1 Weekend, 4 Parks, 1 State

[Creed Bratton]

After a long hiatus from KIC, I decided to return because I missed the friendships from you all.

What better way to return than a big PTR!

This PTR will have to be in multiple parts but here we go with Part 1:

Over the past weekend, I got to head out of Ohio and over to Pennsylvania. I spent the day, Friday, on the road with some friends heading toward Hershey! We got to Hershey about 6:30ish that evening....before we got into the park we had to face a parking nightmare. Dave Matthew’s Band was playing that night and the parking lot was a mess....many people taking up 3 spots to tailgate, play cornhole, drink, etc. That was very frustrating.

As soon as we parked we headed to Chocolate World...it was just a quick trip in as we had just about an hour to kill....so we did “Hershey’s Great American Chocolate Tour Ride.” It was a nice little ride, too bad there wasn’t something to gain points with! After the ride we headed into the shops to basically drool over all the candy!

7:30 fast approached and we headed into the park for preview night. We headed straight toward Roller Soaker as it was to close at 8pm. It was a neat little ride..but wasn’t happy that I was the one who got soaked out of the 4 of us that rode it. We then headed over to Lightning Racer...we rode Lightning first, then Thunder, both rides landed us a winning train. Lightning Racer definitely has become a favorite wooden coaster of mine! Especially since our one ride was a “night ride” and the chaser lights were on! We then did the Wild Mouse which was the typical mouse coaster. Directly across from it, we headed to Wildcat. When we got up to the station, they stopped operations because of a protein spill. The people in the station were rediculous. Drove me nuts actually....they kept complaining about the spill not being cleaned up as quick as they thought it should have taken....but they kept talking to the ops cleaning it up. Plus the vo-ban had to sit for a while to soak it all up....and there was a ton! The station pretty much cleared out, so I went to the front row and waited for my ride. It was a great one at that, I really fell in love with the chaser lights on coasters after this experience!

After that experience we decided to make our way over to Skyrush. On the way we stopped at Fahrenheit, as the line was rather short! I absolutely loved the layout...not real wild compared to Maverick. I am a big fan of the style of trains on those two coasters. We then made way to Skyrush. We queued for some time, but once we got to the station, it was a breeze. Our turn was coming up, I grabbed a left wing seat and took off! I am absolutely amazed at the speed of the lift! The lift in itself is an amazing thing. Like many reviews I’ve read and heard, it was an awesome coaster, with some pain....I didn’t have too much pain. I absolutely loved my first ride on it, I knew the next day I’d have to get a front row seat! We then headed to our hotel for the evening to pass out and prep for the next day.

(Cell Phone Pic)

On Saturday morning, we made our way to the park bright and early for registration with Central PA’s ACE Region for the event. Once in the park, we hit up ERT on Fahrenheit for a quick ride then headed over to Storm Runner. Storm Runner was a nice coaster, but a bit short. I really enjoyed the layout...it’s such a photogenic coaster too! After a few rounds on it, we headed over to Skyrush to get it before the opening crowd. We found out that the Hershey Resort Guests get in an hour early over at Skyrush and Comet. So ACE members weren’t the true first riders of the day. However, the queue was a bit short and we decided to get the front seat. While our group was waiting in the station behind the gate, train #2, loaded up and was dispatched. The cable came down to bring the train out, moved just a few inches and stopped. Maintenance was called and they came to fix it. The train started moving, but crawled up the lift hill...stopped about a ¼ of the way up as the other train came into the station. Once that train came in, the one on the lift went up and followed the course. Then our group was next to go, 2 members of our group, went first on one train and the other 4 of us got on the train that didn’t get fast lift. When all of our trains restraints were checked, we were dispatched...we moved 2 inches and stopped. Maintenance was called, we were told by ride ops: “Since this train has started moving, we are not allowed to get you off unless told to by maintenance, however maintenance is on their way.” Once maintenance got there, they did a couple quick things and we inched up the hill. We also got stopped about ¼ of the way up. Honestly it was an amazing experience....felt great to just sit there, feel the breeze and take in the views. We then heard the motors start going, we ended up rolling back about an inch, but the safeties caught us and then were pulled up the lift slowly. Once we dropped from the lift, it was such an amazing experience! There were so many great views, the track looked amazing and just overall I was happy. We found that if you pull up on the blue bars of the restraints on your sides, it hurts a little bit less. After we got off the ride, they sent it empty and took it off for maintenance to work on it.

