CoasterJunkie

Hubby and I had to go to PA from Florida for a wedding. We figured since we were going up there anyway, why not stop at Hershey as I have never been, and it had been many years since he had been. 9/16 - We arrived at PHL around 12:30 or so, and first thing was to get the car. Got a nice Chevy Impala and it was maroon, so finding it was a lot easier. We then proceeded to the city of Philadelphia so we could stop and get some Geno's Steak's. After 3 years of not having a good cheesesteak, this was heaven. We then proceeded to I-76 and pretty much hit all kinds of traffic at 2pm or so. We managed to get out of it as it moved better that it does in Fl, and we got to Harrisburg/Hershey area around 4pm. The hotel we were staying at was a crap hole. Damn Tripadvisor. Look for my review of the hotel Country Hearth Inn. I am the newest one. Well its just about 5pm and I have park tickets burning holes in my luggage. After a quick drive, we are soon parked($8!! :shock: )and walking in the front gates. I love this place already. I also smell lots of chocolate, but not from the factory. Just all the stores. Our first ride is Comet. We pretty much walk on, which was the theme all night. There were no lines for anything. Got the 3rd row. Almost crapped my pants when I saw the crooked lift hill. [:s] :? It was a good ride though. With that done, it was on to Superdooperlooper. We got front row for this one. This reminded me of Scorpion at BGT, just more spread out. It was fun, but the brakes at the end...UGH!! With another coaster down, after only 20 min in the park, we knew things were looking good for us. Great Bear was next on the adgenda. Not a bad B&M. Showing its age, but still a fun ride nonetheless. We chose 3rd row again for this ride too. With that done, we went on the move. I noticed ZooAmerica was open, and I wanted to check it out. I have seen better zoo's but I loved the wolves. My fav was the white wolf in the back of the enclosure. He rocked! He just sat and stared. After this, we moved onto Flying Falcon. Now I have been on The Condor on the Wildwood Boardwalk, and never had issues with the ride. For some reason, this ride on FF scared the crap out of me. Once off, we did a quick potty break and walked onto Trailblazer. Chose the back row this time. I really enjoyed this ride. Only wish it would have been longer. We stopped to checkout out Storm Runner. WOW!! We would be back later for some of that. We moved on to RollerSoaker. First thing we noticed, no water. I thought they might close it down. Nope. We rode in the backwards seat. It was cool and freaky all at once. Even without the water. That ride is also very fast! Once we were done, we headed over to Lightning Racer. We rode on Lightning(and lost) but this coaster was freaking awesome. This has become my #1 woodie. It was just great. While we were in line(last row) the phone rang, it was my Father-in-Law. The rest of the family was here, lets meet at the carrousel. So we head there. Its now 7pm, and we have a good portion of the rides we want to do done. We meet the family, and share hugs and stuff. Its been a while since we have all been together. My niece Erin wants her aunt to ride the "horsies" with her. So off we go. At this point, I am itching for more coasters. We ditch the youngest in the family and off we go. I notice The Claw has no wait, so hubby, 14yo niece and I all ride. FIL decides to wait it out. We have an awesome ride. I love these things. We come upon Wildcat and get in a quickie ride. Nice also. We also do a quick spin on Wildmouse. We walk through the park a bit, and decide its time for Storm Runner. This was our longest wait, 15min. Hubby and I got 2nd row. Niece and FIL right behind us. I was a tad nervous as this was my first ride like this. The sucker took off like a jet engine and before I knew it, it was over. I could barely walk. It took my breath away. I loved every minute of it!! This is also on my top 10 list now. After this, it was getting late, so we deicided to meet the rest of the gang and head out. We figured we had all Saturday to get more stuff in. 9/17 - We slept a bit late due to all the moving in the hotel the night before(see my review of the hotel) and were off to the park after a Bob Evans breakfast. We arrived around 1:30p. The lines to get into the parking lot were HORRIBLE!! Now keep in mind there was also an RV show going on, so this doubled the traffic. It took almost 45min to get into the parking lot and to get parked. We did get to witness a lot of craziness and an accident too. Once we parked, we went off to Chocolate World and rode the ride there. Its like Its a Small World with lots of chocolate..LOL. Of course, MIL had to shop a bit, so we finally got to the gates about an hour or so later only to find...MORE LINES!!! This was going to be a bad day. This day was designated Christian Music Days by Hershey. We did see a radio station, and some people playing music about My God is Awesome later that day, but otherwise...just tons of people. Thank God I got my coasters in last night. We started to wander a bit, and saw EVERYTHING has a line, even the bathroom. Not a good sign. Hubby, 14yo niece and I split off and we went on the monorail. Waited almost half an hour. From there, we just sort of wandered. Did the Kissing Tower(20min) and thats pretty much it. Ran into FIL who wanted to hang with the cool kids as he put it. We went to check the wait for Storm Runner. 1hr 15min. WOW!! We will skip it. We did manage a ride on Chaos. Waited almost 45min for it, and it broke once. What I do for my niece. We did ride Thunder side on Lightning Racers. Waited about 25min. From this point, I was getting frustrated with the crowds. We also were hungry. So we got some food, and figured we would just end the night on Storm Runner. Well the wait for this was still an hour, which would put us at park close. Found out that HP keeps all lines open until park closing. So we played in the arcade for a bit, then went on the train. Damn that thing is tiny. After this, I just wanted to ride SR. So off we went. Another awesome run. Did get to see some idiots in line too. Someone took a mentally handicapped person getting out of line to use the bathroom a bit to seriously and got all worked up over it. Loser. We got the last few things in the gift shop and got the heck out of there. All in all, I loved HersheyPark. They still have that small hometown feel, but with awesome coasters. I felt they werent able to handle the high capacitys that come though. The staff was nice, and the rides ran great. I rate this park a 8/10. Better part was I bought my tickets on Ebay. 4 tickets $40 bucks total. Great deal. Hope I didnt ramble to much. I will get some pics up soon as I get them all back. Some were taken on digital, others with film camera. Thanks for hanging in with me!!

