
Ccron10
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Knoebels Discussion Thread
Ccron10 replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Yeah, I was wondering the same thing given how they announced their other attractions, but then again, KD also mentioned that 2015 plans would be later this year. Given how Knoebels is compared to KD, I think they might have something special in-store. I'm thinking it could be a pretty rare refurbished attraction, but I am leaning more towards a coaster. As for it is for something completely new, an old design made new (like Flying Turns), or a used ride, I think there's a chance for it to be anything. My wishlist would be an RMC (I would love to have one of those close to home), something from Freestyle Music Park or something similar to Lightning Run. I'm betting that we might see this going up throughout the 2014 season if it's big. If this were to be a coaster, where would they put it? They only areas that I could see possible would be the hill that the Scenic Skyride is on or along the treeline next to the parking lot. I'm sure they'd find a way to squeeze it in if its someplace else. -
It could be one of those popular create-your-own frozen yogurt sundae venues like what Dorney and Hersheypark currently or will have. I never ate in the Character Cafe because I always passed it up in favor of Granny's or Best of the West. Since I'll have a season pass for here, I'll have to stop in and check it out sometime this year.
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SeaWorld Orlando (SWO) Discussion Thread
Ccron10 replied to disneygurlz2s's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I really like that they cited some important documents within the article as well. I'm kind of interested in reading them! I did a little experiment with one of them and pressed them to try to post evidence to support themselves and the movie. It pretty much came down to them getting so pissed off saying that "they don't need facts to be right", used an expletive or two, called me a fool and he left the conversation. Throughout the conversation, I did not make fun of, swear, or attack this person; I just stated my sources and asked where his were to believing what he believed. Not once (on the TPR page or any other page), have I seen any of these "sheep" backing their opinions or beliefs with any sources or anything and their statements are always of generalized and unrealistic. Glad to see this starting to fade away though and it makes me happy that I took an extra two trips last year in visiting a SeaWorld-owned park. -
NoLimits 2 (NL2) Discussion Thread
Ccron10 replied to A.J.'s topic in Roller Coaster Games, Models, and Other Randomness
I have a $25 Visa gift card that I want to apply towards buying NoLimits2. I'm not sure if anyone else used something like this to pay for it, but could I pay part of it using it and use another means for the rest? -
(Photo TR): Ccron10's TPR Midwest Journey
Ccron10 replied to Ccron10's topic in Photo Trip Report Archive
Day #3: SeaWorld San Antonio Time for our last day in San Antonio, so we pack up at the hotel, checked out, and headed to SeaWorld for part of the day before we journeyed up to Arlington and SFOT. We arrived at the park pretty early, which gave us some time to take a few photos in front of the entrance until we were walked back to Journey to Atlantis. Compared to the other Atlantis attractions other parks have, this one looked like it had the bare minimum of theming. It was pretty fun especially the backwards drop. Other than that, it pretty much felt similar to a normal Chute-the-Chute ride. I did manage to get a ride or two in despite the several downtime moments. Following the ERT on this one, we crossed the park and headed over to the ERT on Steel Eel. I usually like to think of Morgan coasters to be the Cadillac of coasters. They are big, expensive, and aren't made for extreme intensity. Compared to Dorney's Steel Force, Steel Eel felt like it offered a little bit more with a nice diving turn after the MCBR. Strangely, the best seats were either in the front or back of the train. Anywhere in the middle and it didn't really offer quite a bit of airtime. the station did seem kind of odd as there were no railings forming the train rows, which I could probably see being kind of crazy on busy days. For the day we went, it really didn't seem to be a real issue. I ended up taking quite a few rides on the amount of time that we had ERT on it and once the amount of people started dying down, I went over to Great White to get my daily Batman clone credit. Out of the Batmans I rode on the trip and Great Adventure's, I think Great White had to be the best one I've ridden. It seemed to be taken care of so well, the paint scheme wasn't fading, and it rode pretty smooth. As with