xmichellex Posted August 22, 2010 Posted August 22, 2010 My bf and I just got back from an awesome week at SF Great Adventure, Hershey and Dorney! We hadn’t been to Great Adventure since El Toto and Kingda Ka were added so we were excited to ride them… Neither of us had ever been to Hershey or Dorney. Ok, here we go – I apologize in advance for being wordy. GREAT ADVENTURE: We drove down to N.J. on Saturday and hit up Great Adventure on Sunday and Monday. We had Gold FP’s both days so we were able to get lots of rides on everything we wanted to – including coasters, water rides, etc. It also helped that on Sunday it was overcast and drizzling on and off for most of the day, so the crowds weren’t too bad. Everything was running in the light rain, including KK. Monday was sweltering hot, but the park still wasn’t overly crowded. There were t-storms in the area for a little bit on Monday too, so KK, Toro, the ferris wheel, and the water rides were closed for a bit, but everything else remained open. We were glad to have the FP’s though as the lines were still an hour/hour and a half for KK, El Toro, etc. both days. It worked out that we were actually reserving rides as we were walking to them, which rocked… the only wait times we really had were for the front/back of trains which was obviously by choice. I have to say I was MUCH more impressed with the park this time. It was close to spotlessly clean, and the ride ops were very efficient – with the exception of Batman and Superman which lagged, but still moved at an acceptable pace. I noticed lots of security roaming and watching for line jumpers as well, which was a huge problem last time we visited. Overall we had an awesome time here. Kingda Ka – Holy crap this was intense! I have ridden TTD, but not since it opened years ago, so I feel like I can’t really give that accurate of a comparison except I got that “omfg” feeling during the launch and on the spiral down. The extra hill on KK was pretty great too since you get to keep the speed going for a little longer. I remember TTD being relatively smooth, but don’t know how it’s aged. KK was a little shaky in the very back, but the front was fine. In the first few hours at the park on Sunday, we were able to ride this 3 times, alternating between front and back. It ran close to perfect on Sunday (minor technical issues a few times, never too long of a delay), but was down for several hours on Monday due to technical problems and then the bad weather in the area. The ride ops were very efficient, both sides of the station and all cars were being used and the line moved pretty well when the coaster was running for long periods at a time. El Toro – Ok, I have ridden Boulder Dash and it’s one of the best coasters (wooden or steel) I have ever ridden, BUT I think El Toro was just incredible. I loved the huge scope of this ride - the speed, the hills, the drop, and the craziness at the end. I think this was my favorite of the trip! Oh – and I did notice the rough patch after the turn around that was mentioned in the Great Adventure thread, but only on the Stride Gum train… The only issue I had with El Toro (which really isn’t the ride’s fault) is that while on the ride, I got STUNG BY A BEE THREE TIMES, by the same bee in about 2 seconds! I don’t know how it is possible to be going 60 mph and get stung 3 times at once on your back, but it happened. Dunno if the bee was on me or my seat before the ride left the station or not. It really hurt, but I reached back and grabbed the bee and tossed him off my back (still with arms in the air and loving the ride). I didn’t let a few bee stings ruin the ride or the day for me. I went to first aid, they gave me some numbing gel and some ice, and I went on my way - the bee did not win! I also noticed lots of bees in the station. Afterward, I was thinking back on it and thought I remembered reading on here in someone’s TR about a ride having a bee problem and that it may have been El Toro… am I correct in this? We rode almost all of the coasters, with the exception of the kiddie ones and Rolling Thunder, which we had ridden last trip and felt no need to do again. Bizzaro was really rough – we only rode once. We re-rode it like 4 times in a row last time when it was still Medusa, but this time we couldn’t get off it fast enough. The Dark Knight was a huge disappointment - long pre-show followed by a sub-par wild mouse. Nitro was awesome as usual and it was the coaster we rode the most. This ride still runs great and I grayed-out every single time on the helixes before the brake run no matter which seat we were in. KK – 5x Nitro – 7x El Toro – 5x Bizzaro – 1x The Dark Knight – 1x Batman – 2x Superman – 2x Skull Mountain – 1x Mine Train – 1x HERSHEY PARK: We did Hershey on Tues. and Weds. We both loved