Planes, Trains & Coaster Credit Claims (USA 2025 Trip) Part 5: Hersheypark

[James F]

American: "Where are you from?"

Me: "The UK"

American: "Where about?"

Me: "Manchester"

American: "Are you on vacation?"

Me: "yeah"

American: "... When are you going back?"

This was the average interaction I must of had about 3-4 times a day while waiting through cattlepen queue lines. I think it was only by day three when it hit me how far I was from home.

Unlike the mainland Europe trips I had done in the past which were more spontaneous, this trip was planned almost a year in advance.

To be fair, there were elements of my trip that required more planning than usual. I wasn't just going to one place, but several.

On top of all that I wasn't going to be using a rental car, instead I would be relaying on public and private transportation; how did that go? Find out!

The Itinerary:
Day One: Travel (Fly from Manchester to JFK)
Day Two: Travel & Cedar Point (Fly from Laguardia(NYC) to Cleveland)
Day Three: Cedar Point
Day Four: Cedar Point
Day Five: Travel (Fly from Cleveland to Philadelphia, Amtrak Keystone Train from Philadelphia to Middletown)
Day Six: Hersheypark
Day Seven: Six Flags Great Adventure & New York Sightseeing
Day Eight: New York Sightseeing, Coney Island, Return flight home.
--------------

May 22nd
Manchester Airport - Terminal 2

Of the countless flights I have taken from my local airport I have never flown from terminal 2 since it's referb. Most of my flights are usually Ryanair so the cramped and overcrowded terminal 3 is what I have become accustom to. I must say that this terminal is quite the contrast with wide open spaces and plenty of natural light. That doesn't mean it doesn't get busy though as all the restaurants still had queues coming out of the front door. Luckily they moved quickly and I had a table within 5 minutes.

I decided to eat at the Amber Alehouse, which was persistent in reminding it's patrons that they were in Manchester, from it's playlist of mancunian bands to it's "supersonic" mobile ordering app. I found it a little bit corny, but still the Seven Brothers Juicy IPA was top.



Before I had even had chance to finish my second drink it was time to board the plane.

I flew with Aerlingus on a direct flight from Manchester to JFK New York. Virgin Atlantic also offer this service, albeit more expensive.

This A330-300 was going to take me across the North Atlantic with a 7hr and 30 minutes flight time.



I was sat right at the back in economy on a window seat which worked out great as nobody was sat next to me and I had direct access to the toilet without needing to queue.

The flight felt quick, partly due to the in-service entertainment which offered at least 80+ films and plenty of tv shows. After watching two episodes of 'What We Do in the Shadows' and 'Goodfellas' I had a meal, snoozed and then was told we would be landing in an hour.



I arrived into JFK tired and admittedly a little nervous.

I had heard of the recent horror stories about tourists being detained and deported in the US over the past couple of months and with my unconfident arse I was worried about sounding overly nervous despite having nothing to hide.

I shuffled through the immigration queue clutching onto my passport like a nun with a cross.

Finally the time had come. I was about to be called forward and then the officer had closed the booth. For a second I feared that I would be pulled aside for further screening.

Turns out of course, that I had nothing to fear. He came back, I was asked some straight forward questions, my fingerprints were taken, passport stamped and I was on my way.

After arriving in New York it was time to find my accommodation. I was going to be staying in Queens as I would be flying from LaGuardia Airport to Cleveland tomorrow morning.

The accommodation I had booked was an apartment I found on booking.com. I had booked it because it was cheaper than the upscale hotels near the airport, but had better reviews than the cheap hotels in the area.

The only catch was that I would have to share the room with a cat.

I like cats so I had no issue with this and at the time of booking I thought it was cutsy and quirky. Grated by the time I was off the plane I was hoping that this cat would leave me alone, turns out that the cat wouldn't be an issue ...

I had arrived at the address which was a 7 story apartment building which looked sketchy. This didn't worry me too much as I had stayed in some hotels in Europe that had questionable lobby's but had nice rooms.

I entered the number provided by the host to call the apartment, but no one answered. I had also tried calling the host but no answer. I had previously told the host of my estimated arrival time weeks before so I was perplexed why no one was in. Another resident had walked through the building and let me in. I thought I might have some luck knocking on the door. The place looked even more dodgy on the inside. The fluorescent lights were flickering, the place smelt like p*ss and some of the ceiling tiles were missing. I found that there was indeed the accommodation labelled on the door of the apartment so at least it properly wasn't a complete scam. After trying the code, knocking on and getting nowhere with the supposed host I gave up.