Eel's station, it lacked row railings in the station. Before heading to Lunch, I quickly stopped by a stand (which was filled with bees) to pick up my souvenir cup as I was starting to get a little thirsty. Lunch was pretty awesome as it was a mix of rice and make your own quesadillas/enchiladas that were really good, but that's always expected at a Busch park IMO. They also brought out a few animals for us to learn about and we also took the opportunity to capture a few Steel Eel photos before we had the rest of the afternoon to explore the park. We next took the opportunity check out a gift shop or two before the Shamu show was scheduled. As someone who has always wanted to see one of them, I kind of felt a little underwhelmed by it. There was some educational value to the show at the beginning, but the rest of it was kind of boring with the tricks being kind of repetitive with them just jumping out of the water, going on to the deck, and that's it. I kind of have a feeling that the recent restrictions have kind of limited the trainers quite a bit on how they can interact with the whales. None-the-less, it still was a fun show and amazing to see killer whales for the first time in my life. After the show, we went over to get the final coaster credit in the park: Shamu Express. It was a pretty simple kiddie coaster with brake fins on the side of the train. I did find it odd for there to be a loose article policy on this thing. After a quick frozen lemonade stop, my group and I headed for the dolphin and shark encounter area, which served as a great place to cool off. Next we took one or two last rides on Eel, hit the restroom and gift shop to gear up for our long drive across Texas to Arlington and one of the many parks I've been anticipating on visiting. To sum up SeaWorld San Antonio, it is a nice park with with plenty of shows, animal encounters, and theming. It was really a colorful and tropical place that could only use two things: a larger coaster/attraction to complement the park's four coasters and rapids ride (which I kind of forgot to do halfway through the visit). With the latest controversy about a certain movie, I have to say that I am really glad to have visited SeaWorld (and BGW twice this year) and have supported them as the animals I've seen had to have been healthiest I have ever seen in a zoo or aquarium. Here we are. I really like how the entrance looks. I think all of us got a photo of this. It's a pretty nice statue. The entrance plaza was really open and probably helps greatly with the crowds. Quite a colorful height requirement measurement stand. Much of the park is built around the ski show lake. I was really looking forward to Steel Eel despite being smaller than Steel Force. Can't forget about clone number two, which ended up being the best one of the trip. First up, time to get wet on some Atlantis ERT. This was really the only source of shade throughout the whole line. It wasn't really too bad since we rode it early on. Time for a few laps on Steel Eel. Kind of seemed odd with just having gates and no railings separating the rows for the train. I really like the idea at how the lift was built over the midway. Very colorful! Doesn't look like I would need to wait an hour to see them unlike at BGW. lol Time for another Batman... Err... Great White! Same as Eel, there is a lack of railings for the rows. The wheel covers are pretty detailed. I took two or three rides on it since it was pretty good for a Batman clone. Not really rough at all! Smooth and intense! Following a great lunch, we got to learn about some animals. Here's a behind-the-scenes shot of Andy's trip report! Aww... He's kind of cute. So is this guy. We got quite a few great shots from the catering area of Atlantis and Steel Eel. Atlantis is quite a ways over there. Time to see some killer whales. The stadium was really nice and shaded. Pretty big too. He's waving! Aww... I think Andy and me may have taken quite a few similar shots. lol As you can see, they are pretty big animals. This is pretty much the whole layout of Shamu Express. Doesn't get more basic than this. Didn't check Aquatica out since it was an up-charge attraction. On the way to the shark encounter, we stopped to see some dolphins. They mostly stayed over on that side of the enclosure since that's where the food was. lol ...as well as the massages. lol The shark encounter building had more than just sharks inside. Here's a manta, now there just needs to be a coaster for it. Don't stick your hand in the aquarium or you'll be kissing it goodbye. Following SeaWorld, we spent the evening driving across the Texas prairie to Arlington to our next park, Six Flags Over Texas. That night, we had our International Snack Exchange and were treated to many great new snacks that most of us never heard of before. Some even backed