Rotura Violenta

Having read a few reports (even reports as recent as last week), I was prepared to slog my way through a 12-hour day of standing in lines, hoping to perhaps at least get one ride on everything. Yet my experience there was quite different. Storms were forecast, although that had been the case for a few days prior and none had shown. However, I think that played into what must have been a bummer day for Hersheypark, but an amazing day for me. During the time I was there (10am-5pm), the longest wait I had was for the front seat of Stormrunner—maybe 3 cycles? Every single ride was a walk-on for the entire day. The weather was fine (although muggy), the crowds were minimal and super friendly. The staff were amazing across the board, and the operations were flawless. Only Trailblazer and Flying Falcon were down. Rather than give a play-by-play write up of the day (too many details), here are the crazy ride counts and few thoughts on each: Skyrush (15 rides): First ride of the day, and the one everyone ran to. Fortunately, I got there fast as well and walked right on. I was genuinely anxious about this one as the lift hill is super imposing, and having just ridden El Toro a few days prior (and discovering that overly-aggressive airtime doesn’t do much for me), I braced myself. In fact, I found that I braced myself on this more than any other ride at the park—it felt like an endurance test. But what I found is that a single ride on this could leave a bad taste in one's mouth as it takes a few rides to learn what it’s going to do next and prepare for it. After a while (and so many rides later), I actually started to find it a tad dull. I found the first drop to be okay, but nothing special to be honest. I’m no engineer, but the s-curve shape felt out of whack in that it doesn’t reach its highest degree of descent fast enough, and as soon as it does, it pulls right out. Consequenty, it reminded me of Perilous Plunge in that it feels more like you’re getting tipped forward and then back again really fast. I found this drop to be rough in that it forces you out of your seat and then slams you back in again without any real sense of descent that I get from other rides. After 15 rides, I thought the drop might “click” for me, but it didn’t—I just didn’t find it to be that effective. The ejector air hills weren’t as uncomfortable as what I’d read—they’re similar to El Toro’s really. A tad too violent and aggressive; slightly less enjoyable than I’d hoped. The turns were generally quite rough (the ride is pretty bumpy depending on where you sit), and they bordered a little on grey-out intense. The other twisted flips it was doing were pretty mild really, except for that one direction change toward the end which, if you’re on a wing seat, you really feel intensely. The best part of the ride for me was that little camel hump at the end. All in all, I liked it; but as with El Toro, I just found it aggressive and violent in a way that diminished the experience rather than adding to it. The line was consistently a walk-on, and the trains were only half filled for most of the day, so I got to ride in all different spots and positions. Riding in the back just made the first drop even more rough, and the front was cool, but I found the middle non-wing seats to provide the best overall ride. It’s an extreme spectacle of a coaster, but not quite as good as what I expected. 7/10. Fahrenheit (6 rides): I’d read lot of negative things about this one and found the total opposite to be true. I rode it in all positions and it was consistently smooth with little / no rattling whatsoever. My first ride was on the back, and I found that the yank over the top detracted from the drop in a similar manner to Skyrush—just a violent push forward and then back again. The front seat made the world of difference for this part of the ride. I loved the first element—especially the dive out of it. Boomerang / corkscrews were okay (I tend to dislike both of those elements in general), but the final camelback toward the end was excellent—comparable to the last hill of Skyrush as far as ejector air goes. Great ride—good intimidation factor with that lift, and just a well-sequenced affair throughout. Totally smooth, totally fun. 9/10. Stormrunner (6 rides): I’d read nothing but good things about this, but I had mixed impressions. The front seemed to provide the best launch sensation, and there’s a great airtime moment right before it does that twist way up in the air (barrel role?). However, for non-front seats, I found it to be jarring and neck-rattling (although not as rough as Skyrush). The launch is fantastic, but my main gripe is that what follows just feels so arbitrary and weird—like someone just spazzed out while designing it and nobody caught it. The elements were odd and it struck me that they could have done something more clever with that landscape. That last zig-zaggy slalom part (that I thought looked really cool), didn’t add much to the ride at all. So, definitely a good ride, but not without its problems. 