First trip to HP next Friday!

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strycker

strycker

Sep 30, 2015
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So excited to finally head up to Hershey Park next Friday. Will be leaving early AM from NOVA area and spending all day Friday at the park. We are going to be spending the night in the area and hope to hit the other attractions in that area and hopefully Troegs Brewery too. Anyone have any suggestions or tips for the trip to consider? How busy should Friday be this time of year? We are hoping that the crowds are lighter since school is in now most places. Can most everything be ridden in a day (main coasters and rides, no kids stuff)?
 
Many PA public school systems start back up next week so that should help taper off heavy summer crowds, but since you're going on a Friday there might be a semi-heavy weekend crowd visiting.  The big draw to the park is the Boardwalk area where the waterpark is and if it's super hot that day you go, that part will be the most crowded.  The silver lining to that though will mean that most of the rides and coasters will have minimal queue times. Do hit up Fahrenheit and Storm Runner first as those lines can get the heaviest out of all the coasters.

Now I do recommend hitting up the Chocolate Avenue Grill for lunch/dinner.  It sits right outside the park.  The food there is great!

http://www.chocolateavenuegrill.com/
 
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I think we are planning on getting the Ride and Dine One-Day tickets, so we will have 1 meal ticket each for the day as well.

Do the ride lines have lockers or a place to stash a camera bag for the ride? I'd like to take mine but if it's going to be a hassle, I'd probably opt for a pocket shooter (or my phone)..
 
strycker said:
I think we are planning on getting the Ride and Dine One-Day tickets, so we will have 1 meal ticket each for the day as well.
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OK I was just suggesting Chocolate Avenue Grill for something to do outside the park. There's also a nice outlet mall a couple lights up from the park. 

Do the ride lines have lockers or a place to stash a camera bag for the ride?  I'd like to take mine but if it's going to be a hassle, I'd probably opt for a pocket shooter (or my phone)..
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Now I haven't been in a couple years but I think only a few of the rides have lockers. I know the boardwalk area has plenty of rental lockers though.
 
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Just bought our tickets and opted for the PhotoPass too. Quite a few rides included and we liked the results from our BGW trip last year and getting the photos from on-ride. Probably worth it once, esp when planning multiple rides on each if time allows. So we skipped the Buy 2 get 1 Free option and got the included Meal Ticket package instead. Looks like a Game Voucher, Meal Ticket and Souvenir Cup, and Park Admission for $68.

Definitely will do the train. I love trains. Didn't get the BGW train last year though. Always rode the KD train every trip back in the 80's growing up.
 
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KD's train was more of an attraction as opposed to 'pretty park transportation'. I'd like to know how HP's train fits in. Looking forward to your report. Safe travels.
 
In planning our trip a little more, we are trying to decide on swinging by Six Flags America on Saturday on the way back to VA. It's about the same distance to there from Hershey to where we started from, so a side trip there doesn't seem bad. Anyone stayed between Hershey and SFA before? It's definitely cheaper to NOT stay in Harrisburg or Hershey, almost the cost of a ticket to SFA. Maybe drive an 30 min to an hour south and stay over night Friday, then drive to SFA Saturday morning. What should crowds be like? I realize Saturday is def the busy day. Thought?
 
strycker said:
 Anyone stayed between Hershey and SFA before?  It's definitely cheaper to NOT stay in Harrisburg or Hershey, almost the cost of a ticket to SFA.  Maybe drive an 30 min to an hour south and stay over night Friday, then drive to SFA Saturday morning.  
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I've stayed near BWI and the Columbia, MD areas before but they're not 30 minutes to an hour south of Hershey (more like 1.5 hours). And you don't have many options 30 minutes south of Hershey unless you stay in York, PA. And since that town is close to Hershey, you might as well stay in Harrisburg, PA area. There is absolutely nothing between York, PA and Baltimore. If I were you I'd just drive down to the Baltimore area and find a place there. If you stay near BWI you can just head south on the BW-Parkway from the hotel and head toward 1-95 to get to SFA, or you can go I-97 to MD-3 S to the park if you wanna avoid Beltway traffic.
 
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Unagi said:
strycker said:
 Anyone stayed between Hershey and SFA before?  It's definitely cheaper to NOT stay in Harrisburg or Hershey, almost the cost of a ticket to SFA.  Maybe drive an 30 min to an hour south and stay over night Friday, then drive to SFA Saturday morning.  
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I've stayed near BWI and the Columbia, MD areas before but they're not 30 minutes to an hour south of Hershey (more like 1.5 hours).  And you don't have many options 30 minutes south of Hershey unless you stay in York, PA.  And since that town is close to Hershey, you might as well stay in Harrisburg, PA area.  There is absolutely nothing between York, PA and Baltimore.  If I were you I'd just drive down to the Baltimore area and find a place there.  If you stay near BWI you can just head south on the BW-Parkway from the hotel and head toward 1-95 to get to SFA, or you can go I-97 to MD-3 S to the park if you wanna avoid Beltway traffic.
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We are looking at Cockeysville, MD and they seem to have a decent selection of hotels and outside of Baltimore, the savings on staying there is almost both Six Flags tix instead of staying in Harrisburg at the same Courtyard Marriot. Just off I-83 South.
 
strycker said:
We are looking at Cockeysville, MD and they seem to have a decent selection of hotels and outside of Baltimore,  the savings on staying there is almost both Six Flags tix instead of staying in Harrisburg at the same Courtyard Marriot.  Just off I-83 South.
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That's a good location. Cockeysville is a small quiet town that sits just outside of Baltimore. I have friends that live just near there in the Towson/Timonium area. If traffic is good you can get to SFA in less than an hour from there.
 
Unagi said:
strycker said:
We are looking at Cockeysville, MD and they seem to have a decent selection of hotels and outside of Baltimore,  the savings on staying there is almost both Six Flags tix instead of staying in Harrisburg at the same Courtyard Marriot.  Just off I-83 South.
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That's a good location.  Cockeysville is a small quiet town that sits just outside of Baltimore.  I have friends that live just near there in the Towson/Timonium area.  If traffic is good you can get to SFA in less than an hour from there.
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Yeah, I figure about an hours drive south from Hershey to there and then the rest in the morning. I'm just wondering if I want to go after reading reviews of SFA. I'd like to at least go one time and ride the coasters. But wondering if the weekend is the worst time to hit it, Or just go anyway.
 
Well just decided to go anyway since we have the time to make it. So I should have a HP & SFA comparison at some point next week. All packed and ready to head out tomorrow morning. Overnighting in Cockeysville Friday at the Residence Inn ($10 more than Courtyard and has hot breakfast!) and off to SFA on Saturday morning. Hoping the weather cooperates. Looks like it's going to be hot. Hope not humid.
 
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Zimmy said:
Residence Inns are usually very nice.  Have complete kitchens in the suites.
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I have to say this was definitely the best option to stay as far as a hotel went. They had the room set at 63 degrees when we arrived! I had to turn the heat up a bit to just get it comfortable. That was a bit chilly after being in the heat all day. It was a simple drive straight down I-83 too from Hershey. Hot breakfast in the morning was decent with ham egg and cheese biscuits, eggs, waffles, cereal and all the normal other items. No meats though for some reason, just on the biscuits. It was only $10 more than Courtyard in the same area and a much bigger suite type room. I'll be writing a separate trip report soon. Had a great trip (even Six Flags America!)
 
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When I used to travel endlessly for work, as long as I was CONUS I tried to stay in Residence Inns.
 
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