VegasBaby

Thanks to rcoaster10 and HauntedIndy for posting your trip reports, I really enjoy reading people's impressions of SFMM that don't go there all the time. It really is a great park with some incredible coasters. RMC did such an amazing job with TC, I am glad that you both enjoyed it as much as you did. I've ridden it about 40 times since it opened and I still love it. I wish they would get better about dispatching the trains so they can race, but a lot of the blame lies with the riders who don't board quickly enough. X2, Goliath, and Tatsu are still great coasters and have held up well over the years. Full Throttle is also a lot of fun and usually the first coaster I hit when I go to the park. I also wish they had extended the track a bit coming out of the top hat so you don't immediately hit the brake run. I wonder why Riddler was only running one train? I was there two weeks ago and it had two trains running. Luckily you used the single rider line, so the one train ops didn't affect you too bad. And yes, they really need to get those new Gerstlauer trains for Revolution. I rode SDL at Hershey a couple of months ago and it was super smooth.

I tend to agree with you, it seems highly unlikely that we are going to get a GR makeover from RMC in 2016. Several articles I read about the Iron Reef opening mentioned that Raffi said next year's addition would be focused on Ghost Town to coincide with its 75th anniversary. I think people have taken these comments to mean that GR is going to get a makeover (either Iron Horse or topper track) from RMC. With the Kentucky Kingdom announcement, we know for sure that Six Flags doesn't have an exclusive with RMC. However, that doesn't necessarily mean they will be working on GR. Knott's may have GCI come in and re-track the ride, but I just don't know how effective or long-lasting that will be. Knott's works on portions of GR every off season, but that work really hasn't done much to enhance the ride experience. Personally, I still love GR's layout and think that RMC topper track is the best bet to restore it to its former glory, but I'm not holding out hope that's gonna happen in 2016.

Great TR, I really need to get out and visit Lagoon again. I went there about 15 years ago and it was a nice little park back then, but it looks like they've added a ton since my last visit. I especially want to check out Cannibal and Wicked, you wouldn't expect a regional park like Lagoon to have such amazing looking coasters.

Storm Runner really is a great ride and was my second favorite coaster at Hershey. (I still prefer Skyrush due to the incredible first drop and the insane ejector air.) My wife also loved Storm Runner (and wasn't a huge Skyrush fan), so we rode it about 10 times during our visit last month. The launch and airtime over the top hat were great, and the inversions were fast paced and lots of fun, especially the snake dive. Storm Runner really separates itself from the other Intamin accelerators and feels like a more complete coaster experience. I still have Xcelerator ranked above it because I've ridden it so much and absolutely love the launch, but SR has a firm spot in my top ten. And with the dual loading stations, we never had more than a 15 min wait during out visit.

All of the coasters have bins, so you don't need to worry about getting a lock er. The waterpark has the wristband lock ers, so unless you are going on the water slides, you won't need a lock er.

Hopefully the new vest restraints like Carolina Cobra got Agreed, I hope they got the new vest restraints as well. I rode the Boomerang at Hersheypark recently and it has the same vest restraints as the Carolina Cobra. The restraints were very comfortable and there was no head banging at all. Those new restraints would be a major upgrade for the Knotts Boomerang.

Wow, that looks like an amazing trip! I'm looking forward to your trip report, looks the weather will be on your side.

Wow, that is just sad. Geauga Lake is really one of the great tragedies of the amusement park world. Hard to believe there was once two parks there, then the world's largest park, and now there's nothing but a small water park left. Thanks for all your photos, I'm really enjoying your trip report.

Wow, that layout looks incredible! I love that RMC is putting some new elements into this coaster and not just copying their other creations.

This topic popped up again, so I'll add my Top 5: 1. Alpengeist 2. Silver Bullet 3. Dragon Challenge 4. Great Bear 5. Batman clones I haven't been on Montu or Banshee yet, so I'm sure my rankings would change after riding those two. I am hoping to get out to Tampa this fall and finally be able to make my own Montu/Alpengeist comparison.

