Olsor Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 My wife and I just got back today from a week-long vacation in Pennsylvania. In between historical stops, I somehow managed to talk my wife into visiting three amusement parks along the way. And she wasn't even drunk when I asked. We thoroughly enjoyed Pennsylvania, its Yuengling beer, Rutter's gas stations, and Weis grocery stores. Now onto the pictures! My wife thought HSTC's station needed an extra support. ??? Look at the ride operator. Not working. Mountain stream or amusement park? One of the best settings for a park anywhere. And our GPS guided us there semi-successfully. The Ferris Wheel Twister, in its twisted glory. Did I mention the park was empty? This ride is just all wrong, and these kids are about to be scarred for life. It would make an excellent black light poster, though. So... bright... Huh huh... uhhhh... huh huh... Apparently they just put a sausage in a salad shooter and spray it all over a cheese pizza. This was my first spin on a Flyers ride. I snapped it without even trying. And I think I scared a little pee out of my wife when I did. ...with insane laterals. Twister's a very good, aggressive ride... Some giant hands throttling the track would've been some neat theming for this ride. Entertainment Weekly just confirmed that "The Golden Bolt" will be the next installment in the Indiana Jones series. In it, Indy has to save Elitch Gardens before it's turned into condos. Phoenix was a little rough, depending on the seat, and the airtime was a little too random for me, but it's still easily a Top Ten woody. I moved to San Antonio 20 years too late. Also, there should be another comma after Texas. The Phoenix. Lots of random ejector air + single-position lap bars = #7 in the Internet Coaster Poll. First stop: Knoeb_ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olsor Posted June 8, 2008 Author Share Posted June 8, 2008 Day 2: Hersheypark Quick rundown... Fahrenheit: the beginning is fun, until the neck-punching starts. Storm Runner: awesome, awesome, awesome... Great Bear: underrated. Comet: fun and smooth. Wildcat: could be fun if it didn't hurt so much. Lightning Racer: fun. Sooperdooperlooper: I love me my Schwarzkopfs. Trailblazer: a smooth Arrow mine train? Juh?!? Subsequently, I have had to take a course on mascot harassment. And there's that whole restraining order thing. Oooh, before I forget... Comet's a great ride! It was running very smoothly, and while it wasn't the most intense ride, it was really fun and re-rideable. Also, through the trees. Is that guy on his cell phone? And back to this. More of this. I thought this picture was a little too artsy, but Fahrenheit was like, "Go for it, man. I think it totally expresses my cloudy nature of being both fun and neck-punchy." Fahrenheit 4:53? (If you get the reference, you win 100 Internets.) Ever. Ride. Best. This thingie was cool. Insane vertical drop. Awesome launch and top hat. Despite the throngs of children on field trips, the park was still incredibly empty, and I ended up with five rides on Storm Runner. New favorite ride. Schwarzkopf for the win! Great little ride. My wife described it as "Whizzer with a loop." My wife was surprised at the nerdly origins of Great Bear's name. To which I replied, "You do realize the new ride is named after a temperature scale, right?" It's also ridiculously photogenic. I'm not a big fan of inverts, but this ride was surprisingly intense and very fun. Is this ride in the "Most Underrated Coaster" thread? It should be. pew pew pew First drop: cool. Norwegian loop: cool. Rest of ride: a little too neck-punchy for me. The OTSRs ruin what should be a perfect small-footprint looper. Fahrenheit was down for a few hours in the morning. We waited in line for an hour before bailing out to ride the nearby woodies. By the time we were back, it was just opening up again. By now, you've seen a million Fahrenheit pictures. And I'm forcing a few more down your eye holes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olsor Posted June 8, 2008 Author Share Posted June 8, 2008 Day 3: Gettysburg Day 4: happy cows and Dutch Wonderland Day 5: historic Philadelphia One Whiz with. It was worth the mile-long walk from Independence Hall. Hope you enjoyed reading! This had the longest line of the entire trip. We bought several of these in the Dutch Wonderland gift shop. Because we have no shame whatsoever. Anyone want to buy a print? Like the other parks on our trip, Dutch Wonderland is very picturesque. FAIL. And if they staffed more than one ride operator, you might have seen a train in this picture. But there are some pretty sweet laterals here. Meh... it's nothing special. I see you, ride formerly known as Sky Princess. With a little something for the credit whore in all of us adults. A great little park for kids. On to Dutch Wonderland. We started off Thursday at Hope Acres, outside of Lancaster. This is a cow going through a car wash. Or something. I wasn't paying attention to the tour guide at this point. This was the site of Pickett's Charge. The Domo Kun re-enactment was chilling. We spent Wednesday in Gettysburg touring the battlefields. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
griffon Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Great trip report Olsor... I'm a little surprised you found Fahrenheit to be harder on the neck than Storm Runner. For me it definitely seemed the other way around. Definitely great pictures and editing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olsor Posted June 8, 2008 Author Share Posted June 8, 2008 I think both rides suffer a little from the restraints. I found Fahrenheit to be less neck-punchy in the front of the train, but the turns and corkscrews at the end of the ride are pretty unforgiving. On Storm Runner, I experienced more shoulder-banging from the extreme airtime, which, while uncomfortable, was totally worth it. I wish Intamin would just ditch those shoulder "restraints" altogether. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sugart Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Very nice TR. By the way its one whiz WIT. People get shot over stuff like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bspellx5 Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Those are great photos, I'm gonna be in Hershey in about 2 weeks, and they made me that much more excited! I do have one question though- How long was the queue for Fahrenheit? Im going to be there on the 1st and am hoping it won't be TOO long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobafett Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 Olsor, you should have let me know when you were coming to Philly, I could have saved you the trouble of having to eat that awful rendition of a cheesesteak. I could have given you the names of a million other places to get a cheesesteak that are 100 times better than the tourist trap you went to. Even the the people that are born and raised in Philly know not to go to Pat's or Geno's(where you went) unless you have been out drinking all night and are really hungry. Let me know the next time you are in Philly and I will take you and your wife to get a Real cheesesteak. Anyway sorry about that rant, your report and pics were great. I really have to get up to Knoebel's, it looks like a great park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkTrips Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 of course Hershey's mine train is smooth, it only moves about 4 mph!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teacups Make Me Sick Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 Is that guy on his cell phone? I dunno if Hershey has a pretty loose, loose article policy b/c I went on the superdooperlooperpooper once and a girl behind me was drinking a freakin' slushie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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