this park. It was so gorgeous! The only things I didn’t like were that it was sort of hard to navigate (even with a map) if you didn’t know the park, and the ride ops were kind of slow at all the rides - especially Fahrenheit. The park was more crowded on Tuesday, because on Weds. it was rainy most of the day. I was a little worried when I saw the amount of people in line for the park on Tuesday, but a big majority headed right to the water park, so that was a relief. We also bought so much candy at Chocolate World that we had to buy a cooler just to get it all home without everything melting! Storm Runner – this was our first ride in the park and it RULED! Absolutely loved loved loved the elements on this ride. We sat in front and back and both were great! The line was never too long, maybe an hour at most, but that was because we chose to ride in the popular seats. On Weds. we got in line to ride it one last time, and when we were next in line to ride, the cable broke! The noise was so loud that it startled everyone in line (including the ops) and people standing outside near the ride. Everyone on the train that it broke for seemed completely fine and within a few minutes they had everyone off the train. We peeked down the track to see the damage and could see the cable draped over the side of the track as well as hanging down inside and below the track towards the ground. I didn’t see any frayed areas so I don’t know if the cable snapped or the entire mechanism came loose or what. From what we gathered from the people that were on the ride, they actually were launched and rolled back… don’t know how that worked though since the cable was hanging over the track. We were on the right side of the station (right side from inside the station) so we didn’t actually see it until we walked out. Anyone here know more about what might have happened? Fahrenheit - nice, but very “meh.” We rode it a handful of times, but it definitely wasn’t as fun as SR. The Norwegian loop was fun, but after that it wasn’t too thrilling except for the awesome air hill at the end. The biggest surprises for us at the park were the wooden coasters. Lightning Racer was AWESOME. We rode both sides a bunch of times. Both were surprisingly smooth and I loved the layout of the ride. It was one of those coasters where you just laugh the whole time. Wildcat and Comet were also great, even though they’re older. I felt like I was standing half the time on Comet – it had great air! Great Bear was a nice change from the Batman inverts, the cool first drop was a lot of fun and pretty forceful! Sooperdooperlooper was a nice ride too! We weren’t expecting it to be as fun as it was. We didn’t do Sidewinder by choice. To me, boomerangs are day-ruiners and we didn’t want to waste our time even though it would be a missed credit. We really liked that Hershey had a good selection of flats and things other than coasters as opposed to Great Adventure. Coal Cracker was a hilarious ride – the hop at the bottom of the big drop is so awesome. While waiting for Great Bear we had fun watching everyone come down the hill and get air off the hop. We also did the bumper cars, the whip, and off course the big slide (Merry Derry Dip?) I’m 28 and he’s 34, but we didn’t care, we wanted to race on the slide, haha… Storm Runner – 4x Farenheit – 4x Lightning Racer – 3x on each side Wildcat – 2x Comet – 1x SDL – 2x Great Bear – 2x Trailblazer – 1x Wild Mouse – 1x PS – Zoo America was a very nice experience as well - lots to see, pretty to roam around, and a good change of pace from the park for a little bit. Highly recommended since it’s included with park admission anyway! DORNEY PARK: This was a bonus park for us as we literally had to pass it on the way home. We got to the park early in the day, but we ran into some trouble with our rental car, so we didn’t end up getting into the park until 4:45, which worked out since we paid the Starlight admission. The park was close to empty for most of the night which ruled. I was completely impressed with this park – overall the park was just pleasant to be at and the coasters were fantastic! Ride ops were fast, what lines there actually were moved right along, and the staff was fantastic. Possessed – this was a first for us – we had never been on an Intamin impulse coaster. Last time I went to Cedar Point, time ran out before I could get on Wicked Twister, so I was glad I finally got a chance to ride something similar. We both really loved the ride – the holding brake part was crazy, especially in the front since you feel like you are going to plummet straight to the ground. Loved the twisting portion of it too, especially going backwards through it! Talon – This is now one of my favorite inverts ever. This was another trip favorite for me. The