I am also interested to see where they fit in the new cast..like that new guy from OZ thats coming in...that will make 2 OZ stars on the show. Hopefully no one had an early Season 2 demise...I would miss looking at Sawyer..

I am most excited about Everest at Disney. Animal Kingdom needs something new and exciting and I am looking forward to a new roller coaster there. Hopefully this will bring new life to the park and managment will notice that with spending a lot of money and really put thought into something, they can begin to draw a crowd.

Ok gang. I have this trip to Hershey next week. I have been looking for deals on the internet for tickets, as with the gas crunch, we all are looking to save a few bucks. Well I came up upon Ebay and a gentleman selling 4 tickets for at the time $10 (there was still 3h left in the auction.) I discussed it with my hubby. Normally the cardnial rule of theme parks is NEVER buy your tickets on Ebay (Disney especially) and he said go fo it, just dont spend any more than $70. Now mind you, this would get us in all 2 days of our trip. So I bid and I was high bidder at $25 for most of the auction. I ended up winning it at $41.01. I was quite surprised. Thats 10 bucks a ticket. The guy emailed me immeadietly following the auction and said he was going to overnight them to me as the trip is next week. Now the question, is there anyway to verify them? If they are authentic, I think I got a pretty sweet deal (no pun intended). Will I do it again..probably not. But is served its purpose. But I could use the combined wisdom of the members of this board.

AWESOME CUBE!!!! I am going to say you work at Wachovia Bank...LOL..

My messy desk. How it gets this bad I will never know. I am the only girl in a room full of men and I am not the messiest either..LOL...

I was a bit freaked the first time getting on Millenium Force only because of the height and the lack of restraint. That little of a restraint scares the crap out of me. Once I rode it though, I was fine. Also I was a bit nervous to go on Sheikra. Once again, once I did it, I was fine. Now I am a bit nervous to get on Storm Runner. It will be a first of its kind for me, and also plan to make it my 100th coaster. I am sure once its over though I will ride it again and again though.

Damn wish I could...Will be in the area...but will be at a wedding....but would much rather go to Knoebels...LOL

The local Super Walmart is still going at $2.89. Everything else is now over $3. Wonderful.

Thanks for the report. I will be there in a few short days....I am so looking forward to the trip, as I never have been there. Of course I am stopping at Geno's in Philly not Roy Rogers before going to the park..LOL

Well I am going to say you flew the red eye to Boston and went to Six Flags New England but thats obvious. My other guess is you went to Six Flags Great Adventure. But they have nothing to do with Boston. They do have lots of bunnies though!

Just heard that the Port of TampaBay is going to not be getting any shipments of gas. Many gas stations here in my town are out of gas. Things are going to get ugly soon.

Im sorry for you both. I am sure he will be missed by you both.

I will be traveling to the Philly area in a few weeks and the gas prices there I believe are about $2.60 or higher. Then I hear on the radio this morning that gas has reached over $4 a gallon and people are getting so angry, they are getting out of there cars and hitting the pumps with wrenches and such. So how long before airline tickets skyrocket?

Well I bit the bullet and paid 2.69 this morning. Highest I saw was $2.89 at the local Super Walmart. Now we are getting reports that some of the places are out of gas and are closed. So where are ya and how much are you paying? Are you having trouble getting gas yet?

LOL...Rollies Coaster...LOL..Now that is one PAINFUL coaster. Golden Nugget is a piece of history. Just as Dracula's Castle was. But that was burned to the ground by 3 stupid teenagers looking for some fun. I would like to see it preserved, but not at such a high cost that the rest of the piers suffer more that what they already do. By chance, are you a Morey? Do you work for the Morey's?

I found my way here from Westcoaster

This was an awesome ride back in the day. It used to be on the old Hunt Pier. I just dont think it will be a viable option to move this ride to another pier. The cost for one thing is going to be VERY high. Second, there really isnt anywhere to put it. I would love to see it restored though

How about a park in Florida?

Thanks for the mini report....I will be venturing to Hershey on the 16th and 17th. I am soooo looking forward to Storm Runner. It will be a first of its kind for me. TTD was closed when I was at CP a few years ago, so I have never been on anything like this. I am looking forward to this trip. Question is can I get in all the credits in just one day

The local radio said they were bought by someone, just didnt say who. I highly doubt it was Disney. Probably a local hotel or condo. More than likely it will be ripped down and a new hotel will be put in its place. Becasue 192 needs another hotel. That park hadn't been doing well for a while. It would close at 5pm in the middle of summer. Thats never a good sign

Grrr...Ok Finally found it...drove me nuts...Thanks

Where can I change my time...It is showing everything an hour off...It says it is currently 10:44am...its actually 11:44am..I looked all over the profile...I know I glanced over it...but...I still am missing it.

Yes the Serpent has had many accidents. It has gotten stuck in the valley a few times and I also saw it throw a wheel and get stuck in the track. There have also been numerous other accidents over the years. I used to refer to that ride as a death trap..LOL.

The Omen 2 Cursed The Omen series thus far has scared the crap out of me. I am reading the Left Behind Series and I know they are both based on the same thing, but still...scary stuff Cursed was dumb. I was very disappointed in this movie.