Associated parks:
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2 TRAIN OPERATIONS ON SIDEWINDER... OTSRs DISABLED ON GREAT BEAR... UPSTOPS REMOVED FROM COMET...
All to add an extra "thrill" and "horror" to the Halloween events at Hersheypark!
Okay... NOT REALLY... but I did get your attention...
On to the real TR....
After travelling from York and fighting the 4-5pm traffic around Harrisburg, and after a quick detour to the Season Pass office to get things squared away for next year, we found ourselves entering the park around 6pm.
The rides... in no particular order:
Sooperdooperlooper: Since this is my wife's favorite and since there was a ticket booth right near by (we chose to avoid the chaos of the ticket booths in Carrousel Circle), we hit this ride first thing. It was really running fast on this night. With the cold air it even seemed faster. Those annoying trims after the tunnel were barely on (if you didn't know they were there you could not feel them) and the train went screaming into the helix. Since it was running fast and since it was always a walk on, we did 6 rides before the night was over.
Comet: While the looper is my wife's favorite, the old Comet is mine (my wife doesn't ride it... "too bumpy") 1 ride in back seat, 1 in front seat, 1 in seat 1-3, 1 in seat 2-1, and one final ride in first seat. While 1-3 might have been Herb Schmeck's favorite seat on his coasters, I either like the 1st seat of the train or the 1st seat of the 2nd car. seat 1-3 just has too much of a limited view (heads of riders in front block everything). Still a great ride though no matter where you sit. Only problem... SLOW dispatch. Those annoying seat belts plus the ops taking the tickets and checking arm bands after the train was loaded caused the delays. The person at the queue entrance should have taken tickets and checked... but oh well... HP is not used to Pay Per Ride events. My last 3 rides of the night were on here.
Great Bear: Why oh why do some people claim this B&M is "forceless?" Plenty of force for me in the helix, loop and inversions. Plus I love that fast run through Comet Hollow (after the loop and before the Immelman). A great ride any time, even better on a cold night. 4 rides total... 3 in the front seat with only a minor wait (walk ons for all other seats except front).
Sidewinder: Always like to get 1 ride on this when I visit. I can take it up front, but I hate to sit in back (very painful I think). Better at night with the lights hitting the track. Nothing like being in the front seat and looking up into the nothingness of the night sky as you come to a screeching halt before you start the backward return trip.
Trail Blazer: Like Sidewinder, always good for 1 ride. Better at night (it has a really dark path). I like to ride this for one reason... I feel better about myself simply because I can still fit! (haven't gained that much weight after all)
The rest of the rides we did for that night: 1 ride on each of the following: Twin Turnpike Antique and Sports cars, Tilt-a-Whirl, Flying Falcon, Pirat, Cyclops and Sky View.
One thing about the positing of the Great Bear, Looper, and Comet... their close encounters with other rides. As we came into the break run on the looper a Comet Train roared out of its 2nd drop... the "kick the looper" illusion if you sit on the right side of the Great Bear... even Sky View Sky ride (there is a spot where the Bear's tracks pass closely underneath... as the train enters and exits the Immelman... had ween been two cars back on the sky ride we would have been right there as a Great Bear train would have passed right beneath us).
Almost forgot... Great Bear, sooperdooperlooper and Comet were all running 2 trains. (Just ignore that first comment about Sidewinder)
All in all, a good way to end the season... I won't mention the shameless "begging" for a 5th Avenue bar at one of the Candy Stations for kids... I got on my knees and "walked" up to the table while I held my wife's hand and said "twik or tweet". (Shameless... but it worked and it also gave the people at the table a good laugh)
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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"
*** This post was edited by SLFAKE on 10/21/2002. ***
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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"
SLFAKE said: Comet: IOnly problem... SLOW dispatch. Those annoying seat belts plus the ops taking the tickets and checking arm bands after the train was loaded caused the delays.
I agree! The Comet crew was sooooo slow on Saturday as well. The line only filled one line of the covered queue (in front of the station), but it took forever w/ two train operation.
However, the Great Bear crew was great! The park was pretty slow the first couple of hours on Saturday, probably thanks to some early showers that kept the crowds away for awhile. They were quick and let you stay in your seats when no one was waiting. If there was someone waiting, you could switch rather than walk all the way around.
