Canobie Coaster

Oh I though Flying Aces drop gave amazing floater, just not the ejector I was hoping for. Ah I see how Skyrush's restraint are found to be more uncomfortable. Looks like Intamin however, has fixed that problem with their latest train design. Although, I still prefer the old school T-bar. I love the new Intamin lap bars (like Taron or Red Force) and the old T-bars. Thanks! Comet ran just as well as it has for me from past visits, so it sounds like you caught it on a bad day.

Thanks! I actually really liked the drop on Flying Aces, but the one on Skyrush has a kink halfway down. You get strong ejector airtime cresting the drop and then get pushed even further out of your seat halfway down. The restraints on Skyrush look similar, but the underside is profiled differently. The ones on Flying Aces are contoured a bit on the bottom while the ones on Skyrush are a flat bar that comes across your thighs.

Hersheypark 2020 marked the opening of Chocolatetown, Hersheypark's $150 million expansion that included several new shops, restaurants, Candymonium, and a brand new entrance. The latter has been a bit controversial. The old entrance was definitely more charming. However, I much prefer the new entrance. While it lacks charm, it has a grandness to it. The old entrance felt like I was visiting a European village. The new entrance feels like I'm visiting a major thrill park, which is what Hersheypark has become. I love the kinetic energy of the Hershey Kisses fountain and Candymonium. But most importantly, the new entrance is far more efficient. The old entrance was cramped while the new entrance was much more spread out, which was definitely a good thing when visiting in 2020. The only downside to Chocolatetown is that you now have to exit Hersheypark through a gift shop. So while the entrance chokepoint was fixed, there's now an exit chokepoint. Charming? No. Efficient and grand? Oh yes! In general, Chocolatetown has a cohesive architecture. The exception is the relocated Carousel that feels a bit out-of-place. The reveal of the fountain and Candymonium is a wow moment. Let's talk about Candymonium. If you love B&M hypers, you'll love Candymonium. So it's no surprise I really enjoyed this coaster. It's probably my favorite B&M hyper in the United States. It has a first half that's just a hair worse than Mako, but unlike Mako that sort of stumbles to the finish line, Candymonium delivers airtime until you hit the brake run. And unlike Skyrush that delivers some of the craziest ejector airtime in the world, Candymonium delivers copious amount of strong floater airtime. The highlights are the 2nd hill (every bit as good as the 2nd hill on Mako), the speed hill, and the sideways airtime hill coming off the helix. I'm glad B&M is now mixing in off-axis hills like RMC! There are two trims on Candymonium, but they didn't hurt the ride experience for me. Yes you feel them; however, the airtime on the subsequent hills is still very sustained floater airtime so I don't mind them. But I could see them being a buzzkill if the tangible loss of speed really bothers you. Candymonium is exactly the coaster Hersheypark wanted. While it may be odd to have two hypers in one park, this is a much different experience than Skyrush. It's a super reridable, glass smooth, floater airtime machine. This will likely be the favorite for non-enthusiasts. For me, it's a great compliment to Skyrush. 9.25 out of 10 Candymonium is an awkward name, but when the coaster is this good, who cares? Going down. This hill delivered 4-5 seconds of sustained floater airtime. It was glorious. B&M should make a coaster of all speed hills. This gives the strongest airtime on the ride. B&M should also have more off-axis hills. The airtime isn't as abrupt as an off-axis hill on a RMC, but it is more sustained. There are trims, but the airtime was still good so I didn't mind. Such a pretty sky. I can't wait until the landscaping is added. Since Hersheypark opened an hour early to resort guests (which I wasn't on my first visit) and season pass holders (which I am not), I used that hour to get some shots of Candymonium, Skyrush, and Comet from outside the park. Park Boulevard gives some amazing views of these coasters! You can't get shots like this within Hersheypark. And there will be more to come! The star for me is still Skyrush. I know this ride is probably more intense than Hersheypark intended, but it's a coaster enthusiast's dream. This is one of the few coasters that still genuinely scares me before every ride. Skyrush is that intense. The first drop is violent. It feels like a car crash, but I mean that in the best way possible. While the restraints are certainly tight, the minimal contact makes the insane ejector airtime feel even wilder. Skyrush feels like it will sever your legs from your body on every single camelback. And on the stengel dives, it feels like you'll be flipped into the creek. Skyrush is exhilarating and one of the best coasters in the world. 