We then headed over to Great Bear and Super Dooper Looper. Both were good coasters, although I felt that Great Bear was just a rather good bear. We then headed over to Trailblazer. There was a hilarious older gentlman working on the crew. He would tell you if you didn’t raise your hands, you’d pay the price....he then would squirt anyone without their hands up with a squirt gun! Surprisingly it was a good mine train. We then hit up Sidewinder and the flat Hurler before lunch. After a nice lunch and door prizes (in which I snagged a piece of the Legend roller coaster at Holiday World), we hit up a few rides including Falcon, the Reese's dark ride, the monorail and their Eagles.

The pics below of Sidewinder are from testing in the morning.

For those that know me, I don't like children...this showed there were too many children in the park:

As the day headed on, we re-rode some coasters including Lightning Racer (both sides). Did their whip which we ended up hitting the wall on the inside, haha! We also did Wildcat and I got stuck on the break run with my friend’s daughter. We then got evacuated and had to walk through the break run and into the station. Afterwards we decided to head toward Comet. We stopped on our way to take some pictures of Fahrenheit. When we rode Comet, it was a great ride in the back seat. 2 members of our group were at a show and the rest of us rode the skyride. We then went back over to Comet and rode once, then headed to Skyrush. We waited in line for a front row again. After that ride, evening ERT on Skyrush and Comet started. We found out that they added Super Dooper Looper to the line up. We focused mainly on Skyrush and had many rides on it! It was so good! We noticed that on one train, the restraints are a little bit softer, but they didn’t help the pain. As ERT was ending I headed over to Comet with my one friend and rode it twice, once in the back row and once in the 2nd row. I really enjoyed Comet.

This next photo was taken with permission from the ride operator while waiting for maintenance to arrive at the ride.

Part 2 coming soon!

[bkroz]

Wait... Hershey's Chocolate World is still open? Was a decision reversed somewhere along the line? I swear I remember hearing that it was going to be closing a few years ago...

But awesome report! I visited Hersheypark when I was a kid - long before I was interested in coasters and before many of their well-known rides had been added. Hearing about and seeing your photos of Fahrenheit, Skyrush, and the gang, I know I've got to get back soon. Looking forward to part 2!

[The Interpreter]

Incredibly stunning pictures and a great trip report. I also look forward to the rest.

Thanks!

[TheCrypt]

I've always wished to go to Hershey Park at some point. Thank you for putting together this report, and I look forward to the rest of your PTR!

As a side note- The only thing unappealing to me about Hershey Park is the fact that Skyrush overlaps Comet, and Skyrush's ugly color scheme. What did you think of both?

[jcgoble3]

Great report so far! Thanks for posting it!

[Ogrmac]

Welcome back to KIC! Awesome trip report, looks like you all had an excellent time. Can't wait to see the rest!

[TombRaiderFTW]

So many great pictures in this awesome trip report. You've made me realize how much I miss Hershey. I went there for my first time last year, and Storm Runner, Fahrenheit, Great Bear, and Comet (among others) totally caught me off-guard with how good they were. If Skyrush is as good as everyone says, I need to get back, and soon!

[Creed Bratton]

Wait... Hershey's Chocolate World is still open? Was a decision reversed somewhere along the line? I swear I remember hearing that it was going to be closing a few years ago...

But awesome report! I visited Hersheypark when I was a kid - long before I was interested in coasters and before many of their well-known rides had been added. Hearing about and seeing your photos of Fahrenheit, Skyrush, and the gang, I know I've got to get back soon. Looking forward to part 2!

I've always wished to go to Hershey Park at some point. Thank you for putting together this report, and I look forward to the rest of your PTR!

As a side note- The only thing unappealing to me about Hershey Park is the fact that Skyrush overlaps Comet, and Skyrush's ugly color scheme. What did you think of both?

Thanks for the feedback so far guys!

GYK-- Yeah, Chocolate World is still open...it was pretty packed when we were in there!

TheCrypt-- Honestly, I loved the way that Skyrush and Comet flowed together. I felt that Skyrush gave some great views of the coaster and vice versa. As for the color scheme, I wish the blue supports were a bit darker blue like in the logo, but the yellow is a nice touch....now I had never been to Hershey before this trip....to me, without the Skyrush yellow the area would look pretty bland in my opinion. Skyrush is great!!

[beastrider97]

Hersheypark stands out to me as a "hidden gem" park. They have some awesome Intamins, the fantastic Lightning Racer, and a great atmosphere. My only disappointment with the park is Roller Soaker. Such a low capacity ride, and not worth the 2 hours I waited. Not surprising that it is the only one of two that has lasted.

[TheCrypt]

How do the designs of the trains on Skyrush compare to that of Diamondback/Behemoth/Intimidator?

