Hersheypark: the sweetest place on earth

Today I went to Hersheypark for the first time in awhile, and I can definately say it is one of my best, if not, THE best park experience I've ever had. And without further adieu, I shall get started.

We left around 8:30 to pick up a friend, then drove 1.5 hours to get to the park. My mom dropped me & my friend off and we quickly decided stormrunner was the first on the list. We payed the 44.50 to get in and made our way to pioneer frontier. The line was only 30 min long, and within an hour of getting to the park we were on the ride.

Now to begin review on the rides; which, let me say first, we only went on the major rides of the park. I wanted to go on rollersoaker, but the line was just too dam long.

STORMRUNNER

This was the first ride of the day. Upon getting into the ride I found out that the restraints dont have the clicky-clicky action most other restraints do. Then we were off; and OH MY GOD WHAT A LAUNCH. The strength it pulls you with, wow! Tophat had major ejector air. After that the Immelman-ish Loop Heartline-Flying Snake Dive combo really threw me for a twist, literally. Theres ejector air right into the heartline, so you're hanging on whatever god gave you going through the rolls. Then you're whipped under the supports and thrown into the Twisty-Twisty bit. Then our mag brake friends bring us to a nice smooth stop.

TOTAL RIDES: 4
OVERALL: A

docked for slight hang-n-bang feeling on the heartline roll. Still a very good ride.


LIGHTNING RACER

In my opinion this was the best ride in the park. The line was no more than 5 minutes, and it was one of the smoothest woodies I've ever been on. We always rode on the lightning side, So I'll review that. Right at the start, the first drop was one of the most thrilling I've been on;after that there was less floater air throughout the ride that I wouldave liked, but it was still one twisty helluva ride. Then on the last ride of the day, The lightning track got stuck on the lift, and I got to walk down the catwalk!

TOTAL RIDES: 8
OVERALL: A+


GREAT BEAR

This was an OK ride, but was probably the poorest performing of the day. It was just too mediocre, with only 4 inversions and not a whole lot else. I did enjoy all the helicy, kick-the-coaster fun, however. The inversions were well taken, and it was a well performing speed invert., but just didnt have the firepower its older siblings do.

TOTAL RIDES: 2
OVERALL: A-
for lack of thrill

WILDCAT
ahh, our good friends @ GCI made us another beauty. This one, however you could tell it was built in the 90s. It had alot of rumble and tumble to it, but you could still tell it was GCI quality building, even with the PTCs. The airtime was there, and so were the lats, but on the last helix it just left me a little woozy..

TOTAL RIDES: 4
OVERALL: A
docked for minor headache I recieved after riding


SIDEWINDER

OMG, VEKOMA! RUN AWAY!!! haha actually this one wasnt as bad, though you could tell that it was a vekoma (face eating padding on either side of your head). Now i dont really know what to say...its a boomerang, there are about 100 all over the world...go ride one urself.

TOTAL RIDES: 2
OVERALL: A


PROJECT '07
Well, I can tell that the 100 years of happy is going to be a good expansion to Hershey. There was work on the Rain fortress all day, and the rest of the attractions were getting footers and such put in. The locker room by where the slides will be is almost complete, just needs some finishing paint. All day bits & pieces of the attractions were being put up and bolted in. Cant wait for '07..

@ DAYS END:

TOP 3 RIDES:
Lightning Racer
Stormrunner
Wildcat

RIDE COUNT: 21 (got a ride in on claw as well)

VERDICT: definately the sweetest place on earth, and its just going to get sweeter...

Damnit, everything in 2007 is gonna be a water park...

glad to see someone still likes Wildcat. that was the last good GCI besides Roar@SFA until Kentucky Rumbler imo. Wildcat is a very good ride with a few surprises if you've never ridden it before. but yea, unless you're totally headache free, its not the best one to ride more than 2 times.

btw, thats a lot to pay to get in if its 44.50 for each. I dunno where you live, but Welfare&Rec sells em for a lotta parks almost always under $30. either that, or you join the military. hehe I'm lucky, one of my parents was on active duty for the military a while, so we got the super cheap tickets everywhere we went. I mean, we still get military discounts, just not everywhere.

Sounds like you had fun. When I went, I went on a Monday and the most I had to wait was 15 minutes for Storm Runner. I rode Lightning Racer 4 times cuz it was only a 3 minutes wait

Dammit, that made me wanna go on storm runner soooo badly! Anyways, sounds like you had a fun day, and nice TR!

yea, I went yesterday (monday) and the park was like empty. Stormrunner had probably the longest wait, it was like 15-30 minutes, cept for when we rode fron row, which let me say, is AMAAZING. For lightning Racer there were times when we just walked right into an empty airgate and we got on in less than a minute (ergo, we got 8 rides in). Too bad when we rode it Lightning lost 5/8 times [:(] (we were always on the lightning side spare a few rides)


^"dammit everything in '07 is gonna be a waterpark"

tie, I dont think you get it. Hersheypark has been DYING for a waterpark. Thats just what they need. Especially when itll look this good

http://www.hersheypa.com/attractions/hersheypark/100th/boardwalk.php

I cant belive you said Great Bear was the poorest performing...Thats an awesome little ride...and Lightning Racer better then Storm Runner? r u nuts dude? Even thought lightning Racer is a very very great woodie storm runner is jus better[:)] Sounds like you had fun. Im going there this Saturday...i hope its not to crowded[V]

I only put stormrunner below Lightning Racer because I rode Lightning Racer 8 TIMES. Stormrunners a rush, definately; but I'm a woodie lover. Also I've been on most all other Inverts that arent a batman footprint, and of the 4 coasters that were @ the park, Great Bear was the least thrilling, but not by much..

By saturday the should probly have most of the rain-fortress done, maybe they'll get started on other expansions.