Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread

[kidmanboy]

What’s the word on Lightning Racer? From looking at the app, it doesn’t appear as if it’s been open yet. 
Heading to the park in early June and hoping all of the coasters will be open by then!

[tndank]

1 hour ago, kidmanboy said:

What’s the word on Lightning Racer? From looking at the app, it doesn’t appear as if it’s been open yet. 
Heading to the park in early June and hoping all of the coasters will be open by then!

It was testing last week but has not opened yet.    Probably any day now.

 

[C.O.]

Hi all! My friend and I made our first ever visit to Hersheypark this Saturday and had a blast. Thanks so much to everyone that gave us advice on how to make the most of our day - we rope dropped Fahrenheit and got in 2 walk-on rides and managed to get the Laff Track credit before the lines got longer than 15 min. The park was definitely very busy, and most of the major rides got up to a 1-2 hour wait during the day per the app, although it seemed like the app was most overestimating wait times.

A couple bits of news for folks:

- Lightning Racer (Left) was open and ran pretty well for a 20+ y/o GCI! The right side had its train on the track but it was covered in tarp.

- Storm Runner didn't open or test at all on Saturday, but trains are on the tracks with water dummies. Super bummed we missed this, but definitely gives us reason to come back!

[boldikus]

Folks are reporting that the path below Skyrush is back open.

[qpb2004]

^ I can confirm this, as I had the pleasure of walking down it today at the park. 

[YoshiFan]

I was there too and was happy to see the crowds were back to 2019 and earlier Sunday in April crowd levels. Other than the usual rides (Laff Trakk and Cupfusion) plus Lightning Racer, I didn't wait more than 20 minutes for anything. Even Fahrenheit was only around 15 minutes.

[JJLehto]

Glad it was a great time! Love Hershey so much. Though oof has Storm Runner still been down? Deff hope that is back up and running soon.

[C.O.]

32 minutes ago, JJLehto said:

Glad it was a great time! Love Hershey so much. Though oof has Storm Runner still been down? Deff hope that is back up and running soon.

It was down for the entire 2020 season and hasn't opened yet this season - I've only visited once but my understanding was that they had a safety incident that caused the ride to shutdown, but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. They had trains on the tracks with water dummies so hopefully it opens again soon, it was a huge bummer to miss it!

[Canobie Coaster]

Hersheypark's official statement was that Storm Runner was closed in 2020 since they were waiting on a part that was delayed due to covid.

[bert425]

15 minutes ago, C.O. said:

It was down for the entire 2020 season and hasn't opened yet this season - I've only visited once but my understanding was that they had a safety incident that caused the ride to shutdown, but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. They had trains on the tracks with water dummies so hopefully it opens again soon, it was a huge bummer to miss it!

Officially it was down waiting for a part from overseas (that was then impacted by Covid restrictions/issues due to Covid shutdowns)

I think only Fandom equated the long downtime due to that lawsuit over the perceived safety issue (and I'll fully believe that they did take it down for a little while to do "discovery" for the lawsuit, but certainly that's not why the extended downtime).

good news on the water dummies, as that does imply whatever part they were waiting on has arrived.

 

[bert425]

Just now, Canobie Coaster said:

Hersheypark's official statement was that Storm Runner was closed in 2020 since they were waiting on a part that was delayed due to covid.

you type less than  me.. LOL. . so you got your answer in first

[boldikus]

They have responded to questions about it on their Twitter and FB pages alluding to it opening this season.

 

[tndank]

The fact they have water dummies loaded up on the train this year seems to indicate they intend to open it.  And probably sooner rather than later. No real hurry on their end, park is seeing good business.

 

[Canobie Coaster]

Has anyone had experience visiting Hersheypark on a windy day?  I was hoping to visit Friday expecting low crowds, but the weather calls for 20-25 mph sustained winds and gusts of 35-40 mph.  The back-up plan is a park two hours east that I know has zero cares in the world running things in any weather conditions.

[tndank]

Coaster power hours at SFGA sound awesome.  I think I'd head that way regardless.  But I do love some Hershey and Skyrush.

 

[Canobie Coaster]

The original plan was to hit Hershey on Friday for minimal crowds and then do Great Adventure on Saturday since I have the all-season Flash Pass.  I agree Power Hour and all those night rides at Great Adventure sound awesome, so that's not a bad consolation prize.

[JJLehto]

Oh I know, I am a stormrunner fanboy so my 2020 visit was a little sad  
Didn't know it was still down and bc of a piece, I just assumed was a weird covid protocol so good to know! I don't follow news as well as y'all and I don't really follow parks on the social medias and all so I never know this stuff ha 

Deff excited though, I will prob stop by Hershey in early June on my way back from Ohio. Hope SR is open by then but not banking on it, which is OK. It'll just be nice to be at Hershey again when it's not July and (hopefully) not uber crowded. I've heard from my brother and couple others Candymonium is better in front, which I never did so maybe that will make the ride a tad less...lackluster XD 

[tndank]

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Awesome news! This is what we've been working toward for a year and a half! Get your vaccine and get back to normal!

[boldikus]

Cool but uhhhh how are they going to enforce this? Beyond going around to everyone and asking to see their vax card I don’t see how... Non-vaccinated people are just going to lie about it which doesn’t do anyone any good. 

[AmyUD06]

Those of us waiting for a full FDA approval would never lie.

[tndank]

There will be no checking. You are on your own. If you've been vaccinated, why would you care. If you haven't, it's clearly a decision you made. 

[ytterbiumanalyst]

49 minutes ago, boldikus said:

Cool but uhhhh how are they going to enforce this? Beyond going around to everyone and asking to see their vax card I don’t see how... Non-vaccinated people are just going to lie about it which doesn’t do anyone any good. 

That is the main trouble, yes, but let's be real here. Vaccines have been available to all Americans 16+ for about a month now, so there aren't a whole lot of people who are eligible and really want a vaccine and just haven't gotten one yet. The people who haven't gotten one either a) are too young, b) have a legitimate medical condition that they didn't make up and an actual, real doctor told them they probably shouldn't get the vaccine, or c) are gullible and don't give a sh*t about anyone but themselves. Speaking of which,

 

41 minutes ago, Mike240SX said:

Those of us waiting for a full FDA approval would never lie.

 

Oh come on, man. You've said some extremely callous stuff on this very site for 15 months now. Don't lie to us and pretend like you're just waiting for the right government agency to say the right thing. We all know you don't give a sh*t. How do we know? You told us yourself!

[AmyUD06]

@ytterbiumanalystPlease check your PMs.  I'll no longer engage in conversation not related to parks, visiting parks, or complying with park regulations in the thread.  I've learned from my past mistakes regarding that.

[kidmanboy]

17 minutes ago, ytterbiumanalyst said:

That is the main trouble, yes, but let's be real here. Vaccines have been available to all Americans 16+ for about a month now, so there aren't a whole lot of people who are eligible and really want a vaccine and just haven't gotten one yet. The people who haven't gotten one either a) are too young, b) have a legitimate medical condition that they didn't make up and an actual, real doctor told them they probably shouldn't get the vaccine, or c) are gullible and don't give a sh*t about anyone but themselves.

But what about those kids under 12? Kids who will send their entire classroom into quarantine if they do end up contracting the virus. I think there’s valid reasons for those of us with young children to be concerned about the prospect of large massless crowds that aren’t verified to be vaccinated. 
I have a stay booked for a few weeks from now and may have to reconsider based on this news.