[KIfan1980]

Glad to see you back on KIC and thanks for sharing! Awaiting part 2 patiently.

[Creed Bratton]

How do the designs of the trains on Skyrush compare to that of Diamondback/Behemoth/Intimidator?

Working on Part 2 now, but figured I'd answer your question real quick.

The trains on Skyrush are odd....I'd say...they're very industrial, there really isn't a zero car...as the front end is extended from the 1st car. The seats are pretty nice, but sit back further than Diamondback/Behemoth/Intimidator. In the station, there isn't a separate row for the winged seats leaving the option for 4 people to choose between them which seat they go to in their row. The winged seats are just a few inches back from the two middle seats. I still prefer the seats on Diamondback and the others though.

[Creed Bratton]

Part 2!!

I apologize for lack of pictures of these three parks, as I didn’t really grab as many pictures as I normally would.

Sunday morning we left our hotel and headed towards Knoebels. What seemed like a long drive, ended up being a beautiful and somewhat shorter drive than I thought. When we pulled up to the park I was quite taken back by the parking area (no parking fee) and the openness of the park itself. It was really cool that you could basically walk into the park from whatever direction you wanted, as there wasn’t any perimeter fencing. I knew it was a ticket park before getting there, but was unaware of how the tickets actually worked. Each of us in the group of 6 bought a $20 book of tickets. I thought the tickets would be for individual rides, but they ended up having a monitary value to each ticket.

First up, myself and one other member from our group hit up Kozmo’s Kurves (the kiddie coaster). It was like they doubled The Great Pumpkin Coaster. It was one of the longer circuited Miler kiddy coasters that I’ve ever seen. It was a good little coaster, thought it was a little wild, haha.

We ended up a couple of flat rides right around there including the Satellite and their scooters. The scooters were amazing and a ton of fun. I loved the fact that they basically would draft. Of course these weren’t the newer style of dodgems so when you hit, you really hit! I was unaware that they had a Haunted House ride, once seeing it we decided to ride it. It was really neat...got one or two spooks out of me. We then headed over to Black Diamond before lunch. Black Diamond was pretty cool, I wouldn’t put it in my top list of coasters. The theming was pretty sweet throughout. I felt that the ride would have more ups and downs, but it didn’t.

the coolest water fountain!

Lunch could have been it’s own trip report itself! There were so many people at the International Food Court, it was hard to believe! I ended up getting Chicken Parmesan from the Italian window. I’ve had Chicken Parm many times from various places, all I have to say about Knoebel’s is: WOW! After lunch, we made a quick stop into the museum. The museum was really cool, but didn’t give us the thrills we were looking for, so we headed over to Phoenix. It was a great ride, not one of my favorite wooden coasters, but it’s up there. After Phoenix, we hit up a qift shop then headed to the Park Office to grab some more tickets. On the way there we passed an idle Flying Turns that was without a transfer track. It looks like it’d be a cool ride, sad that it’s taking a long time to get it all ready. Outside of the gift shop, I asked an employee, what’s the ticket price to ride Flying Turns was. She looked at me like I was a little crazy, then I told her I was a coaster enthusiast from Ohio and she got this relieved look on her face, probably glad I wasn’t just some idiot trying to get on the ride.

Next up for us was Twister. All I knew about it was that it was a wooden coaster. Upon getting on the ride, I thought the lift hill was really short and not high at all. Then all of the sudden we made a left dive then up to the right, around a corner and up a 2nd lift. That to me was pretty sweet! The coaster itself was a lot of fun, made me scream with my hands up the entire ride! If I could have, I would have rode it over and over, which is funny because I’m not the biggest wooden coaster fan. With all of the coasters out of the way, we decided to do a couple more flats before heading out on our next journey. We went and did their flyers. They were quite fun! With the wind blowing and the speed of the flyers, we caught some good air and got a few good snaps! One member of our group was told not to snap so much! Haha! We did the Looper....the first time I didn’t understand how to roll, so we rocked back and forth quite a bit....to the point where we could have rolled over but we didn’t have enough push. so we decided to do it one more time, with understanding how to operate them. The only problem with this go around was after we were let on the ride, our belts weren’t checked and they started the ride. One friend that was sitting out, yelled at the crew to get them to stop and double check...needless to say he wasn’t happy, I wasn’t happy. Once we finished that ride, we headed over to the Brass Ring Carousel. I can’t remember the last time I’ve done one of those. It was so much fun! I only collected 9 rings, but the fun challenge was throwing them back into the Lion’s mouth toward the end of the ride. With that, we headed out to the parking lot. We passed the ride 1001 Nachts, you know the one that the woman wanted to marry on, on the way out.