7/10. Sidewinder (1 ride): I’ve never liked these rides, and this one was no exception. I guess it had the advantage of the improved restraint system (less head banging?), but this design is such that it rattles you in other ways. Jarringly tight elements perfectly suited for rattling necks. Awful ride, but that’s the boomerang genre for you. 2/10. Wildcat (4 rides): Bad. Surprisingly bad. Even though I really disliked this, I rode it back-to-back over two visits to it. I couldn’t decide what it was that made me dislike it so much: partly because it’s exceptionally rough, but also because I found it to be a totally mundane layout. It seems to me that this was a coaster designed to look impressive, but as a result, it loses quite a bit of ride-ability. The long, graceful curved drops pretty much make up the whole ride, but as a result, it sat somewhere between meandering and confusing. Something to mix up the curves might have helped, but overall I found it quite dull and unpleasant and pointless. 4/10. Wild Mouse (1 ride): Similar to Sidewinder, these things have a purpose, but that doesn’t make them great rides. A stock Wild Mouse that felt as though it was running a little more untrimmed than what these rides usually feel like. But as expected: uncomfortable, unpleasant, kind of funny, but totally un-reridable. One for the kids, I think. 3/10. Lightning Racer (3 rides on each side): Complete contrast to Wildcat; I loved this one. Fantastic layout and interaction throughout, but also a lot of thoughtful sequencing of elements to make a really fantastic wooden coaster that both looks beautiful, but also rides really well. A great balance of form and function with excellent pacing and attention to the immersive interaction of the race. Clearly, more thought went into making this hit aesthetic targets while still making for a fun experience than Wildcat. Excellent! 8/10. Great Bear (3 rides): I’m not the biggest B&M fan, but I do like to check out their custom stuff. Great pre-drop spin on this—really added to the opening anticipation. The drop didn’t do a whole lot for me, but it certainly served its purpose of getting the ride going. The flip-back loop thing was fun (although there was an awkward straight section just before it), and the loop / zero-g were standard B&M affairs. But after that, the ride felt somewhat thrown together in that the transitions up to and following the corkscrew element were weirdly awkward. So, great opening, followed by standard-fare B&M invert stuff, linked together with ambivalent sections that felt somewhere between attempts to work with that weird plot of land and the auto-complete feature on RCT3. 6/10. Superdooperlooper (2 rides): I love Schwarzkopf passionately, but he totally phoned this design in. Boring pacing with a second half that felt as though he tacked the whole thing on just to meet length requirements or something. Even nostalgia couldn’t do much for this one. 4/10. Comet (4 rides): A totally engaging layout with all the right drops and turns in all the right places. Nothing too intense, and not as rough as might be expected for a woody of its age. More of a testament of how to put together a great sequence of ride elements that compliment both the look and the ride experience itself. Old-school that shames the new-school (Wildcat, at least) quite strongly. Fun, easy to ride, and just generally enjoyable overall. 7/10. I also rode: The Whip—more about preservation than thrills, it’s nice to still see a few these hanging around. Coal Cracker—one of those Arrow jet boat things but with a nice little launch from the drop at the end. Frontier Flyers—these rides seem to get talked up around here quite a bit, but I don’t get the appeal. Xtreme Cup Challenge—interesting track, but not a whole lot else going on. I think this went over my head. So, the nature of my day might have played a role in my overview, but I found Hersheypark to be a fresh break from the bigger corporate chains. Beautifully presented with exceptional staff and operations alongside a fantastic selection of rides. Great park!