If they were to go with a B&M, my first choice would be an invert. ...still the best type B&M has to offer. 2 inverts at one park seems odd to me. I'd be beyond disappointed of they go that route I don't think 2 inverts would be weird at all, there are lots of parks with multiple inverts (CP, SFDK, Dorney, KI, etc). A new B&M invert like Banshee would be a completely different experience than Volcano. Plus, it would be a big hit with the GP and be a major people eater.

I'm going for the decades-old hope for new Revolution trains without OTSRs and a coat of paint for Tatsu. Perhaps even splurge on rehabbing Sky Tower assuming they aren't already planning on replacing it. SFMM loves to add something every year, but Twisted Colossus is the best ride they've added in such a long time I agree that it can hold it's own for at least 2 years, so I think there's never been a better time to make needed improvements to existing rides. I agree 100% with the new trains for Revolution. I rode SooperDooperLooper (another old Schwarzkopf) at Hersheypark recently and the difference was incredible. Hershey got new Gerstlauer trains for SDL a few years ago and they only had lapbars, no OTSRs! The new trains rode great and made the ride feel brand new, which is pretty good for a coaster that's almost 40 years old. I hadn't ridden Revolution for a while and had told myself that it wasn't that bad. Well, I rode it again a few weeks ago and it really is that bad. It has so much jerking and headbanging that you really can't enjoy it at all. Revolution is a piece of history, so I'd love to see SFMM give it the much needed TLC and new trains that it deserves.

SFDK could really use a drop ride to round out its flat rides, but the problem is the 150ft height limit. Most drop towers are at least 200-300ft tall, so I don't think a 150ft drop tower would excite anyone. Your idea of going into the ground for a longer drop would help solve that problem, I just don't know how feasible it is to dig a 50 foot hole.

I rode Superman at SFDK for the first time last week and it was a lot of fun. I loved the multiples launches, the airtime when you pop over the top, and the hangtime in the heartline roll. I'm glad that we are seeing more of these Premier launched coasters and this will be a great addition to LC.

Sidewinder (the Boomerang at Hershey Park) has the same restraints as the Carowinds Boomerang and they are awesome. I wish all the Boomerangs would change to these restraints as they are very comfortable and they completely eliminate the head banging.

I've only ridden Twisted Colossus so far, but I absolutely love it and it's my new #1 coaster. There is just so much airtime on TC, it's crazy how much you are out of your seat. It's fast and super smooth, plus the Top Gun stall is one of my favorite coaster elements ever. The ride gets even better when you duel another train, but unfortunately the dueling is really hit or miss. RMC really nailed it with TC and now I want to check out all of their other creations.

I guess I should clarify my comment from my previous post. I was actually impressed with the ride ops during my visit and thought they did a great job of getting the trains dispatched quickly, especially the Superman crew. I just thought it was weird that they would only be running one train on a popular ride during one of the busiest weekends of the year.

