Satans Hockey Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 From the link posted a few pages back. Almost like they are going for a mini version of Disney Springs. It sounds fantastic... "Hershey’s Chocolatetown will offer more than five locations to eat, drink and gather, including the largest themed restaurant, bar, and patio in Hershey with one-of-a-kind views of Hersheypark. Open year round, this full-service restaurant and bar will feature a second-story patio & bar and offer an innovative menu with hints of chocolate, craft cocktails, and signature desserts." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freejaffa Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 (edited) For me the single best part of chocolate town is that they are barely touching the 23 acres. We’re going to get a decade of steady growth from this new land. So how many years until they ruin it by moving Lightning Racer to chocolate town so they can expand the only thing the GP cares about the water park? Edited October 3, 2018 by freejaffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Moving on from my Triple Tower joke, here are my real thoughts on this: I actually love Hersheypark's current entrance area. Clearly this won't have that same charm but at the same time it looks really cool and I'm sure the coaster will be a ton of fun. I understand why they're doing this because it's going to be way more efficient and profitable for them (and it's going to be open year round and directly adjacent to Chocolate World), but it's a shame that they're replacing such a charming entrance. I have faith that they'll make this one look really cool though. That said, the pros outweigh the cons by a large margin. I love the bar and I think it's really smart of them to sell more unique craft cocktails. Options for drinking in the park are limited and since you can't walk around the park with a drink it's really important to provide people with nice places to sit and hang out if you want them to buy alcohol. A second story patio & bar with panoramic views sounds like an awesome place to have a few drinks, and providing cool cocktails (that are likely going to feature hints of chocolate) is a great way to turn beer sales into cocktail sales which gives them much higher profit margins and is a lot more unique and fun. As for the coaster, every B&M hyper is awesome and I'm sure this will be too. They have mass appeal and everyone loves them. I do think it's pretty weird to have two hypercoasters right next to eachother right up front but they'll undoubtedly feel like drastically different experiences. I'll never complain about any park building a super fun, high capacity B&M hyper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condor Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Now watch this B&M hyper become the love-child of Mako and Shambhala and blow everyone away at how great it actually is. At the very least it will probably be a top 10 Golden Ticket mainstay! This is actually the perfect coaster for Hershey the way I see it. Right now they don't have a single coaster over 4,000 feet long and this will comfortably exceed that. Skyrush is currently their longest and it blitzes through so fast you barely have time to breathe. Entrance plaza looks great too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B&MIntaminGCI Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Everything in the announcement sounds amazing. The rendering of the entrance and surrounding areas is beautiful and I'm a huge sucker for B&M Hypers so I'm also excited for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Jizzman Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 D'aww, the sweetest coaster at Hershey Really excited for this development as I found the current entrance to be a bit too narrow. It wasn't too crowded when we visited and there was still a hefty line that grew to get in. This new entrance and area will be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Really excited for this development as I found the current entrance to be a bit too narrow. It wasn't too crowded when we visited and there was still a hefty line that grew to get in. This new entrance and area will be great. I completely agree. I'm pretty surprised by all of the people saying how they'll miss the current entrance. It just doesn't make sense for a 'real' theme park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted October 3, 2018 Author Share Posted October 3, 2018 Almost like they are going for a mini version of Disney Springs. That's kind of a stretch as a comparison, even using the word "mini." Disney Springs is a full blown "Entertaining & Dining" complex that is the size of some of the theme parks at Walt Disney World. There may be HUNDREDS of total shops & dining experiences at Disney Springs. This will be a really nice "entrance plaza" with 1 full-service restaurant, a few quick service "snack" locations, and a store. And to be fair, wasn't there ALREADY a full-service restaurant, snack locations, and a shop in their current entrance plaza area? I'm not meaning to sound negative, but I'm not sure you can really compare this to Disney Springs in any way at all. it doesn't even compare to Disneyland's Downtown Disney which is a quarter of the size of Disney Springs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted October 3, 2018 Author Share Posted October 3, 2018 I'm pretty surprised by all of the people saying how they'll miss the current entrance. It just doesn't make sense for a 'real' theme park. Agreed. The current front entrance is horrible and is a compete nightmare bottleneck every time we are there. