DerekRx Posted December 3, 2006 Posted December 3, 2006 A few years ago Hersheypark realized people would actually go to their park in the wintertime for more than just Chocolate World. Recently they added a drive thru lights spectacular and have had portions of the park opened for over a decade. Every year things seem to grow a little bit more, and this year they finally got rid of the free admission, pay per ride, and POP wristbands in exchange for a simple $10 admission and all you can ride. Things have really picked up, lots of rides are opened, though no water rides (duh) and sadly not one coaster. Why they can't run a coaster is beyond me, there is definitely enough people crazy enough to do it, and even Dollywood and Japan do it. The place was pretty crowded throughout the night, even rides like the monorail had a good 20 minute wait. I now remember why its not a good idea to go to parks when its cold though, as freakishly warm as it was here on Friday, Saturday was right back in the 30s by nightfall. But thats what you expect at Christmastime. As the sun goes away, the coldness really comes out And we were crazy enough to ride the flyers. Awww, poor Storm Runner was doing its Kingda Ka impression Hello, I'm the Great Bear, I'm in hibernation oooh, piece of candy. and its free for riding the darkride, yay! and they had pseudo-holiday theming for the event too Dave and Janna try scoring points by shooting me, but it doesn't work Dave's gonna get another darkride credit! and a darkride car, which can only mean one thing.... Check it out, its cardboard people With all Six Flags parks closed for the winter, the vandalizers had to come to Hershey to get their fix Here I get my rash placed with ease Adam may be married now, but that won't stop him from dabbling Which was very popular with everyone else in the park too apparently and to attract Dave, they even opened the darkride for the event Hersheypark welcomes Joey and his people Even the characters are decked out for Christmas A big honking Christmas tree and Santa and friends ride Comet even though the rest of us can't until April Now instead of being stuck inside a fountain, Milt's in the middle of a poinsettia garden How can you hate a place that has penguins, Elissa? Even in the early afternoon Hershey was starting to fill up Eeek! Sadly no Lightning Racer this time of year, though they probably could run them Moving on to Hershey, we find the whole place decked out for the holidays and Dave drank! But thats a story for another thread Even Dave came up and we honored Robb with some fondued green pepper Adam and Ellen went with the fondue Before heading to the park though, we stopped off for lunch at ABC
DerekRx Posted December 3, 2006 Author Posted December 3, 2006 more photos The final picture is a Christmas gift to Robb. Fire AND turkey legs both at the same stand The final ride for us for the evening was the antique cars. I hope they don't replace these with a dive machine, then we'll have nothing to ride at Christmas Sorry Joe, no lights on the Schwarzkopf for you. Santa is still trying to get off of Comet's lift More rides that make you even colder than you are already in December Ellen's smart idea of the night, hot chocolate, with marshmellows, chocolate chips, AND whipped cream Here I am with my stupid idea of the night, garlic chips. I'm still tasting them today The darker it gets the more lights come on and the more people pour into the park time to check out some smelly reindeer
SharkTums Posted December 3, 2006 Posted December 3, 2006 Sure am glad Dave got on that dark ride!!!! And btw, those Penguins were so not cool if they were at Hershey!
niiicolaaah Posted December 3, 2006 Posted December 3, 2006 Nice pics, Derek. My only comment is "DAAAAAAAVE!" EEEEEHHHHHH!
YoshiFan Posted December 3, 2006 Posted December 3, 2006 Things have really picked up, lots of rides are opened, though no water rides (duh) and sadly not one coaster. Why they can't run a coaster is beyond me, there is definitely enough people crazy enough to do it, and even Dollywood and Japan do it. I agree with that. There is no good reason to not have a coaster running. Even Trailblazer which goes slow enough that I still think people would ride it or SDL which isn't too fast either. I understand not having Storm Runner open and all the coasters in Midway America since that part of the park is never open this time of year.
Meteornotes Posted December 3, 2006 Posted December 3, 2006 What made this weather all the more annoying was that it was 75 the day before!!! Fun evening. I rode just about the crappiest dark ride ever, and got to smell reindeer. The park really needs to open at least one of the coasters for this event. We all had enough beer in us to ride! dt
DerekRx Posted December 3, 2006 Author Posted December 3, 2006 I was being sarcastic AND stating that all the Six Flags parks in this area (SFA, SFGAd, SFDL, SFNE) are closed. I highly doubt vandals would go from Texas to Hershey just to get a quick fix As for Magic Mountain, they can't afford to lose their vandals, otherwise the park would be forced to close
NitroRider Posted December 4, 2006 Posted December 4, 2006 Seems like a fun thing to do. That "Stormrunner acting like Kingda Ka" was hilarious.
Shockwave Posted December 4, 2006 Posted December 4, 2006 Maybe that license plate belonged to one of Joey's Jewish circumcising doctor friends! Looks like that was a lot of fun! Would be even cooler if Hershey opened a few more rides up at winter.
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