Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread

[dankeykang]

On 5/14/2021 at 12:01 PM, coasterbill said:

In that case, if you're going for missing credits I wouldn't go to either for awhile because Flying Turns and Storm Runner haven't opened for the season yet.

Yep, good call.  Ended up skipping these parks for now, but I did make a quick pit stop at Sesame Place today just to see if the Wacky Taxi hype is legitimate (it is).

The real question is what will reopen first...Storm Runner or Steel Curtain?  My guess right now would be Steel Curtain but I guess you never really know with Kennywood...

[prozach626]

3 hours ago, rachelmadcow said:

idk what pierogi is. you are so emotional. 

 

American's simply don't care about each other, Ive lived all across the country. that's why I won't buy this whole "u affect me" yea you didn't care abut affecting anyone else until right now. Also the people saying this stuff are usually in hover rounds and have flaking diabetic cankles. 

see below

https://www.channel3000.com/poynette-high-school-teacher-put-on-administrative-leave-after-incident-with-student/

Thanks for your prejudice, but I'd be willing to bet it all that I've done more caring acts within the past year, with tangible results, than you might in a 100 lifetimes. I'm not easily offended, but you just shit on a lot of people in here who are American, and believe it or not, caring people.

[Garet]

I was visiting friends I made in Korea, first some in Niagara, and then a couple days later when I met some friends who lived in Pennsylvania, they offered to take me to a park for my birthday and my choices were Knobels, Kennywood, or Hershey's but they also threw in the option of Cedar Point and grabbing a cheap motel to make it two days there to justify the drive. I chose Cedar Point but still regret not getting a chance to try Skyrush or pretty much all of Knobels.

[disownedpear]

14 hours ago, rachelmadcow said:

American's simply don't care about each other

Since when is it okay to generalize an country of 300 million on a fucking roller coaster fourm? The are caring people and assholes in America just like any other country.

 

Rode Skyrush for the first time since opening year, I hated it then but found it much more enjoyable this time, and it still felt very intense. Wonder what they did do it. 

[rachelmadcow]

Thats good to hear - Skyrush needed a solution asap. 

[ytterbiumanalyst]

3 hours ago, Garet said:

I was visiting friends I made in Korea, first some in Niagara, and then a couple days later when I met some friends who lived in Pennsylvania, they offered to take me to a park for my birthday and my choices were Knobels, Kennywood, or Hershey's but they also through in the option of Cedar Point and grabbing a cheap motel to make it two days there to justify the drive. I chose Cedar Point but still regret not getting a chance to try Skyrush or pretty much all of Knobels.

I love all those parks, but you made a good decision. If I could pick only one of those parks, I'd pick Cedar Point 9 times out of 10.

 

10th time would be on The Ohio State Day or some hellish nightmare like that, and then Knoebels.

[wildcattb5]

13 hours ago, dankeykang said:

The real question is what will reopen first...Storm Runner or Steel Curtain?  My guess right now would be Steel Curtain but I guess you never really know with Kennywood...

For me, the REAL question is whether Storm Runner or Knoebel's Flyers will open first. And not even joking, because one opening before the other would really sway where I'd go to first once the parks are open for daily operations...

[disownedpear]

^I feel the exact same way. At least the Kings Dominion Flyers are pretty good, but they're no Knoebels. 

[Crosshairs007]

I have a question. I bought a Hersheypark ticket last year before the pandemic. My ticket got extended to June 30th, 2021. Do I still need the reservation?

[AmyUD06]

Only if you plan on visiting before 5/31.  After that, reservations will not be required period.

[Alex Sutcliff]

I just did some research on Hershey and discovered that the zoo and gardens are included in the ticket price. I assumed they would be a separate ticket. 

I am going for the rollercoasters but since there is more on offer I'm trying to find out if it's possible to get round the whole park with a fast pass mid week August and also get a chance to walk round the other places as well.

We won't do anything ticketed but how much time should I leave to also have a walk around the chocolate world thing as well?

