vistaway

Wow...the "best of Universal" park goes from strength to strength. Space Fantasy, new kids area, and now this? We loved USJ - this is one more reason to get back there as soon as the wallet allows.

Sounds like a positive change, but I do miss the original storyline and effects (although that jeep/gunfire rarely every worked properly). The 'actors' were just the guides/drivers - it was one of the positions they rotated through. IIRC, nearly the entire audio track was re-recorded before the park opened to the public (or shortly thereafter) based on preview opening feedback, like Countdown to Extinction. Nice to see the ride evolve, though.

Wonderful memories and lots of history I wasn't aware of - thank you!

It only took us 35 minutes to cross the border in May - not bad at all!

I miss Great Whale of China...shame we didn't still have it and Shiva's Fury instead of Time Warp.

The way this thing already dwarfs the entire side of the park is impressive. It's hard to get a sense of scale until you see it in person. Busy day at the park, by the way. Attendance seemed way up over previous years for the last operating day. Still, the longest line was 20 minutes for The Bat, which isn't terrible. It really needs that new train design that Hersheypark got for their boomerang. Leviathan Oct 30

Without a doubt, yes!

Looking forward to this. It's a People-eater in a park that desperately needs more high-capacity rides to balance out the many low-capacity ones. Should make quite the impact to the skyline. Nice logo too!

No, you're right - you can see Wonderland from the 407. IIRC, you can see it best just east of Jane where it passes over the train tracks.

If it is Leviathan (cool name, although where's the water??), this is quite the coincidence:

I like the leviathan idea...it's similar in shape to the black cloud shadow shown in the teaser:

Hmmm, yes - could be dragon or snake. The black cloud that appears in the teaser (after "this is my park now") could be either dragon or snake-shaped....which would also work well for a long, twisting layout.

That's what I am hoping for - something over 3000' long and low to the ground, more like Cheetah Hunt.

Fantastic day! Seeing an orange trash can full of free beer is a good thing...but learning it's Sam Adams is a GREAT thing: Props to the beer-choser! We had a great day at the park - lots of morning ERT rides, kids rides, water park time (despite the frequent breaks for thunderstorms), and an amazing time at night ERT. My 6-year old LOVED the Lightning Racer races, and we managed to win every single race we were on! Thanks Robb, Hersheypark, and everyone else who helped put on such a great event!

The Family Truckster is all packed and we are ready to head down to ECB! Totally psyched!

Coaster looks fantastic, and good on 'em for adding a 3 acre garden area. The park could use the extra space to relieve crowding, and as we've seen with DCA, trees, flowers and benches can go a long way to improving the park experience (and Hersheypark is no slouch in that area, of course).

Flounder's Flying Fish coaster. Haven't been to a park for 2 months now...

Oooh...teas-y! So August 18 at 7:00 am? "Prepare to be blown away"

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Sweet! Can't wait...coasters, waterslides, chocolate and beer...

I got the Best Western Plus Harrisburg Airport Inn & Suites on Priceline for $50/night ($160 all-in for 3 nights). I bid on a 2.5 star in the Harrisburg (Middletown) zone. It's 13 miles to the park (but just a few from Troegs brewery...)

That's definitely good to hear. It was a bit depressing to see the parks so dead back in May, even with the discounting. We couldn't even use our free hotel guest Fast Passes, as no attraction offered FP during our four days there...

Amazing, fantastic report! Seeing the TDL entrance sign without an overlay looks...odd... The parks looked fairly crowded...would you say 'normal' crowds are back? The worst part of reading your TR, other than missing Japan so much, was opening my credit card bill from our May trip at the same time...shock! Shame about the exchange rate...

The next generation of TPR will be well-represented at Hersheypark! taytig, I was at WDW in 97-98 (and DCL 99-00) and also met my wife there! eddie200330, I was able to Priceline a 3* hotel in Harrisburg for $45/night.

Yep! We're going with our 6 and 3 year old boys. The older one is psyched he can ride more coasters this time (since he's broken the 48" barrier from Reese's to Hershey bar)!