their own snacks. It was kind of hilarious seeing the reactions of those who would eat the brownies (I think Yin ran just about all over the hotel looking for something to drink to wash it down). These things kind of appeared to be sweet, but they ended up tasting completely different. There were quite a bit of snacks. I was kind of fond of the Cadbury milk-flavored gummies. I really want to try Tim Horton's again because it seems like they had more types of donut holes than what Dunkin' Donuts makes, but for some reason, they just seemed ok. That's it for SeaWorld. Coming up next, things start to warm up with Six Flags Over Texas with fun rides on Titan and La Vibora, poor operations and employees, and temperatures of 110 degrees and humidity! Thanks for reading! -
I think it would be very difficult for a company to simply replace that many employees. Not necessarily...Promoting/hiring from within, transferring employees from other parks, Job Fair with a great interview process. Just a few options. It could be done. Will it? No. But it is very possible. Keep in mind that it also depends on where the park is mostly hiring from. For example, Cedar Point usually beings most of its people in from farther away to work there and provide quite a bit of housing. They can afford to be more restrictive with who they hire. Now I don't know if OT provides housing or is able to bring in many non-local employees, but if not, then chances are that they can't be as restrictive on who they hire to work. I think if they improved their training methods, be a little stricter on consequences for the employees, they would be able to weed out the bad employees from the good ones.
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(Photo TR): Ccron10's TPR Midwest Journey
Ccron10 replied to Ccron10's topic in Photo Trip Report Archive
Haha! How could I have not! Basically in the waiting area for the Railroad in Crackaxle Canyon they had this simple pinball game that dispensed "bouncy balls". Yin decided to try it out and once it came out of the game, I said, "oh, we have one of those at a restaurant back at home." So I demonstrated what it was and tried to get the ball to bounce. Well, it pretty much hit the ground and split in half. It was a gumball. Thanks for the comments, guys! I'll try to get SeaWorld up soon! -
(Photo TR): Ccron10's TPR Midwest Journey
Ccron10 replied to Ccron10's topic in Photo Trip Report Archive
Here is the conclusion to the photos to Six Flags Fiesta Texas. They had a pretty good selection of Iron Rattler merchandise. Same goes for T-Shirts. Along with freakishly large bees, it seems SFFT is having an Ice Bat infestation as well. Looks great! I don't think there would be room on the bus for that thing. lol After some downtime, Boomerang finally reopened! Takis: The Ride. Despite how it looked, she ended up being pretty good! This part didn't try to bash my ears in! Not a very fancy station. Face the Intensity? I was expecting to replace Intensity with Migraine, but thankfully that wasn't the case. Time for the salute to the US, but 99% to Texas laser show. The cliff wall made for a great screen. It would be cool if they hosted movie nights and showed some cool films like this. Yee-haw! The Alamo! Stay tuned for the SeaWorld San Antonio update coming soon! Thanks for reading! -
(Photo TR): Ccron10's TPR Midwest Journey
Ccron10 replied to Ccron10's topic in Photo Trip Report Archive
Day #2: Six Flags Fiesta Texas Tis' the season of giving, so since Christmas is just winding up, my gift to you is the continuation of my trip report! The following morning after the welcome dinner, we gathered in the lobby after a great breakfast and went over the trip rules and what to expect. We then piled into the bus and arrived at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, which is my first theme park south of Virginia. If there was one thing I could take away from SFFT, it is that the park is big on the Mexican theme given it's location and mixes in German/Medieval and western culture as park areas. Some areas were better taken care of and stuck with the theme more than others, but the main entrance pretty much impressed me in how much quality there was. After arriving before opening, we were led through the park and back to Superman, the B&M floorless that we had ERT on first. The ride seemed to be one of the best of it's type that I've ridden with great interaction with the cliff and a wicked intense turn off of the MCBR. After getting in a good eight or nine rides, we headed over to Poltergeist for a first ride on it. I find it strange to believe, but this is the second to last Premier spaghetti-bowl launcher I need to ride in the United States (it feels strange being close to riding all the manufactured coasters of a single type) and it was one of the better ones, but