Day 5 - Hersheypark
Hersheypark amazed me. It has a great skyline on approach and the parking attendant said "have a sweet day." That was cheese but made me smile. The whole place is enormous. Once you take into account the school, the factory, the park, the stadium and all the other bits, I'd probably say it's larger than my home town. I was in awe.
There's a lovely welcoming area, too. Not overwhelming or grand, just a cute entrance beautifully themed. And free wifi!
We stated with
Skyrush. I really enjoyed walking alongside the lake it sits above. It looks imposing and that vibrant yellow colour is awesome. After a short 20min queue for front seats, we were going up the lift hill. The bulkiest lift hill I've ever seen.
After my Bizarro disappointment, I wanted to enjoy Skyrush so I made sure that I sat forward a little so the restraint didn't dig into my thighs. I still think you should be able to go on any coaster and sit naturally for it to be ok but I didn't want to dislike it.
I didn't dislike it - I loved it! At several times throughout I felt like I was going to be town out. I can even forgive the violent turns and airtime because it's what made it fun. It was the first time I had ever felt vulnerable on a coaster, it felt relentless. The who ride is so well timed. I was afraid to blink. It was tremendous! Boom, straight into my top 10.
Despite my sitting position, I did get a little thigh digging but when the train is on the brake run, they pop up a few inches to relieve the pressure. Nice touch.
[tweet]http://twitter.com/ianmbell/status/476384240968683520[/tweet]
We minced towards the back of the park. We had just one day to ride all 12 (13 if you count both sides of Lightning Racer) coasters so we had to do the rides with military precision. This is where Jerry's knowledge is incredibly useful.
We did the Turd Mine Train, aka
Trailblazer. It didn't set my world alight (and I didn't expect it to) but it was another ticked off. It didn't do anything but it was themed well.
Thankfully
Storm Runner was next. I was just getting into Coasters when this was being constructed, so it was one of those coasters that I sort of followed, forgotten about yet was excited to ride. I had no idea of the layout or what to expect. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. I really loved the height of the heartline roll. As we were sat front row, it sort of leared at us as we approached. It was fab. It's not a Top 10, or even top 30 coaster (for me), but it's a solid ride. So far, there was nothing at Hersheypark to disappoint me. Which is a shame, cus I'm an enthusiast and I'm supposed to find a fault with every ride.
Over to
Lightning Racer. There was a two train wait for both front and back rows. Both sides were equally as good. Again, I didn't come off the ride declaring it was the best GCI with Millennium Flyer trains (I learnt some **** on this holiday thanks to Goonfield), but I left smiling. And isn't that what a coaster is supposed to do? we also met a television presenter who questioned our goontrest. Turned out he was going to the Goliath media day so we exchanged cards so he could ride it then interview me.
[tweet]http://twitter.com/ianmbell/status/476411258150068224[/tweet]
This chance encounter obviously put me on a high and in my mind, I started to believe that Hersheypark was probably the most magical place on Earth. Not one sub-par ride (we still had lots to do) and it has a brilliant atmosphere to it.
Wild Mouse and
Wildcat followed. By far the two weakest coasters in the park. The wooden one (Cat) was bland and the Wild Mouse was, well, a wild mouse. Both forgettable. My opinion changed. I started to worry that Storm Runner, Lightning Racer and beloved Skyrush were the special ingredients in Hersheypark; there would be nothing sweet left to ride.
We polished off the boomerang,
Sidewinder. This boo-meh-rang has different restraints, not the ear bashing ones I'm used to. Even though the ride experience (the cobra roll, loop and back again) was the the same, there was no bracing to be done. Therefore this is official THE best boomerang in the world. I wouldn't ride it again but this little change to the restraints is another reason why Hersheypark makes me touch myself in my special area.
Lunch was good. A nice roll and some "mac and cheese" put me in good stead for the afternoon. I felt like I had lapped the park several times. They also had frequent and pleasant smoking areas. Good creds, good food and good facilities for smokers. They even have a toilet marked "Gents". See, Hersheypark know a gentleman when they see one.
To let our stomachs settle down, we opted for the new-for-2014 kiddie cred,
Cocoa Cruiser. As one would expect, not worth the keyboard wear & tear, so +1.
We had four coasters left to tick off and plenty of time to do so. Our next one was an old "classic" woodie from the 1940. It's white and it's called
Comet. It was unremarkable. Hersheypark is the best place to see how wooden coasters generally got better as technology improves. The newer the wood, the better it is. I can't think of
many wooden coasters built before 1990 that are actually good
in my opinion.
Sticking with the classics, we rode
Sooperdooperlooper. It's an ok Schwarzkopf that I'm sure was revolutionary and amazing in it's day, but it doesn't cut the mustard compared to modern coasters. Great, it loops and has a tunnel, but my god is there a lot of straight track and pointlessness to it. One and done!
That left just two coasters. Two "big" coasters with positive reviews. Even if they turned out to be turd, we would have enough time left for a Skyrush reride.
Back row on
Great Bear was our penultimate coaster to ride. I watched it a few times from the Skyrush queue line and liked the look of it. The turnyaround bit after the lift hill looked sexy as did the first drop. And yes, both of those elements were fab. The rest of it seemed to peter out by the end, especially the straightish section before the break run. I definitely preferred riding Talon the day before, but the turnyaround thing was special. It ended up being a "Great Meh" in my book.
That left just one coaster -
Fahrenheit. It was by far the longest queue of the day - a whooping 40mins. If I'm honest, I don't remember specifics to it but it was enjoyable. Again, not something that really stands out but is is reridable.
We ended our day with a few more rides on Skyrush. We tried a variety of seats - back, front, inner and outer. Every ride felt great but it didn't quite live up to the wow factor of the first ride on the right outer front row. Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic coaster but only really amazing at the front.
I love Hersheypark. It's a proper theme park in a gorgeous setting with more than a handful of better-than-average rides. Some exceptional. It felt great to go somewhere else than the clinical larger chain parks or the (often pretty but medicore) smaller, independent parks. Hersheypark felt like it was in a class of it's own. Despite being defined by a big brand, it's not plastic fantastic or full of advertising. It's not a bunch of mediocre rides clumped together and relying on it's name to make them great. It's sweet. It's Hersheypark.
In the next part...
Phantom faff, it's a grower not a shower and actually good white wood!