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that part of the reason why we haven't gone to Hersheypark as much is because the front entrance is just a cluster of annoyance that we have ONLY been lately if we can get into the park early and we will skip the park as a "casual stop" when we are nearby. Bulldozing the current front entrance into something far more usable may actually make me want to go to the park more often! As for the coaster, every B&M hyper is awesome and I'm sure this will be too. They have mass appeal and everyone loves them. I do think it's pretty weird to have two hypercoasters right next to eachother right up front but they'll undoubtedly feel like drastically different experiences. I'll never complain about any park building a super fun, high capacity B&M hyper. I agree with this 100% - And yes, while I wouldn't "complain" about a big, new, fast, high capacity, B&M being built, it also doesn't make me want to go out of the way to make a special visit to the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satans Hockey Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Almost like they are going for a mini version of Disney Springs. That's kind of a stretch as a comparison, even using the word "mini." Disney Springs is a full blown "Entertaining & Dining" complex that is the size of some of the theme parks at Walt Disney World. There may be HUNDREDS of total shops & dining experiences at Disney Springs. This will be a really nice "entrance plaza" with 1 full-service restaurant, a few quick service "snack" locations, and a store. And to be fair, wasn't there ALREADY a full-service restaurant, snack locations, and a shop in their current entrance plaza area? I'm not meaning to sound negative, but I'm not sure you can really compare this to Disney Springs in any way at all. it doesn't even compare to Disneyland's Downtown Disney which is a quarter of the size of Disney Springs! Just the vibe I got from the promo video and reading the article made me think of it but I definitely agree with you. Even if I said an extreme micro version I would be being generous with that comparison lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterLover Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Almost like they are going for a mini version of Disney Springs. And to be fair, wasn't there ALREADY a full-service restaurant, snack locations, and a shop in their current entrance plaza area? All of that.. yes.. and all before you actually entered the park. As the park has grown, those shops and whatnot have become more or less an afterthought when entering and leaving the park. Most are way too small to spark any interest in going into them. The main Hershey "store" that they had just inside the main gate was/is pretty tiny as well. It will be nice for them to finally have a main retail store and restaurant "worthy" of the attendance the park gets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WolfBobs Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Part of me is hoping they just stick with all the generic place holder names they provided in this announcement. I would love to shop in "Flagship Store" or ride "15th Coaster." In all seriousness, love this announcement. I'm hereby throwing my guess for the hyper to be named "Hershey Squirts." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DropDeadFuzzy Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 i really hope each train of the Hyper is themed to a different candy bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThemeParkJunkie51290 Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Wonderful announcement! I've never been to Hersheypark, so this will definitely be in my travel plans for 2020! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deguy123 Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 I actually love Hersheypark's current entrance area. Clearly this won't have that same charm but at the same time it looks really cool and I'm sure the coaster will be a ton of fun. I understand why they're doing this because it's going to be way more efficient and profitable for them (and it's going to be open year round and directly adjacent to Chocolate World), but it's a shame that they're replacing such a charming entrance. I have faith that they'll make this one look really cool though. I understand why they are doing this too, but I have always loved the charm of the entrance. It does get VERY crowded before the park opens. This is huge construction process since its taking the place of the old entrance. When I first heard this I thought they would build the new entrance in another location to the side. This is why they most likely announced this early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillseeker4552 Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 This looks great! The B&M is giving me serious Mako vibes, which I expect to be a good thing. It is a little strange to have it right next door to Skyrush, but the two will have such vastly different ride experiences anyway. They are much more different from each other than the Carowinds and Canada's Wonderland (and probably soon to be Kings Island) B&M Hyper/Giga combos. I'm sure the coaster will be great (I'm a big fan of Nitro and Fury), but Skyrush is still my all-time favorite roller coaster, and if I ever make a return visit to the park, it will be to ride Skyrush again! