Date: October 20th 2007
Time: Park open 4-11, time in park 5-11
Weather: A little chilly, but tolerable
Crowds: Non-existent to light
Ok, so about 2 weeks ago a decision hit me to go to a park other than a Six Flags park for my last park of the ?season?. My options were Lake Compounce, which I had been to about 3 weeks prior, Dorney Park (blah), Hershey Park, or PKD. Since my last visit to Hershey was so successful I decided on visiting it again. For the price of $21.95 for 7 hours, a 2-3 hour drive, and a chance to ride my beloved Wildcat before the MF trains ruin it (if that rumor is in fact true). Hershey has easily grown into my favorite park. Every time I visit, even if it?s busy, I have a blast. The atmosphere is awesome, all of the rides consistently running (except a few rides in tonight?s case), the lingering smell of chocolate, friendly staff, and one of the most well rounded coaster collections in the country.
Chuck (ChuckR or Rider117 ? whichever he goes by these days online) and I took the trek out to Hershey, PA from Toms River, NJ and made pretty decent time despite a traffic jam on the Del. Memorial Bridge, but it only held us back about 15-20 minutes? On the way to the park, I couldn?t figure out what to expect in terms of crowds, so I just hoped for the best. Once we got to the parking booth, we paid the very reasonable (reasonable in regards to SF prices) parking fee of $6. Can?t beat that with a stick! The attendant at the booth told us it wasn?t too crowded yet (the park had been open for close to an hour at this point so I had to ask), so that was a good thing obviously. While walking into the park, we noticed some of the Halloween d?cor they had to offer, it was decent. Hershey?s Halloween stuff is more for the little ones, with a few trick or treat areas throughout the park. They also rename all their rides? Wildcat was Scardey Cat, SDL was SooperBOOperLooper, etc, etc?
Our first stop was the new dark ride ?Xtreme Cup Challenge?. This ride is OK, and a step above Gobbler Getaway. Is it me, or do these dark rides seem to get lamer each time? They aren?t even ?dark? with all of the highlighted characters throughout the ride? Anyway, it was a walk on basically, so we got on, lost, got free candy, and continued on. Storm Runner was our first coaster of the night. This is just so much damn fun. We walked into the station, and waited 1 train for the 2nd row. They were only running 1 train, but never really had a need for 2, except for about 1 hour. After our first ride, we ran back around for another few rides starting the night with 4 SR rides, 1 front seat included. We managed to do this in less than an hour (Storm Runner and the ?dark? ride) SR?s airtime is just awesome, and I can?t get enough of it. The pause over the top hat and the air going into the barrel roll are amazing. I still don?t get the part where it ?dumps? you to the right, but I love that part as well. After departing our 4th ride, I told Chuck I wanted to get at least 5 rides in for the night, so we?d later come back for our final ride (or so we thought, more on that later). Next up was Midway America. This section is going to loaded with people next summer with the water park expansion, which is coming along nicely I might ad. The toilet bowl slide is almost done and work has started on the Tornado. We went to the mouse first since it was a walk-on. Fun ride, but they actually added brakes to it this time in 3 different spots. Either way, it?s still better than most mice. Up next, the reason I came back to Hershey, Wildcat! I just love this ride, and I think the damp, cold air make this ride run smoother. Last visit about a month ago, it was running smoother than I ever remember. It was about 40-50 degrees out and it had been raining all morning, same scenario for this night as well. It was smooth. I really see no need to add new trains to this ride, and I might be the only one who feels this way. I really don?t like the MF trains, and am not a big fan of GCI coasters. Wildcat to me, is the most intense GCI out there and the only one I would consider putting in my top 10 (granted I?ve only ridden Roar! East, Kentucky Rumbler, and Lightning Racers), they just don?t ?do it? for me. Any-who, we rode the Wildcat a few times this visit, I think a total of 4, with the last ride in the very back. I really hurt my spine again, and I love it! The one sudden drop in the middle of the ride is just so much fun, but my spine can only take so much anymore. Those of you who were at the Mt Olympus celebration with me might remember my back getting re-aligned on the go-karts, it still hasn?t gotten back to 100% and me riding ?intense? woodies all summer isn?t helping either. This winter I am investing in about a month of regular chiropractor visits. Back to Wildcat, my only complaint about this ride, has nothing to do with the ride itself. For some reason, this ride seems to always take the longest to dispatch, and when it?s not crowded, they don?t load the 2 middle cars? I don?t get that at all. If anyone has any insight to this, let me know, I?m really curious, the same goes for LR too? middle rows roped off.