I was going to do a more comprehensive trip report (I visited SFGA, Hershey, and Knoebels), but I think I'll just post a few thoughts here and in threads devoted to the other parks. Also, I didn't take many pictures as I was mainly there to ride but if I find some good ones, I'll add them later. I visited SFGA for the first time last week. It was actually my first theme park in a few years, and my first one out of Southern California for a very long time. Overall, I found it to be a reasonably sized park that felt a little over-crowded on the day I was there, but I think that's due to the layout of the place. Nitro was consistently stacking 3 trains, so maybe it was a busy day? Anyhow, a few thoughts: El Toro (4 rides): Not what I expected. Aggressively intense, bordering on brutal. First drop was out-of-this-world good, and the two camelbacks were equally good. I did find that it took those camelbacks so fast though, that if you blinked you'd miss them. Airtime was more violent than enjoyable for me on this part of the ride, however, and the turnaround was simply rough with some serious jack-hammering going on midway through it. The drop prior to the curvy finale was laughably aggressive—as though the train had been yanked out from underneath you. And the final curves were a tad too crazed, bordering on grey-out inducing. I dug it and rode it four times, but I actually expected something much smoother and I'd hoped the airtime would be, I guess, more graceful? Fantastic first drop, though. 7/10. EDIT: Having since ridden some of the woodies at Hershey (including Skyrush), I’d elevate El Toro a little higher. That first drop is really memorable—as are the camel backs. For as rough as I found that turn around, and how unnecessarily aggressive I found that last twisty section, overall it was excellent. 8/10. Nitro (5 rides): B&M usually bore me to tears, and I actually expected this to be a sort of meandering waste of time, but perhaps a scenic waste all the same. This blew me away. Whereas El Toro was just overly aggressive to the point where it detracted from the experience, the airtime on this was so well-calibrated that it made for a far more fulfilling ride. I guess this is floater air? I was my out of my seat for almost every hill—for multiple seconds. (I did find that when the op stapled me, it was less enjoyable, though.) Also found the helixes on this to be borderline grey-out inducing. Great ride that got me to reconsider my B&M hatred. 9/10. Dark Knight (1 ride): A waste of a perfectly fine warehouse. 3/10. Skull Mountain (2 rides): I'll probably get laughed off the boards for saying this, but I prefer compact and immersive coasters to the hugest, most fastest, most whateverest stuff that gets built these days. I was genuinely interested in this one as I love enclosed dark rides. This has the cheese-ball gimmicky effects down well: bad fiberglass cave design with weird puddles everywhere, cheesy sound effects, cheap halloween-store stye props inside. Track-wise, it's kind of crap and rough and insipid, but I enjoyed it more than the other warehouse ride. 5/10. Bizzaro (1 ride): SFMM's Scream in a better setting. I've always enjoyed this layout on Scream (it's one of the few B&Ms I like), and it's the same here. It does a bunch of maneuvers without requiring much from you. It's like perfectly functional, stock ride that does the job of looking good, keeping thrill-seekers moderately pacified, and (I assume), is easy to run—it's essentially a B&M showcase of everything they do. Nothing standout, but a solid large-scale enjoyable coaster all the same. 7/10. Superman (1 ride): I'm not a fan of Tatsu, and, one of my gripes with B&M (aside from making meandering, plodding coasters) is their privileging of gimmicky ride vehicles over design innovation. I kind of hate these flier style coasters, and while Tatsu somewhat redeems itself with that pretzel loop drop, this was absolute crap from start to finish. Uncomfortable, awkward, boring. 4/10. Green Lantern (1 ride): Again with the gimmicky vehicles! I dislike Riddler's Revenge, partly because of the standing position (which adds nothing for me, personally), but also because that ride really meanders around some of its elements. This felt more forceful as the elements seemed perhaps more tightly constructed and sequenced. Not my cup of tea, but I could see why others would like it. 7/10. Mine Train (1 ride): Weird layout—a confused custom endeavor, I assume? Kind of fun, I guess. It struck me as a sprinkling of prefab sections connected by awkward up-and-down stretches that weren't really drops, but more like slopes. 5/10. Batman (1 ride): Same as all the rest: super intense and forceful—makes your blood rush to your feet. I like the Batman rides, but find them a little too punishingly in their sequence. Great if you've never ridden one before, but I was perfectly prepared to skip it (I don't count credits). It had broken down, and I walked by just as they were re-opening it, so that's really the only reason I bothered to ride. 7/10. SkyScreamer (1 ride): Obviously it's safe, and there's little danger involved, really, but it felt unsafe in a way the diminished my enjoyment of it. I don't know, it was okay, but I found myself somewhere between "this is kind of boring" and "this is an accident waiting to happen." Worth the experience, but I wouldn't get on one again, I don't think. No need, really. 5/10. Houdini's Great Escape (1 ride): A very convincing twist on the old haunted swing motif with enough humor and effects to keep it from being some d-list affair. Not as dizzying as I'd expected, either. Very well done indeed. 6/10. Kingda Ka was obviously down, but it holds little appeal to me. Sure, I would have ridden it (if the line had been reasonable), but I'm hardly seduced by what it does. Even its visual presence in the park speaks more to the silly "size matters" aesthetic than it does to a good, well thought out ride. Not even remotely bummed to have missed this one. All in all, a good visit. I was mainly going for El Toro and Nitro, and they indeed proved to be the pinnacles. Nitro surprised me in that it exceeded my expectations, and El Toro met my expectations, but it was far more violent than I expected it to be. The park was reflective of Six Flags in general—crowded, erring on poorly managed and organized, but a solid enough environment to showcase some world-class attractions. P.S. Although I got a discounted ticket from some boyscout organization, $25 parking is obscene.