Had a great day at SFDK on Saturday. I was in NorCal for work, so I convinced a buddy to spend the 4th at the park with me. We got there around 9am for the Coke ERT and were some of the first people in the park. They only had certain areas open for the ERT, so we headed straight for Medusa and rode it 3 times without getting off. Medusa is just a fun coaster, love the airtime on first drop into the loop and the overall layout is great, I liked it better than Scream at SFMM. We then headed to Kong and it was only running one train (guess poor operations isn't just a SFMM thing). Luckily we walked on because of the ERT and rode it twice in a row. I enjoyed the layout and didn't have much head banging as I kept my head plastered to the headrest. Then we hit Cobra (meh, even for a family coaster) and Sky Screamer (twice) before heading over for the rope drop. At 10:30 we booked it straight over to Superman only to discover it wasn't open it. But it started testing a few minutes after we got in line and opened around 10:45. We were in the first train of the day, so we chose the back row and it didn't disappoint! The launches were fast and forceful and I loved the airtime when you pop over the top. The hangtime on the barrel roll was awesome as was the drop into the loop. We got back in line and rode it two more times before the park got too busy waiting about 20-25 minutes each time. We then made our way over to Roar and V2 since they were right there and ended up riding each of them about 5 times throughout the day. Roar was faster than it looked and had some decent airtime in the back (love the little bunny hill in the tunnel). V2 was a huge surprise for me, I really loved this coaster! I'd never ridden one of these Intamin Impulse coasters and it was a ton of fun. I rode in both the back and the front and actually prefer the front because you get more of the twist on the front spike. The wait was never too bad for V2 either, about a 3-4 train wait at most all day. We also rode Boomerang 1x, Tasmanian Devil 2x, Hammerhead 2x, and then Medusa and Sky Screamer again later in the evening. Voodoo and the Dare Devil loop were down all day, so we didn't get to ride them. We ate dinner at the lakeside pavilion dining area, which was a great spot to relax and take a break from rides. I though the park had a good selection of food options around the dining pavilion. I ended up getting the pulled pork sandwich plate and was pretty impressed with the quality of the food. It was around 8pm by this time, so I wanted to get a couple more rides on Superman before we left. We waited about 30 min and then got back in line only to have the ride break down. It was only down for about 15-20 min though and so many people left the line that we only waited about 35-40 min even with the breakdown. Superman was my primary reason for wanting to come to SFDK and every one of my 5 rides on it were awesome. The ride ops did a great job of getting people off and on the coaster and the dispatches were usually 1:15-1:30. We decided to hit Roar and V2 on our way out of the park, and were on the Roar lift hill just as the firework show started. It was pretty fun to be on a coaster and have fireworks lighting up the sky. We didn’t catch any of the animal shows, but some of the people I spoke to said the Dolphin show was really good. Overall, I had a great time at the park and if the Roar RMC rumors are true, I will have to bring my kids and make a return trip next summer.

If you do the 3.5 hour preview night and the Hotel early entry in the morning, you really won't need to get their Fast Pass. The park really seems to die down at night. Took the family last month and on a Monday night at about 8:30pm, I did Skyrush 4x, Storm Runner 3x, and Fahrenheit 4x before the park closed. All of those rides were complete walk-ons at that time and I was able to re-ride a few times without getting off. During the hotel early entry, only the Hollow section is open, but Comet, SDL, and Skyrush were all walk-ons. I suggest booking it over to Laff Trakk once 10am hits, as that was the only coaster with a consistent line during our stay. Most of the coasters were walk-ons or 1-2 train waits, except for Fahrenheit which was about 15-20 min. Now this was mid-week, so I'd expect longer lines if you go on a weekend. And you will love Skyrush, the ride is insane and has some crazy ejector airtime!

Does anyone have the details of the Coke early entry for the 3rd - 5th? The SFDK twitter sent out a link, but there is nothing about it on the link.

Have to agree with this, we spent 3 days at Hershey earlier in the month and absolutely loved the park. I don't think you will be disappointed with the coaster selection either, especially the Intamin trio. Skyrush is a Top 5 coaster for me and has the most insane ejector airtime I've ever experienced. Storm Runner is an Intamin accelerator coaster like Kingda Ka, except that the top hat is only like 150 feet instead of 450 feet. It does however have a few inversions after the top hat and is a really fun coaster. And Fahrenheit is Intamin's only coaster with a completely vertical lift. The woodies at Hershey don't have the airtime that El Toro does, but Lighting Racer actually races and is one of my favorite woodies. There's also a B&M invert, Vekoma boomerang, Schwarzkopf looper, and several other coasters (13 in all I think). For me, it's probably tied with BG Williamsburg for the best overall park I've been to.