[AmyUD06]

Man, @Alex Sutcliff, have I got some good news for you.

First, with your paid ticket, for say for a Wednesday, you also get admission for the last two hours on Tuesday night.  So, if your travel arrangement permit it, I highly recommend taking advantage of this and getting some rides the night before while the crowds are dying down.

Second, Chocolate World and Gardens both open a full two hours before the park, leaving you ample time to do those before your day at the park.

Third, the zoo opens a full hour before the park, giving you plenty of time to wander around and start your day there.

As for the rides, note that the the park hours are 11-7 mid-week in August.  That said, with a Fast Track/Unlimited, you should have more than enough time to hit the major coasters as well as take a walk through the zoo.  Keep in mind that the Fast Track only *really* helps with Fahrenheit and Great Bear (these drop you in the station); all of the others from what I remember from last year have the merge point somewhat back in the line.

Note also that this plan does not take into account doing the water park, which I absolutely do not recommend trying since lines there are atrocious, even for the lazy river and wave pool (which yes have queue lines).  Just don't do it.

[Alex Sutcliff]

Thanks for the info. Water parks are out for us as my partner doesn't like the slides which kind of ruin it for me so I'll have to settle for a dunk in the pool at breakers when we go.

Im really glad to hear that we can arrive a bit earlier to check off the zoo, gardens and chocolate world. Will def do that. We may take advantage of the preview. We will have time but it will be after a 5 hour drive so we may just see how we feel on the day.

The hours 11-7 seem good enough. In the UK I am used to midweek days of 10-4pm

[bert425]

you absolutely should take advantage of Preview night. . even if you only ride a couple of the "big" coasters - head to StormRunner, Farenheit, and Laff Track. . those are ones you want to knock out the day before so you won't have to stand in the insane lines the next day.  (tho you'll want to rid Storm Runner again).

when you pay for parking on Preview Night, it's good for the next day too, so you're not "losing" anything.

Chocolate World is outside the main gates, so if you get to the hotel and relax for a little bit. .head over to the park and do Chocolate World to kill any time you need to spend until the preview entry is available.

it's what I would do.

Chocolate World is basically a giant Hershey Gift Shop - but it has a FREE dark ride about making the chocolate that is fun. 

They also sell several "experiences" such as cooking class, make your own chocolate bar, trolley tour of Hershey, etc. . .we've done several of them and they are good.  But yes, those are upcharges.

Zoo America is not large, but it is a wonderful free addition, and I always stop in when at Hershey.  (the entrance is close to the Kissing Tower from within the park).

the Monorail is great too - assuming it's back open by your visit - it takes you outside the park grounds and over downtown Hershey for a nice relaxing ride.

the Gardens are not really connected to the park - so that's a trip to get to.  Those are usually separately ticketed, but were always included in the packages we've gotten at Chocolate World (such as the trolly trip around Hershey, which we loved).  We've never done it tho, as would rather spend time IN the park (as noted, Zoo America is attached, so you don't need to leave the park to do that)

[Mikxy]

Maybe @Mike240SXcan tell me, is it worth visiting HersheyPark on a Saturday if we utilize the fast track unlimited? Trying to figure out something else but might just have to end up visiting Hershey on a weekend. Out of Cedar Point, Kennywood, Hershey Park, Knoebels, Dorney, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, & Kings Island, it's seeming pretty impossible to avoid visiting at least one of the good parks on a Saturday. 

[AmyUD06]

@Mikxy, I would say yes, a Saturday trip with FTU would be worth it.  FTU doesn't help much, but it does help out substantially on Great Bear, Fahrenheit, and to a lesser extent SkyRush.  Note that you absolutely should not try to visit the water park, because that will ruin your day with waits (hour+ for the lazy river, 1.5 hours for a slide, 30-45 minutes for the wave pool, etc.).