I just rode it for the first time myself the other day (deliberating on a trip report, too). I wasn't *that* impressed by it either, although the park was completely dead so I still rode it 15 times (not in a row). Wing seats certainly are more rough and make the transitions a little more gnarly, but the ejector air wasn't as crazy as El Toro. I did however find that it was more about endurance than enjoyment, and I thought the first drop was actually kind of crap. The last airtime hill before the station was my favorite part—comparable to the EXCELLENT airtime hill on Fahrenheit.

^ I just rode Wildcat yesterday (four times). I did find it to be rough (rather than intense), but no more rough than other wooden coasters I've ridden. I did, however, find it to be generally crap. It struck me that the ride was built to maximize aesthetic appeal (it's a good looking coaster), but that came at the expense of the ride itself. Lots of swooping turns look nice, but with nary a drop of any real notoriety to be found, I found swoop after swoop after swoop to be insipid. I rated it poorly, in part because of the way it ran, but also because I simply didn't find the layout to be conducive to a good ride experience—it was somewhere between dull and pointless for me. And yes, I thought Lightning Racer was much better in terms of ride experience (variety of elements, all well sequenced, and with a totally immersive layout). A rough coaster can be granted a modicum of leeway if the layout itself is good (Ghost Rider, for example), but WC blew on all levels, IMO.

I was at the park today for the first time (here for work, but visiting some theme parks while I'm at it). It was really quiet and every ride was a walk on virtually all day. I rode almost everything 5+ times and rode Skyrush 15 times (not back to back, though). Beautiful park—very impressed with it. Will write more soon EDIT: Also, re. the Trailblazer discussion on the last page: It was closed today, but they were working on it. I saw it run once from the Stormrunner station, but when I asked earlier in the day, the guy at the gate told me it wouldn't open today at all.

Looks quite fun! Thanks for posting!

I'm curious as to what the sensation of that first inversion thing is like. It looks like it'd be part zero-g, part hang-time? There's some really fascinating stuff going on with this one, and it's nice to see wooden technology develop.

It needs a hand crank.