I will be heading to te park next week, probably on Saturday the 4th. Not the ideal day to go, but I have to go to NorCal for work and I'm going to head up early so I can hit the park. I'm a SFMM Gold pass holder, so I assume that I get free parking and early entry at SFDK as well. My plan is to head straight to Superman and get as many rides as possible before the line gets too crazy. I would appreciate any other tips you might have for a first timer at the park. I'm staying the entire day, so my goal is to get multiple rides on the main coasters and and still have time to ride some of the more thrilling flats. I've wanted to check out Superman ever since it opened, so I'm stoked to finally get a chance to ride it.

TC is the only RMC I've ridden, so I can't compare it to other RMC's but it's my new #1 overall coaster. There's just so many cool elements to it along with 18-19 moments of airtime. You are just constantly out of your seat on TC, I've never ridden anything with so much airtime. The ride time is long since you do both sides and the dueling really adds to the ride experience. And the Top Gun stall is probably my favorite element ever on a coaster. It's just amazing to be on a coaster and see another coaster hanging upside down above you. I was at the promo shoot for TC and ended up riding it 19 times in one day and I would've ridden it 19 more if they would've let me. RMC really delivered a world class ride experience with TC.

Here’s my trip report on the 3 days we spent at Hersheypark last week. Now that our kids are at a decent age (11, 8, and 5), my wife and I have decided to take at least one trip a year to a new theme park. (We live in Vegas and go to the CA parks a lot.) We looked at a lot of different options in the Midwest and East Coast and decided that Hershey would be the best fit for our kids’ ages. Plus, the kids had seen the POV of Laff Trakk and really wanted to check it out. Personally, I have been dying to ride the famous Intamin trio, so Hersheypark was the choice—and we loved every minute of it! We booked a room at the Hershey Lodge for the early entry and free shuttle to the park. It was somewhat of a tight fit in a double queen room, but luckily all three kids can still fit in a queen size bed. I thought the Lodge was nice, but we really didn’t do much besides sleep and shower there. They gave us a handout with a bunch of kids’ activities they had going on, but we didn’t do any of them. We had some flight delays getting out to Philly on Monday, so everyone was tired by the time we finally checked in. With the kiddos in bed, I headed to the park by myself to take advantage of the preview feature. If you go the park, definitely take advantage of the preview. It was about 8:40pm by the time the shuttle dropped me off, so I headed straight for Skyrush and got 4 rides on it. Skyrush was a complete walk on and I was actually able to stay on and re-ride my last two rides. I ran over and got 3 rides on Storm Runner and then finished off the night with 4 rides on Fahrenheit, which I was also able to ride without getting off. The park was completely dead that time of night and I was amazed that I was able to get in so many rides in such a short time. (I’ll wait and give my reviews of the rides at the end.) Each morning, we got to the shuttle stop around 8:30 so we would be on the first shuttle over to the park. At 9am they let in the early entry folks and we headed for the Hollow since it was the only area open. Thanks to whoever posted the shortcut advice, we took the little path next to the stroller rental and it saved us some time. Our morning ritual was to get 3-4 rides on Sooper Dooper Looper, 3-4 rides on Comet, and then I would get 3-4 rides on Skyrush while the kids did the swings. My wife, who usually likes coasters, rode Skyrush once with me the first day and that was enough for her (more on that later). One of the things that I loved about Hershey was that there were five coasters that my 42 inch tall 5 year old could ride. She was very excited to ride her first “Big” coasters, especially one with a loop. She was a little scared her first ride on SDL, but as soon as it was done, she said “Again Daddy, again.” Most of the time there was nobody in line waiting, so we just stayed in our same seats for a re-ride. If there was somebody waiting, we just moved to an open seat. The ride ops were great and didn’t make us get off and go around if there were empty seats. Just before 10am, we would get our position at the rope and then head to Laff Trakk as soon as the rope dropped (along