FINALLY... I can have a few minutes to write a little something up about our Hershey Park trip. I'll start by saying this was a very nice park. The landscaping was great, park was clean, people extremely friendly. Much different from the SFA adventure. We started the day driving up from NOVA up Rte 15 all the way to Harrisburg. It was a very scenic and easy drive. I think it was just around 3 hours on a Friday morning (you hit Leesburg and a few other towns along the way that slow it down a little bit, but still manageable.) When we arrived, the parking lot looked full, but apparently there was something at the event center that day. Parking was ample and quick. Once inside the main gate, we got our pictures taken by the photographer. She did an excellent job and I used our free 5x7 to get a copy at the end of the day. It's a shame these photos are not included on the PhotoPass you can purchase for the rides. They do allow the free photo to be used on it however. We then picked up a map and attempted to find our way around the park. Let me just say that their map needs a LOT of work. No food places are specifically shown on the locations and rides are basically clumped by section and extremely hard to locate from the map. But that didn't deter us... onto the coasters!
Stop #1 : SKYRUSH, front row. Wait time maybe 30 mins for front. It's no joke when people say it has ejector airtime. It literally feels like you can fly off this thing at any point of the ride. The restraints were pretty awful and could really use an upgrade. They absolutely are in the wrong position on your legs for the airtime. Wife hated this part. I'm built like a twig so I didn't have much trouble, but it still was a bit uncomfortable. Love the quick cable hill lift (i305 only shorter). Just wish the ride was a bit longer. They only ran one train all day on this one.
Stop #2 : SuperDooperLooper, Row 2. This was a fun little coaster. It's more geared towards a young kids first coaster, but still enjoyable. There was no line for this one and was a walk-on. Thought it would have more than one loop with the name, but still decent.
Stop #3 : Great Bear, Row 2 & Front row. Again not a line really at all so did consecutive rides. Definitely like the sound this coaster puts out through the Hollow area. It reminded me of hearing Hulk at Universal from around the park. B&M knows how to get them to make that noise fairly well. Nice track layout. Nice to have an element at the top of the lift before the drop as well. I think this is my #2 invert next to Alpengeist. Very smooth and lots of elements for a fairly short invert. I really like how they intertwined a lot of the coasters into this one area.
Stop #4 : Storm Runner, Row 2 & Front row. Again, consecutive rides. Absolutely loved the launch! Though it's super short on the ride length, it keeps people moving through the line. I liked the twisting elements too. I didn't feel they were that awkward. Some people thought it felt like they were going to fall out, but never thought that. It's a fun ride for sure, just over too fast. One note on the safety of these rides. While in line, a bulb in a green button the ride op pushes to dispatch the train blew out and it brought the entire ride to a stop. Both trains were at the station, so no one was stuck except at the return to station point. That gives me great confidence in the safety and redundant safety of these rides.
Stop #5 : Fahrenheit, Front row. I've ridden RRR at Universal, so this lift hill is not new to me. The inward drop really isn't even noticeable on the ride itself. It looks cooler from the walkway. Lines for this ride were a bit longer, maybe 30-45 min wait and running 2 trains I believe (later 3.) Very fun and compact ride. There was a bit of vibration in the latter half of the course that gave the train some shakiness. Solid ride however. Best part is the people around you that have not gone vertical on a lift hill before at 90 degrees. That freaks people out more than the ride elements.
Stop #6 : Wildcat, Front row. Another fun wooden coaster. Really nice, long layout. Very smooth in the front. Looked to be re-tracked a bit in sections that had some fresh wood under them. Good airtime and speed on this one.
Stop #7 : Lightning Racer! Front Row (Lightning) Row 2 (Thunder).. this was a walk-on and walk-on we did multiple times! What a great layout and design! I can see why it hit the Top 10 Wooden Coaster list at the awards. A true racer! I like the split hills so you can see the people on the opposite trains as you crest the drop hill. Then there's the speed and the passing elements. So much fun. Wife really really enjoyed this one. Best part was always heading for the finish line, not knowing where you'd end up. I assume these are not pre-determined finishes either as the trains seemed to always drop at the same time. Later on came back for 3 more rides, because why wouldn't you?? Back row each train and one more front row. This is an awesome ride.
We moved on over to the Ferris Wheel for fun. Wife hates these things, but I go so I can take some pictures from the top. Ride op let us go around quite a few times as the line was non-existent. Nice views of the park from the top, esp Lightning Racer.
Stop #8 : LaffTrack. I'm not too impressed by this one. It might because it was the longest wait of the day. I think it was 60 minutes. And it was hot out. Most of that queue time was out in the corral area, not in the building. For the length of the ride, I wouldn't wait that long again, so we only rode it once. It's fun enough for a ride. The spinning car element is the gimmick you ride for. Otherwise, it felt like a WildMouse ride, just in the dark with some black light effects. Too short for the wait time. But it is unique.