Can't blame them. That track must have had about a five-second repeat of "dum-tshh-dum-tshh-dum-tshh" -- it's enough to drive anyone to throw themselves onto the tracks. Perhaps it's the sweltering heat, but it also seems to be the one station that attracts the most aggressively hormonal and exhibitionistic teens (and, unfortunately, adults). More than once have I been treated to the sight of some attention-seeking couple putting on a slobbery performance, grinding one another up against the railings. Perhaps the industrial decor of the building reminds them of being in some rat-infested alley or camped out behind some stinky dumpster? Well that's enough get-off-my-lawnism for one day, I think.

It's miserable. Luckily they seemed to have removed the horrendous music and strobe lights (at least they were off when we were there a few months ago). Tatsu, however, took the cake for the worst line. The misters turned the cattle pen into a disgusting swamp, adding at least 15º to the already blistering heat. They should steal that big ass fan from Batman's line and stick it in there.

And 48 hours later: I'm with Gigalyte on this one, keeping expectations low: a hotdog stand, on a bridge, with a fountain, maybe some fog.

I'm sure it'll still be a fun ride and it'll certainly suck up some of crowds and perhaps generate some revenue for more expansion. Speaking of more expansion, I wonder if a coaster has ever been designed with the potential for future track development in mind? I'm sure it's highly unlikely, although this would be the perfect candidate to slap on a whole other section a few years from now, dependent on capital and land usage of course.

The comments so far, to me at least, haven't been whiny but have instead expressed legitimate concerns. To your point above, you're right -- this would be a standout ride in other parks. But you have to keep in mind that SFMM has a history of mediocrity and missed opportunities. For many, this seemed like the first chance in a while to do something special by capitalizing on the prime real estate created by removing the log ride. And, while I'm sure the ride will be fun, it hardly seems special. Other parks, often much smaller and less-thrill oriented, are getting considerably more thrilling rides added to their collection that focus more on total design rather than the stitching together of a couple of Biggest!!!-Fastest!!!-Tallest!!! elements (that, more often than not, are snooze-worthy) while SFMM seems to continue down the same bombastic path -- which is probably, from a business perspective, a wise move. I don't think anyone here is saying it'll suck by any stretch, but it seems fairly obvious to most that it's a fraction of what it could have potentially been. With that said, regarding the weird reverse launch thing, I can't imagine it would be possible due to the fact that the tunnel will be operating as a block brake, but if the stop, reverse, and relaunch were all taken very quickly without much pause, it could certainly provide an interesting sensation. That second launch on Speed was very apparent and, if you didn't know it was there, it was fairly disconcerting. The tunnel launch on this might capitalize on something similar.

While it does look like it's lacking the terrain-hugging second half that many of us were pining for (a big-ass drop directly into the brakes?), what does make this seem interesting is that it's hard to gauge exactly how forceful it will be from the information given. Speed was pretty fantastic in its day, so any ghost of that ride would be welcome. But while Speed was so well-suited for its compact location, it does seem like even more could have been done to make this ride really stand out. With that said, if there was ever a withhold-real-judgment-until-riding announcement, it seems like this would be it as the ride experience itself could very well be far better than it initially appears. I am curious, however, as to whether anyone has theorized as to why SFMM seems to lean more toward "ooh-aah" type gimmicks rather than the kind of coaster than regularly show up in enthusiast's top ten lists. Obviously it stems from the marketing angle as they clearly have a refined understanding of who their target audience is and how to seduce them with ostentatious displays of showmanship rather than actual ride-ability and design (YOLO). It was mentioned earlier in this thread that SFMM has become more of a coaster museum than anything else -- and I'd agree with that claim, nor do I think that's necessarily a bad thing (although such a museum doesn't hold much appeal to me personally). However, their (and much of California's) aversion to well-designed and award-winning thrill rides in favor of repeated gimmickry does speak to a certain superficiality in which the facade is often a front for something far more vacuous. I doubt I'd visit the park just to ride this (whereas if they opened a Skyrush, G-Force, or an El Toro clone, I'd be first in line). What speaks to me most about the layout is the windy section between the first loop and the tunnel. If they'd stuck another minute or so of that kind of business on the end of the top hat, they'd negate what appears to be quite an anti-climactic ending.

