YoshiFan

Aren't those slides similar to the drop box slides at Snake Pit? Although that didn't stop them from adding the 2 Boa Blaster slides that are almost identical to the red and white slides at Patriot's Plunge. I won't miss the Speed Slides if they leave and usually only went to those slides once or twice a season. If pathways are changed, I wonder if they will fix the entrance to Wildwater Rapids. It seems like a lot of people can't find the entrance to it since it is kind of hidden away and they are my go to slides when the water park is crowded since they rarely have more than a 10 minute wait.

Saturday March 24th (from Great Adventure History http://www.greatadventurehistory.com/Forums/index.php?/topic/5422-2018-season-begins-march-24th/ )

Not in order Nitro El Toro Bizarro Batman The Ride Talon Lightning Racer Storm Runner Fahrenheit Great Bear Comet

Same answer again for me although I guess technically it was yesterday. It was also my final coaster ride for the season unless the forecast changes for next week.

I hope they open them next year and don't leave them SBNO. Even with Stinger open most times I went to the flyers, the ride operator was just waiting around for any riders to show up. Even though they run very slow and have a short cycle, I rarely skip them when I am at the park.

10 years ago when Renegade was added, there was a rumor that Cedar Fair bought or had a deal for 3 GCI coasters and Dorney was going to get the 2nd one in 2008 until Cedar Fair decided to send Possessed to the park instead and then all the used rides started being added and that Dorney's planned GCI went to Worlds of Fun. I don't know how true any of that is though.

I'm really glad to see Stinger removed. I was really disappointed to see it added to the park in the first place and with problem after problem, especially the incident on opening day in 2014, I had no interest in riding the coaster ever again (except once last year to see if I still disliked the coaster).

I think you are right. I was there almost every week in 2015 and other than 1 Saturday in December when it was 70 degrees, crowds did seem lower on those trips to the park compared to last year and from watching wait times, this year seems to have hardly any empty days. As much as I would have liked to have been able to stay at Nitro and re-ride multiple times, I'll take the still reasonable wait times and see Holiday in the Park successful and can't imagine having to go back to a 5 month offseason.

I was at the park for around 5 hours yesterday and there was a good amount of people there for a Sunday. The Skyway had over a half full queue only a couple of hours after park opening. Nitro got up to around a 30 minute wait around 5:00 although that was probably because it had reopened after a breakdown. I walked onto the front row after it reopened and by the time I walked around for a 2nd ride, it became a 20 minute wait that fast and more and more people kept getting in line. For the crowds, the wait time for food wasn't that bad. I waited around 5 minutes for dinner at the Main Street Pub.

Agreed, those weak ride lineups might work at a park like Kings Island where that is the only park in the area open but not in this part of the country where there are so many parks open. Having no indoor rides probably doesn't help either.

sooperdooperlooper at Hersheypark today.

Skull Mountain at Great Adventure last week.

In addition to the high cost to ride, the few times a year they have wristband specials, Gale Force is excluded. On those days they lower it to I think $5 a ride or 7 tickets. If 7 or 8 tickets was the regular price, whenever I get to the park I'd probably be more willing to ride the coaster a few times since that is $3.50 or $4.00 worth of tickets if you buy them during the half price sales they have. I'm not sure if this is old news or not but their Double Shot is also for sale: http://www.italintl.com/detail_page.php?record_id=2139 And it looks like Gillian's Wonderland Pier is joining the other parks in the area that are open in November and December. I got an e-mail a few days ago that the indoor rides will be open on the weekends. Not really great for anyone without kids since it's almost all kiddie rides in that section of the park.They are also selling their Runaway Train coaster: http://www.italintl.com/detail_page.php?record_id=2142

It looks like Hershey might not be as strict about the cold temperatures this year for the coasters. It is around 36 degrees and from looking at the app both sooperdooperlooper (with an hour wait) and Wild Mouse are running. I thought they wouldn't run any outdoor coasters if it was colder than the low 40s.