Stop #9 WildMouse : Rode it to get the credit. I think I'm just not a fan of these types of coasters. They toss you around and bang you into the car. Not my cup of tea, but will ride anything once. Seems like same layout as Ricochet at KD.
(still reading?) Next couple stops, hit Wildcat (back row), Fahrenheit (Row 4).
Stop #10 Howler : Nothing in the park made us feel more sick than this thing. It's like tea cups on a chain swing. It looked fun, until I got it spinning. Then I immediately regretted doing that. Only flat we really rode at the park.
Stop #11 Trailblazer : Credit ride, but it's a decent little terrain coaster. Nothing fancy, but a nice cool, shady part of the park and scenic ride for fun. Pretty much walked on. Nice relaxing ride.
Then we headed back to Storm Runner for 2 more slingshots of fun. (Row 3 & 5) After this bit of fun, we attempted to find the railroad. Let me tell you, their signage was horrible for this. After going the wrong way twice, we finally found it. It's a really cool little ride. The trains are ornate and sound great. The elements along the way are also pretty fun (hissing snake, hanging skeleton, etc) Worth a ride and neat to see passing through the area by Storm Runner.
Towards the end of the day, we rode the Monorail around to see the factory and the sights just outside the park. Nice little ride and a nice way to sit and relax a bit. We also went up in the Kissing Tower to get an aerial view of the park just before sunset. We also took the quick trip through the Zoo area to see the animals. Had to be quick as they were closing in about 25 minutes. This park has so much to do that you can't possibly do it all in a day. By this time it was around 7:00PM and we headed back over to the Hollow area to ride a couple more coasters. Hit Great Bear two more times. Meandered over to SDL for another ride.
Stop #12 Comet : For an old woodie, this is a great classic coaster. The length of it was pretty awesome. I didn't realize how far it went out behind SKYRUSH. Rode row 5 and remember it being a pretty decent ride. Not rough by any means. Lights were on and it was getting dark out. Fun old coaster. Forgot to ride early in the morning somehow.
Finally, we ended back where we started for ride #2 on SkyRush. Same result as first ride, but in the dark. Definitely felt faster, but I know it's pretty much the same. Airtime definitely there. The wait time was about 45-60 minutes so we ended the night here.
Now let me just say, we got a GREAT deal on the tickets. It was $68.95 for 1 ticket, 1 meal pass and a 1 refillable souvenir cup. We ended up getting one cup early to use until lunchtime when I redeemed the second one. We ate at DECADES and got burgers and fries for lunch. I had the Mac-N-Cheese Burger and the wife got the BBQ Burger. Both were amazing and you get a ton of fries too. We were impressed by the selection of food available at the park, though we didn't eat much because of the heat. We also missed getting ice cream along the way somehow. But for the refillable drink cups, lunch and tickets to be included in the deal, we felt it was a great bargain. if you made it this far, congratulations! Hope I didn't ramble too much.
Stop #1 : SKYRUSH, front row. Wait time maybe 30 mins for front. It's no joke when people say it has ejector airtime. It literally feels like you can fly off this thing at any point of the ride. The restraints were pretty awful and could really use an upgrade. They absolutely are in the wrong position on your legs for the airtime. Wife hated this part. I'm built like a twig so I didn't have much trouble, but it still was a bit uncomfortable. Love the quick cable hill lift (i305 only shorter). Just wish the ride was a bit longer. They only ran one train all day on this one.
Stop #2 : SuperDooperLooper, Row 2. This was a fun little coaster. It's more geared towards a young kids first coaster, but still enjoyable. There was no line for this one and was a walk-on. Thought it would have more than one loop with the name, but still decent.
Stop #3 : Great Bear, Row 2 & Front row. Again not a line really at all so did consecutive rides. Definitely like the sound this coaster puts out through the Hollow area. It reminded me of hearing Hulk at Universal from around the park. B&M knows how to get them to make that noise fairly well. Nice track layout. Nice to have an element at the top of the lift before the drop as well. I think this is my #2 invert next to Alpengeist. Very smooth and lots of elements for a fairly short invert. I really like how they intertwined a lot of the coasters into this one area.
Stop #4 : Storm Runner, Row 2 & Front row. Again, consecutive rides. Absolutely loved the launch! Though it's super short on the ride length, it keeps people moving through the line. I liked the twisting elements too. I didn't feel they were that awkward. Some people thought it felt like they were going to fall out, but never thought that. It's a fun ride for sure, just over too fast. One note on the safety of these rides. While in line, a bulb in a green button the ride op pushes to dispatch the train blew out and it brought the entire ride to a stop. Both trains were at the station, so no one was stuck except at the return to station point. That gives me great confidence in the safety and redundant safety of these rides.
