defrocker

Current Count: 242 Steel: Fury 325 Wicked Cyclone Maverick Diamondback Millennium Force Superman: the Ride Goliath (SFOG) Nitro Apollo's Chariot Skyrush Wood: Voyage El Toro Boulder Dash Phoenix Ravine Flyer II Thunderhead Jack Rabbit Kentucky Rumbler The Beast Wooden Warrior

I'm torn. If you really enjoy the "cultural" side of parks then BGW is easily a 2 day park. They have a bunch of great shows, depending on what you're into. Several cool animal exhibits. With all of that, plus great rides (flats included) and great places to eat, you could easily spend more than a day there if you wanted to do all they had to offer, and do it at a relaxing pace. If you're going for rides, 1 day.

The only RMC I have ridden is Wicked Cyclone and that wasn't until this year. I was excited to ride it, but it blew me away. I was very impressed how a ride so small in stature can be such a mind-blowing, fast-paced ride. Mean Streak has another 50 feet in height so I cannot imagine RMC Streak not being the best in the park, unless they really botch it. One good effect is it may absorb some of the lines in the back of the park, leaving Maverick a little less busy.

It's hard to tell. I would imagine so, but it doesn't really matter as it won't have much of a line either way. Last time I was there in late May, they were running 2 trains and didn't need to be. There will be more crowds due to the time of year, but I wouldn't fret about getting to ride what you want.

Truth! My Saturday tradition this summer has been: work till noon, drive 3 hours down to Carowinds, use my meal plan and get 2 meals while riding whatever I want. I still get a ride on Intimidator, and a few a piece on both Afterburn and Fury. I always leave content, granted I have done everything there and those 3 *are* the park.

You've watched sports right? You hear stuff like: Today is the most points scored by a wide receiver in the month of November when the temperature is above 80 degrees since 1974. This is the most laps someone has led while racing on their Mother's birthday while their parents were in attendance. It's ridiculous. People want to hear records and trivia, no matter how useless or insignificant they may be. It changes an event from "mundane" to "significant" to the untrained eye.

It was in my review a couple pages back. Rough is probably a little bit of an overstatement, but there was a decent vibration in the valley after the top hat. My wife is very sensitive to roughness so I think in knowing that, I am more in tune to roughness/vibrations when riding. Both of our rides were in the back half of the train FWIW. Even so, it competes for best ride in the park IMO.

I agree here. I like the older process where they just limited people into the station but you could choose where you wanted to sit. So long as there are minimal empty seats, what's the big deal?

One other thing I meant to add... We did the updated chocolate world ride. While I do think the updates are nice with the digital screens, the audio is very busy now with sometimes up to 3 things playing at once. Before the update, riding one time, I knew how chocolate was made. Now I am not convinced that I would know after one ride through. Just thought I would post for those that are Hershey fans.

The title of the thread is literally "First ever visit to the USA, roadtrip May 2016" Right, but what I'm getting at is if I went one time to Cedar Point and I knew I wouldn't make it back in the foreseeable future, then I may, because when crowded you can't do everything. That doesn't apply to many places. I should have specified originally. PS (It's always nice being the butt-end of Coasterbill snark)

I'm just going to put it out there that I do not understand at all when someone travels across the world to go to parks and does NOT get the virtual queue option. You shouldn't complain about things that are your own doing. Sorry, just my take on things. Not everyone has unlimited funds though. It's expensive enough visiting parks, and I, personally, can't justify paying more for "skip the line programs" so I suck it up and wait in line. The park being crowded is not "your own doing" though. If it was a once in a lifetime visit somewhere, maybe. But as of now, for me I can't.

