TOPGUN1993 Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Our family hadn't been on a real vacation for years until now- I just got back from a six-day trip to the east coast. We visited Hersheypark July 13, Six Flags Great Adventure July 15, and Atlantic City July 16. We left last Sunday morning and arrived in Hershey, Pennsylvania 8 hours later. We purchased Hersheypark tickets at the "Giant" grocery store for a discount. The next day would start off at 9am at Hershey's Chocolate World, adjacent to the park. We took a ride on the Chocolate tour ride while we had time. As of 9am these numbers where high. Mmm Chocolate We get inline for opening 5min before the gates open, and find a massive crowd wrapped all the way down the old town street. Once we get inside the park the first ride we pass is this old looking Jet ride. I however didn't get a chance to ride it. Our goal was to make it over to Storm Runner as we felt most of the crowd would go to Fahrenheit first. But we had to pass this sign on the way, lol We rode Storm Runner twice before heading back over to Fahrenheit. I was impressed with Stormrunner, you get the pit in your stomach much like you do on Dragster but diffidently not as long as dragster. I would consider Stormrunner much like Mysterymine, Maverick, and Dragster combined. I guess.... Next was Fahrenheit, we waited nearly 30min and were almost to the staircase when a train stop at the bottom of the lift. And my dad wanted to get out of line, so not putting up a fight we left the line and not even before we get fully out of the que it reopens...... what luck. We went and rode the Wildmouse. I really enjoyed it. Wildcat was next door so the family took a ride on it. It was surly a good ride but nothing "wow" about it really. Heading down the midway we had to stop and take a ride on a classic flat ride "The Whip" Lighting Racer is next to the whip and it was currently closed as it was closed all day the day before. There were maintenance workers on the tops of both lift hills. I hoped it would be up and running before the day was over. In the mean time we rode "Merry Derry Dip"........ yeahhh Then we rode Trailblazer The sealion show started in 5 min so we watched that. After the show me and my sister rode Great Bear. After a 15 or some wait we boarded row #2 and rode. Rode Kissing Tower to get a nice view of the park and factory. I noticed from atop here that Lighting Racer was open so we tried to head that way. By now we were all hungry we so we ate at this Texas BBQ place near Trailblazer. We got Ribs and they were by far the worst amusement park food I've ever had. And I love Ribs/BBQ. They were absolutely nasty along with the stale bread and potato's. I had to stop eating and picked up a pulled pork sandwich at another nearby food stand. It too was also not very good. I'm very thankful Kings Island isn't this cheap.... yet I wasn't looking forward to riding Sidewinder the Vekoma Boomerang. But to much of my surprise I loved it. I couldn't believe it. Next was Fahrenheit again... We waited 30min and I rode in the front of the 3rd car. Great ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOPGUN1993 Posted July 20, 2009 Author Share Posted July 20, 2009 I noticed there was a Single Rider line and took a quick ride before moving on. (Front of car 2) We finally made it back to Lighting Racer again and rode Thunder Row 8 and Lighting Row 2. Same with Wildcat it didn't live up to its hype. My family was getting somewhat tired so we all rode the mini train "Dry Gulch Railroad" This train is themed better than Kings Island's..... (well almost anything is) From the train you can see how close Trailblazer comes to the ground. If your in the right side of the train you can touch the grass. Rode "The Claw". Something strange happened while getting off of this ride. The opt released the bars before it stopped spinning. I've always been a fan of the classic Kings Island Flying Eagles and Hershey had a new model and they were rather suckish. Reece Cup Extreme Sport challenge was nearby so we rode it. It was different in the fact it had mini hills but so short and very lame. Skyride was next and had no line. I got some great angles/photos from this ride. Great Bear Took a ride on Comet in the last car. Gotta love the classic buzz bars. Heading on me and my sister rode Sooperdooperlooper. For a ride of it's age its still a great deal of fun. Up the hill and to the right was one of the rides I was most looking forward to "Coal Cracker" the arrow hydroflume. This ride is very similar to Kenton Coves Keelboat Canal at Kings Island before Tomb Raider. And White Water Landing that use to be at Cedar Point before Maverick. A cool feature on this ride is that there is a small bunny hill at the bottom of the drop, inwhich you get airtime. You can see the hill here. The location of this ride is great because you come so close to the near by Looper and Great Bear along with its location atop a hill. We rode twice. Flying Falcon a "Condor" type ride was near so we rode that. Its a great and really different type of attraction. Its like a 50ft scrambler/troika combo. One of my Favorite flats. One more ride on Great Bear would end our wonderful trip to Hersheypark. Check back for day two at Six Flags Great Adventure!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Bombay Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Paul great photos and PTR. Never realized Hersheypark had so much to it. How would you compare it to other parks? Was it kept up and nice with landscaping and all like the bush parks, or would you compare it more to the regional parks like Six Flags and Kings Island? Looking forward to the rest of your PTR from this trip, sounds like you guys had a good time. Also, if you guys like Paul's photos, he updates a blog regularly with some unique angles of the parks he visits, here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rcfreak339 Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Awesome pictures Paul! Hershey looks like a awesome park, and really photogenic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOPGUN1993 Posted July 20, 2009 Author Share Posted July 20, 2009 Hershey was absolutely beautiful, everywhere you looked there was a hanging flower basket, kiss shaped lamp posts and tons of trees. When intern nearly every pathway was nicely shaded. So I'd have to say it's higher than Kings Island in that way. I highly recommend making a trip there, there's so much to do other than coasters, which you coaster geeks sometimes forget. Thanks for the reply Gordon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomkatt7 Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 I thought the food looked good, until you described it!!! At first glance I those were big mushrooms! Not potatoes!!! Yuck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markr Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Very nice PTR. Did you see the dancing candybars on the midway? I'm certainly glad when our group was at Hershey that we packed a picnic lunch in order to save money. I am sure it was more appetizing. Cannot wait to hear your report on Kingda Ka and how you think it compares to TTD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 It's sad to see/hear what's happened to Hersheypark's food. At one time, it was among the best. Great trip report, as usual. I know at least one of us will wait with baited breath to hear your impressions of Great Adventure. Terpy, who used to love Hershey's food....sigh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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