Monday means Dorney Park

James welcomes you to Dorney Park

After an early start, some preparational yoga and a light breakfast, we found ourselves outside Dorney Park, home of, among others, the Hydra and the Talon. By 945 we were queuing with other coaster enthusiasts, mainly from the Hispanic community, outside Hydra for our first ride of the tour.


A fellow Coaster Enthusiast soaks up the excitement

We did not fit in well: having thought we would find ourselves with like-minded individuals, we have discovered that polo shirts, GAP shorts and docksiders (naturally) are not what our American cousins wear while 'coasting'. No indeed. They wear mostly knee-length tee-shirts, enormous trousers, bandanas (the wrong way round) and about 10 extra stone. Hardly waifs ourselves, we have discovered how it feels to be Kate Moss without the need to wear women's clothes. Furthermore, the fact that your average coaster-rider is morbidly obese means that the rides are truly feats of modern engineering.


James and George mix with other Coaster Enthusiasts

Still, the rides were spectacular and we were grateful to have eaten little beforehand. We came off most rides at Dorney Park feeling queasy and disorientated and in need of a sit-down. However, our bodies soon became used to the pressures and g-forces so that by the time we had been on Talon four times, we were only slightly dizzy after disembarking. After a few hours at the park, we had covered all the rides and headed towards upstate Pennsylvania where life took on a surreal turn....