Northeast Trip Day 3 of 3 Hersheypark

NORTHEAST TRIP DAY 3 of 3

Herhseypark

Day three started early with a two hour drive to Hershey. We got there about quarter till ten and parked a mile away from the park. I didn’t remember the hike from last time I visited, but it sucked because it took forever to get to the gate. Once there, we waited in the huge line and finally got in and made a B-line to…

Storm Runner

Unfortunately the line was already full and the dreaded “one train” sign was up. We got in line and waited about 45 for our first ride. Thank goodness the other train got on later. For our first ride we got in thevmiddle on the train in the left side of the station. The restraints were pretty comfortable and mine completely went flush with the touching bar. They are very heavy though and it did put a bit of pressure on my collarbones. After exiting quickly, we got on the launch track and waited. Then “Now you’re ready, here we go…” and we were off. 0 to 72 in two seconds, and wow was it fast. It wasn’t Hypersonic fast, but still great. After the we headed up the tophat and got some nice airtime before plunging into the cobra dive and then up into the roll and snake dive. After that we went sideways and up over a crest onto the breaks. My first opinion was to be a bit disappointed because it was pretty painful on my shoulders and it was way short. The twist to the tophat kind of hurt and so did the bank at the end. To make a long story short, we rode again twice later and I loved the ride. The front is way less jerky and the 15 min. wait made the ride even sweeter. The air may cause taller people to hurt a bit, but if you place your hands on your shoulders it is fine. Overall, I enjoyed my final two rides tenfold over the first one. Storm Runner is a very neat ride and a great thrill, if a bit uncomfortable. Since its my only Rocket, I can’t wait to try some others.

Storm Runner **** ¼

Sidewinder

Boomerang, Boomerang…Vekoma Boomerang. Hey it isn’t called Mind Eraser or Flashback or Boomerang and it has nice paint. Score! Actually, this is my favorite boomerang and it gives a nice, mostly smooth ride. It doesn’t jerk too much on tower 2 and it didn’t bang my head except for a small one going backwards through the boomerang.

Sidewinder *** ½

Wildcat

Why were some of the rows roped on this? They only had the front and back open so we grabbed the back and got a good ride. I remember loving it back in ‘99 and it has aged fairly well. It’s a bit rough but provides some nice laterals and some pops of air. The drop is crazy and one of the crossovers is insane. Those breaks sound unhealthy though…

Wildcat *** ¾

Chaos

Man, it’s been a long time since I rode one of these. It beat the !@#$ out of my shins, but I love this ride.

Chaos *** ½

Lighting Racer

And the biggest surprise of the trip: this ride freakin’ rocks! All I can say is that L.R. is a great woodie! Both sides are different, both have some similarities. The drops rock, crossovers rule, and the speed and airtime are great. I really love the trains and the short waits got us six rides. We only won one time, on thunder and I seemed to like Lightning a bit better. We sat front, back, and middle and found front and back the best. This is quite simply a great ride with a great crew and it is really well kept.

L.R. **** ½

Comet

Decent old woody with some nice air and a good layout. I love how the breaks are on a turn.

Comet *** ½

Great Bear

This baby was broke before we got in line and broke again on the lift so we left, rode the monorail and returned. This is such a weird B&M and I only got to ride once this visit and in its opening year. We sat second row and got a nice ride, I really like the top helix. The inversions are good, but the end of the ride seems like wasted space. This ride also could use a new color scheme and some sprucing up. It just isn’t spectacular.

Great Bear *** ¾

Comments

Storm Runner is kinder later in the day.

The things rips into the station.

L.R. rules.

Why was SooperDooperLooper not running?

Too many people…AAAHHH!!!

Overall:

I am tired of typing these so I kind of skimped on this one. Hershey is a nice park with some great rides, crews, and landscape. Storm Runner is a great addition and L.R. is a great woody. It would be nice to see a good hyper or floorless in the future and some new flats.

Hershey park **** ½

http://community.webshots.com/album/161632715fFyMwO

*** Edited 7/10/2004 10:03:34 PM UTC by Willh51***

They added four flats last year: The Claw, Frontier Flyers, Mini-Scrambler, and Mini-Pirat. What more do you want? Ok, so most of us can't ride the last two, but it's the effort that counts.

Couldnt agree more with you on Lightning Racer. What an awsome ride. What day exactly were you there? I was there July 1st and 2nd, Thursday and Friday, and while the midways did seem fairly crowded, most of the ride lines were very short, even storm runner in the evening was less than 20 minutes, not including the breakdowns of course. And I also noticed the roping off of several rows on WildCat and Lightning Racer at times. Im pretty sure its just basically to give the ops an easier time, because they dispatch so many trains that arent anywhere near full on these 2 rides, because of the awsome capacity. This way they dont have to do so much buckling of seat belts and lowering of lap bars. Thats my only theory anyway.

I was there on the 1st. Yeah, I know they added some flats. I guess took for granted the Claw because I didn't ride it. Revolution at Dorney was enough for me.

Posted the pics at the top. Hope you like them, please ask if you want to use them though.

Did you notice anyone wearing a Dragster shirt? Because if you did, it was probably me. Nice pics, BTW. *** Edited 7/10/2004 10:20:58 PM UTC by stljason1***

Nice TR. I absolutely loved my trip to HP last year, but like you, I think Great Bear is very over-hyped. *** Edited 7/11/2004 6:13:36 PM UTC by RCmuzikGuY***