At this point I just thought F**k this.

I can't be doing with this after a long haul flight and not having much sleep the night before. Screw the apartment, screw the host and screw the cat.

I messaged that I won't be staying the night and I booked a hotel closer to LaGuadia.

On second thoughts it's not the cat's fault.

The unplanned hotel near LaGuadia was fine, but it's main asset of location also became it's main issue as it was situated right behind the runway meaning that landing planes were incredibly loud. Fortunately they had stopped by 10pm which at this time I was well and truly shattered and fell right to sleep.

----------------------------------------------------

May 23rd
LaGuardia Airport

The next morning I awoke to a message from American Airlines that they would offer me $300 in travel credit for switching my flight. I had heard that airlines often overbooked flights to account for the income loss on no-shows. Most of the time this goes unnoticed as airlines usually calculate this correctly however on occasion they have made an error and the plane is overbooked and they ask for volunteers for people to take another flight in exchange for travel vouchers, failing this they have to involuntary bump people from the flight. After receiving this message I was worried that the flight was overbooked.

For whatever reason American Airlines do this on most flights, even when the plane is not overbooked. I have read online that it's so the airline can gather information to see who is interested, but it seems unusual to me.

I have to say that LaGuardia is looking sharp after it's refurbishment, definitely one of the better airports I have flown from.



My flight to Cleveland was at 7.55am and was scheduled to be a 1hr and 40 minute flight, unsurprisingly they had accounted for the taxing at LGA. The flight time was only an hour and with LGA being relatively quiet the plane was only taxing for about 10 minutes.

I arrived in Cleveland by 9:30am. The next task on the agenda was getting an Uber all the way to Sandusky. I had researched this before I had found plenty of rides available online as well as finding accounts from people who have also made the same journey.

After booking the journey I was provided with a driver within minutes so I can confirm that it's unlikely to be an issues if you do this yourself.

Arriving in the airport I was greeted with this sign informing me that Superman was created in Cleveland. Although I feel like New York City was more on a inspiration on Metropolis.



The Uber driver was a really friendly middle aged guy who kept asking me if I had seen the musical 'Hair' after mentioning that I was from Manchester, England. I have never heard of it to his disbelief. It was a 50 minute journey to Sandusky so we chatted about several things such as sports (which I know nothing about, but tried my best) and his past as an art teacher.



I arrived at the motel in Sandusky, checked in and dropped by bag off. I then booked an uber to the place I travelled all this way for, Cedar Point.

 

[James F]

May 23rd
Cedar Point

After waiting 25 minutes for a 10 minute uber ride I had finally arrived at America's roller coast by about 11.45am.

Like any other enthusiast, Cedar Point is at the top of my bucket list of parks. Ever since looking at construction photos of Top Thrill Dragster back in the winter of 2002/2003 I had always had a longing desire to visit. I would go as far to say that looking at those construction photos at 6 years old made me the coaster geek I am today.

Bizarrely I didn't really feel anything once I arrived. It all felt normal, almost routine. Go in, get the credits and leave.

Maybe I have become so spoiled/jaded at this point that I don't appreciate that I am actually in the coaster capital of the world.

Or maybe I was just tired?



I wasn't entirely sure what coaster to ride first, but the sheer size of Top Thrill 2 was drawing me in. Approaching the entrance I was surprised to find that it only had an hour wait. "Only an hour?!" you might ask, but considering it has been getting 3+ hour waits in the past few weeks, I took this as a win.

This is when I discovered the first pitfall of Cedar Point which is their annoying locker policy. For all of the major rides you are not allowed loose articles. I had prepared for this by wearing shorts with zipper pockets, but on Top Thrill 2 they will not even allow items in secured pockets, meaning everything must go in a paid locker and to add insult to injury you can't even bring your phone into the queue, which makes the queue feel that much longer. I understand why they need to have a strict policy's in place, but surely there must be a better solution?

On a more positive note, the queue was actually only 30 minutes and better yet I was assigned the back row.

#257 Top Thrill 2

Technically speaking I have been on the world's tallest roller coaster, which is weird to think about even now as I am writing this.

There was some anticipation as the lights counted down, although my expectations were muted knowing it wasn't going to feel nearly as punchy as a hydraulic launch.