not a good as FoF at KD, which is my favorite. It did have little roughness to it, but still an intense ride. After our ride, we grabbed our Q-bots and I joined Yin's, James and Nick's Flash Pass group (which ended up being our Six Flags group for the trip). Upon learning how to use one, I think I am addicted to them as now I wish every park had this system. Its convenient, easy to learn and manage, and worth the money on a packed day (and hot day as SFOT showed). The last coaster we had for ERT was Pandemonium, which ended up being the best Gerstlauer spinner of the trip. A few had some pretty insane laps on this thing over the hour we were able to ride it. If I had to pick between a Reverchon/Zamperla spinner and this coaster type, I'd go with the Gerstlauer. The park could do more to tie it into the Boardwalk theming, but given it's Six Flags, its expected. Before heading to lunch, we took a quick ride on the Scooby Doo dark ride with the bonus of A/C and went on Frisbee, which was a flat I was looking forward to, but turned out to be not as great as I expected since it swung lower than the suspended types. Finally, we got on Kiddee Koaster which had a simple oval layout, but seemed to interact with the nearby stream and car ride. It did have a small pop of air on the final hill, which made it a little fun. After a fun group lunch with some of the people from marketing, our group did some lurking in the main gift shop where I got a shoulder bag that assisted me quite a bit for the rest of the trip, and James ended up getting a pair of cheeseburger sunglasses that screamed Six Flags all over them. We then went over to Goliath. In all, there are five Batman clones on the entire trip and out of them, Goliath was the worst and given how it sat in New Orleans for a few years un-used after Katrina, it's no surprise to me that it was pretty rough and rattled like crazy. I do have to admit that I do like the entrance sign and the paint scheme a little though. We wanted to get a closer look at Iron Rattler before our backstage tour, so we hopped on the Railroad and took it over to Crackaxle Canyon, stopped and got some Mello-Yello Cherry at the Coke Freestyle machine, did some oogling and rode Roadrunner Railway. As one of the newest Arrow mine trains built, it was easy to tell that the ride was designed more sophisticated than Trailblazer or Runaway Mine Train. Each turn was carefully bent and even some hills had airtime. I do kind of wish that Arrow would've been able to hold out after going bankrupt because I really wish that could've been able to build more of these with smoother transitions. The backstage tour of Iron Rattler was quite fun as we first started at the base of the first drop where we could take some great shots of the layout interacting with the cliff. We then went in Gully Washer's control room to cool off and wait for the van to take us to the top of the cliff where we got some great overbank turn photos. Following the tour, we looked into doing Boomerang, but the Q-Bot said that it was out of service so we opted to do Sky Screamer. After trying to avoid some huge-a$$ wasps in line we got on and while it wasn't as tall as Great Adventure's, it was still just as fun with a great lighting package and soundtrack. To pass some more time, we did Bugs' Rapids, which had a pretty different layout and did get us a bit wet so we dried off on Scream! Compared to Dominator at Dorney, it was pretty much the same. We also did Power Surge, which was their Hopkins chute-the-chute ride (I skipped) and Boomerang was open by then. Let me just say that having been used to the new trains on Sidewinder, I was really expecting Boomerang to be worse since it had older trains and that it's owned by Six Flags. There was little to no headbanging in the cobra roll, hardly any banging connecting to the second lift, and the brakes in the station didn't give you whiplash. Overall, it was surprisingly good. After heading back over to Roadrunner Express, grabbing some boneless wings and saying hello to a few employee TPR members (It was great meeting you guys!), and getting some stuff in the gift shops, we headed to the Ampitheater for Lone Star Nights, a VERY Texan light show that was kind of fun to watch. After the show, we went back to Superman and Sky Screamer for one last hearty portion of ERT, which was a great way to end our day at Fiesta Texas and kick off a fun Midwest trip! A few observations: -The park seemed heavily themed to Mexico and the southwest that was pretty well pulled off. Loved the feeling of walking through Crackaxle Canyon because it seemed to be one of the best western areas I've seen in a park so far. -The Boardwalk could've used some shade as it was pretty hot. With some more theming elements and TLC, I think this area would be much better. As for Rockville, I