That said, out of everything you listed, I'd probably try to do Dorney/Knoebels on the Saturday if possible.  In the other thread, someone mentioned going to Knoebels first then just skipping Dorney, but I'd do it the other way around.  Dorney does have some worthwhile coasters (Talon, Steel Force, Thunderhawk - even with that stupid brake on the last bunny hills), and some unique flats that are tough to find (Enterprise, Apollo).  It's definitely worth a 2-hour stop in, especially if you don't have to pay for it.

Remember that with your Hershey ticket, you also get in to the park for the last 2 hours on the day before the actual day of your visit - they call it "preview."  If I was doing all three parks in one trip, I'd get a hotel near Hersheypark, drive out to Dorney on day 1 morning to be there at opening, knock out that parks above described rides, then head to Knoebels, and if you get bored there (not likely but possible), head to Hershey for the preview night.  Day 2, spend all day at Hershey, then continue on your trip.

Luckily I live close enough that all three are within a reasonable day-trip distance from where I live.

I'll send you a PM with how I would do the trip that you're planning.

 

[abovethesink]

We went to Hershey Park for Memorial Weekend on Saturday 5/29 and Sunday 5/30. We also visited Chocolate World Friday, 5/29. Expecting big crowds we bought Fast Track Unlimited passes for Saturday, but we probably could have gotten by just the same without them due to the cold, rainy weather. Oh well, couldn’t have predicted high 40s, low 50s in the last days of May in PA. It was my first trip back since Fahrenheit opened.

 

Here are my thoughts on the experience, we will start with the non-coaster stuff:

 

Food - This was a pretty big let down overall as we got some pretty terrible stuff, including desserts, in a park where we were expecting there to be some decent options. A rock hard funnel cake my wife bought was a particular lowlight. The rest was just okay, including those beautiful looking king sized milk shakes. The monkey bread was great though, for as long as I could tolerate the sweetness anyway.

Reese’s Cupfusion - I might have butchered that name, but I am talking about the shooter. We rode it a few times Saturday to warm up and it was fun, if not a little inessential.

General Park Condition - The park was in nice shape aesthetically. I also didn’t find it particularly hilly or difficult to navigate, but I read those complaints a few times before the visit so your mileage might vary.

Zoo America - I really, really enjoyed this little zoo focusing on North American animals. I could easily have watched the animals for hours. To me it is much more interesting to see wildlife from my region of the world than the same exotic big animals in every zoo, but I might be alone on this one. Again, it is small, but if I had it my way and was alone I could have spent half a day there easily.

Waterpark - This was supposed to open, but never did because of the cold weather. That call was a no brainer. It would have sat just as empty open.

Chocolate World - Everyone should swing by to check out the store and ride the free tour, but otherwise there isn’t much interesting here other than some overpriced upcharge attractions. We did the 4D movie, which might have been worth it, and the Reese’s Unleashed tasting, which 100% was basically flushing money down the toilet. It was bad.

Operations/Dispatch Times - I want to get this out of the way here so I don’t have to repeat it too many times. They were terrible across the board. Candymonium in particular with its ultra simple belt and clamshell restraints shouldn’t be taking 3-4 minutes per each train. I have no idea what was going on as the coasters all appeared fully staffed, surprisingly. It didn’t really hurt the weekend too much, but they did hold us up quite a bit. Hopefully the staff just needs to be broken in and it picks up through the summer.

 

Now, the coasters, alphabetically:

Candymonium - This thing was running amazingly well. The floater was ridiculous in the backseat, especially over the first hill where it was consistently the most sustained floater I have ever experienced when we were in the backseat. We got five rides on this and absolutely loved it. It was also a nice credit #150 for me. My only complaint would be that our first ride spoiled me on the wave turn as the trims hit too hard on the rest of our rides to get the awesome pop I got there on the first ride. Otherwise, it was B&M hyper heaven. Well, that and the operations. They put three trains on the track, but I don’t know why. It always ended up with two trains stacked and waiting for a couple minutes to get into the station. One train would have had the same capacity.

