Hersheypark In The Dark, 10/15/17

Going to Hersheypark on a Sunday in October is one of my favorite times of the year to visit the park. With no Halloween attractions except shows and some activities for kids, the crowds (or at least the thrill seeking crowds) seem to stay away on Sundays even with perfect weather.

I got to the park at around 3:00. Looking at the wait times on the app when stopping for lunch near the park, I saw almost everything was a 5 - 10 minute wait so I was ready to spend the day riding as many coasters as I could.

First was Reese's Extreme Cup Challenge. It's probably the worst interactive dark ride I have tried except for the horrible Zamperla Alien Invasion that used to be at Gillian's Wonderland Pier, although still fun.

I went for a middle row at Comet even though none of the seats are that bad. It's probably my favorite wooden coaster at the park, I just wish the trim brake on the second turn around wasn't being used.

I felt the same about SkyRush as in past trips. The layout is great and the air time is excellent but too intense for me to ride more than once in a row and I'd still rather be riding Nitro.

sooperdooperlooper had a completely empty station so I went for the front row and then got a re-ride in the last row. It's not the tallest or fastest coaster around but is one of my favorite coasters in the park especially because Schwarzkopf loops are my favorite coaster inversion.

Hershey Triple Tower was next. The combination of a launch and drop is fun on the Hershey Tower. I skipped the Reese's Tower as I usually save that for days when the Hershey Tower has a long line. They are favorite S&S Towers but they don't compare to Zumanjaro.

Normally I don't wait for the front row at Great Bear because it means at least an extra 10 - 15 minute wait on most days. Today the wait for the front row rides was 2 - 3 trains, the other rows were walk ons or a 1 train wait. I got 4 rides with the station just crowded enough to have to walk around each time. The front row is so much better than other rows with the unobstructed view.

After going back to Hershey Triple Tower again I walked to Trailblazer. It's ok for a mine train and a great starter coaster for anyone wanting to try something more than a kiddie coaster and usually is popular with families because of the 36" height requirement.

I took advantage of Frontier Flyers having no wait. They are almost impossible to snap with the guards on each side of the rudder preventing the rudder from turning far enough to snap.

On the way to Lightning Racer I stopped at Wild Mouse. It's one of the better wild mouse coasters around with minimal braking in the hairpin turn section.

Lightning Racer had 1 train running on each side. The new trains aren't as comfortable as the original trains and the trains that Wildcat uses. The ride is a lot of fun with the dueling and some people get really competitive during the racing.

Before going to Wildcat, I went back to Wild Mouse since there were only around 6 people in line. Wildcat was my longest wait of the day at 10 minutes because they took off the 2nd train. When 2 trains were running the middle 6 rows were chained off so it didn't really make a difference to run 1 or 2 trains. When the ride went to 1 train, all rows were opened.

Fahrenheit was running 2 trains with the 3rd car of each train chained off. The cobra roll was a little rough but not too bad. It's a close call between Fahrenheit or Impulse as my favorite vertical lift coaster and I think I like Impulse slightly more because of the lap bars.

Earlier in the day 1 train was running at Storm Runner. Now both trains were running with the back 2 cars chained off so it didn't add that much capacity. This is my favorite Intamin coaster in the park and possibly my favorite of the 4 US Intamin Accelerator coasters (I can't decide between Storm Runner or Xcelerator). The coaster is great, I would have liked to see a few more elements since it feels like you are hitting the final brakes so quickly.

Before leaving, I went back to a few rides towards the front of the park. Reese's Extreme Cup Challenge and then Comet. The lights are turned off for the last hour on all 3 wooden coasters. On Comet, it didn't make much of a difference because the lift hill still had the lights on and there are so many rides in the area with the lights on.

Going back to sooperdooperlooper, the supervisor was encouraging re-rides and then I got another SkyRush ride.

I finished the day at Great Bear with 2 more rides. One in the front row and a re-ride in a middle row. Row 4 was closed off.

Laff Trakk had it's usual long line and for Hersheypark in the Dark, they run the ride in the dark. With the ride being marketed as a glow coaster, I think they should run it as normal most of the day and the last couple hours run the coaster in the dark.

Coal Cracker was closed, last year it was added to the lineup of rides for Hersheypark in the Dark so hopefully it will be open the final 2 weekends. I was looking forward to it with the almost 80 degree weather and with most other parks in the area having their log flumes closed for the season.

I haven't gotten 30 rides or more at any park in a couple of years and never at Hersheypark so it was nice to be able to ride so much. I might try to return again before the month is over or for the first time in 10 years, visit during Christmas Candylane now that coasters are running for the event (and new for this year Sidewinder).