After a ride or 2 on Wildcat, we went to a pretty much empty Lightning Racer station, running one train on each side. This ride is so much fun. It?s nothing to write home about, but its fun. This ride is the opposite of Wildcat though, in the cold, it really struggles to go through some of the elements. Chuck and I took 3 quick rides in the back half of each side so we can race each other. I won each time because Chuck sucks. Actually, besides him sucking, the red (lightning side) won each time all night. Leaving Midway America, we decided it was time for some SooperBOOperLooper! This ride has grown into my favorite Anton. Again, nothing to write home about, but it?s just a fun ride. (Notice a trend here? Everything is fun! ) A quick front seat ride, and a quick backseat ride, and we were both satisfied. Great Bear was next on the list of ?must-do? rides for the night and it had what seemed to be the longest wait of the night, until we got to jump in front of some people who wanted to sit with their friends (one of many perks to a 4 seated coaster!) This ride always delivers, even though it gets a bad rap for its ho-hum ending. I think Hershey and B&M did a fabulous job with getting this coaster to fit where it is. I don?t mind the ending since the beginning packs such a big punch. That zero-G roll just pins you to the side with so much power, easily the most forceful barrel roll I?ve experienced. Stomachs began growling, so food was our next target. We got some hot, fresh pizza, fries, cheese sauce and sodas for about $20 (thanks again Chuck, you?re a wonderful date
) While the food was being consumed? we got a chance to sit, chat, and stare at ?cherry cokes? for about 20 minutes.
Now back to the report... Chuck informs me he needs a credit, Trailblazer!!! Wahoo!!! We walk on to the back seat, get a night ride, couldn?t see much, didn?t feel much, and then it was over. Could very possibly be the lamest of the lame when it comes to mine trains, but fun nonetheless. While riding Trailblazer we noticed Storm Runners line grew to about a 30 minute wait with only 1 train running so we skipped that for now. We trekked back to Midway America for another ride or 2 on the woodies. While waiting in line for the front of the Thunder side of LR? a loud ?THUNDER!!!!!!? began to be yelled across the station. I quickly joined in the fun and began yelling at the top of my lungs ?THUNDER!!!! It was hilarious, and you probably had to be there, but anyway, during the ride, we kept yelling, and chanting, and we lost. The big guy in the back came back into the station with his hood over his face so that no one would see him, and he quickly made his way to the exit. Silly guy. After LR again, we went back over to Wildcat to enjoy the ride that would murder my spine. I called my friend Matt from Iowa while waiting this time, just to rub in that I was at Hershey and he wasn?t. He reassured me that he hated me, then we hung up and I got on the ride. So much fun, as usual but my back couldn?t take anymore. There really wasn?t much left to do now as The Claw, Flyers, and Kissing Tower were closed, so we went to Storm Runner to experience some more ?Vertical Horsepower?. The line was down to about a 3-5 train wait for most rows, but we waited for the front this time with about 7 trains ahead of us. After another awesome ride on this, it was 9:30 and the park was open for another hour and 30 minutes? I asked Chuck ?Do you want to just stay here the rest of the night?? And he said yeah, so we had 90 minutes of ERT on SR which was awesome. We ended up with a total of 15 laps on this with 2 front seat rides. We?ve developed a fun game to play while riding SR? right before the launch, over to the right where the ?viewing area? is, there?s usually a decent sized group of people. While waiting to launch, we decided to start yelling out random names like ?Hey Uncle Jessie!!! Look! I?m on the roller coaster!!!? or ?Cookie, LOOK OVER HERE! HURRY!? or just yell out random names? it?s really fun to see how many people stare at you in such a confused state. I loved it. I now have no voice though, but it was worth it. We missed the last train of the night as they weren?t allowing re-rides (stupid) so the last train went out with 4 people on it. Oh well, I?m happy with 15 rides, I haven?t done ?power riding? since Avalanche and it was well worth the trip.
The drive home was pretty uneventful with a lot of snoring. Chuck snores. Don?t drive him home from a park when you know he will sleep. He?s annoying. Be warned.
Thank you for reading my wonderful trip report. If you have any questions or comments, please direct them to my ?complaint/comment department?, or simply reply to this post. Thank you, and feliz navidad.
Topic: I love Hershey Park. (Read 2812 times)
