Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread

^ Interesting. At first glance, I also assumed the "yellow" track was just some of the unpainted orange reflecting in the sunlight, but now that you mention it, it does seem as if there's now true yellow track. That would look really cool!

Quite sure that yellow is the primer, pre-orange paint.

Ya'll are probably right, I don't know jack balls about professional painting so...

In other news:

(via Hershey's FB page)

That picture is just breath taking! And they still have more lift hill to go.

Wow, that looks so huge already, just dwarfs all the buildings there.

I can already tell Candymonium is going to be a park hit

I can already tell Candymonium is going to be a park hit

Wow, a B&M hyper being a smash hit with parkgoers? Don't make too bold of a prediction there or anything.

I am still so tickled that we're going to have an Intamin and B&M hyper both the same height and speed right next to each other.

Thinking about heading to the park next weekend, either Saturday or Sunday. Anyone have any insight as to what crowds to expect? I’m thinking Sunday will be lighter, but what’s the average wait on Saturday? I may do the Preview night (2.5 hours), and then come back all day Sunday.

Sunday will be much less crowded than Saturday. Saturday's can get so crowded that even smaller coasters like Trailblazer can have an hour wait with no water park open to spread out the crowds. Sunday wait times can vary. I have been there on a Sunday in October when it was 70 and sunny and mostly walk ons and last year it was cloudy and in the 50s and the major coasters can had up to 30 minute waits.

OK WTF with that outerbank B&M? I'm liking the looks of that.

Photo Via Hershey's various social media outlets.

That looks like a pretty neat element.

That photo is photo shopped or something else is very weird. The whole section is jagged and misaligned... I don't know if it's actually an outward bank or not, but that photo is very suspicious looking.

It's also very odd that they would release such a strange photo..

I see what you mean, its probably a panorama. Its on the parks FB page, and that outward bank was included in the rendering if you look closely (around :30 seconds in, again around 1:38)

[youtu_be]

Edit: is "outward bank" and "outerbank" the same thing? Im not that much of a nerd.

My assumption was that they used panorama mode on their phone or something because yeah, it's a bit odd. The rendering did show that as an outward bank though.

Edit: ^He beat me to all of that. lol

When I originally saw the rendering, I was wondering if that outer bank was a mistake. I'm glad it's reality!

^ Same, that's why I got so excited when I saw it for real.

I had noticed that in the original rendering as well, and had hoped it would be an actuality. Looks like it is, so that's great!

I've said this before, and I'll say it again... B&M has really been doing a great job in recent years of adding new, and exciting elements to their various coaster designs, keeping them both fresh, and also running counter to the old stereotype of B&M as cookie cutter, safe, and to some, boring (not to me at all, but...) You can tell their designers are not content to rest on their laurels, and watch RMC, Intamin, and MACK be the only manufacturers adding forceful and unique new elements. I see this with Orion, as well as this coaster, as that first element, which is a giant "wave turn" basically, definitely seems to draw inspiration from RMC. So while they are still delivering that reliable, and for the most part predictable B&M experience, it's nice to see them adding some new touches in, and providing unique thrills to each individual coaster!

I just got back from the park, it was a good night for an enthusiast, not so great for anyone who was looking forward to the flat rides and for kids going to the kiddie rides.

There were 33 rides closed (I counted while waiting in line for Storm Runner). I'm not posting this to complain, just to warn anyone planning on going to the park the next 2 weekends that there are more closed rides than usual (last weekend even on a Saturday more rides were closed than normal too). Fahrenheit, Ferris Wheel, Frontier Flyers, Kisses and Reese's Triple Towers, Pirate, Sidewinder, Skyview, The Claw, The Howler, Tilt A Whirl, Wave Swinger, Whip, Twin Turnpike Speedway, Scrambler, Wild Mouse and the Thunder side of Lightning Racer were all closed. The rest of the rides closed were kiddie rides and I saw in some sections of the park that 1 ride operator would operate 2 of the kiddie rides going back and forth between the rides.

The good news was other than Comet earlier in the evening and Laff Trakk, the coasters had under 15 minute waits for the most part. The longest line in the park was for trick or treating. The line had to go at least 100 feet past the entrance arch.

The Triple Towers also had seatbelts added sometime in the last 6 weeks.

If Candymoniums helix dive thing rides similarly to Fury's treble clef dive, it's going to be AWESOME.

The Triple Towers also had seatbelts added sometime in the last 6 weeks.

Does the seatbelt attach to the restraint like most S&S towers or is it the lap belt that has been added on a lot of towers this year?

The seatbelt attaches to the restraint

hey whats springtime in the park like? i hate crowds and i know this park is one of the most continually crowded parks so trying to find days for next year to visit where wait times will be low. i don't know if queue times website is accurate but it seems that sundays in may and june (other than memorial day weekend) are the best bet. but easter sunday looks pretty quiet too, we usually go to great adventure easter sunday and everythings open, and the place is -dead-, does hershey usually have everything up and running in april or is there a lot of rides closed?

^ I went to opening day last year and almost everything was open. The exceptions were the water rides and Fahrenheit. Storn Runner was down almost all day, but it did open the last two hours.

As for crowd levels, most coasters were below a 20 minute wait.

The seatbelt attaches to the restraint

 

[attachment=0]IMG_5562.JPG[/attachment]

At least it isn't the capacity killing lap belt..

I don’t know the source of this photo, it’s making the social rounds. Shows off that element a bit better without the pano distortion of the parks photo.