Hershey Park Strategy

[roblshan2000]

Planning my first trip to Hershey Park for Saturday. I've never been, so I'm pretty excited. Seeing if anyone has any strategies for HP. What rides to hit first, second, third, etc to maximize my time there. I'm not interested in the Boardwalk area at all. Also, any recommendations on where to eat inside the park. Thanks in advance.

[coasterfreak101]

Here's a strategy that I posted a while back in the Hershey thread, and a lot of people have used it (or variants of it) and have had very successful days!

 

You shouldn't have too many problems, but here's a general plan that I think should work best for you to get as many rides in as possible:

 

Head straight to Fahrenheit when the gates open, get your rides in there, then head over to Storm Runner and Sidewinder while you're in the area. Storm Runner isn't getting much of a line with Skyrush open that I've seen, but since it's there you might as well knock it out when you're doing Fahrenheit (which will get a very, very slow-moving and long line)! I would head back and hit the back of the park after that, so that's Lightning Racer, Wildcat, and Wild Mouse. You shouldn't have any waits for any of those things, just a few trains' worth here and there. I would head back up after that, cross under Storm Runner (ride it again if the line is short!), and make your way down the hill and back up the other side. Hit Trailblazer if you like. That'll put you in Minetown, where you can hit Great Bear (not a bad line with Skyrush open either), then SDL on your way around to Comet and Skyrush. Skyrush has a massive line in the morning, but if you hit it anytime after 2pm you're looking at a 10-30 minute wait (depending on crowds). When we were there on Sunday, we rode four times that afternoon, never waiting more than 20 minutes other than our wait for the front.

 

Basically, fight the urge to ride Skyrush and go do the rest of the park ahead of everyone else! It'll be worth it when you get to ride it as many times as you want later in the day.

[CoasterRollin]

This actually helps me out too because I'm going on Sunday. I will try your strategy too and let you know if it works. Thanks!

[coasterfreak101]

We used it again on a Sunday two weeks ago and it worked! Hopefully you have a good day!

 

And if you can't avoid the temptation to ride Skyrush first thing in the morning, you can run there with the new path and only wait 10-15 minutes if you beat the crowd - but it takes some work! That'll still put you ahead of the crowds around the rest of the park, but only if you're one of the first ones to the ride!

[roblshan2000]

Any good places to eat in the park?

[CoasterRollin]

The only strategy for Hershey is to pray that no one else goes the day you go. Good luck!!!

Honestly, I've never had a bad day there, even on Saturdays. Most I've ever had to wait for anything was around 30 minutes or so, but I guess I've just been lucky.

 

I went on Sunday (and by chance ran into some friends), and coasterfreak101's strategy worked! Got on Farenheit first, and then headed over to the back of the park. The Boardwalk side was criminally empty for a good while after the park opened. Got in Farenheit, Wild Cat (twice), Wild Mouse, Lightning Racer, Trail Blazer, and Storm Runner in by 11:30am.

 

Around 2pm we headed over to Skyrush... waited 15 minutes. I couldn't believe it. I'll post a more detailed PTR about my weekend eventually. Even saw a fellow TPR member sporting the Club TPR shirt!

[Athletekim]

I'm not trying to drag this thread out but I didn't know whether to post my question in here or the Hersheypark discussion thread.

 

Next Saturday (August 18th) I'm going to Hershey with my sister and we definitely want to hit Storm Runner, Fahrenheit, Great Bear, and Skyrush. We are not going to the park til sometime after 4PM and will probably stay until 9 PM. We are expecting it to be crowded because of the Mixtape Festival that is happening at the Hersheypark Stadium at the same time. What will be the best strategy for trying to hit these rides and reruns?

[mightypotato]

When I was there last year, there wasn't much in the way of crowds, so the plan I used probably won't work for you. However, I do strongly agree on doing Fahrenheit first. Even with a small crowd, it had a huge, slow line.