The train then proceeded into the first launch and while it's admittedly nowhere near the power of Stealth, the LSM's still provided a bit of a kick and 74mph for a first launch is not to be snuffed at as I still felt that speed.

While that first launch is decent it's the second launch which makes the ride interesting as I could feel myself being pushed forward as I was launched backwards at 101mph. The spike is reminicent of Toutatis for me with the exception of it being almost 3 times taller. As expected it's a nerve-wracking moment for those afraid of heights, but for me it was over a bit too quickly to take it all in.

The third and final launch is the unsurprisingly the best of the three. I felt my vision begin to blur as the train started it's assent up the 420ft tophat.

Then came the best part, the crest and drop off the top hat. Properly one of the best drops in the world. As the train descends the drop you get some awesome airtime as the train whips down it's spiral drop proving strong laterals to go with the airtime. It's an out of control moment and is definitely what made the ride for me.



After retrieving my stuff from the locker it was time to try something less exciting, but still noteworthy.

#258 Corkscrew

While it's easy to forget, this was Arrow's first coaster with a vertical loop and was also one of the first modern looping coasters. I wasn't expecting a good ride, but it's a classic so it had to be done.

After a 10 minute wait in the station due to some of the slowest operations I have seen since Parque Warner, it was time to ride.

I can't say I enjoyed it.

The trains were not tall people friendly and while I didn't bang my head, the jerks and vibrations left me feeling rough so it turned out to be a one and done.



Another Arrow was to follow.

#259 Magnum XL-200

Not being a fan of the' The Big One' back at home, but hearing that this had great airtime I wasn't sure how I would feel about Magnum.

My first ride I was sat in the 2nd row of the front car, as I knew wheel seats are a lot rougher on it's sister coaster in Blackpool, plus my head was still ringing from Corkscrew.

I am pleased to say that I am in the camp of people who like Magnum. Yes it's a bit wonky, but I didn't find it to be too rough and you can predict when a rough part is coming just by looking at the track profile.

What makes this of course is the airtime, particularly the "tringle hills of death" at the end which only become more aggressive with each hill. While I came off with cuts on my knees I was still grinning.

Yes it's not a smooth ride, but at least it's a proper roller coaster and not a glorified monorail.



#260 Gemini (Red Side)

Yes each side counts as a credit.

I had heard many good things about Gemini going in, but I tried to keep my expectations muted. While I can't say it looks like much on paper, the concept of a racing coaster is always a fun one, unless it's Grand National.

Overall my first impression was that it was decent and had a couple of pops of airtime, it is somewhat let down by it's old design as those turns sure are dull.

Getting the blue side became the most elusive credit of the entire trip as Gemini broke down many times during my visit.



#261 Steel Vengeance

One of my most anticipated coasters of the trip was this infamous 200ft hyper hybrid.

While waiting in the queue, the tiredness from the last two days of little sleep began to really hit. At one point I was considering leaving the park after this ride as I was starting to feel physically sick. After waiting for 35 minutes I was feeling very ratty at this point, so to be honest I wasn't in the best of moods on my first ride.

I was sat in the middle and to be honest didn't have that much excitement in me anymore.

With that in mind I still thought it was a top 10 worthy coaster after my first ride alone. It had all the aggressive ejector airtime you expect from RMC as well the furious pacing I have felt on larger RMC's like Zadra. Based on my first ride I would say that it was a good as Zadra, but it didn't blow me away initially.
-


As it's next door and it's another coaster high on my bucket list I decided to brave the 50 minute queue for Maverick. After waiting for 15 minutes and feeling even more sick as the teenagers standing next to me were gozzing into the water below, the ride abruptly broke down.

Oh Intamin.

To be fair it was properly a good thing as I wasn't feeling that 50 minute wait.

-


Continuing on I took the consolation Credit #262 Cedar Creek Mine Ride

It doesn't really do much other than proving some bemusing arrow jankyness. The drop over the water is quite scenic and is a nice touch, but there is nothing else of note. It's a one and done.



The sun came out and seemed to lift my spirts.

Another thing which cheered me up was seeing Siren's Curse testing. It's a shame that I was just going to miss it, but still it's all new to me at Cedar Point so I don't consider it a loss.



If you were to ask me what my bucket list coasters are, Millennium Force would be high on that list. From seeing it in countless roller coaster documentaries to seeing it win Golden Ticket Award after Golden Ticket Award I knew I would have it ride it at some point. While some people have critised in more recent years for not being very forceful or for lacking airtime, I was still hyped to ride my first giga coaster.