10 out of 10 The way Skyrush dwarfs Comet makes it look even more intimidating. Let the ejector airtime commence! Skyrush is a sustained ejector airtime machine. You don't realize how good this headchopper is during the ride since you're hauling through the course. Now this is what I call an overbank. Great Bear was temperamental in my visits this year, so I didn't get as many rides as I'd like. But it was running like a dream when it was open. Great Bear is still impeccably smooth, the funky helix start is absolutely leg-numbing, and the inversions pull some strong Gs. I especially love the wild snap on the zero-G roll and corkscrew. And I never noticed the floater airtime on the drop after the zero-G roll, but it was a nice touch. 8 out of 10 Sorry Great Bear, you are no longer my favorite coaster themed to a constellation. That honor goes to Orion. But Great Bear is still a very good invert. Hersheypark has a sizable wood coaster collection and my favorite one is still the Comet. In the back row, this coaster has some really nice airtime in the first half on the major drops. That's the magic of buzz bars. This is also among the smoothest wood coasters out there. It's hard to believe this coaster is 70+ years old with how smooth it is. 7 out of 10 It's funny to think this was once the biggest ride in the park. Now, it's a speck below Skyrush. In the back, Comet is my favorite wood coaster at Hershey. In the front, it's boring and my least favorite. The two GCIs are in the back of the park. Wildcat has better airtime, but it comes at a cost since the ride is very bumpy. 5 out of 10 Lightning Racer may be the tamest GCI, but the racing element makes it enjoyable. 6 out of 10 The highlight of Wildcat is the barking dog noise the brake run makes. Lightning Racer is another coaster that is better to photograph from outside the park, but I didn't quite want to walk all the way down the hill. I also rode LaffTrakk again since the early entry allowed me to beat crowds to the back of the park. LaffTrakk is a decent indoor spinner, but it's not worth the obnoxious wait it gets. It's similar to Crush's Coaster at Walt Disney Studios in terms of how hard it is to ride with a reasonable wait and it also happens to be the same model. 5 out of 10 This ride's queue is no laughing matter. Fahrenheit had the worst wait of all the coasters. And interestingly, they were running it with no changes from most years. Every seat was in use. And they were triple stacking trains without fail. But I deal with this coaster's poor throughput because it's a very enjoyable ride. It feels like a Gerstlauer EuroFighter mixed with an old-school B&M looper. The beyond vertical drop and bunny hill give some excellent ejector airtime and the inversions are quite snappy. 8.5 out of 10 Such a weird coaster from Intamin, but I really like it! I'm so glad Hershey repainted Fahrenheit last year. I also spotted a wild enthusiast on Cocoa Crusier. I chose to point and laugh instead of joining him. No shame! The worst line in the entire park was actually for the dark ride, Reese's Cupfusion. This ride has a dismal throughput. For that reason, I made it my last stop on all my visits. Unlike LaffTrakk, which is passable for me, Cupfusion is a must. It's a really good dark ride that's a hybrid of Buzz Lightyear and Toy Story Mania. 9 out of 10 After waiting 2 hours for this last year, I've learned to hit this last. Hersheypark may also be home to the largest sweets/snacks of any theme park. Since I dislike sugar, I didn't purchase any of these gluttonous glories, but I still gawked at their sheer size. I wish Hershey listed calorie counts. I'm morbidly curious. Those donuts were the size of personal pizzas. A candy bar as heavy as my girlfriend's kitten. That's insane. In general, 2020 seemed like a good year to visit Hershey. Crowds were manageable and the operations were similar to past years. The one downside was that Storm Runner was closed for the year. I'll be back next year! Unfortunately, Hershey closed before sundown, but while I was waiting for my Primanti's sandwich downtown, I was able to admire the skyline one last time before departing town. A skyline with two hypers is an enthusiast's dream. Golden hour. In my second visit to Hersheypark, I decided to splurge on one of their resort hotels. The extra hour tacked onto the preview plan and the hour of morning ERT was nice. And the indoor water park seemed to be a big hit among kids and families. But I probably wouldn't stay there again because of how pricey it was and two specific issues: 1) The noise. Either the walls were paper thin or the family next to me was obnoxiously loud. We called security, but it did nothing to stop the noise. It sounded like there were at least 7-8 people in the room next to us. 2) Every single toiletry item smelled like chocolate. I can't say I wanted my hands, hair, and body to smell like chocolate. And the front desk had no cocoa free toiletries in case you're wondering. Hershey's Waterworks had two water slides. You can probably guess what candy they were themed to. This is not what I want to wash myself with.

The website in my post pulls the wait times directly from the Dollywood app so it's the best way to keep track of Lightning Rod.

I just saw a picture of it. This looks a bit more obvious than the Topper Track RMC uses, but I'm interested to see how it rides!

