Hersheypark, 10/16/16

I wanted to get 1 last trip to Hersheypark in before the end of the regular season. I remember going on a Sunday in October in 2010 and it was empty even with nice weather and yesterday was the same, almost 70 degrees and very low crowds with the Halloween event being all family friendly with no scare zones or mazes / trails.

I usually wait until later in the day to ride Comet but with a line barely down the ramp I was boarding the front row in less than 10 minutes. This used to be my favorite wooden coaster for a while but after riding other coasters, it's moved further down in my top coaster list. It's a good coaster but I wish the trim brake on the turn around would be turned off. I was surprised the ride operators just checked the buzz bar and not the seatbelts like most other parks. I guess just seeing that the seatbelt was buckled and that the seatbelt wasn't loose was good enough.

sooperdooperlooper was next with a 2 train wait for the front row. It's not the biggest coaster around but is still one of my favorites in the park because it's just fun and a coaster and Schwarzkopf loops are my favorite coaster inversion.

Great Bear had a line just out of the station. The front row line was long with the separate queue and the last row had around a 5 minute wait. The helix before the first drop makes it stand out compared to other B&M inverts and I like the high speed straightaway after the loop and then going into the immelmann. There are 4 people checking restraints and one person checks the row and then another person also checks the row. I have never seen that at any other park but they were dispatching trains quickly with very little stacking.

New this year is Coal Cracker being open for Hersheypark in the Dark. There was no wait although most boats were going out with riders. This is probably the driest flume I have ridden which is ok for this time of year. I walked around for another ride knowing this would probably be the last log flume ride until whenever Great Adventure decides to open Saw Mill Log Flume next season.

After another stop at Great Bear with a station wait I stopped into the arcade. I'm used to the arcades at Great Adventure and Dorney where the focus are ticket games, skill cranes and other prize games like Stacker. This arcade had those types of games and also had an amazing assortment of video arcade games, both new and older games so of which I haven't seen in years. I could have easily spent a few hours in the arcade but limited myself to just playing a few games since there were still many coasters left to ride. I saw they had a Hercules pinball machine that I had always wanted to try. It looks cool, but a regular size pinball machine better.

Trailblazer had a 1 train wait. It's a good starter coaster for anyone looking to try a non kiddie coaster but otherwise is tame. It's still worth riding when there is little to no wait and you are walking right past the coaster.

Storm Runner had a line on the stairs and was around 15 minutes. The new restraints make the ride much more comfortable and there is a lot of cool elements like the heartline roll right into the snake dive. This is my favorite of the 4 US Intamin Accelerator coasters.

Fahrenheit had about a 20 minute wait with 2 out of 3 trains running. I skipped it when I was at the park May with a 90 minute wait and in July with a 45 minute wait. I prefer Fahrenheit to Untamed and Impulse and like Norwegian Loop element.

Laff Trakk had a long line and the app said it was a 45 minute wait. I didn't feel like waiting especially because they are running the coaster in the dark and if I am going to wait in line for the coaster, I want to see it with all the glow effects.

The Whip had a 1 cycle wait. With the concrete floor the ride is a little rougher than the Mangels and also less intense although still a good ride.

Lightning Racer had 1 train running on each side and was around a 10 minute wait. The ride was a little rougher than I had remembered although not too bad especially compared to Wildcat that I only ride once every few trips to the park. I like that the coaster is always racing with both sides running and the lights in the station declaring the winner is cool. I rode both tracks and prefer Lightning slightly more than Thunder.

Wild Mouse had almost no wait and is one of the better Wild Mouse coasters without much braking although I still like The Dark Knight the best.

Frontier Flyers was another ride I usually skip because of the line and on this trip it was a 2 cycle wait. I noticed the turning radius of the sail was better than Dorney's version. The cycle was also longer although not as good as Knoebels cycle. I had heard that Hersheypark can be strict with how extreme you can move the scooters but the ride operator didn't say anything with some kids moving the sails back and forth quickly. The ride was good but Knoebels has a much better version of the ride.

Reese's Extreme Cup Challenge had no wait in the single rider line. It's fun for what it is but one of my least favorite shooting dark rides. I rode a second time and got over 100,000, not that great but better than the combined score of the other car.