#263 Millennium Force

It didn't disappoint. My first ride was on the back row and that first drop alone was incredible, it had strong sustained floater similar to Shambhala. The overbanked turn and following tunnel provided some positive force, while not rip your face off intense, it was still noticeable.

Admittedly the airtime throughout the rest of the ride is weaker than on other Intamin mega coasters, but it's still there even if it's mild. To me the absence of strong airtime was made up by the pure unadulterated sense of speed. It's a pure joy in my opinion.



#264 Rougarou

Rougarou had a 5 minute wait so I made it my next stop. I don't understand all the hate to be honest, I thought it was solid. It could of done with a Zero-G-Roll but considering it was a stand up convert it's understandable why it's not there. I didn't find it rough, maybe a little rattly like other 90s B&M's, but nothing bad.



#265 Gatekeeper

After making my way to the front of the park I decided to give Gatekeeper a go as it was only a 10 minute wait.

Out of the three B&M wing coasters I have done I would say that GateKeeper is my least favourite. There isn't anything inherently bad about it, but I just think that The Swarm and Fenix have moments which make them stand out and leave more of an impact.

It's a fun and graceful B&M nevertheless.



#266 Raptor

Continuing the run of B&M's Raptor was next. I happened to sit in one of the larger "big boy" seats which turned out to be a good call as I had much more freedom to feel the old school B&M whip in all it's glory. Raptor is what I want in an invert, it's fast paced, has whippy inversions and have moments of postive G's which made my feet tingle.

While it's not quite on the level of Nemesis, it's in my top half of inverts for sure.



#267 Blue Streak

The final ride of the day was Blue Streak with a walk on queue.

It was a fun woodie with some mild pops of airtime here and there, it keeps the balance of feeling old and rickety without being uncomfortable.

Not a headliner by any means, but I am glad it's here.



That concludes my first day at Cedar Point. It was surprisingly quiet considering it's the Friday before memorial weekend, while not dead by any means I was expecting to wait a lot longer than 30 minutes for Top Thrill 2!

While I think the tiredness got me in the afternoon, I picked up in the evening and had a good day overall.

As expected, I haven't been able to ride everything on my first day (some due to downtime Maverick, Iron Dragon) I have another two days remaining until I move onto Pennsylvania to do Hersheypark. Stay tuned for day two.

 

[James F]

May 24th
Cedar Point

As it was a Saturday and it was memorial day weekend I decided I should budget for a fast lane plus, which turned to be more than worth it. Unlike yesterday the crowds came in volume.

As a Cedar Point gold season pass member with an all park passport I was given early entry. This is a perk which is obviously worth taking advantage of as it gave me an hour head start before the park got slammed.

Of course there is a caveat though. That being there were only a few attractions open for early entry. Millennium Force, Iron Dragon and Gatekeeper were the only coasters that are currently included.

Naturally I made a beeline for Millie, but with what would sadly become a trend at the park ... It was down for maintenance.

#268 Iron Dragon

Considering I didn't get ride it yesterday due to a break down (the ride, not me) I decided to give it a go.

I found it to be a lot of fun, maybe it's because it's the only swinging suspended coaster I have done (excluding vampire). The way the layout interacts with the surrounding scenery and other rides kept me engaged despite it not being the most thrilling.


After having a couple of rides on Gatekeeper I made my way all the way to the back of the park so I could hopefully ride the Intamin Blitz I had seen and heard so much about.

#269 Maverick
After waiting in the fast lane queue for about 10 minutes the ride had opened and I got on within about 5 minutes after that.

Maverick is many ways had a strong appeal for me, not just because of it's reputation, but crucially because it's a coaster with great variety.

In the end I found my first ride to be disappointing.

I was sat in the back car and other than the first drop I didn't get any airtime as the overly restrictive vests were pinned to my collarbone.

If anything I was shocked how tame it felt. I wanted a crazy out of control display of power and this wasn't it.

I will say that the second launch was still a great moment, but other than that I was underwhelmed.

Still, it's a morning ride so it will warm up in the evening right?

Right ...?



One ride that didn't disappoint was Steel Vengeance. After having two consecutive rides in the back row I knew it would be a "top 3" contender. My feelings the day before were likely due to tiredness, but after some rest this hybrid monster delivered.

Basically, it tried to murder me.

10/10

I have been on the European RMC's which are also aggressive rides, but this is on another level. While I will admit the violent nature of it is not for everyone, but personally I loved the display of power. Send me to the moon dammit!