We hit the road for just a short time and made our way over to Delgrosso’s Amusement Park. On the way from Knoebel’s to Delgrosso’s, we saw so many pretty views of the mountains and what not. I fell in love with the wind turbines along the route. When we finally pulled up to Delgrosso’s we parked behind the water park and made our way across the road on the bridge. We were only there for the coaster credits, so we rode the Wacky Worm. It was interesting that the ops, had to push the train out of the station as there aren’t any kicker wheels or any other mechanics to push it out automatically. It was an okay kiddie coaster. Then we headed over to the Crazy Mouse. I must say here, I love spinning mice coasters! When we got to the entrance, there was a really young kid, we asked how old he was, he said 15...he didn’t even look 13! It was hard to believe. Once we all took our ride we grabbed a couple pizzas and got on the road to Lakemont Park.

Just 10 minutes (if that) down the highway, we got to Lakemont Park. The park was free to park and admission. We bought wristbands for the rides and headed into the park. We quickly found out that we were 6 of maybe 15 people in the park aside from the ride operators and other staff. The first thing we hit up was Toboggan. I must say this was the oddest coaster I’ve ever been on. I didn’t like the ride vehicle as I’m claustrophobic and there’s a lid that closes you in. The lift was a bit uncomfortable but I dealt with it. We then headed over to Skyliner. There was absolutely no one over there. We walked up the ramp, talked to the ride op and got on. It was a nice coaster, one of my new favorite wooden coasters. The layout was really cool. Once we got into the station, we got asked if we wanted to go again, so we said yeah but decided to switch seats. I jumped from the front seat to the back. The back seat was amazing! It gave so much airtime, I screamed almost in fear of coming completely out of my seat. We probably rode it a total of 4 times before going to something else.

Since the park closed at 8 we headed over to Leap The Dips, the oldest operating wooden coaster in the world. It also to my knowledge is one of the only side friction coaster in the US. As we got to the entrance, I found that my wallet had fallen out of my back pocket. So I ran to the other two coasters to see if they had found it. It was all the way over at Skyliner. So after my mini heart attack, I got back to Leap the Dips and we all got our tickets (separate) to ride. They only had one car on the track, but you could see the transfer track with the other cars (some may need refurbishment) from the stairs. When it was my turn to ride (all 6 of us wanted the front seat, so we went 2 at a time) I was excited. It was weird going up the lift hill, after we were pushed out of the station, that there were 2x4 boards sticking out to be knocked by the car...I wasn’t sure what the purpose for those were. The layout was nice and the dips were pretty fun as well. After all of us rode, we decided to hit up some flats. We did The Twister (a whip ride), which was alright. We also did the tilt-a-whirl (one of my favorite flats no matter the park), I tried to do the Skydiver, but the restraints were too tight and hurt too much.

sorry for the out of focus!

So I headed over to the Antique cars with another person from the group. It was a short layout, but fun because it was half downhill, half uphill. As I tried to take a picture while driving, don’t do this in real life , I “wrecked” into the guide rail and hit my elbow hard on the seat, ouch! As soon as we got off the cars, I looked at my watch and it was 7:54, so we made a run for Skyliner. We got on and had an amazing last ride on it! The sun was slowly starting to set, so it added a nice feel to the ride. After our ride, we headed down the ramp and toward the exit. We found a little “playground” with the little animals on springs and they had little swivel seats with digger machines on them. So of course, we had to get on them! After a few minutes we headed out to the entrance and passed a few idle rides. I loved seeing the little ferris wheel as it sat idle. One creepy sight/sound on the way out was a merry-go-round that was still playing music with no one around or on it! It sent shivers up my spine!

We hit the road home after that and made it home in the very early morning. It was such a great trip! I was happy with the rids that I got and that my coaster count is now up to 128.

With the end of this PTR, I’ll leave you with this picture from Hershey....do you think it’s a new way to increase capacity? Haha!

[PhantomTheater]

It was weird going up the lift hill, after we were pushed out of the station, that there were 2x4 boards sticking out to be knocked by the car...I wasn’t sure what the purpose for those were.

That is the high tech 1902 anti-rollback system.

[Rustbucket]

Nice. We recently did 6 parks in 4 days trip. Adding KI on the 5th day. Lakemont, Delgrosso, Hershey, Knoebels, Canada's Wonderland, and Conneaut Lake Park. It was tiring but well worth the trip. Leap the Dips was quite a treat.

[jcgoble3]

Sounds like you had a lot of fun!