Despite living in the area, I don't go to SFMM much (really not a fan of anything there either), but I went recently with a few friends and rode X2 on an inside seat and it was much, much better. In general, I dislike that ride and usually skip it (I've always found it far more unpleasant than thrilling), but I was pleasantly surprised this time around. The young girl who the op. placed next to me, however, got beat up pretty badly. As far as this new thing goes, like other have said, if it's just about big inversions, I don't think it would hold much appeal for me personally -- but as I rarely go to SFMM, I'm aware that they're certainly not building it for me! With that said, coasters that are all massive loops and whatnot often look very impressive and intimidating -- from the perspective of both watching the ride run from inside the park, as well as through the publicity and TV spots that such impressive elements would allow for. I mean, world's biggest loop? All that really means while riding is that you'll be staring at the sun for a few extra seconds than you would on any other looping coaster. But if it's presented well, and gets enough exposure, people will flock to it even if they find the loop itself to be underwhelming. For me, I'd be stoked if this new thing really took advantage of that landscape and flew around the contours of the hillside, really hugging the ground. To be honest, that was something I was a little disappointed by when Tatsu's design was publicized (another ride that I just don't share people's enthusiasm for). Imagine a flying coaster that pulled some of the maneuvers that Tatsu pulls, but also drops you down to the dirt (for longer than the pretzel loop does) and sends you weaving head first through the trees before gaining some altitude again. Obviously, such a design would open it up to far more mechanical complexities and safety concerns than I could imagine, but as it stands, for me, it just feels like it sort of meanders through the air. I find the lift to be the scariest part! For what it's worth, I do like Scream more than the park's other B&Ms. I know I'm in the minority, but the sequence of elements, and the speed that the ride navigates them, is spot on. Plus, there's never a line for it!

There were, however, a lot of dummies in the park

I think they were running one with dummies, and I did see a few neon green shirts getting sent up there too. Either way, it was much higher than I've seen it go in years (but then again, I don't go to SFMM that often).

I didn't take many pictures of it, and what I took was from a distance (sorry for the low quality), but you can see how high Superman was getting today; I think they were just pushing its limits a little as part of the testing. We stood underneath it (various crowds formed off and on throughout the day) and watched the drop ride for a while -- it's crazy fast!

I was also there today and have pics and video of both running if needed. The drop thing gets pretty damn close to the top, and Superman was getting way the hell up there as well. In fact, I've never seen Superman get as high as it was today. Also, for what it's worth, the park was fairly empty, and operations were pretty decent.

This is going to sound ridiculously nerdy, but did anyone happen to get pictures of the indoor drop on the log ride? I have a weird, quasi-Freudian obsession with indoor drops and dark segments (don't judge) and would love to take a peek at its sexy fiberglass curves. (I took a ride on it once when Knott's was doing surgery on the mountain, and part of that room was sunlit, but not enough to get a good look at the drop.)

It's Chris Burden's permanent installation at LACMA.

I remember that when it was the 4-Man Bob at Alton. It was actually kind of a big deal at the time, situated close to the Mouse and the Beast. It used to get some pretty big lines. Is the Space Invader inside the building at Blackpool or did that get yanked out and sent somewhere else too?

Homogeneity is lame. Embrace your quirks!

Wow. I bet there's a swarm of salivating lawyers buzzing around their house now. Sounds like a candidate for a Darwin Award rather than compensation. But as it's the city she'll probably go after, she's bound to get a sizeable chunk of money. That way she can just hire someone to do her all her future texting for her, or to serve as her eyes when she's avidly pecking away at the screen and walks out into oncoming traffic and what-not. People are awesome!

Is there the potential for a regular Piers segment on TPR? If he has the means (and the liver), it would be great for him to get totally arseholed, then make a weekly video in which he enlightens us all with his insights and truths on contemporary thought and culture. All in favor say "fancy."