I don't think I have a favourite moment as the whole thing is batsh*t crazy.



#270 Woodstock Express

It's a +1 and done, moving on ..



#271 Valravn
Dive Coasters are one of my favourite coaster models. While they may all do pretty much the same thing, there is a sense of theatre and spectacle which I find undeniable.

Valraven ended up being one of my favourite coasters in the park. It has sheer height on it's side and an incredible view of Lake Erie to boot. The first drop offered a decent amount of floater airtime despite the vest restraints.

The rest of the ride was floaty and graceful not dissimilar to Gatekeeper. The final inversion offered a solid few seconds of hangtime and I was surprised that the final hill actually had airtime.

It was much more well rounded than I expected.



#272 Gemini (Blue Side)

As previously mentioned getting on the the blue side of Gemini turned out to be an ordeal. For whatever reason Gemini broke down consistently throughout my 3 day visit. After my third attempt I finally got the credit.

I will say that I preferred Gemini more on my second ride, while I don't think it's anything amazing it's certainly unique and can be a lot of fun when it decides to operate.



To avoid reputation I am going to skip to the evening as the rest of the day was re-rides without much change in opinion.

To end the day I retuned to Frontier Town for night rides on Maverick and Vengeance.

My night ride on Maverick was certainly an improvement on my sluggish morning ride. I was assigned the front row and this time I wasn't stamped as hard. While I still feel like the restraints hurt the experience, the ride I got was more in line with what I expected. Maverick like other LSM coasters warm up well and this time around I got to feel some of that old-school Intamin intensity and well as experiencing a real sense of speed with all the wind rushing to my face.

It might not be the top 10 coaster I was hoping for, but it's certainly enough to be a stand out a experience and possibly make my top 25.



After having a back row night ride on Steel Vengeance I could no longer deny, that it is indeed, the best roller coaster I have been on.

It has airtime, airtime and airtime, it has incredible pacing, it's a long ride and it has whippy inversions. You even get a free souvenir - shin bruises, what's not to love?

Plus all that in the cloak of darkness. I couldn't keep up with what direction my body was being thrown in. There hasn't been any other coaster I have been on that has kept up the intensity like this.

Steel Vengeance is a ride that demands your attention from the second you board to the moment you hit the breaks and that's why it's my new favourite.



I visited Cedar Point for a third and final day, but as that was mostly re-rides other than the Wild Mouse there isn't much reason in going over it again.

To highlight some key points.

• I did a front row ride on Millennium Force which was phenomenal.
• I got row three (the 'magic' seat) on Magnum XL-200 which was rough but wild.
• I got a couple more rides on Top Thrill 2, didn't get the front unfortunately.
• There was plenty of ride breakdowns thought my visit, with ride availability being almost as bad as Alton Towers,
• I got really bad sunburn on the back of my legs and neck.

Overall my visit to the "promised land" of roller coasters was an eye opening one. No doubt Cedar Point excels at delivering what it says on the tin, it's proud to have a coaster collection of quality and quantity. As for being a roller coaster park it delivered on all my high expectations.

With that being said the park does have it shortcomings; the main issue being ride availability. I think there was at least 4 rides I was queuing for went down. At one point Maverick, Millennium Force, Wild Mouse, Raptor and Gemini were all closed, Fortunately the breakdowns weren't for too long but the frequency of them was frustrating. Top Thrill 2 shockingly ending up being one of the more reliable rides, part of me wonders if the park's maintenance has put all their eggs into one basket so to speak.

The policy on drinks was another issue. For whatever reason you can't bring drinks onto the ride platform, which seems a odd considering the encouragement of souvenir refillable cups.

Operations were decent on most rides. The teams Steel Vengeance and Top Thrill 2 were brilliant at sending trains out quickly, the same can't be said for Corkscrew or Gemini which had some of the slowest throughputs I have ever seen, so it's a mixed bag. I guess it makes sense that they would put their most experienced teams on the most popular rides.

I'll cease my whining now because I truly had a great time here and I am so thrilled that I can finally tick this park off. I now have 4 new entry's into my top 25 which is unheard of from just one park alone.



The only thing that could dampen my day was waiting for an Uber that didn't arrive with no working phone service to call a taxi ...

Next update will be covering the travel through Pennsylvania and Hersheypark.

 

[emoo]

I've always had a nagging urge to try this without driving but not been brave enough. Very handy to have the route documented.