forces, air, and layout on this were just awesome. It was also probably the smoothest one I’ve ever been on. Montu is still my #1, but Talon definitely is a very close second. Steel Force - SO GOOD and almost glass smooth every time we rode. The air on this was insane in the front! Hydra – I was nervous about this one since I’ve read so much about how it rattles – and after Bizzaro at Great Adventure, I was hoping it wouldn’t be as bad. Turns out, it was pretty sweet! It was a little rough in spots, but overall I enjoyed it much more than Bizzaro. Thunderhawk ruled. Definitely one of the better older wooden coasters I’ve been on. We also got on Dominator (freefall side – the bf had only been the launch type, so we opted for the other one), and the log ride - which is one of the best ones I’ve been on, you get so wet! I went on Demon Drop at Cedar Point, but we didn’t do it this time because it seemed like the longest line and it was crawling along. The selection of flats in this park was amazing – we didn’t have time to really enjoy them, but I think Dorney has the whole package as far as coasters and flat rides go. ** I also would like to thank the amazing employees at Dorney (don’t know if anyone on TPR works there), but we were trapped in the parking lot for most of the day dealing with car issues and the staff at the park were so nice and helpful – trying to help in any way they could, even walking us into the park to get food and water (before we got tix) since we were starving and waiting for help. They helped to turn an otherwise dismal day into an incredible night! Possessed – 3x Steel Force – 3x Talon – 4x Hydra – 1x Thunderhawk – 1x All-in-all we had a blast on this trip. I was so excited to finally get lots of new credits… and even though it’s not the most exciting ride, Great Bear ended up being my 110th credit. I think I’m going through withdrawals now after all the adrenaline rushes over the last week. Oh well, just an excuse to plan another trip! I didn't take very many pics, but here's a few anyway - including SR's breakdown and my bee incident... Arriving at Great Adventure... Entry Plaza from the Skyride Not too much left of the GASM... bummer - I liked this ride Obligatory coaster shot. El Toro = love <3 El Toro knows it's sexy... Yumminess Nitro doesn't care about a little rain, it wants to run anyway Sassy tiger, sticking his tongue out at me when I took his picture... ...and finally, the bee stings I got while on El Toro. Booooo. Yay! Looks like we made it to park #2! Woohoo! Chocolate everywhere! Pretty park... At least it's not crowded... Fahrenheit's vertical lift... The best part of the ride... Love how Hershey fits all the rides into the park in this area... The park at sunset for Wildcat's station. And again... Storm Runner's cable decided it wanted to quit, so no ride for these people... Getting evacuated... Sorry folks, Storm Runner is having some technical difficulties... Cable draped over the side of the track. Look towards the fence... Cable fail. Cable hanging down... Broken Well, since SR broke, let's head to the Zoo... The bobcats were awesome... Hey! Bison! Crocodile... The elk had done enough elk-type things for the day and decided he didn't want to entertain people anymore. The day ended with a very productive and expensive candy shopping spree...
DC High Heat Posted August 23, 2010 Posted August 23, 2010 Wasp...bees can't sting more than once. Unless you had 3 bees in there...lol. Funny though, because I've never seen a lot of wasps around El Toro, as I have other rides, that's the only ride on which I've ever been stung. I got stung on the back of my shoulder at the very end of the ride, and I think I felt something weird in my shirt for the entire second half of the track. Cool pics of Storm Runner's cable break.
xmichellex Posted August 23, 2010 Author Posted August 23, 2010 ^ Ha, I didn't even think about the bee thing... guess it could have been a wasp - either way, it sucked!
jynx242 Posted August 25, 2010 Posted August 25, 2010 Sorry to hear about the bee/wasp/stingy-thing issue. Glad it didn't ruin your day. Thanks for taking the time to post this trip report! I haven't been to any of those parks since the East Coast tour in 2008, so it's great to see them.
Lenaapple1974 Posted August 28, 2010 Posted August 28, 2010 Nice. Besides the Storm Runner fail and the stinging. I love Nitro! I have to say, that ride hauls @$$ when they let it run in the rain. The worst was El Toro though...being pelted in the face with rain on that ride hurt!! Medusa, oh, right - name change - Bizarro rattled you a lot huh? That stinks. I don't recall it being overly rough like that. Batman is far worse in the head banging dept. Glad your trip was good!
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