just tear down Hercules, build this roller coaster and forget about the landscaping. In fact, they filled the surrounding hillsides and ravines with rocks and trees that actually add to the experience. Even though the coaster was brand new, it looked like it had been at this classic park for a long time.
I walked up to the station and was immediately impressed with the way they store the loose articles of riders. Each row of the train has it's own individual locker. When you sit down in the train, ride operators take your loose items and place it in the locker. Then, they slide the door to lock it. As the door slides, it opens the 2nd storage area that has been holding the loose articles of the people on the train ahead of you. This way, no one "accidentally" walks off with other people's stuff. Very nice!
Hydra's trains are nice and comfy and sport a green and pink design. I got to the park early, so I was able to score a front row seat.
As I looked out of the station, I saw a strange sight. There was an inversion only 30 feet away! This was the infamous "JoJo Roll." It was named after Joe Green, Dorney Park's Vice President of Maintenance and Construction. He worked closely with B&M to design the ride and it was his idea to place an inversion before the lift hill. So, he got to name it after himself.
I was so busy staring at the strangeness of the "JoJo Roll" that I hardly noticed the floor drop out from under the train. Before I knew it, we were heading out of the station and towards the "JoJo."
I was wondering what it would feel like taking an inversion like this at a low speed, but it was surprisingly fun! You do pick up just enough speed as you head out of the station to move though the "JoJo Roll" comfortably. It gives you a nice "hang time" sensation as you move though it.
After that, you bank around a corner and begin climbing a 95-foot-tall lift hill. The lift moves very fast, but it gives you a chance to look around and remember where the mighty Hercules once stood. Once you're at the top, you plunge down a 105-foot sideways drop at 68 degrees reaching a top speed of 53 m.p.h.
After racing down the hill and having your feet almost scrape the bottom of a rock-hewn canyon, you then fly into inclined dive loop. Just as you catch your breath, you spin into a zero-gravity roll.
Next, Hydra races through the first of two flat-spin inversions and then falls 50 feet into another ravine.
The trains then crest into an unusually tight cobra roll, before dropping back into the same ravine. The ride lasts 2 minutes and 35 seconds, but it feels shorter because of the quickness of the pacing.
When I first got off of Hydra, I thought it was fun, but nothing special.
I thought that the "JoJo Roll" was cool, but beyond that, there weren't any great forces or airtime on the coaster. I even banged my head around a little.
Since there was no line, I decided to run around and take another ride. This time, I chose the back seat to see if it was any better. I'm glad I did because it was a totally different experience.
In the back row, you get some major airtime off of the first drop. Also, the forces seem to be stronger throughout the whole ride. Plus, in the back, I didn't bang my head once.
I was amazed how different of a ride it was when I rode in the back seat. It was just more fun.
I think this is a great ride for a family park like Dorney. If I wanted to bring my son or daughter on a looping roller coaster for the first time, I might choose this one because the forces aren't too strong and there are no jarring moments.
I love floorless roller coasters. Medusa at Six Flags Great Adventure and Kraken at Sea World Orlando are two of my favorite coasters in the world. After my back seat ride, Hydra ranks right up there with them.
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