 

[OtherBen]

how much was your uber to sandusky buddy?

 

[James F]

how much was your uber to sandusky buddy?

About $70

 

[emoo]

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

[James F]

Something to note, Uber/Lyft is less reliable in Sandusky. I had no issues getting from my accommodation to the park in the morning, but getting back in the evening was near impossible. The first day I was able to book a ride back straight away, but the following two evenings there were no drivers about.

Luckily I had a couple of numbers for local taxis saved, but unfortunately my e-sim wasn't playing ball. The first night was a bit stressful not knowing how I was going to leave the peninsula. I had to bother someone working at security to call the number from their phone. After about 20 minutes the taxi arrived at the pick up spot behind Blue Steak.

I have to say that the following taxi ride was interesting. The driver was silent and was listing to some kind of training module. One of the first things I heard was "After death has occurred the body needs to be removed as soon as possible"

Apun further listing it appeared to be a training course for working in a retirement home. Good on the driver for wanting to work in care, although I have to say it was still an odd thing to listen to.

May 26th
Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport

After a 50 minute Lyft ride I had made it back to CLE to fly to Philadelphia.

As expected from a short haul flight the aircraft was smaller. This Embraer RJ145 was by far the smallest plane I have ever been on.



Given the short 1 hour flight time the plane stayed at a relatively low altitude resulting in a good view of Cleveland after take off.



By complete coincidence the flight path was near Hershey, while it's hard to make out from the image below, I caught a glimpse of the next park on my trip.



After a 15 minute Septa train ride from the airport I had made it to Philadelphia's 30th Street Station which is the hub for Amtrak trains. As my train wasn't for another hour I decided to take a short walk outside of the station.




Unlike most train stations you can't wait on the platform, instead you wait at the gates similar to an airport. A local was quite upset that the side of boarding at the gate was different to the norm. Not sure why he was so frustrated by this, but apparently the situation was "crazy".



I got the train towards Harrisburg, getting off at Middletown which took about an 1 hour and 45 minutes. Middletown is the closest station to Hershey, which is roughly 7 miles away.

The good thing about Middletown station is that it's near the regional Harrisburg airport meaning there is plenty of Ubers available. After waiting 5 minutes I got my ride to Hersheypark.



At this point it was 7.35pm and the park closed at 8pm. This was intentional however as the park has a preview plan meaning if you have a pre-paid ticket you can access the park for the last 2 hours of opening the day before your visit. While obviously it would of been preferable to have more time, I could still take advantage of this perk.



The only issue was that I had my large backpack with me. I was hoping to just put it into a locker, but no matter where I tried all the large lockers in the park were full. After searching for 15 minutes I was about to just give up and leave as I only had 10 minutes until park close.

I was walking past Fahrenheit and I thought I should ask by chance I could bring my bag with me, expecting a quick rejection. To my shock the answer was yes! After 3 days at Cedar Point I had forgotten that some parks have reasoning.

#274 Fahrenheit

I walked straight onto a back row ride. The first drop had a brief but solid moment of ejector airtime, even with the annoying bulky OTSR. I'll be honest I don't remember much else about it, but it wasn't rough and it had decent pacing.



After riding Fahrenheit I realised I only had 5 minutes left until park close so I speed walked (almost ran) to Storm Runner.

#275 Storm Runner

Somehow I had made it before the queue closed. Another walk on to the back row.

StormRunner was a nice reminder of how much better hydraulic launches are to LSM's. While not quite on par with Steath's launch it still packs sizeable power. The following layout featuring the tophat and inversions feels more complete than any other accelerator I have ridden, but in all honesty it didn't quite live up to my expectations.

Once again those pesky old Intamin restraints became an issue. What would of been a fantastic moment of ejector airtime on the tophat is severely censored. The inversions were okay, but I was expecting some whip and laterals and got nothing. Still I will give it credit for the launch and having more of a layout to offer.




+2 credits and my preview of Hersheypark was over. I walked to my accommodation in Hershey ready for a full day on-park tomorrow.

 

[James F]

May 27th
Hersheypark

Now boasting one of the best coaster lineups in America or the world for that matter, Hersheypark is no doubt another park that has been high on my to do list.



I arrived at the park 30 minutes before opening, quickly to discover that it's wasn't going to be the quiet day predicted. Historically the weekdays after Memorial Day weekend have low crowds, but unfortunately today was not an off peak day despite the shorter hours of 11am-7pm.