We were there earlier in the day, and it was the lightest crowds since early in May. We rode Skyrush 3 laps in a row with just changing rows, and could've stayed on.

We left around 3:30 pm to go eat an early dinner. Good TR.

I was there as well but had to leave before 5 in order to do the 2-hr. drive home mostly in daylight (have partial night blindness). A Sunday in October truly is a great time to visit the park due to the absence of crowds, low ticket prices and reduced parking fee. I try to do this every year and the only downside is having to leave so early. Skyrush was a walk-on the entire time I was there and against my better judgment I rode it 3 times. I say against my better judgment because I have a serious problem with the restraint; a day later my leg still hurt so much that walking was a challenge. Only 1 train was running on Storm Runner when I got there so instead of getting multiple rides I settled for one. Too bad insofar as that's also my favorite Intamin in the park. Unlike YoshiFan, I prefer Fahrenheit to Impulse not only because I think it's a better coaster with more interesting elements but b/c I prefer the restraint. The lap bar on Impulse tightens after the freefall and for me it feels like being trapped in a garlic press. I never thought about riding Great Bear in the front; as usual I rode in the back under the assumption that that's where I could get the best airtime but will have to try the front sometime. On Lightning Racer I ended up eating my words. I prefer the Lightning side although 90& of the times I've ridden it Thunder won the race and I told two fellow riders on Lightning that Thunder almost always wins. As it turned out, Lightning came in first, lol.

One of the nice things about being at Hershey on a day with low attendance is having an opportunity to ride coasters that I would normally pass up on more crowded days when there's a wait for the big coasters. On Sunday I picked up two coaster credits - Sooperdooperlooper and Trailblazer - b/c there was plenty of time to do those and the high thrill rides. However, I have yet to ride Laff Trakk b/c even on a day like this on which the parking lot is nearly deserted there's a line for Laff Trakk.

^ I agree about Fahrenheit and Impulse. Rode Impulse the previous Saturday and Fahrenheit Sunday. I won't wait long for either rude. 10-15 minutes at the most. I'll wait longer to ride the Flying Turns. ;-)

Coasterfantom2 said:

We were there earlier in the day, and it was the lightest crowds since early in May. We rode Skyrush 3 laps in a row with just changing rows, and could've stayed on.

We left around 3:30 pm to go eat an early dinner. Good TR.

Thank You

Bobbie1951 said:

One of the nice things about being at Hershey on a day with low attendance is having an opportunity to ride coasters that I would normally pass up on more crowded days when there's a wait for the big coasters. On Sunday I picked up two coaster credits - Sooperdooperlooper and Trailblazer - b/c there was plenty of time to do those and the high thrill rides. However, I have yet to ride Laff Trakk b/c even on a day like this on which the parking lot is nearly deserted there's a line for Laff Trakk.

I also haven't ridden Laff Trakk yet, I thought this would have been a great chance but I didn't feel like waiting when everything else had little to no wait. Maybe I'll try to get in line right before closing on a future trip.

^I won't wait for Laff Trakk either. It's not worth a wait. I haven't been on it since the early Summer season. I'd like to ride in the dark, but it'll have to wait until next year.

This past Saturday we had a horrible experience at Six Flags Great Adventure, and next week going to Kings Dominion.

Sorry to hear Great Adventure was horrible. I have been scared away from going to Great Adventure on a Saturday during Fright Fest because of all the problems I have heard about over the years (bad behaved guests, an hour wait for the metal detectors, traffic backed up to Wawa on 537 and the 2+ hour lines).

I went back to Hersheypark on Sunday and rather than right a full report, I'll just post a few things. It was slightly more crowded than the previous week although most rides were 10 minutes or less. I did wait 25 minutes for Storm Runner because only 1 train was running.

I haven't ridden Sidewinder this year and since it's going to be open for Christmas Candylane I wanted to try the coaster again which turned out to be a mistake. Going backwards caused a bad headache and I didn't feel great on and off for the rest of the trip to the park. I don't know if I am ever going to want to ride another boomerang again, even if it's a new credit.

Coal Cracker was closed again. Someone asked the photo booth employee at Great Bear about the ride being open and was told the ride doesn't operate in the fall. It's on the Hersheypark In the Dark map and is listed as an operating ride for the event on the website. It was disappointing to have the ride closed two weeks in a row.

The Sky Ride was closed most of the day but was running the last few hours the park was open. I noticed it was the same last week.