Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread

[WFChris]

^Not gonna lie, Laffy Taffy was the first thing to come to mind....maybe a Wonka acquisition is underway!

[GayCoasterGuy]

God I love Hersheypark. Now so much more This thing looks insane, can't wait!

[XYZ]

At first I thought Hershey might be using a new technology on this one because Maurer introduced X-Train so there might be an S-Train, S2-Car or something, but given that Hershey denied Mack because they didn't want prototype coaster, this might be totally the same as the other SC-2000s.

 

The theme is great, I love it. But I was expecting a more unique coaster from Hershey Park.

 

How do we know they denied Mack? Not doubting you just curious where that information came from. Also, We all know that Hershey isn't known for turning down prototypes. Skyrush and Fahrenheit say hi.

I read about HP chose Intamin because Mack presented the invert spinning powered coaster and Hershey didn't want to build a prototype coaster.

 

HP could've purchased a standard Mack spinning coaster...

[rcjp]

God I love Hersheypark. Now so much more This thing looks insane, can't wait!

I love the psychedelic look of it. Almost a bit creepy too!

[rollin_n_coastin]

This looks great! I really like the theme and like others, think that the queue could really be a huge part of the ride. As soon as I saw Maurer Sohne, I thought Winjas, which is the best spinning coaster that I've been on. I'm hoping that a bit of custom stuff will be added as a surprise, that could really interact well with "glow" scenery.

[boldikus]

God I love Hersheypark. Now so much more This thing looks insane, can't wait!

I love the psychedelic look of it. Almost a bit creepy too!

 

Agreed 100%. Hopefully the $14 million goes a long way into the queue and the effects/glow stuff. Also I love the name. Coaster names are always so serious and masculine, I like that this is campy/kitschy. It totally fits the theme.

[rcjp]

^Yeah all that money will have to mean a very complete experience and I'm sure they'll use it well.

[chris921]

I think for $14 million Hersheypark should have had a custom coaster design. This is the same canned layout found on Steel Dragon at Waldameer Park in Erie, PA, and other small parks/carnivals all over the US. There isn't enough glow-in-the-dark spray paint in the world to make this worth $14 million. After something as great as SkyRush, you would think HP would want to keep the momentum going and continue to exceed their own standards - instead of this.

 

. NOT worth $14 million - even if it's glow in the dark. Hersheypark guests deserve a custom design. This is just an overpriced illusion.

[coasterbill]

Only enthusiasts care if a design is custom or not... in this case most of them don't even care. I know I don't, I think this is a great fit and it's going to be a lot of fun.

[ahecht]

NOT worth $14 million - even if it's glow in the dark. Hersheypark guests deserve a custom design. This is just an overpriced illusion.

 

You really think that the average Hersheypark guest cares at all about whether the layout of the coaster is the same as a coaster at another park 5 hours away? Joker's Jinx and Flight of Fear at Six Flags America and King's Dominion are only an hour and a half from each other, and I'd guarantee that 99% of people at one park have no clue that the other ride has the same layout. Designing a custom layout would've been a waste of money.

[chris921]

You guys are missing my point. No, I don't think most guests are that smart. However, we are talking $14 million. Think of what Hersheypark could have done with $14 million besides make this coaster glow in the dark.

and the mouse at HP - not much different. It's all an illusion. A very expensive illusion.

[OrlandoGuy]

I think that unless you know the exact design of a ride (including the showbuilding details, queue, etc.) along with the cost of materials and R&D needed for said things, OR you are an accountant for the park, its kind of unfair to decide how well or poorly the money is being spent.

[DJeXeL]

^Keep in mind, members of this forum know how to operate a park better than the park's management.

[ahecht]

^^^Hersheypark is spending their own money here. They aren't going to waste it out of laziness. If spending extra money for a custom designed coaster, instead of spending that money on theming, site improvements, the enclosure building, drainage, etc., would've provided a better return on investment, then they would've done that. If the "off the shelf" design cost 14 million, a custom design probably exceeded the budget and resulted in nothing new for 2015 at all.

