Lehigh valley/Dorney Park vs Hershey

Spending 3 days in Philadelphia in mid-August and would like to extend the trip for 3 additional days.

Have 3 boys (11,11,12) and had thought of Lehigh Valley....Iron Pigs game, biking the gorge, Dorney Park, rafting, tubing. Kids not into really big rollercoasters. Can anyone give me a recommendation of Dorney vs. Hershey.

Also, any ideas on places to stay in the area or recommendations on any of the above activities.

Thanks for your help.

Lehigh valley/Dorney Park vs Hershey

I live near Dorney Park and the roller coasters are very big and wild. They do have a wonderful water park that you could easily spend a day in. There are many motels in the area. Any motel on Hamilton Blvd. would be close to the park. Don%26#39;t know anything about them so you could check the reviews on this site. Hershey Park is beautiful and about 90 minute drive from Allentown. Tubing on the Delaware River from Point Pleasant Pa. is a lot of fun and that is about a 60 minute drive from Allentown. I have biked the Lehigh River Gorge which is beautiful. I believe bike rentals are available in the town of Jim Thorpe which is at the south end of the gorge. Valley Forge is very close to Philadelphia and is a fun place to visit. Have not been to a Pigs game but I hear a lot of good things about the ball park. Hope this helps and enjoy your trip.

Lehigh valley/Dorney Park vs Hershey

I live close to Dorney also, and will agree with what the previous poster said and will add that you can avoid the roller coasters and still have plenty of rides to go on. But, just get them on one of the loopty-loopes and maybe they will change their minds - they are so much fun!

We went to an Iron Pigs game a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Great stadium, easy to get to and a fun night.

I also like Hershey Park, but it%26#39;s no better then Dorney so not sure if it%26#39;s worth the drive if the rest of your activities are out this way.

Also close to Allentown is the historic town of Bethlehem with cute shops and restaurants. http://www.historicbethlehem.org/ and it sounds like you might be in the area during Musikfest: http://www.musikfest.org/ If that%26#39;s the case, you%26#39;d better book your hotel rooms now. This is extremely popular.

I should also mention that you can get discount tickets at Weis-King grocery stores. There is one about a mile from Dorney Park at a shopping center at the intersection of Hamilton Street and Cedar Crest Avenue. I don%26#39;t think there is a savings for the kids tickets but you can save about $10 for each adult one.

I live in Reading, right smack in the middle between Dorney and Hershey, so we go to both pretty regularly. I tend to prefer Dorney because of the water park, though Hershey now has the boardwalk, which is a mini water park within the actual amusement park part of Hershey. Though in the summer it can get really full, and there%26#39;s a maximum capacity that they adhere to.

Honestly, to save the drive, I%26#39;d choose Dorney. Hershey also has quite a few rollercoasters, it seems to be their big %26#39;thing%26#39; right now, a new coaster every season lol

Hershey Park is by far a much nicer park.

It%26#39;s cleaner and has many more rides and shows.

Although if you already have other activites planned in and around the Allentown area I would go to Dorney Park.

Many people who visit Hershey Park will also visit the Lancaster and Gettysburg areas.

Hope this helps

Dorney and Hershey are really two different parks. Hershey offers a variety of shows (including a dolphin and seal show!), rides, and the zoo. You can also tour the Hershey Chocolate Factory for free and visit their great store where you get SUPER discounts. It%26#39;s all in the same area so it%26#39;s easy to walk from one to the other. I%26#39;ve also found Hershey to be very clean and shady. You don%26#39;t get many of the inner city crowds coming from NY and NJ. This is a beautiful part of PA in general - well worth the drive in my opinion. We live about 80 minutes from there and try to go at least once a summer.

I live 10 minutes from Dorney and Wildwater Kingdom. We have season passes, but we choose to go before noon or after 5 when the bus crowds from NYC and Philly have gone. It can get a little %26#39;rough%26#39; during the day. There isn%26#39;t as much shade at Dorney and the prices are OUTRAGEOUS for food and drinks - eat before you come in and leave for lunch or dinner! A bottle of water is $3.50!!!! However, Dorney does have a great selection of coasters and other rides. Your kids are beyond Camp Snoopy (which is where my kids hang out and they%26#39;re 1 and 6). If you%26#39;re interested in the water park - it%26#39;s pretty cool. Get there by 10am and you%26#39;ll have the park to yourself for a couple of hours. They%26#39;d probably enjoy that a lot. You can get the discount tickets at Weis Markets and I think the kids will be considered adults because they go on height, not age. I%26#39;m sure they%26#39;d all be tall enough to ride all the rides at 11 and 12.

Feel free to email me if you have more questions. I%26#39;ve lived in the area all my life so I know a lot about what to do! :)

Hope that helps!

An alternative to Hershey and Dorney would be Knoebels Grove Amusement Resort in Elysburg, PA. It%26#39;s won numerous awards for best family amusement park, best park pizza, best bumper cars, best haunted house and top ten wooden roller coaster. Parking is FREE, admission is FREE, entertainment is FREE and best of all, no city crowds to worry about. Knoebels has pay-one-price hand stamps or you can pay for rides thru a ticket system. Check out hteir website.....www.knoebels.com We%26#39;ve been visiting for over 20 years. There%26#39;s also a 3/4 million gallon pool with slides and a campground. Plenty of motels or B%26amp;B%26#39;s to stay at nearby. Prices are great, too!

Steve

if your kids are not really big on thrill rides Dorney isn%26#39;t the best place for them although they have many more other rides just after a half of a day at dorney your kids may get a little board. BUT... if you are looking into going in the the waterpark dorneys the place for you and your kids. The day could be drawn out a lot longer if you went to both ( i dont know if it%26#39;s extra to go into the water park, i think its included). You could do all the kids rides then drop them off in the water park and go and do your rides and meet them back later to have some fun in the water too.

Hershey- yes some of the rides are great and the chocolate lives up to its name, but i wouldn%26#39;t spend 60 dollars a person and ten bucks to park for one day. Plus most the time the rides are broken down or ';temporarly closed';. Also the new board walk is a joke theres so many kids jammed in line trying to get on that, that it would take at least 2 hours to get on ( i dont even know what it is, the line was to long i never got on it!).

Know if it was up to me i wouldn%26#39;t go to either of these parks i would be going to Knoebels Grove in Elysburg. This place is awesome fun for everyone also theres, i think like three roller coasters some big, some small it was rated # 1 for best park food 7 years in a row, #3 for best wooden rollercoasters, #1 for i think its friendliest park and, #2 for best traditional haunted mansion. And the best part is you dont have to pay to get in. You could get tickets which pay for each ride or the better deal is to get a hand stamp either way it%26#39;s really cheap. Oh an still have tickets leftover when you leave? save them for next time they never expire! Also the pool and water slides are fun for everyone, I would recommend this park for anyone. go on-

www.knoebels.com

(sorry its really long)

Knoebels is a great park, but it%26#39;s another hour and a half northwest of Dorney and Hershey so it all depends on how far you want to travel. I grew up going to Knoebels. My great-grandmother has a farm about 7 minutes from there and it%26#39;s an amazing park. It%26#39;s very shady, very clean and has a lot of old-time rides for the kids plus some nice roller coasters for the big kids. The food is great and the parking is free. You can camp locally and I know there are also some bed and breakfasts and other private rentals in the area.

If you%26#39;re interested in sticking to the Lehigh Valley area, Dorney is a win/win. The kids will no doubt love it. And the water park is included in the price of admission.