with everyone else in the park). Judging by the lines, Laff Trakk is a huge success for the park. We found that we could get 3 rides on it before the lines got too bad. The trains only hold 4 people each, but they were constantly moving and it looked like they were running 6 at a time. The ride ops again were great, Hershey had some of the best and friendliest ops I’ve ever encountered. To avoid loading delays, they would get people’s backpacks and other items to store while you were still in line. Laff Trakk was really the only ride that had a consistent wait the 3 days we were there and it was usually around 30-45 minutes once the park filled up. I think the longest we waited was about 25 minutes on our 3rd ride each morning. The rest of each day we would just wander around the park from ride to ride and almost everything was a walk on or a 1-2 train wait. We did check out the water park on our second day as it was the hottest of the 3 days we spent at the park. The water park has some great play structures for younger kids and even has a Flowrider surf machine. My older two kids tried out the Flowrider and were able to stay on the board for most of their turn. However, they both wiped out at the end and got knocked back by the water, so neither of them wanted to ride it again. The slides were your standard water park tube slides, there wasn’t anything really new or noteworthy. The slides were very popular though as most of them had 20-30 minutes waits, longer than everything but Laff Trakk. Overall, it was a nice water park and a good place to cool off on a hot day. I was glad that it wasn’t a separate admission charge though and I hope it stays that way. The food at Hershey was pretty good and I felt that it was reasonably priced for a theme park. I liked that they had East Coast eateries like Nathan’s and Chickie & Pete’s that we don’t have out West. We fell in love with the Crab Fries at Chickie & Pete’s and got a bucket every day we were there. Hershey also had a great selection of treats and we tried almost everything. The kids loved the make-your-own Whoopie Pies (none of us had ever heard of Whoopie Pies before), while my favorite was the S’mores Cobbler at the Smokehouse. We usually ended up at Chocolate World at the end of each day for dinner and even more treats. The food court at Chocolate World had a nice selection and was never very busy. We also did the Chocolate Tour and the make-your-own chocolate bar. I liked that Chocolate World was right next door as it gave us a nice place to unwind and relax after each day at the park. Well hopefully I haven’t bored anyone with my trip report. We really did have a great time at Hershey and I would highly recommend the park to anyone. There’s so much to do and they have a wide range of rides that appeal to all ages. I’ve put my review of the main rides below as well as a few pictures. We bought the Unlimited 3 day ride photo pass for $70, which wasn’t too bad considering a single 5x7 will set you back $15. We ended up with over 50 on-ride photos, so we definitely got our money’s worth! Ride Reviews: SkyRush – This ride is insane and worth a trip to Hershey all by itself! This coaster is the very definition of extreme, intense ejector air! It’s the only coaster I’ve ridden that I was actually afraid to put my hands up. Riding in a rear wing seat literally felt like I was going to get thrown off the ride. The ride is just non-stop action from the moment the cable lift sucks you out of the station and hurls you over the top of the 200ft drop. Skyrush is definitely a Top 5 coaster for me as the only drawbacks are it’s a little short and the restraints are uncomfortable. 10/10 Storm Runner – My second favorite coaster at Hershey and my wife’s favorite. (She was done with Skyrush after one ride, lol.) I’ve only been on one other Intamin accelerator coaster, Xcelerator, and Storm Runner doesn’t have the speed or height that Xcelerator does. However, the inversions were great and made it feel like a more complete coaster. I still prefer Xcelerator slightly due to the initial launch and the airtime going over the top hat, but SR definitely delivered a great ride. 9/10 Fahrenheit – The last of the Intamin trio, I really enjoyed Fahrenheit but ranked it behind SkyRush and Storm Runner. The vertical lift was a unique feature and the first drop packs a great punch. The inversions were fun and keep coming at you one after another. And just before the ride is over, there’s a great airtime hill that launches you out of your seat. For having so many inversions, the ride was very smooth and I didn’t experience any head banging. 