would love this area more if they powerwashed it and re-surfaced the path. The school/theater looked pretty cool though. -While stopping Cold Stone for a drink, I noticed a soda called Red Flash. Having never heard of it before and having a drink wristband, I decided to taste it. Let's just say that it was kind of horrible as it reminded me of cherry cough syrup. -Not riding Iron Rattler sucked, but being able to look at it in-person kind of made up for it and gives me an opportunity to return in the future. -Six Flags Fiesta Texas is a park that seems to have a decent head on it's shoulders compared to others in the chain. With Iron Rattler, Superman, and Poltergeist, they have a decent coaster lineup and one more could make it even better. Operations at the rides ranged right around average and didn't seemed to be too horrible (like what we'll see in two days). I'm going to try to pick back up on my trip reports now that I'm on winter break, so expect more coming soon! Here it is, first theme park of the trip. Let the fun begin! One of the first things you see at the entrance is Goliath. Looks like morning test-runs are occurring. Kind of hard to believe that this is a Six Flags park. The main entrance was beautiful with it's walkways and architecture. The Spanish music added a nice touch as well. Aww, cute. It's trying to act like an Arrow flume with an airtime hill. Too bad it wasn't as good as one. The medieval area was different, but I don't think a Studio Six recording studio fits in with the theme. lol We'll get to the SkyScreamer later. On to more pressing matters: our first ERT session of the trip. Looks like they're ready. Superman had a pretty powerful layout and might be one of the best floorless coasters I've been on. Cool scenery object. Loved this turn off the MCBR. It delivered a nice kick! The station seemed kind of a little bland for a Superman coaster. The ride did end pretty well with a pop of airtime. Poltergeist was a pretty good Premier launcher that delivered a solid ride despite a little rattling. The layout does a great job packing a lot into a small space. This bad boy will be our saving-grace at the four Six Flags parks we'll be visiting. Pandemonium ended up being our last ERT session for the morning. It did have a nice layout and did produce some crazy spinning that was much better than the other ones on the trip. There goes James. Frisbee was fun, but not as intense that I expected it to be. Control panel porn. After lunch, I came across this old map that was hung up in the Hospitality Center from 1992. IT was pretty interesting to see that much of the existing park is still here. Time to ride Goliath. I really loved the entrance plaza as it is much nicer than what the Batmans have. The fountain proved to be pretty useful. The ride was beautiful, but I wish it didn't rattle as much. Time to take a ride over to Crackaxle and check out Iron Rattler. We really should've hit Boomerang this early to avoid the breakdown that happened a little later. It pains me that I didn't ride it. But at least I was able to see it in-person. That hill must be awesome. *poke* I really liked the entrance. There's a backstory. I really should've got this. lol Roadrunner was really surprising to me as that it was smooth, fast, and something that makes me wish Arrow stuck around longer. They did a pretty good job with theming here. Time to go behind the scenes. Twisty! I'm thinking that these were cables that used to support the old first drop. Bonus Gully Washer lift shot. While waiting for the van, we cooled off in Gully Washer's control room. After a short drive, we got to the top of the cliff. There was a lot of this up here. 90 degrees! Do the wave... Upon coming off the cliff, we were going to do Boomerang, but chose to do SkyScreamer instead. Looks like they had a decent kids area. It's not as tall as its SFGadv sister, but still as fun. Its in english and spanish. That's kind of cool, but kind of expecting since we're not too far from the Mexican border. This is probably true considering there's a shopping mall at the top of the cliff. Later, we headed over towards Power Surge and passed through Rockville. This screams 1950s "Back to the Future" to me for some reason. I decided to pass on getting soaked. We decided to go back over to Crackaxle Canyon for a lap on Gully Washer, but it was closed so we did another Roadrunner lap. -
