Hershey Park

[thejoker8388]

It's been a while since I last posted here. I've had an extremely busy year so far and haven't had much time to visit this site that I used to be a regular at. With about a month before college I've finally got some free time on my hands and decided I'd get back to posting with a trip report from Hershey on the 22rd. Instead of a full TR I'm just going to give ride thoughts and general thoughts about my first visit to Hershey.

Storm Runner- My friend called this "the midget Top Thrill" based on the track and the launch. I was actually surprised he made the connection between the tracks because he is far from an enthusiast and it seems most of the GP never can tell similar tracks. The ride itself is great and starts with a "Get ready cause here we GO!" instead of the light tree like TTD. The launch was surprisingly powerful and was better than I had expected considering it's about 50mph slower than TTD. The first top hat was great and gave a nice "pop" of air and then the immelmann, heartline, and dive that followed were all amazing and perfectly paced. The only thing I didn't care for on the ride was the final inclined s-curve which caused a little head banging. Overall this ride offers much more of the "coaster" experience than TTD, but if I had to choose I'd still take TTD due to the thrill of the launch, if only the two coasters were combined it'd be the best launch coaster bar none and I love FOF. I rode the ride 3 times total and it was my favorite steel in the park by far

Overall- 9/10

Comet- The oldest coaster in the park was surprisingly not the roughest and it was the surprise of the trip. It's a great oldie with the traditional hills and high slow turns, what this coaster lacked in intensity it made up for in pure fun. I had a great time and got several great moments of air and finished the ride laughing. The ride is 30 years older than Racer and has aged 10 times better, this is now one of my favorite classic wooden coasters along with the Giant Dipper at SCBB and Big Dipper at GL. Rode it two times, overall 9/10

Great Bear- This is a B&M invert like Raptor. The ride had one of the more interesting layouts for an invert because I tend to find them all fairly repetitive. I usually don't care for inverts too much but I found Great Bear to be well paced and not nearly as nauseating as Raptor or the Batman clones; the travel over the creek was a neat feature as well. Great Bear has become my new favorite invert and it was the first I actually found to be fun. 1 ride, overall 8.5/10

Wildcat-This is a GCI wooden coaster that originally ran PTC trains but this year got new flyers because many people had complained that the coaster was rough. Sadly I still found this coaster to be rough, much rougher than Comet which is 50 years older. The layout itself was still fairly entertaining and although the coaster was some what rough it was still a fun ride with a fun layout. I rode it twice, Overall 7.5/10

Wild Mouse-Your standard wild mouse coaster. I always enjoy these rides and still have the feeling that I'm going to fly off the edge even though I've ridden them countless times; they're the one of the few coasters that I never put my hands up because I'm always gripping on to prevent myself from sliding all over the seat. Overall 7/10

Superdooperlooper- A great old Schwarzkopf with that signature extremely intense loop. After the loop the layout was fun and had a great helix towards the end of the ride; I only wish it was longer. Overall 8.5/10

Sidewinder-Standard Vekoma boomerang. I've never been a fan of the sit down boomerangs although I do like the Invertigos and GIBs. I mainly rode this one for the credit and finished the ride with some definite head banging but nothing worse than what's expected. Overall 5/10

Trail Blazer- An old Arrow mine train coaster. I've always been a fan of Arrow coaters despite the fact that most enthusiasts seem to loathe them and mine trains have always been one of my favorite Arrow coasters. Trail Blazer offered the great fun with mild intensity that a good mine train does and the ending helix was really fun (I love helices). My only complaint is that the ride was far too short. Overall 7.5/10

Lightning Racer- A GCI racing coaster that jumped into the top 5 of my favorite wooden coasters passing two of those vaunted coasters from that "oh so perfect park" in Southern Indiana. Everything about the ride was great, from the twisting drop, to the turn around, tunnel, dueling sections and little pops of air. The ride was one of the smoothest wooden coasters I've ever ridden and had a great mix of some intensity and just amazing fun. I also always love racers for the fact that the pump riders through and create minimal lines. I rode the ride four times (three lightning and one thunder) and the wait was never more than ten minutes, my train also won all four times which made the ride just that much better. Overall 10/10

The final coaster at Hershey is the Roller Soaker but I didn't ride it because I typically don't enjoy getting drenched unless I have a bathing suit on. I also rode the Kissing Tower, monorail, Reese's extreme cup challenge (which was far too short), and their hydroflume which was really fun and I wish an Ohio park still had one.

Overall Hershey Impressions: All the rides are well maintained and the employees were quick and efficient although some of the rides were stacking consistently. The employees themselves were helpful but a little lacking on the enthusiasm scale and I didn't once hear a "Welcome back riders, how was your ride?!" but still they all seemed professional enough. I was really impressed with the ride upkeep; all the wooden rides were smooth enough to very smooth and I didn't see a single ride closed all day. I was also impressed with the coasters at Hershey and thought they were all great fun which many coasters these days seem to lack.

The park itself appears very land locked and makes CP look like it has all the room in the world. Hershey's rides almost seem packed in as close as I used to make my parks in RCT, with most crossing over and under each other. I hope Hershey finds room to continue expanding because they have a great line up but they could use a couple of large modern flats and a hyper coaster would make the park one of the best in the country if it isn't already. I'm surprised I don't really hear a lot about Hershey because it truely is a great park and I recommend that anyone who has the chance should get there as soon as possible.

The one closing complaint is simply about the traffic management which is horrendously designed and is completly inadequete. especially when a concert is being held. I don't know who they had design it but I could do better and I know nothing about traffic management. Getting out took two hours because the John Mayer concert also released at the same time and the traffic literally wasn't moving.

A few pics

[The Interpreter]

GREAT trip report! As for wishing Storm Runner and Top Thrill could somehow be combined...that's my definition of Maverick....with a bit of Millennium Force in Maverick's quiver as well.

Comet, and most of Herb Schmeck's coasters, is greatly underrated by many...it's a fantastic ride, especially when the midcourse brake isn't on hard, as it usually has been during my visits. I must get up that way and ride Wildcat again...it was the first GCI I ever rode (and the first one they ever built!). I will never forget the impressions it made on most riders when it first opened (and was glass smooth...)

[bsktgrvy]

That was a very good report. Our family went to Hershey Park about 4 years ago and I echo your comments on the Comet and the Lightning Racer.

I did not know that The Comet was 30 years older than The Racer at KI. Comet was a very fun ride and longer than it looked at first glance.

And Lightning Racer, to me, is one the of the best wooden coasters I have ever had a ride on. I rode it 7 times when we visited. It may not be the tallest, or fastest, but it is just plain fun.

I also enjoyed Wildcat - it was definitely rougher than Lightning Racer but when I rode it was not too uncomfortable.

[thejoker8388]

Yeah, I wasn't saying that Wildcat was necessarily uncomfortably rough it just shocked me that as a GCI it was rougher than Comet which is so much older.

Interpreter, it's funny you mention Schmeck. I've only ridden two by him, Phoenix being the other and I think I actually enjoyed Comet more. I just find it funny that you say most of his rides are underrated and the one that does actually rank high I didn't necessarily think was as great as people claim. Although, the rankings as I've seen before some times simply reflect enthusiasts' fondness for certain parks and not necessarily based on the actual coaster experience.

Oh and I forgot to mention that I didn't even know that Comet had a mid course, so if it was on it was minimal