Hersheypark: July 28th

I was able to squeeze in a twilight trip to Hersheypark during a recent business trip to Harrisburg. The weather was sunny and warm, with no rain or humidity at all. An all together beautiful night.

Got to the park at 5:00 and proceeded to put 21.00 down for a ticket good through 10:00. A really great deal if the crowds are light. The parking lot was about half full, and we were pleased to see a lot of tired families making their way out of the park. My last trip to Hershey was in 1998, the first year of the Great Bear. I am going to list each coaster and my impressions individually with a summary after.

First stop: Great Bear.
Had three rides on this coaster. Two rides in the second row and one night ride in the front. Average wait was about 20 minutes for row two and about 35 minutes for the front. I still feel Great Bear could have been so much more. But it is still and fun ride with some strong G forces. The foot choppers with the supports were also very fun. It seems that in the back section after the zero G roll, there could have easily been a cobra roll. The train certainly has enough speed through this section. To me this is a letdown after a good first half. The little down sloping helix after the lift ws especially fun as it really piled on the postive G's. This ride, like all inverts IMO is definately better in the front seat.
Rating: 7/10

Second Stop: Storm Runner
My first new ride credit. Two rides, one in daytime and one at dusk. Waited about 25 minutes for both rides. First ride in first row of second car and second ride on second row of first car. I still love the stadium seating in Intamin's rides! If you don't want to wait for the first row, the second row of the first car is just as fun. I am still not a fan of the dual stations as the line sort of randomly scatters off of the stairs to the station. This creates a mass of confusion that only lets up when a train loads. The ride itself was pretty good, but not great. The launch and top hat were awesome. I love Intamin's hydraliclaunches over LIM's. The dive loop was also fun and smooth. The zero G roll has a major, almost uncomfortable pop of air before you actually start to invert and the dive out of the zero G roll was great. Then Intamin decided to throw a wicked right turn that was a neck snapper. This really killed the second half of the ride for me. The pop of air into the breaks was fun, but you were still reeling from that wicked turn. I was a little better prepared for the turn on my second ride, but it still seemed poorly engineered IMO. The ride also has cool lighting at night just like Millenium Force. The ride broke down for about an hour just after my last ride. The force was with me that night.
Rating: 6/10

Lighting Racer: One ride on both Lightning and Thunder.
Both sides were walk on for most of the ride and a three train wait for the front row. I rode front row on both. I really liked this ride. Both sides were smooth and fast as well as very interesting. Hersheypark always had them racing, unlike other parks that tend to run each track independantly after a year or so. Not the greatest woodie of all time, but really fun. The millenium flyer trains actually seemed to be tracking really well.
Rating: 7/10

Wildcat: One wild and painfull ride.
A 40 minute wait, my longest of the day. I loved this ride on my earlier visits to Hersheypark (97' and 98'). It still has major airtime and some serious speed and power. Unfortunately, it also tracks pretty poor IMO. I rode in the second car, so my ride was pretty smooth, but the passengers in the back seat were getting off the ride holding their backs in pain. With a little TLC this is still a top 5 coaster. It still is in my top ten even in the condition it's in.
Rating: 8/10

Overall impression is that Hershey park still lacks that one knocked out of the park coaster. It has a great collection of good coasters, but still needs that one big draw. Soaker looked fun, but I wasn't in the mood to get wet. I did watch some poor sap wander obliviously under the ride and get walloped with a water bomb. Knocked the poor guy right on his butt. His two kids, about 3 and 5, just pointed at him and laughed themselves silly. Being a parent, I really got a kick out of that.[:D]
The food was good and the staff was friendly for the most part. A few of the photo staffers at the end of the rides were pretty rude, but they are making about 6 bucks an hour, so I just shook my head. Overall a fun trip and a great park. Six Flags could learn a lot from how Hersheyco runs this park.