Comet - Poor old Comet doesn’t like the cold and was the big loser of the weekend for me relative to my expectations. I suspect this is still a great old ride and I remember loving it before, but it was just too slow to get any of the airtime that all those hills should have provided. It just didn't do anything at all on my ride this weekend. I chalk it up to the cold. 

Fahrenheit - I don’t think Fahrenheit is aging well as it had a pretty intense rattle, but it was far from killing the ride. I really wish more of these were built. You can’t beat the vertical lift hill and beyond vertical drop, plus Intamin did the rest of the layout much better than any of the Eurofighters I have been on with similar starts. Very good ride.

Great Bear - I forgot how much of a weirdo, B&M invert Great Bear was with how they had to shoehorn it into an odd plot of land. This is an excellent ride with its intense, wippy transitions. If you ride towards the back you have no chance to see what is coming either which adds to the out of control feeling. Montu remains the king of the inverts I have experienced, but Great Bear is pretty comparable.

Laff Trakk - This little gem was an unexpected show stealer. We got two rides and this goes to show how well you can dress up a standard model if the park wants to. What a fun, delightful experience from the queue to the ride itself. Our spinning was beyond out of control on the first ride, which my wife and kid loved but I did not. On subsequent rides we balanced our weight in the car and that fixed that, for me anyway. Don’t skip Laff Trakk.

Lightning Racer - Closed all weekend. It tested Saturday, but never opened. There was a couple behind me in the Wildcat line talking about how it was because one of the sides kept overshooting the station and they were trying to fix that, but I have no idea if that was true. 

Sidewinder - As president of my own imagination, I hereby demand, by executive order, that every Vekoma Boomerang must immediately be closed until the time comes where they can be retrofitted with the vest restraints. Then, and only then, can they reopen. Sidewinder was the first time I enjoyed a boomerang since I was a kid. What a difference those restraints make. Night and day.

Sky Rush - This was a tale of two rides for me. I wish I got a third, but I wasn’t able to with everything we had to fit into two days as it was a lower priority for the rest of my group. Skyrush only having one train to run didn’t help. I assumed the other train is broken because even the minor coasters ran two trains otherwise. The first ride I had was very janky and painful. The rattle was the worst I have experienced on a steel coaster and the first that ever bothered me at all. The crazy ejector was also painful on the legs due to the poor restraints. Yet, I still loved it. What an amazing layout. The experience overall reminded me of an even more exaggerated Superman from SFNE as that ride is also awesome but bothers my legs, but Skyrush was even better and bothered my legs even more. Then I got my second ride. No rattle, no pain in the legs from the airtime. I don’t know what changed, must have been my seat, but it went from a top 25 ride to me to easily a top 10 with that second ride. A rush indeed. It is worth noting that my thighs did not get crushed on either ride. The pain on the first ride came from flying up into them and I had room to do that the whole way.

Sooperdooperlooper - What an underrated relic. That drop into the loop is just awesome and the loop is even better. Then it meanders around as if it regrets doing its trick too early and now has no idea what to do, which is pretty funny to experience through a modern coaster nerd perspective. I hope it is around for a long, long time.

Storm Runner - As expected, closed all weekend with no sign of life. They are not in a hurry to bring Storm Runner back, unfortunately.

Trailblazer - This is what it is. It is a short, family mine train with an okay helix finale. It must be a great step up for young kids.

Wild Mouse - This also is what it is, but I enjoy these rides. This one was a bit painful on the sides ripping around those turns but it was good fun anyway. I don’t think anyone here needs me to describe a wild mouse for them otherwise.

Wildcat - I went into this with such ultra low expectations from both my memories and its reputation that it turned out sort of fine. I mean it is a bad ride, don’t get me wrong. It is rough, especially in its last section, and the layout isn’t interesting anyway, but I was expecting Predator at SFDL levels bad and it wasn’t there at least. So, that’s something.

 

 All in all it was a very good weekend at Hershey Park, even if it wasn’t perfect. Hershey is just plain a good place to be if you love rollercoasters. Everyone should visit.