The crowds appeared to be largely school trips. As you would expect that meant a park full of loud and obnoxious teenagers. The park opens the gates early, but has a holding pen to wait in before 11. The "excitable" crowd was becoming increasingly impatient until the moment of truth arrived.

Within the seconds there was stampede of people running, pushing and shoving their way through. I have seen a few "running of the bull" type openings, but this one felt particularly unhinged. The half hearted "no running" comments from staff and older guests had fallen on deaf ears.



#276 Laff Track

Escaping the crowds I made Laff Track my first stop due to it's low capacity. After waiting for 5 minutes I was on.

It's a fun indoor Maurer Spinner which is better than average due to the glow in the dark lighting. I do feel like it was missing a soundtrack though, while the visuals kept it interesting there wasn't much atmosphere.




Knowing that today was going to be a busy one I begrudgingly forked out of a fast pass. Hersheypark offer a one time skip the line pass of all of it's main attractions, today it was $45 was wasn't too bad, but on predicted busier days it can cost 3 times as much.

#277 Wildcat's Revenge

The trendy RMC kitty was next. As it had already developed a sizeable queue I used my fast pass.

The queueline lockers were PAINFUL to use. Similar to most lockers you are asked to enter your own 4 digit code and then you are given your locker number. on my first ride there was only 2 out of the 4 locker "stations" open resulting in a swarm of people trying to use the same touchscreen. Once you put your items in and closed the locker you need to remember the number of your locker.

While I knew this before riding, I still think it doesn't make sense. Why ask people to enter a 4 digit personal code when it's not required? Surely it would make more sense for the guest's own code to be the one that opens the locker? as the guest is more likely to remember it.

Once retrieving my items I was prompted to enter the locker code. I was given 4 blank spaces for 4 digits, so naturally I filled them all in, however being Wildcat's Revenge lockers, it wasn't that easy. After a couple of minutes of wanting to punch the screen I was informed by another guest that you only enter two of the digits, the 2nd digit and the 4th digit as it will autofill the rest. I am not sure why Hersheypark went with this set up. I understand the need for no loose articles, but the locker system on Steel Vengeance is much more efficient and easier to use and I wish the park would of opted for that instead.

Anyway mini rant over, how was it?

As there was no grouper and the back was filled with people, I waited a little longer for the front row.

The first ride wasn't as "wild" as I thought it would be, but still offered solid moments of airtime and strong laterals. The pre-lift section was quite snappy. The first drop offered some floater airtime in the front, the under flip didn't offer much force and the following airtime hill was a bit lacklustre. Oh dear.

The second half was an improvement however, with a quality zero-g stall, decent pops of sideways airtime and a strong ejector fuelled double down. The final two inversions offered a good amount of whip and the final hop into the breaks is arguably the wildest moment as I was jerked (not in that way) to the side due to the laterals.

Overall I enjoyed it and felt that the second half delivered, but I wasn't blown away by it due to the *pedestrian first half. (*pedestrian in terms of RMC)

Still it was a morning ride so I was hopeful It would ride better later in the day.



#278 Wild Mouse

I don't have a picture for this one, but it's a wild mouse you know what they look like.

Usually I wouldn't have anything to say, but this wild mouse is actually wild due to lack of breaking. I actually got legit airtime on a wild mouse.

#279/280 Lighting Racer

Both sides rode the same. Lighting Racer is easily the weakest GCI I have been on.

This can somewhat be forgiven as it was one of their first coasters and it was designed to be more family friendly, but still it's pretty dull.

There isn't really any airtime, it has terrible pacing and the racing element just didn't live up to expectations. It was smooth I will give it that.



#281 Jolly Rancher Remix

The new Vekoma trains make this boomerang headbang free. The added "candy scented" smell tunnel is also a bonus. I think the added sense of smell actually makes the ride even more disorientating or maybe I was just hungry.

Almost as good as Speed of Sound at Walibi Holland, but it lacks the soundtrack "buckle up it's a thrill ride"



After another ride on Stormrunner it was time for a snack and a drink before continuing the cred run with ...

#282 Trailblazer

As you can see it's an Arrow mine train and a sleepy one at that. It fits in as a family coaster and I guess for historical reasons I am glad it's still running, but there really isn't much of note here. It has some cool views of Stormrunner at least.




I attempted to do Great Bear but then it broke down after 10 minutes of waiting; am I back at Cedar Point?

