Candymonium preview 6/29/20

As king size pass holders my wife and I got to ride the new B&M Hyper before everyone else. The new Chocolatetown expansion is exactly what the park needs to grow in the future.

To put it in perspective for people that have been to the park. They made the area from the tram circle to the old location of the carousel pretty much flat, and it makes for a nice new more expansive midway getting in and out of the park. The area will be able handle the crowds, and sets the park up for several new areas for future expansion.

Candymonium is a typical B&M Hyper coaster with 7 car trains. Very smooth and floaty as expected. Not too intense. First drop, 2nd drop, turnaround, 3rd drop, 4th drop, helix up to block brake, 5th into banked turn around the new kiss fountain(not completed,) and into the brake run. Theres a brake right before the crest of the 5th hill that kills what could be a pretty amazing air time moment right before the end of the ride. That's my only complaint. Its more of a family Hyper, and a great ride for that demographic.

Hersheypark has another winner on their hands, and hopefully it'll mean shorter lines for Skyrush and Storm Runner for me.

I'm glad they were able to get it open! The new entrance looks great!

And the Storm Runner line should be quite short this summer :)

What are Hershey's Covid mitigation rules? Are operations, admission, or capacity noticably different?

They're similar to the other major parks. Face coverings, social distancing on rides, reservations for your day, etc.

Meaning every other row? Do they run empty trains like Sea World and Busch?

While we were there they were letting groups together on the train but filling every row. I'm curious to see if it changes during the regular season.

I'm going back tomorrow after work for the season pass holder preview and I'll know better after that.

Wearing a mask for the little time were were there wasn't too bad, but I'd have a hard time all day mid summer wearing it. I am going to use Hersheypark to decide whether I'd be able to do an extended trip.

It looks like they were allowing every row on Orion as well. Perhaps the B&M hyper/giga trains already allow for proper spacing? If so, that's a huge win for capacity.

ApolloAndy said:

Meaning every other row? Do they run empty trains like Sea World and Busch?

Not that I'm going anytime soon, but why in the world would they run empty trains?

They were running and loading all 3 trains. A lot of trains were sent out with just one to four rows filled. Our ride time was from 5 to 6pm, and it was getting significantly more crowded as we waited in line to get our new season passes.

OhioStater said:

Not that I'm going anytime soon, but why in the world would they run empty trains?

I haven't been, and I'm not sure if it's still happening. But in the initial reports from the first days of SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa reopening, the process was that the coasters each only ran one train. They'd run it at half capacity with every other row. Then after the passengers disembarked they'd clean it and then send it empty to dry it. Opening Day at SeaWorld saw (again, this is purely based on the posting of others) 12 minute dispatches on Manta at SeaWorld Orlando, operating one train at half capacity and only loading every other train.

Thanks for the review.

I passed through Hershey a few times this winter and was struck by the dramatic presence the new ride brings to downtown. How it parallels the main drag of Chocolate Ave. The Co has done a really nice job on the strip the past few years pedestrianizing and repurposing the old Chocolate factory and how town is playfully shadowed by the park's most contemporary skyline near the top of the hill.

The atmosphere of Hershey is up there with Sandusky as my favorite park town. I am looking forward to seeing how Chocolatetown adds to this. Hopefully it compliments vs. competes.

I booked an overnight for early August to check out the new ride and complex. Maybe my only park this season, since Rye is closed and Great Adventure delayed the reasoning for my first in a decade trip. Unless I wind up in Ohio.

Went to Hersheypark last night after work for the season pass preview. I got there just before 6pm. Candymonium did exactly what I thought it would do, and that meant Skyrush had almost no wait. Got eight laps with three of them front row on Skyrush, two front row laps on the Great Bear, one lap on the Coal Cracker, and two laps mid train on Fahrenheit.

A few quick observations. On their coasters they loaded every row of the train, and every train each coaster was running. Its hard to wear a mask on a coaster. Especially a forceful one like Skyrush. While sitting on Skyrush i heard a few reactions to the intensity difference between Candymonium and Skyrush. One person said, "Skyrush is five times more intense than Candymonium. I came right from riding that to here because I wanted to compare the two." Lots of new signage, and areas that looked refreshed.

Storm Runner is down for the season waiting on an intamin technician and parts for the hydraulic launch. There are rumors that they are considering converting to their newer LIM launched technology. Sooperdooperlooper is down with sensor problems. They hope to have that up soon.

Got to check out some of the new buildings in Chocolatetown on the way out. It's nice that Hersheypark had it's biggest expansion this year since I don't think my wife and I are really going to be traveling much this season.

I hear rumors all the time about this or that hydraulic launch being converted to LIM's. It's never seemed that easy to me. I assume there would have to be a ton of different design, hardware, control, electrical etc. etc. considerations and it's not just RCT.

Do their new LIMs launch that hard? Storm Runner launches way harder than any LIM coaster I've ever ridden.

Coasterfantom2 said:

Its hard to wear a mask on a coaster.

Agreed.

I also always laugh at things like, “it’s a family hyper.” It’s still a giant B&M roller coaster with a 54” height requirement. It’s not like you are going to see Grandma and the toddlers on board. It just doesn’t leave enthusiasts with the same “wow” factor as a Skyrush or Steel Vengeance.

Or the same "ow" factor as Skyrush.

Personally, I prefer a ride that I can re-ride, as opposed to a "One and done" where I need a break afterwards. CaMo (See how stupid you look, SteVe people?) looks amazing and I cannot wait to ride it way far away in the future.

I'm going to start calling every roller coaster by this convention:

"It's too bad they took out ShWa. It reminds me of LoNeMo. Well, at least we'll always have BaLoStuCo."
"BoDa is my favorite coaster, but RaFl is a close second and StoCha is also up there with Shi-Tim (this was censored in its original form). Too bad CorEx may never operate again."

If that's the case, I still can't forgive CeFa and DiKi for buying GeLa just to close it and tearing down BiDi and RaWoBo instead of giving them to AmCoEn for free.