 

[tndank]

New launch cable for Storm Runner spotted this weekend.  Maybe by CoasterCon?

[Canobie Coaster]

Here's a picture of the cable spooler from yesterday.

I was there on Saturday and Sunday.  The cool, drizzly weather kept the Memorial Day weekend crowds to the level of a standard summer weekday.

[coneyislandchris]

On 5/31/2021 at 8:40 AM, abovethesink said:

Lightning Racer - Closed all weekend. It tested Saturday, but never opened. There was a couple behind me in the Wildcat line talking about how it was because one of the sides kept overshooting the station and they were trying to fix that, but I have no idea if that was true. 

I was there on Tuesday, and they eventually reopened half of Lightning Racer; only the left side was running, the right side remained roped off. Still a ton of fun but it definitely loses a lot of the appeal when you're not racing.

Tuesday was... uh... not a great day for the park. At one point, they had 31 rides closed. A good chunk of those just flat out never opened at all throughout the day. Obviously we weren't expecting Storm Runner to open up barring some sort of miracle, but Fahrenheit, Sidewinder, and the Wild Mouse were all down for the entire day. Skyrush and Laff Trakk were both down for a good chunk, and Wildcat was also closed until the late afternoon. Both of the non-Boardwalk water rides, Coal Cracker and Tidal Force, were also down for the stretch, supposedly due to some unforeseen plumbing problem. A good chunk of the family flat rides were also out of commission, such as their wave swinger, whip, skyride, pirate ship, flyers, ferris wheel, and two out of the three towers at the Triple Tower. And bar one or two kiddie rides, most every other one was closed. I also don't think it's been mentioned yet, but their fun slide that was over by Laff Trakk has been removed (and no longer appears on the map, either).

I get there's staffing issues going on all around, but it just sucked to get what was basically half an experience on a full price day. We had a two day ticket; Wednesday we ended up just getting some lunch at their new restaurant, The Chocolatier, and when we took a look at the app to see most of the stuff closed on Tuesday still not open, we decided we'd just rather come back later in the season when hopefully they get these issues ironed out. (And hopefully also get Storm Runner back up and operating again.)

[Canobie Coaster]

We tried going to Chocolatier this past weekend, but it was a 5 hour wait when we tried putting our name in around 5, so they stopped taking names.  At least the nearby Primanti's wasn't a bad back-up plan!

As for Fahrenheit, it closed early on both Saturday and Sunday.  It was cycling empty test trains at the end of both days, so I'm not sure what's going on with that ride.  It opened late in my prior visit to the park earlier this year.  In the past, it's usually really reliable.

[coneyislandchris]

51 minutes ago, Canobie Coaster said:

We tried going to Chocolatier this past weekend, but it was a 5 hour wait when we tried putting our name in around 5, so they stopped taking names.  At least the nearby Primanti's wasn't a bad back-up plan!

Yeah, we originally were planning on doing it Tuesday after leaving the park; even on Tuesday the waitlist was 90 minutes at 5 PM. We just ended up heading back to the Hershey Lodge and eating over there instead. Wednesday we made sure to get there a little before opening, and we were fifth in line. Scored one of the sweet Tilt-A-Whirl tables, too!

53 minutes ago, Canobie Coaster said:

As for Fahrenheit, it closed early on both Saturday and Sunday.  It was cycling empty test trains at the end of both days, so I'm not sure what's going on with that ride.  It opened late in my prior visit to the park earlier this year.  In the past, it's usually really reliable.

Just looking at Queue-Times, it looks like it's been down consistently for the past three days now. Definitely hope they can get it up and running again soon. Stinks that two out of the three Intamins are currently down, but them's the breaks I guess.

[dankeykang]

Sounds like they've got a test train/dummies out on Storm Runner and have been rolling it through the launch track.

[tndank]

Storm Runner testing has started today.

 

[coasterbill]

Slow clap for Hershey...