A Hershey Evening- 8/27

I'll do this one like Paul Harvey (who, they ask?)...

Got there around 5:30, chance of rain in the forecast, parking lot not too crowded... bypassed parking arrows along main drive and went to last entrance closest to the gate... got a great spot on the aisle right where the sidewalk turns in from the wide part of the lot by the stadium... far more people leaving the park than going in at that time :) ...

Comet line barely past bottom of ramp, rode next to last seat, loading and stacking not too bad, brakes on, oh well... SDL walked right to the platform, 2 trains running, took back seat, kidded with gal checking seats to get the crowd psyched.

Headed up to Great Bear next... I'm hitting the same rides as these 4 Croatian guys... another walk right to the platform, another back seat ride... love getting pulled through the loop and Immelman... Not sure what else they could have done to add something at the end of this ride without interfering with what was already there...

Croatian guys are getting in line for Falcon, c-ya later, I'm heading for Storm Runner... again a walk right to the platform, this is getting tiring... this is my first ride on this all season?... 2 train wait for last row train on the right... heads up, seat on the right, last row has a shorter belt from Fahrenheit, restraint won't close for larger folk, but one on the left is fine with lots of room... love this ride, but will it be displaced as my #1 steelie by either Millie or Mav? Hmmm...

Fahrenheit is the only coaster that actually has a line, but only around 20-25 minutes... you can tell watching the people in line that there are still a lot of people who haven't ridden this before... I see some idiot kid talking on his cell phone going up the lift... he still had it up to his ear coming into the brakes, was hoping he'd lose it... 3 trains running, and they did a good job dispatching them... one train unloading/loading, second train at bottom of lift, third train at overbanked turn above the queue... paired up with another single rider in the last seat, keeping the trend going... it shouldn't make that much difference, but I like the first drop better than Maverick's... cobras shouldn't have rattles...

Wildcat is next, no wait again for the last seat... little rough but not unbearable like 3 years ago with the PTC trains... middle rows chained off... Trailblazer, Soaker, Sidewinder, btdt... Mouse isn't any fun riding by yourself (unless you're going for the credit)...

Lightning Racer, when I got there, they were just chaining off rows 5-8 on both sides... for some reason, the girl from Lightning had to cross over to do Thunder as well... Thunder beat us by 2 seat lengths, but wait, they had a full train and we only had 8 seats filled, cheaters!... So why is it that when the whole train is open, everyone goes to the front or back, but once the middle rows are chained off, people start demanding to know why those rows are closed?... Thunder next, another back seat ride, we lose, what's new... Third round, I take Lightning 2nd row... two little kids in front of me, even with hands up, they barely clear the seat back, so it's like I'm in the front anyway... we have a brief jolt coming out of the station, but we keep going... second passby, where's Thunder?... no sign of it the rest of the way... we sit in the brakes for about 40 seconds until we hear the green train roll in.. apparently they were stopped just out of the station where we sputtered... we'll take the win anyway we can get it...

It's 8:30 and hunger overrules desire to re-ride... walk back to front only to find Crustano's deli closed, is this place ever open?... Down the hill and along the creek to Freeman's Texas BBQ... beef sandwich platter comes with one side... I chose texas taters... man are they good, baby red potatoes swimming in garlic butter...

Think I can save legs the walk up the hill by riding Comet again... eh, line is into second switchback... walk up hill and decide to ride Skyview and think about that thread how dangerous they are... near the turnaround, some guy yells up to me from the walkway asking where the entrance for the ride is... I'm giving him directions as I go around the pole...

I survive the ride and decide to give Comet another try after all... line is to bottom of ramp... get in line behind hyper kid and exasperated, hungry parents... get moved to up next ride in row 4 by group who wants to ride together... thanks. Fun ride at night, even with mid-course on...

Pick up caramel corn friend requested... decide against ice cream to make stop in Chocolate House... stuff here is fresher than what you get in stores... line is longer with only one cashier open... as many people seem to be buying pillows as chocolate... 15% off with my season pass... fountain soda is still cheaper at Turkey Hill though...

For about 12 miles along Interstate 78, I'm caught in a torrential downpour... before and after, roads are totally dry.

Awesome TR! The bit about the roped off middle sections of the coaster is so true. I don't get it. I would have come over to ride the Mouse with you! :)

Sounds like crowds were very low which is always great.

Thanks for the warning about the belts on that seat on Storm Runner, it always seems strange how belts can vary so much. With Great Bear, I tried the test seat just to see if I could buckle it or not, I buckled it with no problem, but when I saw in row 3, I still was able to buckle it myself but it was a little more difficult. Then with Batman at Great Adventure, I can't buckle the test seat or the seats on the train myself. Same with Possessed, some rows I can buckle the belt myself, other rows I can't.

Yoshi, I never thought about it till the op mentioned it, but I noticed that on Fahrenheit the upper part of the belt (with the clips) comes down lower on the torso than on Storm Runner. So shorter upper part + shorter lower part = lots of people having trouble getting it to close. I noticed that the couple in line after me had to split up as well, and they were both somewhat smaller than I am. Luckily, there was a single rider in the row in front of them.

Carrie, next time you're on. As long as Moosh doesn't get all jealous and stuff.

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