Just got back from my first trip to Hersheypark since 2008 and the memory tends to fade on rides that long ago. We had a really good experience. We waited about 25 minutes for Laff Trakk and everything else was under 15 minutes. A few points before the ride reviews. I was very impressed with Hershey's operations. To be an independent park with no "standards" they are friendly and efficient. They seem to have joined the company of "no glasses, period" on their rides. My wife needs to wear hers to avoid getting sick so we had to sneak them onto the rides (which I don't enjoy doing.) So onto the rides: Fahrenheit: 3 rides. This ride was much better than I remember. My wife said some of the pacing and "twistiness" was reminiscent of Maverick. I just can't get over the vibration through the cobra roll. Really is a downer... Laff Trakk: 1 ride. I like spinning mice, this was really fun, but I have a hard time swallowing a half hour wait for it. Lightning Racer: 1 ride. Walk on - front row. Only rode thunder, but this one has aged very well although it doesn't seem to race as closely as it used to, unfortunately. Wlidcat: 1 ride too many. I'm done with this one. No redeeming qualities. Needs help from Hershey, GCI, RMC, or Caterpillar. Storm Runner: 2 rides. Maybe it's the new restraints, because again, this was much better than I remembered. Lots of air over the tophat, great pop into the flying snake dive (which my wife says is stupid because snakes don't fly or dive). It has developed some roughness, especially in the valley after the drop, but not enough to zap the fun. Trailblazer: 1 ride. It's a mine train. And a slow themeless one at that. Great Bear: 1 ride. back seat. Once again, this was better than I remembered. Certainly not a great Invert considering I have Afterburn right up the road, but still a fun ride with a fun setting by the river. Pre-drop helix is oddly satisfying. SDL: 1 ride, front row. Just a classic. Still butter smooth and a great wooded setting. Skyrush: 4 rides, all back. This ride has really put me in a pickle. There are aspects to it that are great. It has good pacing, setting, and airtime. But... I don't like the trains, the restraints are uncomfortable, it's a little on the short side for a hyper (granted Hershey does not have the setting for a longer one), it was a little on the rough side in the first 2 turns (although I suspect I was on a bad wheel a few times), the laterals are a strain on the body in the wing seats, especially during re-rides. I don't know that I would put it in my personal top 10. I don't know that I would call it the best ride in the park, but it is a blast and it's a good fit for them. I just feel that the early Intamin hyper trains would bump this up a bit for me. This is likely about the best hyper that could have been built in this park and in this plot of land, I'm just still unsure of how I feel about it overall. As a side note, we also did the Hershey Story museum and I have developed a new appreciation for Hershey, in general. What a remarkable man and truly the embodiment of the American Dream. I intend to visit the area again, and certainly sooner than 2024...

What do y'all think they will do during the off-season? Think they will do a bunch of fine tuning the launch components (er, exponents) or will they do something more in depth? Would they even dare getting a new launch system? That seems rather extreme, but the status-quo is not good enough.

"Really bad neck" was probably a bit of an exaggeration, but nevertheless, the point remains. Thanks for the input.

Quick question while we're on the topic of Laff Trakk. How "forceful or intense" is it? Hear me out. We're taking a family trip and I think my mom would love the ride. However, she has a really bad neck and I don't want to have her ride it if there's a chance it may be uncomfortable for her. In the past she loved rides along the lines of scramblers, but I don't know what she can do now.

Iron Hurler? Wicked Hurler? Twisted Hurler? The options are endlessly funny.

The ride where cultures are blended!

I actually think that Hershey's Wild mouse is one of my favorites. Although to be fair, I always ride them and not just for the credit.

I know it was like that when I went in early May.

the lodge was comparable to a Holiday Inn. . so if he's staying overnight anyways, yeah staying at the lodge (which makes parking free, gives you the hour extra the day of, and an opportunity to buy cheaper tickets). yeah, I recommended the Lodge. Maybe it was the dates I looked for a quote but when I looked it was in the ballpark of $400/night for the lodge for the cheapest available. We ended up booking elsewhere for $85/night. Who knows, maybe the time he is looking will be a good time?

He expressed concern over price so you recommend the lodge? If I recall correctly, there is a website a few pages back that had a link to a website where the boy scouts were selling fundraiser tickets. They were reasonably priced.

Alright! Now if they can perfect the zero gravity inside the building, I am sold! Who doesn't want animatronic dinosaurs floating around inside of a planetarium?

Yeah, that definitely sounds safe. Especially if it's a hypercoaster with airtime as you suggested.

I actually noticed the same thing on Gatekeeper. The ride was smooth as butter, however, in the valleys you could feel the wing "bouncing." We did sit in the back so maybe you're right about that. There just isn't as much stability on a wing as there is directly attached to the track. If you compare it to an airplane, you can constantly see the wings "flexing" and such whereas you don't get that experience in the cabin. Not sure why this would only be a phenomenon in the back of a train though?

Galaxies may be drop proof, but are they Vekoma-proof?