OCEAN CITY — For a guy who’s built the bow of a Coast Guard cutter, a 1/16-scale replica of the Space Shuttle, a smoke-spewing Godzilla, a castle and a saloon at his lagoon-front home, Bill Dorney doesn’t drop big bucks when he and his wife Donna decorate for Ocean City’s annual Night in Venice.
Dorney, a retired lifeguard, is a skilled dumpster diver.
He and Donna, who live on West 17th Street, already have scrounged scraps for this year’s Night in Venice on Saturday, July 26. They began planning their 2025 entry last fall. It’s an homage to Wonderland Pier Amusement Park, which closed for good last October after nearly 60 years in business on the Boardwalk.
Passersby will see a lit-up Ferris wheel and a roller coaster, a carousel, water park features and more. (They didn’t want to reveal everything before the big night.) The judges will motor through the lagoons to pick winners in the contest for best decorated homes before the 6:30 p.m. start of the boat parade.
“I’ve been dumpster diving. About 80 percent of the material I get out of a dumpster or if somebody leaves a board at the side of the road,” Bill said.
When planning the merry-go-round for this year’s display, he wanted a big umbrella.
“So we’re driving down the road and we find this 10-foot umbrella, a giant one with a heavy base just sitting there. Somebody’s throwing it out, so I grabbed the thing,” he said.
Dorney does buy some items — a piece of wood that he couldn’t scrounge, some indoor-outdoor carpeting because he didn’t want to get that out of the trash, PVC for the Ferris wheel.
To light up the wheel, he ordered 164 feet of lights “that turn a zillion different colors.” He ran those lights “right to the last foot” of the roughly 10-foot diameter wheel.
Above it, the roller coaster on the roof features chase lights that will make it look like it’s in motion.
He and Donna have won the best decorated home title for their lagoon eight times since they began decorating in the early 1980s.
When they transform their physical home, they often create costumes to match for themselves and their guests. Think Old West for the saloon, a knight and maiden for the castle and two guests wearing NASA outfits for, well, you can guess.
“The year we did (the Space Shuttle), we stopped at Cape Canaveral and bought two suits,” Donna said.
For the Space Shuttle, Bill built it in pieces, including the boosters out of road mesh that he covered, and hauled those pieces up to the roof, where it was bolted to a hinge to secure it and to lift it up for the parade.
Among the many transformations over the years, the Dorneys have decorated with themes including Woodstock, Malonies on the Bay, Bob’s Wedding, the Statue of Liberty, A Little Bit Country, Shore Nice to See You, Return of the Door Mat Fluke, Lifestyles of the Not So Rich and Famous (guests had to go through a mock outhouse), the Philadelphia Phillies, A Night at the Movies (Godzilla), Flamingo-a-Go-Go, Dancing Under the Stars, Olympians go for the Gold, Destination America, Gunsmoke (after the old TV show), Wonderland by Knight, Boathouse Row and last year it was Jimmy Buffet.
Bill thought for years about creating an amusement park at his home for Ocean City’s biggest party night of the year. His great-grandfather, Solomon Dorney, founded Dorney Park in Allentown, Pa., in the 1880s. Bill went to the park regularly when he was a kid.
However, with Wonderland ending its run last year, he decided it was appropriate to pay homage to the park closer to home.
“All of a sudden with Wonderland closing, I said I got to do it. And I can’t do Dorney Park. It’s got to be Wonderland, because the Gillians have done so much for the community,” Bill said. Roy Gillian, who founded the park and was mayor, died last summer. His son, Jay Gillian, is the mayor now.
Bill appreciated the mayors’ support of Ocean City lifeguards. Dorney was a lifeguard in Ocean City, then spent 25 years as a full-time lifeguard in Miami Beach, retired there and then returned and spent 18 more years on the Ocean City Beach Patrol before retiring for good five years ago. Donna is a retired trauma nurse who oversaw a number of famous patients.
Bill grew up in Upper Township then moved to Newtown Square, Pa.
Donna’s dad was in the Air Force and the family moved 22 times in 24 years — including living in Alaska before it was a state — before the family settled in Linwood, where she graduated from Mainland Regional High School.
While Bill handles the big stuff, Donna did some fine work on a small Thomas the Tank Engine, similar to the one that rode the high rail around Wonderland. Thomas will be sitting on a piling on the lagoon.
Bill noted people are curious about his motivation.
“I’ve had people say, ‘Are you crazy? Why do you do this?’ Well, some people do Christmas, I do Night in Venice,” Bill said with a big grin. “And then why? Because I can.
“I like construction. I built a house. I remodeled this one, and as a kid, I liked to build tree forts and underground forts and do different things. It just seems like this was the niche for me,” he said.
“You always try to up it from one year to the next. The thing is, it’s only one night, but the pictures last a lifetime and people still talk about it.”
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