It ran all day on August 17. The park was then closed the next 3 days. When the park reopened on August 21, Lightning Rod was listed as closed for the day. It never ran from August 21-24. I was there on the 24th and an employee told us the ride would likely reopen the following weekend. Dollywood was then closed the next 3 days. Lightning Rod reopened on August 28 and ran for 1.5 hours total towards the start of the day. It ran pretty much all day on August 29 without any breakdowns. It ran well on August 30 outside of an hour breakdown, but on August 31 the ride broke down after the first hour and hasn't run since. https://www.dollywoodwaittimes.com/ride.php?ride=Lightning+Rod&day=2020-09-04

Any compact coaster down there- Raptor, EuroFighter, Sky Rocket II- would be a major splash for this park and help pull people down that way.

Ok thanks! I had a feeling they didn't and probably should have taken the lack of results on Google as an indication they didn't.

Does Darien Lake do Holiday in the Park typically? I know Great Escape doesn't. It would be crazy if Six Flags New England only opened for Holiday in the Park, but based on how arcades opened, I have to think amusement parks will do the same.

I'm wondering if Six Flags New England may still be looking to open. After missing the entire summer season, I would have told you there was no chance they'd try to open, but there are some clues and recent developments in Massachusetts that leads me to believe there's a slim chance Six Flags New England could open for a tiny bit later this year. Great Escape and Six Flags Darien Lake recently posted messages to their website saying they'd remain closed for the entire 2020 season. Six Flags New England did not. Six Flags New England still has the temporary closure message on the site. Playing devil's advocate here, the park maybe just hasn't gotten around to changing it. Amusement parks have always been classified in Phase 4 in Massachusetts, which meant they could not open until there was a cure or deployed vaccine for covid. Gyms, family entertainment centers, and arcades were also grouped in Phase 4, but these three places were given permission to reopen. FECs had to take similar precautions to Six Flags on a smaller scale to open their rides like bumper cars and go karts. But I think what happened with arcades is more interesting. An arcade in Salem, MA sued the Massachusetts governor to reopen (Link). It's a move similar to what Cedar Fair did to the state of Ohio. And Massachusetts said arcades could reopen. Their rationale is what really catches my eye. Based on this precedent with arcades, I wonder if Six Flags would consider suing Massachusetts to force the state's hand like the arcade owners did. If the Massachusetts governor applies the same thinking to amusement parks as he did for arcades, it looks like there may be a way for Six Flags New England (and Edaville) to reopen. As far as I know, there haven't been any outbreaks traced back to the open theme parks in the nearby states (New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey). As crazy as it would be to open for such a short time, it has major financial implications for Six Flags. They promised members one month would be added to their memberships for every month they remain closed. If they can open in October or November, they only owe members 6 months. If they fail to open at all this year, that doubles the amount they owe members (assuming they continued paying).

I think one of the issues with Mega Vortex is that it's on a dead end with no signature attraction down that way. When the park adds their next big attraction, I'd love if it could be down towards Mega Vortex to help pull more crowds down that way.

Except this track work started back in August and until recently, they didn't start posting about it on their website. I'm glad they now list Lightning Rod as closed when it's down, but it's still frustrating the ride has this much downtime in its fifth year.

I'm still holding out hope they let it run like Insane at Grona Lund...but La Ronde.

^ Ok thanks! I'm looking to head down later this month when the amusement park is open 2-10 and was trying to plan when to do the safari.

^ The days when the Roast Beef Stand were closed was when the park had extremely limited hours from 12-6, so I'm not surprised things were closed. I just wish that stand wasn't one of them!

I still need to visit PPP one of these years!

One of the benefits of B&M having trims along the course is that it helps make the ride more consistent. I've seen this with Mako on the cooler days when the trim doesn't hit. On the warmer days, I've had the trim hit on Mako, but the airtime feels just as good afterwards even though you feel the trim.

Those wheel heaters combined with the ability to adjust the trims can hopefully allow that ride to make it through the course without any issues.

Weren't they testing the waters with inverting rides with Chaos? I remember the ride originally could have had a non-inverting program if the park guests didn't respond well to it. But based on my visits the past two years, Chaos seems quite popular so an inverting coaster of some kind would fill out their coaster lineup quite nicely.

For anyone who has done the safari, roughly how long does it take?

Ravine Flyer II was running very smoothly this year outside of the pullout from the first drop. I'm pretty sure they're just retracking it. Although I can't deny it probably would get a little better if it were RMCed, the park would be far smarter spending their money on another top attraction to compliment Ravine Flyer II rather than improving their top bill attraction already.

^ I got pierogis on my first visit thankfully, but it was closed on my later two visits. At least it gave me the chance to try some new stuff like fried alligator.

Thanks! The Pacific Northwest does have a set of Lusse Skooters still in Seaside, Oregon, but they are toned down compared to the ones at Knoebels. Along with quite a few rides being closed, several food stands were closed. One of them was the roast beef stand for the legendary pierogis.

All that matters for Skull Mountain is that I ride in the back and get my death metal music.

Did they have to do anything special to open it like run it with doors open or can they run it as is?