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grsupercity Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 So if six flags puts snickers on the trains its tacky but if Hershey park puts Hershey's on the train its great theming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prozach626 Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 I like that they're following the Triple Tower format once again. Two hypercoasters right next to eachother (one to the left and one to the right) with one for daring, fun people and one for pussies who are afraid of the cool one. Eh. Throw me into the pussies group on this one. I got bit by a massive German Shepherd police K-9 on the thigh during an arrest last night. It broke the skin and all. No sh*t, it actually happened. Hopefully for the first and last time. That was still less uncomfortable than riding Skyrush on the front row left wing. Even despite the softball size purple bruise on my thigh. Lucky for the K-9 incident I don't have any soft meat on my thighs. Unlucky for Skyrush, I don't have any soft meat on my thighs. Pain and pleasure don't mix, for me. This is great, though. Two different hypers with two different experiences. It's fantastic how the coaster interacts with the entrance and I really like how parks are really starting to immerse roller coasters and rides into the theme park experience as a whole vs. picking a plot of land, clearing it, and placing the coaster off of the beating path. These new shops and restaurants, combined with Hershey Hotel, Hershey Lodge, and Chocolate World, make Hershey Park more of an overall experience instead of just rides and thrills. Cedar Point is the closest comparison I can think of. This looks great! The B&M is giving me serious Mako vibes, which I expect to be a good thing. It looks like it also has a Goliath-like helix within the layout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B&MIntaminGCI Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Looks like the B&M hyper has a reverse bank type of thing at the top of the first helix. Sort of like Fury's "treble clef" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Looks like the B&M hyper has a reverse bank type of thing at the top of the first helix. Sort of like Fury's "treble clef" Considering in that very same image you can see a track connector with no support, and in a different part of the video you can see the train banking not matching that of the track, I wouldn't say that the video rendering is completely accurate. It might not be as banked as it looks there, but we'll see... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 There's no way it's going to do that off of the midcourse. It's B&M not RMC. While I feel like what you see is generally what you're going to get, I wouldn't be shocked if either there are some minor modifications to this design or at the very least it's sort of a rushed render of the actual design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B&MIntaminGCI Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 That's in the middle of the layout after the speed hill. The MCBR is after the helix around the fountain, right before the diving/climbing U-turn into the final breaks. It has a set up similar to Shambala with the MCBR being at the end. Red circle is the banked element in question, Blue is MCBR as far as what I observed. I guess we'll have to wait for construction photos or the official announcement to know for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Ah, gotcha. It's way in the background in the video so I just sort of assumed it was the midcourse. Maybe there is hope for a cool element then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prospekt88 Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 This all looks great. I really liked the charm of the old entrance, but I've only visited on empty fall days in recent memory so I'm oblivious to the apparent mess it causes during peak season. That new fountain looks awesome and it should give great views over the expanded property. Love the look of the restaurant/bar, especially the elevated patio. A confectionery is a perfect fit as well. About the coaster...I'm also in the category of pussies that hate Skyrush. So the B&M hyper will be a welcome addition for me, and for those who like Skyrush you will have shorter lines. I love Nitro at night and I know this won't be quite on that level, but it definitely will have the best location of any of the coasters at Hershey when it comes to night rides. Huge fan of the MCBR at the end also. Looks like the layout has a great flow to it. Overall, very solid looking stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 This is pretty exciting. All the stuff in this new entrance area sounds the same as the existing stuff. They already have a Starbucks, merch shop, and full service restaurant outside the gates. But the entrance area really is too small for this park, and having bigger versions of everything will really help out. Plus, B&M hypers are fun, and if it helps spread out the crowds for lower wait times on Skyrush, I'm all for it. With this, Legoland, and American Dream...NYC/PA trip is gonna have to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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