TR - Hershey Park Sept 16 and 17th

[CoasterJunkie]

Hubby and I had to go to PA from Florida for a wedding. We figured since we were going up there anyway, why not stop at Hershey as I have never been, and it had been many years since he had been.

 

9/16 - We arrived at PHL around 12:30 or so, and first thing was to get the car. Got a nice Chevy Impala and it was maroon, so finding it was a lot easier. We then proceeded to the city of Philadelphia so we could stop and get some Geno's Steak's. After 3 years of not having a good cheesesteak, this was heaven. We then proceeded to I-76 and pretty much hit all kinds of traffic at 2pm or so. We managed to get out of it as it moved better that it does in Fl, and we got to Harrisburg/Hershey area around 4pm. The hotel we were staying at was a crap hole. Damn Tripadvisor. Look for my review of the hotel Country Hearth Inn. I am the newest one. Well its just about 5pm and I have park tickets burning holes in my luggage. After a quick drive, we are soon parked($8!! :shock: )and walking in the front gates. I love this place already. I also smell lots of chocolate, but not from the factory. Just all the stores.

 

Our first ride is Comet. We pretty much walk on, which was the theme all night. There were no lines for anything. Got the 3rd row. Almost crapped my pants when I saw the crooked lift hill. [:s] :? It was a good ride though. With that done, it was on to Superdooperlooper. We got front row for this one. This reminded me of Scorpion at BGT, just more spread out. It was fun, but the brakes at the end...UGH!! With another coaster down, after only 20 min in the park, we knew things were looking good for us.

 

Great Bear was next on the adgenda. Not a bad B&M. Showing its age, but still a fun ride nonetheless. We chose 3rd row again for this ride too. With that done, we went on the move. I noticed ZooAmerica was open, and I wanted to check it out. I have seen better zoo's but I loved the wolves. My fav was the white wolf in the back of the enclosure. He rocked! He just sat and stared. After this, we moved onto Flying Falcon. Now I have been on The Condor on the Wildwood Boardwalk, and never had issues with the ride. For some reason, this ride on FF scared the crap out of me. Once off, we did a quick potty break and walked onto Trailblazer. Chose the back row this time. I really enjoyed this ride. Only wish it would have been longer.

 

We stopped to checkout out Storm Runner. WOW!! We would be back later for some of that. We moved on to RollerSoaker. First thing we noticed, no water. I thought they might close it down. Nope. We rode in the backwards seat. It was cool and freaky all at once. Even without the water. That ride is also very fast! Once we were done, we headed over to Lightning Racer. We rode on Lightning(and lost) but this coaster was freaking awesome. This has become my #1 woodie. It was just great. While we were in line(last row) the phone rang, it was my Father-in-Law. The rest of the family was here, lets meet at the carrousel. So we head there.

 

Its now 7pm, and we have a good portion of the rides we want to do done. We meet the family, and share hugs and stuff. Its been a while since we have all been together. My niece Erin wants her aunt to ride the "horsies" with her. So off we go. At this point, I am itching for more coasters. We ditch the youngest in the family and off we go. I notice The Claw has no wait, so hubby, 14yo niece and I all ride. FIL decides to wait it out. We have an awesome ride. I love these things. We come upon Wildcat and get in a quickie ride. Nice also. We also do a quick spin on Wildmouse. We walk through the park a bit, and decide its time for Storm Runner. This was our longest wait, 15min. Hubby and I got 2nd row. Niece and FIL right behind us. I was a tad nervous as this was my first ride like this. The sucker took off like a jet engine and before I knew it, it was over. I could barely walk. It took my breath away. I loved every minute of it!! This is also on my top 10 list now. After this, it was getting late, so we deicided to meet the rest of the gang and head out. We figured we had all Saturday to get more stuff in.

 

9/17 - We slept a bit late due to all the moving in the hotel the night before(see my review of the hotel) and were off to the park after a Bob Evans breakfast. We arrived around 1:30p. The lines to get into the parking lot were HORRIBLE!! Now keep in mind there was also an RV show going on, so this doubled the traffic. It took almost 45min to get into the parking lot and to get parked. We did get to witness a lot of craziness and an accident too. Once we parked, we went off to Chocolate World and rode the ride there. Its like Its a Small World with lots of chocolate..LOL. Of course, MIL had to shop a bit, so we finally got to the gates about an hour or so later only to find...MORE LINES!!! This was going to be a bad day.

 

This day was designated Christian Music Days by Hershey. We did see a radio station, and some people playing music about My God is Awesome later that day, but otherwise...just tons of people. Thank God I got my coasters in last night. We started to wander a bit, and saw EVERYTHING has a line, even the bathroom. Not a good sign. Hubby, 14yo niece and I split off and we went on the monorail. Waited almost half an hour. From there, we just sort of wandered. Did the Kissing Tower(20min) and thats pretty much it. Ran into FIL who wanted to hang with the cool kids as he put it. We went to check the wait for Storm Runner. 1hr 15min. WOW!! We will skip it. We did manage a ride on Chaos. Waited almost 45min for it, and it broke once. What I do for my niece. We did ride Thunder side on Lightning Racers. Waited about 25min. From this point, I was getting frustrated with the crowds. We also were hungry. So we got some food, and figured we would just end the night on Storm Runner. Well the wait for this was still an hour, which would put us at park close. Found out that HP keeps all lines open until park closing. So we played in the arcade for a bit, then went on the train. Damn that thing is tiny. After this, I just wanted to ride SR. So off we went. Another awesome run. Did get to see some idiots in line too. Someone took a mentally handicapped person getting out of line to use the bathroom a bit to seriously and got all worked up over it. Loser. We got the last few things in the gift shop and got the heck out of there.

 

All in all, I loved HersheyPark. They still have that small hometown feel, but with awesome coasters. I felt they werent able to handle the high capacitys that come though. The staff was nice, and the rides ran great. I rate this park a 8/10. Better part was I bought my tickets on Ebay. 4 tickets $40 bucks total. Great deal.

 

Hope I didnt ramble to much. I will get some pics up soon as I get them all back. Some were taken on digital, others with film camera. Thanks for hanging in with me!!

[Real]

Pillar, TFK or some other really good christian rock group should have been there. Oh well.

 

Ill still go to Hershey anytime I can. SR is worth the trip alone.