I went back to the Comet and waited 3 trains for the last row. The first drop was a little rougher in the last row and the rest of the ride was ok.

I have ridden Skyrush twice in past trips and never liked it that much. I walked onto the last row and still felt the same. It's just too extreme for me to ride more than once per trip and still don't like the restraints. If the ride had regular Intamin T Bars like Millennium Force, I'd probably like the coaster more.

sooperooperlooper was the last ride of the day, with a 2 train wait for the last row.

This was one of the better trips I have had at the park and visiting in October is something I am going to try to plan for each year.

Sundays in the spring and fall are the best days to visit with short waits. I went 4 weeks ago and the wait for Fahrenheit was only down to the bottom of the steps. That's the only time I'll ride that because the line is always long otherwise.

The best way we find to ride Skyrush is to hold on to the side bars of the restraint. Defensive riding saves the thighs. I love the intensity of Skyrush.

Good trip report.

I don't really get the dislike for Skyrush. Any leg discomfort was so minimal it didn't affect my enjoyment of the ride at all. Even if it was more painful, I'd take that sort of intensity any day over crazy positive G's and/or headbanging on inverting coasters.

I find that Skyrush is highly variable in terms of discomfort, depending upon the seat and the train. When I went to Hershey about a month ago the lines for most rides were so long that the only things I could ride were Skyrush, Great Bear and Lightning Racer. 2 out of 3 rides on Skyrush were OK; the 3rd was so painful that I wasn't inclined to attempt a 4th - and the people with whom I was riding had the same reaction, crying out in agony every time the restraint tightened.

We went yesterday for the last day of Halloween in the Park. It was perfect. Low 80s at the end of October and no waits. Rode Skyrush 3x in a row. Just had to change seats.

We rode Sooperdooperlooper, Comet, Storm Runner, and Fahrenheit after and it only took us 2 hours. We left because we got a message on our phone that a storm was coming.

As soon we got to Your Place down the street it poured.

I too went yesterday and it was indeed perfect. The only rides that had a wait were Comet and Laff Trakk. I've never ridden Comet b/c there is always a line and I'm always under time constraints. Arrived at the park shortly after noon and had to leave by 3:30 in order to make the 2-hour drive back home in daylight (night vision poor for driving). In that time I was able to ride Skyrush, Storm Runner, Fahrenheit, Sidewinder, Lightning Racer and Wildcat with a lunch break. Got 2 consecutive rides on Storm Runner before returning later for a 3rd and 2 rides on Fahrenheit although not consecutively. The last day of the regular operating season is a great time to go to Hershey; did the same thing last year with the same result. Plus prices drop near the end of the season for Hersheypark In the Dark. My ticket cost $25 (senior rate) and parking was only $9. Sweet!

It sounds like Sunday was a better day to visit than Saturday although I had somewhat expected that. By 5 or 6 on Saturday, the midways were so crowded it was difficult to walk around, line rides weren't too bad for the size of the crowds. 30 minutes for rides like Comet and sooperdooperlooper, 45 minutes for Great Bear and Fahrenheit. Earlier in the day lines were 10 - 30 minutes for most rides.

We went to Hershey yesterday for the first Sunday of Candylane, and again for November 13 it was 60 degrees out and no crowd at Hersheypark.

We won't ride Laff Trakk if the wait is more than 20 minutes, and we hadn't ridden it since its opening day. The coaster always has a long wait, and it's not that great. We were able to get two laps in 10 minutes. We walked on Wild Mouse.

I rode Wildcat by myself(my wife won't ride it. says it's too rough.) I took 4 laps in a row on the same train, and I don't know what they did because it was smoother than in the past. I rode in row one, row two, and row three. All good rides. I decided to go to the back, and got row 11. It wasn't headache inducing as in the past. I noticed some new wood on the third drop and turn, but nothing else major. We rode a few other rides on the way out. Claw, Monorail, Reeses Extreme Cup Challenge, and Tilt and Whirl.

Observation; They should be running the Comet for Candylane. We didn't go and ride the Sooperdooperlooper, and that's why we say Comet should be open.

I did see the construction area for the new S&S drop towers from the Monorail.They already almost have the ride operator building framed, and a lot of concrete poured. I don't know when they moved the kiddies rides to the Flying Falcon site,? but the Frog Hopper, and car ride were open there.