P.S. The Comet was not running that night. Too bad as I loved the ride the last time I went. Sooperdooperlooper (what a mouthful) had a 30 minute wait, so we passed on it. I don't think I need a reason to not ride the boomerang do I?[:D]

WOW I was gonna go there that day but stuff happened I live like 3 hours from there so go usually quite a bit I rode storm runner last year shortly after it first opened and found it to be quite fun never being on a luanched coaster the blast was just awsome thanx for posting this sounds like ya had fun and its good to hear about about one of my home parks for once

Pointed and laughed . Nice trip report, glad you had fun.

Do you think it is enough with one day in the park? I may be going next year, and I have been thinking if I will need two days, or if one is enough. Must have time for all the coasters, and I also like taking a lot of pictures[;)]

That all depends on the crowds. I rode all of the major coasters in 5 hours. I think a day trip is very realistic if you have a good game plan and plan on a weekday visit. The weekends might be too crowded to really get everything ridden in a day. [:D]

Only a 6 out of 10 for Storm Runner? Where did the points go on that one? Thats easily one of the best rides Intamin has ever, ever designed.

Clarifiation - the zero g isnt a zero g. Its a barrel roll more or less, very different from a Zero G.

Secondly nothing is poorly engineered. The wicked switchback turn is meant to have some lateral motion. It wouldnt be much fun if there wasnt anything to make you go "woah!" now would it?

I think the idea of the 2 turns plus the airtime was more of disorientation rather than letting you take a ride in. Thats what makes SR so great - it comes at you like a freight train.


Glad to hear that LR is still tracking well. Did you guys know that is HASNT been retracked in its existance? Thats how GOOD GCI tracking is these days. They do it so well the first time that it holds its smoothness (with some tlc) without total retracking. Some regulars have said theyve never seen a new peice of wood on it yet.

Roar@SFMW is pretty rough, but that would probably be to lack of maintanance on SF's part.

I'm going to Hershey Park in a few days so I'll see how SR is, but I just think you were expecting a ride that you could sit back and relax on. Its a very well engineered ride, thats suppsed to be intense and whip you around. Thats what coasters should do!

Ill be there Tuesday night and Wednesday. Then to Great Adventure then ending with Dorney. (I hope) The last 2 may swap spots. Trying to avoid crowds on Friday.

[coolbeans326]

Roar@SFMW is pretty rough, but that would probably be to lack of maintanance on SF's part.

Well, I wouldn't know, because they decided to have half of thier roller coasters closed the day I went.[:(!]
Nice report though.

[Brtnboarder495]

Sounds like you packed in quite alot for 5 hours and had fun! I have to say though that it seems that in general Six Flag's does'nt seem to maintain it's rides very well. When I rode SROS @ SFNE this summer, it was pretty bumpy and unsmooth, and the track and trains in general just seemed "dirty". They are up to date on technology though, the infrared restraint system and the new restraint releasal system is pretty cool.

"Secondly nothing is poorly engineered. The wicked switchback turn is meant to have some lateral motion. It wouldnt be much fun if there wasnt anything to make you go "woah!" now would it?"

I will say that my second ride was smoother when I could anticipate the transition. Having been on 8 Intamins in the last two years, I just found this to be dissapointing. The transition I spoke about would be great with no restraints, but the collar on the overhead restraints really knocked me sensless (I'm 6' tall). I overheard a pass holder say it seemed rougher lateley. I am interested in seeing other opinions. By the way, the word I uttered during my first ride was as bit more emphatic than "woah".[:D][:D][B)]

Well I am 5' 11 and 3/4 (essentially 6') and we will see how I fair. I doubt I will have much trouble considering that I usually always know the rides and prepare for areas I think may be intense.

To my knowledge no other Intamin in the country has sharper transitions than SR (at least in the States). Most Intamins are spread out and very gradual. Any of the SROS's, MF etc.

Its unfair really to compare it to any other ride, even another Intamin. It all around is engineered to be very intense and contain quick, precise movements. Just look at it next to the other rides. Personally, I cant wait. The uniquness oozes from that ride because of those transitions.