Makes me wonder WTF is going on with the management at this park. But then again it reminds me of the last 7-8 years that SFAW was open. My theory is that management is doing a poor job at training and managing their employees. I really do have to wonder how much past experience their operations managers have had. It really wouldn't shock me if the company may have moved the ones from Astroworld over here after the park closed (that's depending on when their quality went downhill). I was really shocked and so close to going to Guest Services after witnessing how the Titan crew handled a break down. Basically the attendant on the loading side decided to go down the row telling each person that "we are currently closed because the lapbar in the back row won't lock and that we are going to get maintenance down here to take a look and it and figure out a temporary fix for it". By this point I was starting to get a little annoyed. A few rows later, a girl around my age questioned him on "why the fix needed to be only temporarily?" Just then, the girl at the control panel literally shouts across the station to her "Well everything is temporary!". I pretty much had it at that point. Before could say anything, I made myself leave the station before I would say something. I was really mad at that point and as a ride operator at another park. It insulted me. It didn't make me surprised at all that the Texas Giant accident occurred there (this was before most of the information and investigation was released). Let's just say that I really hope that they clean house in upper management of their operations department as they really don't seem to know how to do their job or energize their employees. Let's just say that I kind of think that the park had the worst employees of the whole Midwest trip (yes, even beating Mount Olympus).
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Craziest Park Weather Experiences
Ccron10 replied to Mr Stratosphere's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
It reached like 103 in the afternoon. That's HOT! We stayed in Johnny Rocket's for the A/C. Yeah, by the afternoon we pretty much rode the mine trains, cooled off in Johnny Rockets, rode Mr. Freeze and Batman, cooled off in Johnny Rockets, etc. I wanted to go to the State Fair, but I was kind of afraid of getting heat stroke walking back to the hotel (part of me regrets this). -
Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread
Ccron10 replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
It was very packed yesterday (looked a little fuller than a Saturday during the summer). The line for RXCC was out the entrance and starting to go down the hill and the line for the Claw was to the entrance.pretty much everything had a long line. -
Knoebels Discussion Thread
Ccron10 replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I do kind of wonder if there is going to be a new flat ride for next year since AtmosFEAR was announced right around this time last year. If not and they decide to feature FT as the new ride, then that's fine by me and it would probably save them money for 2015. -
The Control Panel Enthusiast Thread
Ccron10 replied to Montu Maniac's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I took quite a few photos over the past two years of control panels at some of the parks I've visited. I always find it interesting when certain rides are operated in a different as well as similar way. Here is I305's secondary control panel. It's pretty simple. This is the transfer track control panel for I305. This is Verbolten's control panel from a tour I was on in 2012. I think this is the show control panel for Escape from Pompeii. When Dorney got Demon Drop, it looks like they got a new control panel for the ride. Kingda' Ka's secondary panel. It's kind of similar to I305's. KD's Windseeker secondary control panel looks pretty cool. BGW's Skyride panel. Each station has one of these, which is kind of fancy for a ride like this. SFOT's Oil Derrick's controls is kind of more complicated that what an elevator should probably be. Here is Fire in the Hole's main panel in the maintenance area. This is the layout diagram and you can see how the layout used to be before it was shortened. This is the bottom part of it. Here is Zeus's full control panel at Mount Olympus. It's all manual and kind of makes me cringe everytime I look at this photo. This is the "control panel" for Meteor at Little A-Merrik-A. Completely old-school. Skyride's small control panel at Cedar Point. Spinning Tub ride control panel at City Museum. KI Stunt Coaster's secondary panel still with the Italian Job logo on it. Mr. Freeze's secondary panel at SFStL. Frisbee's control panel at SFFT. Scream's control panel at SFFT, which is an S&S drop tower. -
Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread
Ccron10 replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
In addition, the Tea Cups will be a Kisses to Jolly Rancher with riders of the Kisses and Reese's height category needing a responsible rider. The ride is a #3 Moderate Thrill Ride (like CC). http://www.hersheypark.com/rides/details.php?id=102 The Happy Swing will be considered a kiddie ride (#1) and be a Kisses to Twizzlers height category attraction. One taller companion can accompany a child though. Riders in the Kisses category will need to be accompanied by a responsible rider. http://www.hersheypark.com/rides/details.php?id=103 -