9/10 Lightning Racer – A racing coaster that fun, fast, and really smooth. After our first ride, my 11 yr old said it was her favorite woodie ever. I love how the two tracks were intertwined throughout the ride as the racing aspect really enhanced the ride experience. There are some small pops of airtime and some great banked turns, but it’s really the racing aspect that sets LR apart from other woodies. 8/10 Laff Trakk – A great concept that falls a little short in the execution. I was impressed with the theming of the queue area and the ride, although it would’ve been better if the ride was darker like Space Mountain. The trains didn’t spin as much and it didn’t seem as forceful as the Mack spinner at Knott’s . However, it was my 5 yr old’s favorite ride and had the longest wait times in the pack, so it’s definitely a hit with the GP. 7/10 Wildcat – Really rough and not very fun, we rode it once the first day and that was it. 3/10 Wild Mouse – Pretty much your standard Mack wild mouse, but the top wasn’t trimmed at all, so you just flew through the turns. There was never a line, so it was good for one ride a day. 5/10 Great Bear – It was probably the smoothest B&M Invert that I’ve ridden but it was just a little too short. The initial drop has some nice forces and speed since it’s not straight off the lift hill. I liked the combinations of inversions that followed and how it interacts with SDL, but then the ride just kind of ends. However, it was my 11 yr old’s first B&M Invert though and she absolutely loved it. So that bumps it up from a 7/10 to a 8/10. Sidewinder – The smoothest Vekoma Boomerang I’ve ridden and absolutely the best OTSR’s I’ve ever seen. The restraints hug your shoulders tightly, but they are cushy and have some give to them. And the best part is there was no head banging at all! 6/10 because it’s still a Vekoma Boomerang. Comet – A great old school out and back woodie that’s pretty smooth for a 70 yr old ride. We enjoyed it much more than Wildcat and rode it multiple times each day. 7/10 Sooper Dooper Looper – Wow, what a great ride for an old Schwarzkopf looper. The new Gerstlauer trains are super smooth and they have lap bars, no stupid OTSR’s! The whole family loved SDL and we rode it multiple times each morning and then a few times each night as we were leaving the park. Revolution at SFMM really needs these new trains as it’s so rough and painful that I don’t ride it anymore. Kudos to Hershey for keeping Mr. Schwarzkopf’s creation in such good condition. 8/10 Coal Cracker – Just your ordinary log flume, except that it has major airtime at the end! There is a bunny hill at the end of the drop that bounces you up out of your seat. It was completely unexpected and a nice surprise the first time we rode it. The ride was never busy, so we would usually go around 2 or 3 times without having to get off. We were able to get some fun photos too. 7/10 Trailblazer – Short and slow old Arrow mine train, didn’t enjoy it as much as Goldrusher at SFMM. It does however have a 36 inch min height requirement, so it’s a good first coaster for younger kids. 4/10 Don't let her face fool you, she loved riding her first looping coaster! The queue for Laff Trakk was a lot of fun with the funhouse mirrors and black lights. The kids loved making their own Whoopie Pies. They reminded me of the Hostess cupcakes I used to eat as a kid. The kids wanted to get photos with all the Hershey characters. On our last day, we finally found these guys. We got a ton of photos on Coal Cracker with our photo pass, I think this one is my favorite. SDL was so much fun, we probably rode it more than any other ride. My favorite spot on Skyrush, the most insane coaster I've ever ridden!

I wouldn't worry about Fast Track at Hershey, especially if you're going to do the preview night option. I was at the park last week and on a Monday night I was able to ride Skyrush 4x, Storm Runner 3x, and Fahrenheit 4x in an hour and twenty minutes. The park was completely dead at night and all of those coasters were walk-ons. I was even able to re-ride a few times without having to get off. We spent 3 days at the park (Tues-Thurs) and the only rides that had consistent wait times were Laff Trakk (30-45 min, but we hit it first thing and only waited like 5 min) and Fahrenheit (15-20 min), pretty much every other coaster was a walk on or 1-2 train wait. If you do the preview night followed by an entire day at the park, you should be able to get multiple rides on all the big coasters.