Hersheypark 10/25/09
I haven't seen any TRs from Hersheypark in the Dark yet. This could possibly be because it's been cold and rainy every night it's been scheduled this year! Since yesterday was the first good day, I went for part of the day. It was after 3 til I got in, partly due to endless road work.
I had checked the closed-rides list on http://mobile.hersheypark.com as late as noon and they had everything listed as open. But when I got to the park, I saw that they had Stormrunner posted as closed. So instead of making that my first stop, I went to Great Bear. The line wasn't even out to the switchbacks in front of the station, and proved to be only about 15 minutes long for anything but the front seat. (The front seat queue, as usual, had about 10 cycles worth of people in it.) They weren't stacking trains as bad as usual, so the line stayed the same size and I took a second ride. I just don't get why people say this ride is boring. It's not tightly-wound like other B&Ms, but the openness works so well with the terrain.
Since Stormrunner was closed, the next stop, after a quick bumper-car ride (wait time 1 cycle) was Fahrenheit, which I had planned on skipping because it always has a huge line. This time the front switchbacks were only about half filled. I didn't time it, but I heard someone say they thought it was about 45 minutes. It didn't seem quite that bad, but maybe it was because it was the first time I've been in Fahrenheit's line when it wasn't unbearably hot and humid. Someone was smoking in line though, and nobody said anything. It was also the first time that I didn't notice any long pauses between dispatches. They were only running two trains though, in fact the third train wasn't even in the station. Is it out for maintenance already? The ride itself was typical. It still rattles like crazy, but since for once my brain wasn't dehydrated I didn't mind the rattling this time.
Next was Wildcat. The line was only down the final ramp into the station, so the wait wasn't too bad. The track had obviously just been greased, and the ride was the fastest I've had in a long time. Even the roll-around into the lift was flying, and took the train a long way up before it caught the chain in a way I normally only see on Twister. The shaking was tolerable for a wood fan, so I had to take a second ride.
While I was in the station waiting for my first ride, someone shot a front-seat video in full view of the operators. They weren't really paying attention, but I don't know how they could've missed it.
On to the mouse next. Again a shorter line than normal. A little more braking than normal too though.
From the mouse I went to Lightning Racer. The line was down about two ramps because they were only using one train per side, but it still moved decently. At first Lightning was winning as usual, but then Thunder got into a winning streak the likes of which I've never seen before.
After a few rides on LR, it was time to decide how to close out not just the night, but my year. Stormrunner never opened, so maybe Great Bear? But I didn't really want to walk up the hill. But what's this? There's half an hour left, but people are leaving in droves. Hmmm, maybe check Fahrenheit's line?
It turned out to be only through the tapered switchbacks at the bottom of the stairs. So not only was it my shortest Fahrenheit wait ever, but also my first night ride. Going up the lift into a starry sky was a very cool experience!
Last edited by Jim S., October 27, 2009, 10:54A