Stop #5 : Fahrenheit, Front row. I've ridden RRR at Universal, so this lift hill is not new to me. The inward drop really isn't even noticeable on the ride itself. It looks cooler from the walkway. Lines for this ride were a bit longer, maybe 30-45 min wait and running 2 trains I believe (later 3.) Very fun and compact ride. There was a bit of vibration in the latter half of the course that gave the train some shakiness. Solid ride however. Best part is the people around you that have not gone vertical on a lift hill before at 90 degrees. That freaks people out more than the ride elements.
Stop #6 : Wildcat, Front row. Another fun wooden coaster. Really nice, long layout. Very smooth in the front. Looked to be re-tracked a bit in sections that had some fresh wood under them. Good airtime and speed on this one.
Stop #7 : Lightning Racer! Front Row (Lightning) Row 2 (Thunder).. this was a walk-on and walk-on we did multiple times! What a great layout and design! I can see why it hit the Top 10 Wooden Coaster list at the awards. A true racer! I like the split hills so you can see the people on the opposite trains as you crest the drop hill. Then there's the speed and the passing elements. So much fun. Wife really really enjoyed this one. Best part was always heading for the finish line, not knowing where you'd end up. I assume these are not pre-determined finishes either as the trains seemed to always drop at the same time. Later on came back for 3 more rides, because why wouldn't you?? Back row each train and one more front row. This is an awesome ride.
We moved on over to the Ferris Wheel for fun. Wife hates these things, but I go so I can take some pictures from the top. Ride op let us go around quite a few times as the line was non-existent. Nice views of the park from the top, esp Lightning Racer.
Stop #8 : LaffTrack. I'm not too impressed by this one. It might because it was the longest wait of the day. I think it was 60 minutes. And it was hot out. Most of that queue time was out in the corral area, not in the building. For the length of the ride, I wouldn't wait that long again, so we only rode it once. It's fun enough for a ride. The spinning car element is the gimmick you ride for. Otherwise, it felt like a WildMouse ride, just in the dark with some black light effects. Too short for the wait time. But it is unique.
Stop #9 WildMouse : Rode it to get the credit. I think I'm just not a fan of these types of coasters. They toss you around and bang you into the car. Not my cup of tea, but will ride anything once. Seems like same layout as Ricochet at KD.
(still reading?) Next couple stops, hit Wildcat (back row), Fahrenheit (Row 4).
Stop #10 Howler : Nothing in the park made us feel more sick than this thing. It's like tea cups on a chain swing. It looked fun, until I got it spinning. Then I immediately regretted doing that. Only flat we really rode at the park.
Stop #11 Trailblazer : Credit ride, but it's a decent little terrain coaster. Nothing fancy, but a nice cool, shady part of the park and scenic ride for fun. Pretty much walked on. Nice relaxing ride.
Then we headed back to Storm Runner for 2 more slingshots of fun. (Row 3 & 5) After this bit of fun, we attempted to find the railroad. Let me tell you, their signage was horrible for this. After going the wrong way twice, we finally found it. It's a really cool little ride. The trains are ornate and sound great. The elements along the way are also pretty fun (hissing snake, hanging skeleton, etc) Worth a ride and neat to see passing through the area by Storm Runner.
Towards the end of the day, we rode the Monorail around to see the factory and the sights just outside the park. Nice little ride and a nice way to sit and relax a bit. We also went up in the Kissing Tower to get an aerial view of the park just before sunset. We also took the quick trip through the Zoo area to see the animals. Had to be quick as they were closing in about 25 minutes. This park has so much to do that you can't possibly do it all in a day. By this time it was around 7:00PM and we headed back over to the Hollow area to ride a couple more coasters. Hit Great Bear two more times. Meandered over to SDL for another ride.
Stop #12 Comet : For an old woodie, this is a great classic coaster. The length of it was pretty awesome. I didn't realize how far it went out behind SKYRUSH. Rode row 5 and remember it being a pretty decent ride. Not rough by any means. Lights were on and it was getting dark out. Fun old coaster. Forgot to ride early in the morning somehow.
Finally, we ended back where we started for ride #2 on SkyRush. Same result as first ride, but in the dark. Definitely felt faster, but I know it's pretty much the same. Airtime definitely there. The wait time was about 45-60 minutes so we ended the night here.
Now let me just say, we got a GREAT deal on the tickets. It was $68.95 for 1 ticket, 1 meal pass and a 1 refillable souvenir cup. We ended up getting one cup early to use until lunchtime when I redeemed the second one. We ate at DECADES and got burgers and fries for lunch. I had the Mac-N-Cheese Burger and the wife got the BBQ Burger. Both were amazing and you get a ton of fries too. We were impressed by the selection of food available at the park, though we didn't eat much because of the heat. We also missed getting ice cream along the way somehow. But for the refillable drink cups, lunch and tickets to be included in the deal, we felt it was a great bargain. if you made it this far, congratulations! Hope I didn't ramble too much.