 

Yes, a custom layout might have been nice for us coaster nerds, but I'm fine with a custom theme instead. A themed enclosed coaster will definitely stand out more to the GP than another bare steel outdoor coaster.

Edited August 13, 2014 by ahecht

[OrlandoGuy]

^So true.

 

Also keep in mind that Space Mountain would be super lame if not in a building...sometimes the darkness/cool scenery can elevate even the most basic ride to a very cool experience.

[chris921]

I hear all of you loud and clear, but I consider Hersheypark to be a major theme park - and when it comes to coasters - especially their 13th (lucky 13 as they are calling it in their posts on Facebook) - Hersheypark should do better than a canned or cloned design. Period. Knowing HE&R like I do - they always take a good idea and scale it back. Such was the case with Giant Center, SkyRush, etc. Interesting to note on this particular ride - much of the internal management are furious because of the lack of raises or bonuses for employees - and yet they can spend $14 million on something that is essentially a clone with glow in the dark paint. I don't think Cedar Point, Dorney Park, etc. would ever take a cloned layout from another park and "pretty it up" with artwork costing nearly $14 million.

[Canobie Coaster]

Crush's Coaster, which is the closest comparison, is fairly popular with crowds at Disneyland Paris so Hersheypark most likely did their research. Most guests won't realize this is an off the shelf coaster, and that's what matters most.

[ahecht]

^^If HE&R is strapped for cash and can't pay out bonuses, how do you expect them to pay millions extra for a custom layout that 99% of their guests would never notice? From a non-coaster-nerd standpoint, how is a custom layout on an unthemed coaster "better" for their 13th coaster than a custom theme on a "canned or cloned" coaster?

 

Don't forget that Dorney has an off-the-shelf Maurer mouse as well. The fact that they wouldn't spend millions to enclose and theme it shows how Hershey is willing to go the extra mile. It's not 14 million for paint -- the ride itself probably costs 5-6 million (Undertow was 5.5 million in 2012), the 5-story-tall 11,000-sq-ft building probably costs another 5-6 million (any warehouse-like building over 40ft gets expensive fast, and being in an area that regularly floods just adds to the site prep costs), so the added theming is probably a couple million at most.

[neil009]

I hear all of you loud and clear, but I consider Hersheypark to be a major theme park - and when it comes to coasters - especially their 13th (lucky 13 as they are calling it in their posts on Facebook) - Hersheypark should do better than a canned or cloned design. Period.

 

WHO. CARES. It's a freaking family spinning coaster, you go up, you go around some curves, you spin around a lot. It's never going to make the Mitch Hawker top ten no matter how custom the design is. FoF is at a major theme park and it's a great ride. The coaster will do its job, the theming will do its job, Hershey will have a solid new attraction, and we'll all have an awesome new custom to look forward to in 2016/17. Period.

[XYZ]

I hear all of you loud and clear, but I consider Hersheypark to be a major theme park - and when it comes to coasters - especially their 13th (lucky 13 as they are calling it in their posts on Facebook) - Hersheypark should do better than a canned or cloned design. Period. Knowing HE&R like I do - they always take a good idea and scale it back. Such was the case with Giant Center, SkyRush, etc. Interesting to note on this particular ride - much of the internal management are furious because of the lack of raises or bonuses for employees - and yet they can spend $14 million on something that is essentially a clone with glow in the dark paint. I don't think Cedar Point, Dorney Park, etc. would ever take a cloned layout from another park and "pretty it up" with artwork costing nearly $14 million.

 

I don't want to be mean or anything, but every one of your posts is basically the same thing by trying to argue on how Laff Trakk should be a custom layout and how the $14 million should've been spent more wisely. It's like you registered on TPR just to be negative about Laff Trakk.

 

[jynx242]

Wow - we are getting harder and harder to please, aren't we??

 

To me - it looks great and will be awesome for the park. I'm hoping for some of that creepy retro-themed funhouse stuff.