Great pictures I was there today as well and it was easily my best trip to the park this season. Earlier in the day Justice League's line was out of the building and for some reason The Dark Knight was listed at 30 minutes under the app (pre-show room was half full with a full line after that without the pre-show being used), both of which I skipped until later. I didn't wait more than 10 - 15 minutes for anything. Nitro got stopped on the lift because someone had a phone out and an announcement was made in the station about how there is a fine of up to $1,000 from the state of NJ and a year ban or longer from the park for having a phone out yet when the train returned to the station, the person went up to the ride operator that had the phone, got it back and was able to leave without talking to security. I wish they would go through with the threat of kicking people out of the park. Sky Screamer was also stopped with riders maybe 2/3 of the way up the tower for around 15 minutes around 3:00.

Maybe it was because of staffing? They still aren't listed as closed for the season like Safari Offroad Adventure is, unless the website is just not up to date.

I know it's unlikely but it would be great if Runaway Mine Train, Bizarro and the other Skyway station was open during HITP to make it a 1 way trip like normal and maybe lines wouldn't be so bad at the Frontier Adventures station.

Great pictures and report I used to feel the same way about a season pass. It was almost a 2 hour drive for me so I was ok visiting once a year when I could get to Dorney in 45 minutes or Great Adventure in 55 minutes (with most of the park trips being to Great Adventure). Now that Dorney is 70 minutes, Great Adventure is 2 1/2 hours away and Hershey is still less than 2 hours away, I got the season pass last year and have been going more compared to Great Adventure (7 Hersheypark trips vs 4 to Great Adventure). The 40 minutes less each way of driving adds up, it also helps that there are no tolls and it's an easier drive for me (100 miles on I-81 and a few miles to get to the park from there).

I ended up going to the park the past 2 Sundays. Both days were low crowds as expected but the 22nd was slightly more crowded than the 15th. Everything was 0 - 10 minutes with the exception of Laff Trakk, Storm Runner (1 train running on the 22nd) and Fahrenheit early in the day. I waited until after 7 both trips and waited 1 train for Fahrenheit. On both days I was at the park for around 6 hours and got 31 rides on the 15th and 25 rides on the 22nd. Coal Cracker was closed on both days. Someone asked the photo booth employee at Great Bear about the ride being open this past Sunday and was told the ride doesn't operate in the fall. It's on the Hersheypark In the Dark map and is listed as an operating ride for the event on the website plus it ran last year in October. The Kisses Triple Tower was also closed both days. It didn't seem to matter much since the Reese's Tower rarely had a wait and the Hershey Tower had at most a 2 - 3 cycle wait. I made the mistake of riding Sidewinder on the 22nd. I got a bad headache from going backwards and I never felt 100% the rest of the trip after that. I'm probably going to visit Christmas Candylane once but it's a shame that with the exception of sooperdooperlooper, the coasters running are probably my least favorite in the park.

Comet at Hersheypark last night

Great Bear at Hersheypark on Sunday night.

Coal Cracker was closed Sunday

They are regular body slides but the 3 Jumpin Jack Splash slides at Dorney were modified to run outs in 2014. It made them worse because you sometimes hit the run out on an angle (the slides have a lot of compact turns) and can hurt your legs.

Monday will be less crowded. Last year on Sunday of this weekend, traffic was backed up way past the entrance gate just to enter the road that takes you to the toll booths.

I have been trying to look at the park as a water park with some other rides thrown in (even though the ride side is a full size park) and that's how most of my trips this year have been only visiting twice without Wildwater Kingdom open. I spend 75% of my time at the water park and water rides on the ride side and then take a quick lap around the park riding each coaster except Stinger and Woodstock Express once (or sometimes only a few coasters), a couple of flats and leave. Even with 11 trips this year, I am not up to double digit rode counts on most of the coasters. On Friday, I was driving by the park and stopped in for an hour and 40 minutes which was enough time for 9 rides and dinner using the dining pass. If I had more time, I would have gone for some re-rides but felt like it wasn't that necessary. On the other hand, when visiting Hersheypark or Great Adventure, I rarely feel like I am ready to leave and want to stay even after a 6 - 8 hour trip to one of those parks.