Dan's Hersheypark Photo Trip Report

[TatsuTerror]

Hey everyone! You may have noticed that I haven't been too active on the forums lately. This is not a decline of roller coaster enthusiasm on my part; in fact, it's quite the contrary. I'm on the east coast as we speak, have been for two weeks now, and will be for six more. I flew out here to attend the National Young Leaders Conference after school let out, and just recently began a photography course at Rhode Island School of Design.

 

I had about a week between the end of the conference and the beginning of my RISD photography program, so what better way to spend it than visiting colleges and amusement parks? Skipping past colleges, which I doubt you are interested in hearing about, I visited Hersheypark first on my trip from Washington, D.C. to Rhode Island. This was my second trip to the park; I took a five-park trip in the summer of 2006 which included Hersheypark. The park wasn't very crowded, there were spurts of good skies for photography, and of course, there was chocolate. So, let's move on to the pictures, shall we?

 

We arrived about a half hour after opening, so the number of cars already in the lot wasn't a very promising sight.

 

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Hersheypark!

 

A sign advertising what Chocolate World has to offer.

 

We'll be returning to Chocolate World a bit later in the report. But first, into the park we go.

 

Hersheypark has a unique height system which allows children to associate their height with a respective piece of Hershey candy.

 

First stop, the one coaster I haven't yet ridden at the park - Fahrenheit! Fahrenheit got the real photography treatment because of its easy access. Some other rides, however, did not. I did my best as far as photography, but the main impeding factor was weather.

 

The entrance sign hanging from Fahrenheit's station.

 

Fahrenheit itself is truly a great ride. I rode in the back row first, and then he front. I have to say, both rows offer wonderful airtime, the back of course being a bit stronger on the first drop. But, the front offers a great view of the drop, and throughout the rest of the ride. The elements on the coaster are great, and the norwegian loop very disorienting. It quickly rose to one of my favorite coasters after one ride.

 

The ride's lift hill provides a unique experience, one many riders find just as freaky as the drop itself.

 

Fahrenheit navigates through the second of its two corkscrews.

 

And of course, what would a group of my pictures be without some track close-ups illustrating the beauty of this ride.

 

The beautiful overbanked turn we were all drooling over during construction.

 

Same location as the previous photograph.

 

The first drop gave me the biggest pop of airtime I'd ever experienced. Make sure to ride in the last row at least once.

 

Everybody seems to enjoy Fahrenheit, from big to small, young to old. A great addition to the already well-rounded park.

 

The 'black point' of this image has been increased and the blue has been altered, both for artistic purposes.

 

I feel the need to let you all know when I present a photo that isn't almost 100% natural, as to not 'trick' you. The previous photo was silhouetted by the sun behind it, and I edited it to further the effects of backlighting.

 

As you all know, Fahrenheit uses an innovated two chain system to eliminate the need of anti-rollback devices. Both chains are always used.

 

The turnaround point of the chain at the bottom of the lift hill in motion.

 

A profile of the lift and drop. 97 degrees is very, very far past vertical.

 

A train descends the first drop of Fahrenheit, if you've forgotten the name of this coaster.

 

I've taken out a few pictures of Fahrenheit for length purposes. Don't worry, just a few more to go!

 

The first corkscrew of the ride below the norwegian loop.

 

Going through the norwegian loop...

 

Now that we've (thoroughly) covered Fahrenheit, we'll move on to the other new addition since the last time I visited Hersheypark - The Boardwalk; it was under construction in 2006 during that visit.

 

One of the area's entrance signs. Already you can see the detail the park put into this area.

 

One of many boardwalk style games in the boardwalk area.

 

Roller Soaker, which I did not ride during this visit. A great example of the interactive style of attractions parks shoot for these days.

 

The park did a great job with this if you ask me. Extremely detailed, colorful, and just plain fun.

 

The area would of course be incomplete without one of these systems.

 

Sign or not, I'd find it a bit creepy if I saw a mannequin going down a water slide.

 

After passing through The Boardwalk area, I hopped on the ferris wheel to get a few photos. By the way, I haven't mentioned this yet, I'm with my Dad throughout this park visit.

 

A great overview of Fahrenheit's layout.

 

I only took a few shots of Lightning Racer, unfortunately.

 

What a beautiful water play area, the best I've personally ever seen.

 

Wildcat, a rougher wooden coaster in the same area.

 

We rode Lightning Racer (Lightning side I believe, the one on the left side of the station. Nick can confirm this), and then got some fries.

 

Wildcat came soon after that. I'm not too big of a fan, some are. I'll take Lightning Racer and Comet over Wildcat any day.

 

The entrance sign to Wildcat's queue.

 

Wildcat, like Lightning Racer, uses Millennium Flyer trains.