 

Something I've noticed in my travels and adventures... put a ride in a box, and unless there is a batman logo associated, it becomes awesome. I'm sure Hershey is going to do a jam-up job on this one. I think it fits very nicely with their existing coaster lineup and would have been really shocked if they had put something "extreme" in. I just rode SkyRush withTPR a couple of weeks ago and wow - that thing was amazing. I don't think that the guests in Hershey would ride anything much more extreme than that. This coaster, however, will be fun and will be something that pleases a much broader spectrum of riders.

 

Can someone remind me where this will be located please? I can't seem to place it in my mind.

 

Thanks!

[CanobieFan]

Hi!

The ride is located where the kiddie rides currently are. The Granny Bees and the Pony Carts will be relocated, and the mini train will be in storage.

[milst1]

I hear all of you loud and clear, but I consider Hersheypark to be a major theme park - and when it comes to coasters - especially their 13th (lucky 13 as they are calling it in their posts on Facebook) - Hersheypark should do better than a canned or cloned design. Period. Knowing HE&R like I do - they always take a good idea and scale it back. Such was the case with Giant Center, SkyRush, etc. Interesting to note on this particular ride - much of the internal management are furious because of the lack of raises or bonuses for employees - and yet they can spend $14 million on something that is essentially a clone with glow in the dark paint. I don't think Cedar Point, Dorney Park, etc. would ever take a cloned layout from another park and "pretty it up" with artwork costing nearly $14 million.

 

Quick finance lesson: Compare the present value of future net cash flows that will come from from an investment (such as $$$ paid by additional paying guests who come to ride a new roller coaster) with the cost of that investment. If the former is greater than the latter, the investment should be undertaken. The company has calculated that more than $14mm in future cash flow, discounted to the present day, will come from this coaster, so a $14mm investment is justifiable. That's about it.

 

On the point of what the $14mm is paying for, that seems to be a reasonable question, given that Spider at Lagoon only cost $3mm in 2003 and Whirlwind at Sea Breeze cost a million less in 2004, according to rcdb. The Dark Knight coasters were $7.5mm in 2008-2009, and Six Flags must have gotten a bulk discount for buying 3 of them. Inflation and the change in the Euro/$ exchange rate only explain a small part of the price difference, so the rest has to be related to the building, effects, theming, and queue. I'm guessing/hoping that there are a few surprises that the public doesn't know about yet.

 

As far as bonuses and raises go, that is not exactly the most vibrant economic region in the country, so many of those staffers are lucky to have jobs, not to mention bonuses. If they don't feel they're being paid their worth, they should find work elsewhere, but in truth, Hershey workers are, historically, some of the best-treated workers in the world, beneficiaries of an unmatched corporate paternalism. Hershey invests in its own hometown unlike few other companies, and I'm sure they get more excellent resumes in the mail than they know what to do with. Few employees are irreplaceable for a company like Hershey.

 

Moreover, to address your point, raises and bonuses generally come out of operational cash flows and profits. The cost of a new coaster only affects profits through depreciation (positive effect), interest expense (negative), and operational costs (negative). I doubt that the decision to build a new coaster had any bearing on the decision to give or not give raises and bonuses, unless the company is strapped for cash, which seems unlikely. The building of the coaster is not coming out of operational cash flows anyway.

 

Also, I also don't see why coaster number 13 is any more significant than coaster 3 or coaster 8. Why, exactly, is that important? Did you get really annoyed when they announced Cocoa Cruiser for number 12?

 

Finally, Dorney isn't really a good example for comparison. Their collection of cast-off rides from other parks doesn't really mark them for excellence.

 

I think this is the most I've said on TPR in the last 5 years. Cheers.

[DJeXeL]

Finally, Dorney isn't really a good example for comparison. Their collection of cast-off rides from other parks doesn't really mark them for excellence.

 

This! Just, This!

[Brassinthegrass]

I have to agree with all that Martin is saying... We also need to keep in mind that we have seen NOTHING other than what is going on inside the ride building... We may be looking at a fully interactive queue with games and such while waiting on line. If it's done correctly, I could easily see them spending 1.5-2 million on just that.

 

Also, we don't know if the cost includes relocating other rides in the area to make room! Every park seems to quote the cost to the public differently...