It was a fun day at HP!
PhoenixPhan: At the end of the night on Friday night on the Comet the line consisted of people in the station lined up a few trains deep at the gates... the line did not even extend down the ramp. That being said, I could only manage 3 rides in 20 minutes (entered the queue for my 3rd ride of the night on Comet at 9:40 by my watch... rode it 3 times with my last ride being on the next to last train of the night. Since all gates were lined up, I did have to exit the station and go back around to ride again) This was with a 2 train operation. Last year, things were running much quickly on the Comet. There was hardly ever a wait. As stated, the rule was if there was no one waiting for your seat, you could re ride, or if there was someone waiting, you could get chose another empty seat and re-ride. Last year my last 3 rides of the night were in seat 2-1 with out having to get out of the train.
Conversely, the looper, never being very busy, was a walk on each and every time and they were running 2 trains. My wife and I did exit the station and go back through the for some of our rerides because we wanted the front seat and there were people waiting for the front seat when we returned. However, on two of our re rides, we simply exited the front seat and then (after asking permission) chose an empty seat with out leaveing the station.
I did not try this on the Great Bear mainly because I was waiting for a front seat and that line always had a few train wait. I guess I could have remained if I was in another seat or if I wanted another seat after riding the front... but with only a 3 or 4 train wait at the max for the front, I wasn't going to pass it up.
My other question about the way things were operated was on the Pirat. I am not sure how many swings the ship made, but I do know that it only hit its max height once (maybe twice) before slowing down to a stop. It was a very short ride. My wife mentioned had we bought tickets for this and gotten this short of a ride it would have bothered her. The Cyclops also seemed to be running a very short cycle. It started spinning, rose to its verticle positon and then almost imediately started lowering again. Not sure why the short cycles. It certainly wasn't because of lines on these two... both were walk ons.
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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"
*** This post was edited by SLFAKE on 10/21/2002. ***
SLFAKE, its funny that you mentioned the Pirat. I didn't ride it on this last visit, but for whatever reason, the HersheyPark Pirat has a notoriously short cycle! The Pirat is one of the few flat rides that usually runs during the Hershey Christmas in the Park (or whatever they call it) event. Anyway, I rode it one year during that time and the place was DEAD. Also, it was *so* cold outside that there was actually snow on the ground! I paid for tickets to ride, and the ride literally lasted like three or four swings each way - I couldn't believe it! I can almost understand those insanely short ride cycles on some of the flat rides like Cyclops and the Pirat during the busy summer months, but you would think the park could alter the ride programs somewhat during slow periods.
The funny thing is... and I am not sure of this... but I believe they can alter the cycle times.
The last time I rode the Pirat was at Hersheypark in the Dark last year. The cycle was not as short. Also, I could be wrong, but I swear that the Tilt-a-whirl had a longer cycle in mid August.
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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"
SLFAKE said:
The person at the queue entrance should have taken tickets
As someone that works there, I know how much of a pain taking tickets and checking wristbands can be. We were told that we have to check for everything up in the station though in case of a ride breakdown. Supposedly this makes things easier on us.
You know... I always wondered that at Knoebels... What happens if they take your ticket at the entrance of the line (they do on Twister and Phoenix) and what happens if the ride breaks down or you "chicken out". I guess taking them in the station would make sense because of this... though waiting until the train is loaded and secured?
All other rides they were taking them at the end of the line but before you loaded.
I guess the same policy was there on the looper and Great Bear... but it didn't seem as long because there were few full trains sent out.
Good news... by the end of the evening they were announcing in the Comet station to "have your wrist bands or tickets ready when entering the train". Many of the delays were caused by riders who had to dig around in their pockets for their tickets or else had to count out the number of tickets and tear them off after they were loaded.
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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"
Do they normally let you reride the coasters at Hershey if no one is waiting, or do they just allow it for the Halloween event?
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Sue Barry
CoasterSue@aol.com
From a "visitor" point of view, I've never been there anytime other than Hersheypark in the Dark when there were not people waiting.
Any word on "official policy", SmurfRacer?
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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"
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