 

An overview of the former half of Wildcat.

 

After that it was time for Wild Mouse, opposite Wildcat.

 

Wild Mouse at Hersheypark is one of my favorite Wild Mouse coasters, simply because the trim brakes don't seem to ever affect the ride. I don't know if they are on, but it sure seems like they aren't.

 

A group of singers add to the great atmosphere Hersheypark hosts.

 

Time to head over to Comet, one of the world's most underrated coasters.

 

Comet is one of the most solid oldest coasters I've ridden. It's full of great, comfortable airtime. Definitely not a ride to miss when you visit the park.

 

As a photographer, one struggle is getting good candid photos. Chairlifts provide an opportunity to overcome that.

 

 

 

The chairlift is a nice way to relax after walking through Hersheypark a few times. It is a pretty large park...not as much of a trek as navigating Magic Mountain, but definitely in the same ballpark.

 

The chairlift also goes extremely slowly, ensuring great photographic opportunities of Great Bear.

 

Great Bear coming down it's first drop.

 

Time to talk a little about Great Bear! Another highly underrated ride, in my opinion. A lot of people don't like the first drop. What do I say to that? A helix that, in the back, is almost as intense as Batman's, comes before the first drop. The first drop itself is pretty steep. The ride has an immelman, one of my personal favorite inversions. The coaster does have some weak spots, namely the ending, but overall I feel it's a very entertaining ride.

 

One ride we skipped this visit was Sooperdooperlooper.

 

A unique view of B&M's inverted train design.

 

A clever name for a clever ride...the car's windows are in the shapes of kisses as well.

 

It's good to see a sense of humor at amusement parks.

 

A look from the Kissing Tower at the Hershey factory...that's where the magic happens, folks!

 

Yes, it is real chocolate. And no, it hasn't melted yet.

 

Time for the big mama of the park. I had a lot of trouble photographing the ride, bad lighting conditions and drab colors made that happen.

 

Cliché shot, not much else to say about that.

 

Ah, another perfect opportunity for great candids. This angle is obvious and easy to access, next time you're at the park, have a seat and have some fun with it!

 

Another great people shot, a bit blurry though.

 

I originally had a few more of those shots I was going to include, but again, for length's sake, I decided to omit them.

 

An interesting angle of Stormrunner.

 

Time to head back over to Fahrenheit for a little more past vertical action! This is the time I rode in the front row. See the beginning of the trip report for the brief ride review.

 

That's a lot of degrees, I have to say. More degrees = more fun!

 

Great natural color combination here. And no, I haven't become caught up in the flower up close, coaster out of focus craze.

 

One thing I didn't ride on my first visit to Hersheypark two years ago was the Reese's Challenge. And oh, how unimpressed I was.

 

They didn't even bother to theme it high enough for tall people.

 

Thanks for visiting Hersheypark! But wait, there's more!

 

The chocolate tour is a fun thing to do after you leave the park, assuming you don't stay there all day. On both of my visits I haven't needed an entire day there.

 

After the tour, it was time to dig in!

 

Some of you may know what a big deal the above is. Before that chocolate bar, I hadn't had any chocolate, candy, soda, cookies, or any other type of dessert since last December 28 (except for a two week period in Spain).

 

Thanks for taking a brief tour of my eventful day at one of my favorite parks. I hope you enjoyed the narration and the photography, and I also hope to see all of your trip reports after you visit the park yourselves. Take my word for it: it's worth visiting. It's definitely in the 'must visit' category of all the parks I've visited.

 

Again, thanks for reading! Comments, criticisms, and questions are welcome as always.

[Ccron10]

I think those are some of the most perfect shots at the park I've seen. Great TR!

[themeparkguy27]

Beautiful pics! Great report.

[SFjunkie2010]

Nice Photos, this makes me excited for my trip to HP next month

[TheRapidsNerd]

Those are some great shots. Period. Nice work man.

[natatomic]

You've got some beautiful photos. Nice TR!

[bgeguy]

Very nice pics.

[pacoasterrider]

Beautiful pictures, and some sick angles i rarley or ever see of my home park. A++++ On those pictures

 

Did you notice Comet is barley trimmed on the second turn around? The ride FLIES through the second half now. Great Bear seems faster too this year, I'm curious if you noticed the same?

[mattnz]

Very nice report. (But why skip Sooperdooperlooper? Many of us here are Schwarzkopf fanatics you know!)

[bobafett]

These are some of the most beautiful pics I have seen on this web site in a long time. You truly are talented my friend. Keep up the great work and I'm glad you enjoyed HersheyPark. It really is a nice little park. I go every year in October when my company holds it picnic there and it is closed to the public, so that makes it even better.

[Kennyweird]

Beautiful photos. Absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing them.