Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread

[VinTheAttendant]

Hershey Park's Facebook page is getting pounded for the zoo incident. It's amazing how an amusement park can be labeled "neglectful," "cruel," or "evil" when something bad happens, especially when the incident was out of the park's control. I really hope that the park gets back on its feet, and I really hope the people P.O.ed by this incident stay away from the park.

[DiSab]

^I saw a good number of those Facebook posts, and it just makes me sick that people would slam the park for it. You know the staff tried everything they could to keep the situation under control, but s**t spun out of control so quickly they couldn't evacuate all the animals in time. I'm sure it was a difficult and heartbreaking decision, but when the flooding happens as fast as it did, sometimes there's nothing you can do - no matter how prepared you are at the start.

[Ccron10]

Found this photo on Facebook that was taken several hours ago.

[BaMiTsPaT]

^Is the track to the far right submerged in the water?

[SharkTums]

Aquatrax?

 

What? Too Soon?

 

[DiSab]

^That's one wicked splashdown.

[xmichellex]

Poor Hershey... this is awful.

 

I feel so terrible for the Zoo workers, what a horrible situation to be in

[Chroniq]

Never one to be outdone by Seaworld, Hersheypark has announced today their renaming and retheming of Great Bear into "Manta-The Real Undersea Adventure". This ride features the first underwater inversion as well as onboard scuba gear. Opening September 7.

[sspaz1000]

I knew Hershey was bad as well, but I didn't realize it was this bad there.

 

I saw the people knocking the park for their decision. I'm just guessing they are all naive in knowing that lots of times with flooding the unexpected happens, and one can be prepared as much as they want, water that rose that fast, there's not a lot you can do.

[coasterbill]

This really is awful. Hopefully they get everything cleaned up soon but that would be a miracle.

[B&MIntaminGCI]

That's terrible, especially for the Zoo workers.

 

Imagine riding Great Bear and slamming into the water at that speed, ow.

[DJeXeL]

That is horrible. Hopefully it doesn't cause too much damage.

[IanKgtr]

Hershey should give O'Connell Plumbing and Drain a call, they could undoubtedly sort this out.

 

I do feel really bad for both the ZooAmerica workers and the park itself... It's a shame they're being blamed when the circumstances were clearly out of their control. Let's hope for a speedy recovery.

[harper83087]

wow....just wow....I'm speechless on this one, as well as Knoebels. Anybody know how the other portions of the park are looking/handling?

[coasterfreak101]

^I imagine the entire Trailblazer area is terrible as well - I heard somewhere that the creek was touching Storm Runner's crossing of it by the catering pavilion, and that was yesterday, before it was up to Great Bear's level. And there are houses down on that level...no good.

[Saldek]

Here's a pic of the front gates!

 

[DJeXeL]

Hate to sound corny but this is literally heartbreaking.

I feel bad for all involved with the cleanup effort.

[eddie200330]

Google "hershey pa flooding" and there are numerous links with pics and vids of all the flooding throughout the area. Knoebels has their facebook pics up with flooding pics from Tuesday. I can only imagine what the place is gonna look like after all the water goes back down. The weather is not looking too promising over the next few days to a week.......

 

Here is a pic from some news website of the Comet/ construction area sort of.....

ZooAmerica from some forum site

[SharkTums]

Wow, that front gate picture is insane!

 

Hopefully they had enough warning and help to get everything to higher ground before the waters came.

[DJeXeL]

^2 Bison @ Zoomerica were casualties of the flooding. Not sure if you knew or not....

[thrillerman1]

This is epic. I'm curious how Dutch Wonderland is doing as well.

[coasterfreak101]

^2 Bison @ Zoomerica were casualties of the flooding. Not sure if you knew or not....

 

I think she means not just the animals, but all the equipment too - if Storm Runner's hydraulic room floods, or any of the electrical/control areas flood, they've got a lot of work ahead of them to get everything open again.

[DJeXeL]

Just posted to their Facebook.

 

We very much appreciate many of your wishes, thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. We realize that just like our staff, many people are emotionally connected to every member of our Zoo family. Because of that connection, we fully understand why some have questions regarding what happened to our bison.

 

For those who didn’t have a chance to view it, last evening we did post on his page describing what happened.**

 

We’d like to try and answer questions that some have raised and give as much correct information as possible. While we don’t think this will lessen the feeling of loss that we're all experiencing, we do hope it will create a common understanding around what happened.

 

Question: Has a bison at ZooAmerica ever drowned or been euthanized in the past?

Answer: We’ve never lost or euthanized a bison, or any large animal, due to flooding at any time - even including the flooding that occurred during hurricanes that have struck Hershey. Suggestions that bison were lost during Hurricane Ivan are incorrect.

 

Q: Are there any other animals that have perished from the flooding?

A: There have been no other losses reported at this time. Reports that our wolves passes away are incorrect. All of the wolves were relocated to the highest portion of their enclosure during the storm. All four wolves are fine and the flood waters have currently receded from their enclosure.

 

Q: Did you have a plan in place and did you feel that it was effective?

A: We do have a flood response plan, which we began implementing on Monday. Based on our past experience and during other milestone storms, our plan to first remove animals to higher ground and then, if necessary, relocate the animals has always been effective in securing their safety.

This, however, was truly unprecedented flooding. Such unforeseen acts of nature are difficult to plan for - as all public and private entities within Derry Township discovered.

 

Q: Why didn’t you tranquilize and move the larger animals earlier in the week?

A: Tranquilizing and moving large animals is stressful on them - and we only do it when absolutely necessary, not in the instance of every flood warning. Based on more than three decades of experience, the practice of moving the animals to higher ground would have given us enough time to tranquilize the bison and relocate them, should flooding become severe. But, again, the speed and ferocity of this storm was unlike any we’ve ever encountered. When the bison enclosure flooded so quickly, tranquilizing them become impossible, for once they were tranquilized they would have immediately been submerged in the flood water and drown.

 

Q: Were the bison moved to higher ground?

A: Yes. They were moved to the highest ground within their enclosure earlier in the week.

 

Q: Why did you wait to close until noon on Wednesday?

A: The fact that we were open to the public did not alter or impede our animals' safety. Animal relocation did not begin once we were closed; it had been ongoing throughout the week. The safety of our animals, employees and guests is our top priority. It always has been and always will be. We were working to ensure that our animals are in a safe conditions, according to the plan we have in place, throughout the week.

 

As we said last evening, this has been a very emotional and trying time for those at the Zoo - both our animals and employees. While we are all saddened by the loss of the bison, we must acknowledge the heroic efforts of the Zoo staff - some of whom have been working without sleep on behalf of the animals. Many willingly put themselves in harm’s way in order to protect and rescue the animals in their care (even rescuing wild animals that were in distress at the same time). We are extremely proud of the efforts of the Zoo staff, and share this loss with them.

 

** Hersheypark's correction to last evening's post: A single bison was euthanized after unsuccessful attempts to rescue the first bison resulted in that bison drowning.

 

^Kinda figured that too. Contamination of any kind in a hydraulic system will results in every single pump, valve, hose, fitting etc.... needing to be replaced. It's hard to even fathom the amount of damage that will be left once the flood waters subside.

[Saldek]

A few more photos.

 

This is just unreal!

 

 

 

 

 

[crazywolf88]

OMG Its...The DEVASTATOR

Two whole minutes UNDERWATER!

 

For those of you who haven't seen this, here:

 

But in all seriousness this is terrible , I wonder how long it will take to clean this up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And how long it will delay Skyrush