Amusement Parks Brochures. Older ones, that is.

Back in October, I went to a postcard show up in Wind Gap, PA, and came across a dealer who was selling all of their paper realted stuff for half off. I took a look, and came across 2 Hersheypark brochures; One from 1982, and the other from 1973! The first time I ever went to Hershey, on a family trip, at the age of 5.

I just looked over the brochure again this morning, while going through some postcards, it's in fantastic condition, and has a map of the park included into it.

The back panel lists the hours of operation: 10:30 am to 6 pm May 21 to June 15, then til 10 pm for the rest of the season. Which is ver y similar to todays hours.

The biggest staggering change is the price. Regular (Ages 10 and over) $5.00 PER PERSON; Junior (ages 5 - 9) $3.00 per person; children under 4 free.

They also had a sunset savings plan; $1.00 of both regular, and junior admissions.

There were 2 new sections of Hersheypark in 73; Tudor Square, and Rhine Land.

From looking over the map, these are the rides that I can make out. Don't know what they called them back then.

Rides located in the Carrousel Circle;

The Carousel; The 2 arm Hershey Wheel; Scrambler; 2 Unidentifiable ride (1 between the scrambler, and Helicopter ride, the other between the helicopter and Octopus.); Helicopter ride; 2 Toboggans side by side; Octopus

Just beyond Carrousel Circle is the;

Sky ride; The monorail; The train ride; Rocket Ships; Round Up; Paratrooper; Hershey Kisses ride; Another Bumper car complex?; and The Kiddie section of Hershey, with 6 rides lined up next to each other.

Comet Hollow rides:

The Comet; 2 (carnival type) Ferris Wheels; A stationary large paddle wheel boat. (Not sure what it was for.); Bumper Cars; Turtle; Dancing Waters light show.

Across a small bridge from Comet Hollow;

Car ride(travelled out towards the Trailblazer section.)

Up the hill towards;

The big arcade complex on the way up to the Kissing Tower, Which was NOT! yet built.

another unidentifiable ride near the arcade complex; The Coal Craker Log Flume; The music ampitheater.

Can't figure out what's in the Trailblazer area (Obviously, this is before the Trailblazer, I just don't know what the section was called.)

That's what I got out of the map. It's pretty cool being able to see what the park was like back then.

Anyone else have any older park maps?

Try this site.

Lots of maps and brochures of various parks and various time frames.

Coasterphan,

The ride near the arcade in what is now Minetown may have been the Coal Shaker. I also remember in 1973 or so, the park had a Rotor, but I can't remember its exact location. IIRC, there was a second skyride-- or at least a different one from what is there now. I think the building where the Kosher Market is now was one of the stations. (?) But that's really a foggy recollection for me. One thing I do remember is that the Monorail did stop at the station by the factory-- you were able to tour the actual factory back then.

Up until the 70s, there was still a public street that ran in front of the arena. That was also the limit of the park. Near Trailblazer, you can see where the road used to tie in to route 743.

I have a whole bunch of SFMM brochures and park maps from the mid 80's to the present. I like to get one brochure and one of the oversized (about 2 ft. by 3 ft.) park maps each year so I have a record of everything that changes from year to year. They also make great free souvenirs. The oversized maps are on hard stock paper so they have stayed in excellent condition even after this many years. I am going again on 2/1 so I will have to update my collection again.

I also have two large postcards from 1988, with pictures of the Revolution and Colossus. I had them framed and have had them on my wall as pictures since I bought them that year. I have pennants of most of their coasters too.

It amazes me that tickets in the early 70's were also $5.00. They also used to be open from 5pm-midnight on off-season Fridays. It is also shocking that season passes in 1989 were $49.99 and 20 years later they are only $59.99.

I also have a few Knott's brochures and maps from the 80's, but SFMM has been my main obsession of the last 25 years so my collection from there is much larger. Has it really been that long since I started riding coasters? Now I feel old.

RGB, the Rotor was next to the restrooms which were in front of the Comet in Comet Hollow. I remember this because I made a beeline for the restrooms after my one ride on it.

You can see the location here; it's labeled with a green '27'.

Thanks for the map, Vater. I remember being on the rotor when I was a kid, but can't remember it being next to Comet. I guess it's where the Tilt-a-whirl is now. Yet I can remember that area with the Bug and the Lost River.

I see I wasn't totally crazy about the second skyride either. But I think I remembered that more from seeing pictures, or a TV program about Hershey than seeing it in person. But imagine the park with only 3 coasters-- Comet, SDL and Trailblazer yet!

Has anyone ever seen the large mural they have in the season pass office?