As it was mid afternoon I decided to go against the crowd and go to the front of the park to ride Candymonium, The wait was still over an hour, but thanks to the fast pass I waited about 15 minutes.

#283 Candymonium

I had heard horror stories about the operations of this B&M hyper, but to be fair today they appeared to be okay. Although I found the operations to be slow in general at Hershey.

I only got one ride, which was unfortunate as I thought Candymonium was brilliant!

I got a back row ride and it exceeded my expectations. The first drop had awesome flojector and every single hill had strong floater airtime. Candymonuim was an unexpected highlight and was so far it was my favourite in the park. I haven't been on Mako, but if it rides like Candymonium I understand why Matt N loves it so much.




#284 Skyrush

I have wanted to ride Skyrush since the day it opened so it took some willpower to wait until midday to ride it, but I am glad I did as already warmed up beautifully. My first ride was on the back row and yep this thing delivered on my unreasonable expectations.

No doubt the first drop is one of the best in the world.

Not only did the steep angle of decent throw me out of my seat, but there is a kink in the profiling which springboarded me out even further. Without having chance to process what's happening I was pinned back to my seat with positive G's. It might be the most intense start to a coaster I have experienced.

The rest of the layout includes flojector airtime hills and intense, low to the ground turns.

Admittedly it does weaken out towards the end, but first few elements are that strong that I don't care. So much for Candymonium being my favourite ride here.




#285 SooperDooperLooper

Does anyone else think of 'Super Trouper' by ABBA when they see this ride? ... just me? okay then.

I enjoyed the nostalgia factor with this one, while it's not very thrilling after the loop, this custom Schwarzkopf still has plenty of charm and is quite scenic as it travels over the water and through the trees.



#286 Comet

*slap on the wrist* I forgot to get a photo of this. It's a fun old school woodie which rode similar to Blue Streak at Cedar Point. It had some light pops of airtime here and there, but was more of a family friendly ride,

#287 Great Bear

As I wasn't going to do Cocoa Cruiser, This impressive looking Invert was the final credit to get. It certainly makes an impression as it flies and dives above the midway. It appeared that everyone wanted to ride it as it had a full 80 minute queue. I used my fast pass, but still ended up waiting 45 minutes. What could of been a 30 minute queue (for stand by) was exacerbated with p*** poor operations. It was on two trains, but it took about 12 years for them to send out a train.

After eventually getting on I was lucky enough to get a back row ride.

I thought it was pretty average to be honest. The helix before the drop was unique if nothing else, The first half has some fairly intense moments, mainly the loop and Immelmann, the zero-g roll was decent, but not as strong as the ones on older inverts. The run up to the corkscrew was taken at good speed, but after the corkscrew the ride is pretty much over. It's a solid invert but it doesn't exactly ride as good as it looks.



After getting all the credits my day was already coming towards a close as I had only 90 minutes remaining.

After waiting in a 40 minute queue with teenage boys asking everyone "English or Spanish?" I had my second ride on Wildcat's Revenge. I manged to worm my way to the back row this time.

As I had hoped it was an improvement on my morning ride. It delivered more of the RMC touchstones this time around. The first drop had a solid moment of floater airtime, the airtime hill had more sustained airtime and the sideways humps were more aggressive. The double down was still powerful, but the laterals might of been a bit too much. The rest of the ride delivered as it did in the morning.

Certainly an improvement from before and I would now say it's my second favourite at Hersheypark. While it's properly my least favourite of the RMC hybrid's I have done, it's still an impressive ride which is top 20 worthy.



With about 40 minutes until park close I retuned to a final few rides on Skyrush.

This ended up being a mini-marathon of sorts as the park had emptied out by this point, giving me 4 back to back rides. All of them on the back row,

While I get that it's somewhat flawed and has a more conservative layout compared to newer coasters, Skyrush just did it for me. I think it's simply the dynamics and sharp contrast between positive and negative forces which won me over. My favourite in the park for sure and might even be top 10 worthy.




Those final rides on Skyrush left a positive end to a so-so day. Overall I liked Hersheypark, but I think I would enjoyed it a lot more with lighter and less rowdy crowds. It's top 3 is hard to beat, with Skyrush, Wildcat's Revenge and Candymonium. I wish operations were better, but at least it has more reasonable park policies than Cedar Point.

If I had one request I would say that the park should destroy the Wildcat's Revenge lockers.

Coming up ... Six Flags Great Absence and NYC.