Hershey Park

What a great park with a wonderful amusement atmoshpere. The park is extremely clean and has the beautiful aroma of Hershey chocolate drifting throughout the park. I visited on a Sunday and the lines were surprisingly short.

I headed straight off to Wildcat, and although this was a great wood twister, it didn't quite live up to the reputation of previous world's number one woodie. Far better, was the superb Lightning Racer, a dueling racing woodie. Lots of fun, and so smooth.

I thought whilst I was that area of the park I'd try out the Whip (not the best Whip I'm afraif), and the Wild Mouse. This had to be the best steel wild mouse I've been on - hardly any brakes applied which meant awesome hairpin turns.

I forced myself on the Sidewinder and it wasn't too bad for a Vekoma Boomerang. Next was The Comet which had a nice old woodie feel to it, but the trim brakes on the 2nd turnaround obliterated the airtime.

Sooperdooperlooper and Trailblazer were not up to much, but I wasn't expecting them to be either.

That leaves The Great Bear, a B&M inverted which has an interesting first drop and nice landscaping. A little short but still a good ride.

Hershey has a great selection of woodies, but it's kind of lacking on the steel side - it definitely needs a hyper. However, it is in my opinion by far the best park in PA.

You can read more, and view my photo gallery of Hershey Park in the Park Reviews sections of http://www.coastergrotto.zzn.com.

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Let the world know your Top 10 Coasters at http://www.coastergrotto.zzn.com


*** This post was edited by Grant on 7/31/2001. *** *** This post was edited by Grant on 8/5/2001. ***

Behind Exterminator at Kennywood, I believe Hershey has the best Wild Mouse. I'm glad you liked it too! As for your wish, I'm not sure they'll add a hyper anytime soon (I could be wrong). If they did, I would expect something along the lines of Steel Force, and not Superman Ride of Steel. They are a family park afterall.

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Batwing-Bow Down

Oh yes, I forgot about Exterminator.

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Let the world know your Top 10 Coasters at http://www.coastergrotto.zzn.com

I agree with you on the Comet. I thought that the t-shaped layout was really cool, and I bet all those little bunny hills after the turn around were a blast without the breaking. Oh well, it was still a really fun ride, and I enjoyed it.


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I don't like your tone, chris...

didn't quite live up to the reputation of previous world's number one woodie

When was the Wildcat ever the number one wooden coaster? I think I recall seeing it at number 6 two years ago on the Discovery channel. It's never been a number one.

Glad you liked the park!

**Note to almost everyone***

Can SOMEONE please fill me in on why everyone is so crazy about the Lightning Racer? It's too slow, the layout is pretty boring, there's very little airtime, and it is too freaking smooth for a wood coaster.

Not based on Discovery Channel's list, but it was rated #1 in 1998 by Popular Mechanics magazine (from the Hersheypark website).

I never pay much attention to lists anyway. They are too subjective for my taste.

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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."

GandC:

I like the Wildcat a little better than LR, but I think that LR is a great ride. Some more airtime would be great, but the LR can't be beat for good old fun. I disagree that the layout is boring. I found it to be really interesting, particularly the pacing of the racing and dueling aspects.

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I don't like your tone, chris...

As 2hostle would say, "Lightning Racer is a ****s and giggles coaster."

I like Lightning Racer a lot more than Wildcat. I thought it was just how a good woodie should be.
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Parks for 2001: SFEG, Lakeside,Funtown USA, Palace Playland, HP,BGW,PKD,Alton Towers.

Blah :). Lightning Racer is a "good ol' family fun ride". The layout = go out -- turnaround -- come back -- turn around -- go out -- turn around -- come back. I still don't think it does a good job of the dueling aspect at all. The racing is well done, but that's about it. The only thing this ride has going for it, imo, is the trains. If this ride was a bit faster (average speed raised about 10 mph) this thing would be quite good. I still think it's too smooth, though.

Yup, thats what I say ;)! GandC, I agree with you, it doesnt have the airtime of ROAR-east, nor the laterals of Gwazi-Tiger, not even the ferocity of Wildcat, but damn it all, it was sheer fun! And that's enough to make it a great ride.

I've noticed recently that some of the rides I enjoy the most are not necessarily one that I think are "best".
jeremy

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"Nobody writes about the planes that land." Steve Salerno Washington Times 7-10-01