In the ancient and present-day Middle East, many sites are named Hama Hamath and variations thereof. The place-name Emmaus is relatively common in classical sources about the Levant and is usually derived through Greek and Latin from the Semitic word for 'warm spring', the Hebrew form of which is hamma or hammat (חמת). It is known only that it was connected by a road to Jerusalem the distance given by Luke varies in different manuscripts and the figure given has been made even more ambiguous by interpretations. Īlthough its geographical identification is not certain, several locations have been suggested throughout history, chiefly Imwas and Al-Qubeiba, both in the West Bank. Luke reports that Jesus appeared, after his death and resurrection, before two of his disciples while they were walking on the road to Emmaus. Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio, 1601Įmmaus ( / ə ˈ m eɪ ə s/ Greek: Ἐμμαούς, Emmaous Latin: Emmaus Arabic: عمواس, ʻImwas) is a town mentioned in the Gospel of Luke of the New Testament. The park features 64 rides, including six roller coasters, other adult and children's rides, and a waterpark, Wildwater Kingdom, with 19 water rides.For other uses, see Emmaus (disambiguation). It features some of the world's most prominent roller coasters, including Steel Force, the eighth longest steel roller coaster in the world and the second longest on the U.S. The park is owned and operated by Cedar Fair.ĭorney Park's Flying Dutchman roller coaster, 1972 Ownership ĭorney Park traces its history to 1860, when Solomon Dorney built a trout hatchery and summer resort on his estate outside of Allentown. In 1870, Dorney decided to convert the estate into a public attraction. Initially, the facility featured games, playground-style rides, refreshment stands, picnic groves, a hotel, and a restaurant. By the 1880s, Dorney had added a small zoo, and gardens. When the Allentown-Kutztown Traction Company completed its trolley line from Allentown to Kutztown in 1899, the company added a stop at Dorney's park. Two years later, the traction company purchased the park, operating it until 1923. That year, the park was sold to Robert Plarr and two other partners. Plarr soon bought out his partners and ran Dorney Park until his death in 1966. Plarr built a house for his estranged wife Wiltracy Plarr in the 1930s under the first hill of Thunder Hawk in hopes of driving her to divorce.

She lived there until the late 1980s, never granting him the divorce. Ownership then passed to Plarr's son, Stephen, who died within a year. Robert Ott, Plarr's son-in-law, took over as owner in 1967. In 1985, Ott sold Dorney Park to Harris Weinstein.

Weinstein owned it until 1992, when he sold the park to Cedar Fair and is one of only fourteen trolley parks still operating in the United States. Rides have come and gone at Dorney Park, such as the Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters's Grande Carousel which debuted at Dorney in 1932, but was destroyed in a September 1983 fire. The Bucket O' Blood (once known as Pirates Cove) dark ride burned in the same fire. Luckily, the incident occurred after the park was closed for the season. Another early ride was the Whip, in which riders spun on a small track in a pavilion. The Whip is still in operation today and is the park's oldest ride.ĭorney Park also had a swimming pool from the early 1900s until 1963. Plarr was pressured by local business owners to shut down the swimming pool because of 'mixed' swimming. Local business owners threatened to boycott the park and stop having their company picnics at the park if he did not shut it down. One side of the former pool had live seals and fish, while the other side was used for the Whale Boats, motorised boats seating two people each. Near the lower entrance to the park was the dark ride called Tunnel Of Love which later was rethemed as The Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Emmaus automile