Sea World Abu Dhabi back on the docket for 2022
Ccron10 replied to ginzo's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I'm not 100%, but I am pretty sure this project is dead. It's a shame though because the concept of a park being in the shape of a whale would've been awesome. -
Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread
Ccron10 replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Last I heard they'd modernized the plant and layed off a lot of workers, and sent a lot of manufacturing over seas, but they still produce a lot of candy in Hershey itself. Is this no longer the case? Anyway to answer part of your question, they purchased part of the neighboring golf course and are moving the highway in order to expand. EDIT: I looked it up and as far as I can tell a lot of Hershey's manufacturing still takes place in Hershey PA. I guess most of the old building isn't used anymore though? As of right now, the cocoa bean silos, smokestacks, bushes out front, and original portion of the factory is being kept. The building is currently being renovated into office space and it looks like they kept some of the old machinery inside the building. The factory moved its operations down the road to a larger location and still produces products. As for moving much of their manufacturing to Mexico, I really don't find that completely true as they do have quite a few production plants in eastern Pa (I know they have a factory in Hazleton). If you are talking about the golf course in front of the factory, that is not true as it is still operating and there would be no place for a four-lane highway to go that way (plus it would cut through the front yard of Milton Hershey's High Point mansion near the creek). I think you are talking about the golf course near the park, which is owned by Hershey Entertainment. As of right now, the park is not involved in this project and I really don't expect them to expand this way. They would be better off going over to the golf course by Chocolate World and deal with that road instead of Rt. 743. Just found another article going into a little more detail about the factory demolition, renovation, and redevelopment: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/12/hershey_chocolate_factory_hers.html -
Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread
Ccron10 replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
No completion date yet, but it still has to go through the township for approval. If I were to bet, I don't see this thing being finished until the end of the decade if it gets the green light. As of right now, the park isn't involved with this. -
Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread
Ccron10 replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I'm not really expecting a Wolfgang Puck out of this, but a nice mix of offerings that aren't as fancy or expensive that is kind of on a smaller scale than CityWalk. Just enough to attract tourists during the offseason for when the park is closed. -
Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread
Ccron10 replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
This was posted on a local newspaper's Facebook page: I am really hoping for something along the lines of Universal's CItyWalk and could be a great opportunity to turn the town into a year-round destination. By the way, not everything is being removed. The smokestacks, cocoa bean silos, "Hershey" bushes, and original factory building (which is being renovated for office space) is staying. The people in town are upset about it (kind of like the Chipotle controversy a couple of months ago), but I view it as a better alternative than just letting the building sit abandoned with no use and rot away. -
SeaWorld Orlando (SWO) Discussion Thread
Ccron10 replied to disneygurlz2s's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I do have to give the person who manages their Facebook page quite a bit of props because they have done a pretty good job weeding out the idiots and their psychotic comments. Some of the ones who did make it on to the page sound like they have the maturity of first-graders. I would be surprised if any of these bands are still big-names. I don't think I remember hearing any of them selling-out or attracting a large crowd when they'd be in town (Willie Nelson could be an exception, but then again, he was there with good number of bigger acts as well). -
Photo TR: Andy's Texas/Midwest TPR Tour
Ccron10 replied to The Great Zo's topic in Photo Trip Report Archive
Great report Andy! Can't wait to read more! By the way, my sport bottle is suffering from the same issue with the logo coming off.