The History of Hercules at Dorney Park | Historic Coasters

[@XRROW_]

Thanks for an awesome video. I love how you made good use of the engineering information alongside the historical info. Keep making videos man c:

[@coastingalong]

thanks so much!!

[@XRROW_]

@coastingalong of course brother c: you got my sub looking forward to more content

[@JM-ff7cj]

Great video and thank you for drumming up some old memories. Hercules was rough, but it like Thunderhawk and Laser, it was one of my coasters growing up. I appreciate it's bumps and flaws. Slowly creeping through the second half. Really hope the park pays homage with future capital. The GP would gobble it up.

[@coastingalong]

thank you!! that would be awesome if they did that

[@SkyrushLover]

never got to ride this. really wish i could’ve

[@mofodante89]

I was there throughout this coasters entire run. I had the privilege of riding it many times over the years. When the ride initially opened it was spectacular. There was nothing like it. The problem with the original design was Dorney essentially requested two rides in one. They asked for a record breaking first drop and a ride that would be considered a world class coaster. What that resulted in was a ride with a dramatically intense first half followed by a mild second half that paled in comparison. The other issue is that the designers grossly overestimated the amount of speed the train would have by the time it got to the top of the triple up. I dont think the 2nd half of the ride ever lived up to the designers expectations. The ride however was still good and wildly popular. The ride ran good and how it was designed to run for the first 5 years. However after John Pierce got his hands on it in '94, the ride was never the same. The ride was butchered and the speed was greatly reduced. The once mighty ride was emasculated and was a shadow of its former self. So overall, anytime anyone talks about Hercules, there is really 2 rides that can be spoken about: the original design of the ride from '89-'93 vs the greatly altered version from '94-'03.

[@roshonbody3199]

In my honest opinion, it's a shame that Hydra doesn't live up to the legendary Hercules.

[@dirtyair6305]

I can only imagine what RMC could have done e with this…. :(

[@coastingalong]

ikr! if only rmc was around back then

[@JoeHartman80]

Loved this coaster! Still superior to Hydra.

[@Saltinator]

Great video! Dorney is my home park and Hercules was my first adult coaster. My sister drug me on the first season i was tall enough to ride (1992), it scared the crap out of me but as soon as the train crest the hill and we went down I was hooked, I got 3 more rides that day. I was able to get a couple seasons of rides before the trim was added on the first drop, glad for that. I miss Hercules so much. Hydra < Hercules

[@williamthomas7170]

The coaster debuted with a 157 ft drop but the bottom was raised resulting in the 151ft number, the top of the triple up was lowered after cedar fair added trims in 1992, it was not reprofiled the first season. The trailered trains were completely replaced after the first season to the articulating trains as well

[@mofodante89]

Thanks for pointing this out. Most people tend to forget this fact. At 3:43 you can see the bottom of the first drop is actually slightly lower in elevation than the turn over the lake. The bottom of the drop was later raised to align with the lake turn for a smoother transition.

[@MEGalomaniac6829]

Hercules was the first "big kid" coaster I ever rode, a moment I shared with my dad. That helix over the lake was unbeatable! I never thought it was rough, but I was just a kid enjoying some rare fun times with my hard-working dad. Seeing things about Hercules, as well as my summer trips to Dorney with my own kids, makes me miss him even more. It's coming on just shy of a decade that he's been gone and I wish I could go back and ride it with him one last time.

[@eastpennsthrills80]

hey man that’s a great memory to have! glad you got some good memories with him before he passed!

[@MEGalomaniac6829]

@@eastpennsthrills80 thank you! I definitely did. Now I get to make those same memories with my coaster crew!

[@vinniet2828]

I'm sorry about your loss.

[@George_bonnaire]

I’m glad I have this credit

[@SkyrushLover]

lucky. i started riding coasters around 2008 so obviously this ride wasn’t around for me

[@Old-Thunder69]

Wish they rmced it.

[@Whatchamawhozit]

you forgot to mention the coaster opened with Buzz Bar trains... they were converted after the 1994 re profile and trimming

[@timwolfe77]

Grew up riding Hercules since it's opening. It certainly was a far better ride in its early years due to the lack of trims. When you would wait on the station platform you got an entertaining view of riders heads swaying left and right as the train rounded the fan curve above the flume. In hindsight there was no way to make that lake turn better without some form of reinforced track. It wouldve made more sense to replace the curve with a raising turn to set up another large drop to lead into the triple up... but I assume the neighbors didn't want a visible tall structure there. Great video!

[@dihedraldesign7978]

Nice video! I remember riding it when they had the trim brake before the drop…it still was a headache machine for me. At the time the roughest coaster I ever was on…until I had the displeasure of riding Hades 360 🤯🤪

[@rollercoasterheaven2170]

This looked like such a beautiful wooden coaster

[@dwlawless]

If it's historic coasters you're doing I'm looking forward to a rundown on the Scenic Railway in Melbourne!

[@mindlessdroid3630]

Hurt your knees

[@stormchaser419]

A Dinn and Summers coaster creation. Both had worked on The Beast at one time. Their greatest creation was Texas Giant which in it's early years was incredible.

[@HugeRMCFanBoY-bx3od]

HERACLES NOT HERCULES