Hersheypark announces Laff Trakk, an indoor spinning roller coaster

Well, they had an old fashioned, traditional amusement park, they jumped on the theme park bandwagon and modernized the park, then they realized that old fashioned nostalgia might be a draw, so they mowed an open field to install rides with an eye toward the park's history, then they realized the water park thing was passing them by so they stuck that somewhere in between there. None of it, in terms of atmosphere, has ever really worked.

At least that's how the progression seems to me. I like their rides, I always (usually) have a good time there, but when I'm done at Hershey I always feel extra tired, or something. Even more so than after I take Cedar Point's marathon walk of a tour. I think at Hershey, in spite of its size, you really have to do a lot of walking to get everything in and avoid missing something altogether.

I'll be interested to see the exact location of this ride and how they treat the exterior of the building. It would be cool, and smart, if they were to go all out and recreate the look of the original Whoops funhouse and show it off, rather than build the typical pole barn structure then try to disguise it or hide it from view.

In my opinion it's too bad that some park somewhere doesn't take the leap and design a traditional walk-thru funhouse. The latest that I know of is the funhouse at Jenkinson's, which looks fabulous. Retro and modern at the same time. But, sadly, in order to comply with NJ state accessibaility laws it's quite tame without a lot of stunts or typical fun house action. I'd love to see a return of that kind of attraction somewhere other than the state fair carnival midway.

We had the "Hershey's layout sucks" discussion a couple of years back too.

^Yes, and I'm still right. ;~)

The water park is too confined.

We sure did, I was in it, and that's why I brought it up.
It was a much uglier discussion then, as I recall.

The water park is an awful condensed cluster **** of a mess, crowded with too many people, but ignoring that for a moment, I don't think it's all that bad of a layout.

I second the vote for the waterpark being "an awful condensed cluster **** of a mess." Ill conceived and poorly planned is how I normally describe it. Like said above somwhere... seem slike HP realized they were missing the waterpark craze and jumped on the bandwagon by shoe horning it in where they could.

As for layout... I never had a problem with it. As for being extra tired... I always thought the hills in the park cause most of that.

But, the hills and the creek do make the park interesting and kind of pretty.

^^All true.

I always enjoyed Cedar Point's fun house, but I wonder if a walk through fun house would be viable these days - for example, accessibility could be an issue. Mirror mazes or tilted rooms might not easily accommodate wheelchairs or PMVs.

But Hersheypark would be one park that I think could at least make a solid go at one.

I read somewhere that the mirror mazes and fun houses are often phased out because of too much potential for injury (kid running through mirror maze, smacks face, bleeds a little, litigious family sues because child was an out of control dumbass, for example). Wish I could remember where I read it.