Photo TR: Franklin, Hamilton, Hershey, Morey, and Knoebel

Since this seems to be a really popular topic on this forum haha...

I find that Wawa is the only of the two I ever find myself at sober and they have decent sandwiches and other hot food. It's real greatness is the convenience but it's also some pretty good food. Sheetz on the other hand is a drunk man's paradise. Once you walk up to one of those tap to order machines you're entering a wormhole of goodness with things like their fried chicken biscuits and fried mac n' cheese bites.

Great update, some lovely photos. I visited both as a kid and was bored to tears, its certainly more interesting now as an adult.

Also, #teamwawa #effsheetz

Ha, I figured that would be a bit controversial. Wawa's food is way better, to be sure. I just don't really like feeling like an unpaid employee. I liked that Sheetz actually did everything and I just picked it up. The sandwich itself was a bit disappointing. I guess it's just a matter of whether service or quality product matters more. In the end I'd pick the better tasting food, so Wawa wins.

Hope that helps muddle things worse than before.

Day 4 (continued): Choclit!

My preview day at Hershey began with the Factory Tour at Hershey’s Chocolate World. I could think of no better introduction to the Sweetest Place on Earth. The queue was long but moved quickly and had plenty of colourful factoids to keep guests entertained. The ride itself was hilarious, with singing cows and the Hershey characters. I really could taste the love all over the world.

I'm ready! I'm ready! I'm ready! I'm ready!

Mmmm....choclit.

Mini chocolate bar and ticket in hand, I made my way to the entrance of the main park for the main goal of the day, Skyrush. Yes, it’s on the early entry list, but I couldn’t wait that long. (Spoilers: it’s a good thing I didn’t wait). I went directly for back row, left wing seat.

Skyrush is one of the most amazing coasters I’ve ever ridden. I do understand the nickname, but I didn’t experience any pain at all. Yes, there was definitely pressure on my legs, and yes it was an intense experience, but not painful. It just threw me around like it had a vendetta, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. With Maverick, I could throw myself at the turns, but in a wing seat on Skyrush, that isn’t possible. I just had to sit there and take it. And I loved it. Stockholm Syndrome? Maybe. If it is, then call me Swedish.

The entrance plaza was surprisingly small.

Oh man, I love the Skyrush.

I hear it's over yonder in that there holler.

Yup, seems it is in this here holler.

I'm here!

This is how you do mandatory fluffy bunnies.

I had a precise strategy for this night, and that was to hit all the low capacity coasters: Storm Runner, Fahrenheit, Wild Mouse, and Laff Track, plus Lightning Racer to be sure I was able to ride with it racing. This was a Sunday night, and knowing most parks will only run one side at time on lower attendance weekdays, I wanted to hit it while it was still a weekend.

Storm Runner is also incredible. A little bit of Maverick, a little bit of Xcelerator. Loved it. On to Fahrenheit next, which I can best describe as “Intamin Builds a B&M Looper.” This park is 3/3 on their Intamins. I could ride all three of them all day.

Next up, the love child of Maverick and Xcelerator.

3...2...1...

Launch!

Nice little plaza for this ride.

Ah, they have one of those too.

But I have priorities.

Wild Mouse was posting a 5 minute wait on Hersheypark’s well designed app, so I went there next, then followed that up with Wildcat since it was a walk-on. Nothing super remarkable about either one, fun but nothing special. Of course, I just got off three wild and crazy Intamin guys, so maybe that coloured my perspective a bit.

Love this lighthouse.

Wild Mouse was at least a short line.

Laff Track was still posting an hour wait, with an hour left to go in the night. I didn’t feel like spending the rest of the night on it, so I went on to Lightning Racer. I rode both sides and won both times. This is an absolutely incredible ride. I think I prefer Thunder, since you can see Lightning’s train better from it than vice versa, but both are super fun.

I went on to the Whip next. This was my first ride on a full size whip, and the first of three on this trip. I’ve ridden the miniature ones with my kids and loved them, so I was looking forward to trying out the big version. It was just what I expected: the same ride, but more intense. Wish there were more of these around (and closer to me would be nice too).

Maybe tomorrow....

The Whip was so much fun.

Didn't actually ride the Music Express ever. I like these rides normally, but I skipped both Morey's and this one for some reason. Other things I like better I guess.

The king of all racing coasters.

Thirty minutes left in the day, and Laff Track had a thirty minute wait. Eh, I’ll ride it tomorrow, I want some more Skyrush! (More spoilers: really good decision) This time I waited a bit longer for the front row, so it was the ride to close out the night. It’s awesome in the front as well, nothing like the death seat, but really great in a different way. Everything looks like it’s coming directly at you and super fast.

In all, it was a great way to start off my Hershey visit. Seven roller coasters and the whip already in the bag would certainly make my day a lot less hectic. I headed back to the campsite and pitched a tent by car headlights. Little did I know then what glory awaited me in the morning.

Cliffhanger!!!

Can't wait for more. Glad to hear the Intamin trio didn't disappoint!

Ooooooo, you can't beat Future Glory!

Great TR. Glad you're giving us more!

There couldn't possibly be any place where despair is so bad that people are willing to do the kinds of things the characters in his stories do. People just aren't like that. Not in America.

Damn, Andrew. Sorry I'm late to this awesome thread. The aforementioned quote makes me wish you could go on a ride-along with me on a Saturday night. I probably wouldn't be able to top The Badlands, but it would definitely change your perspective.

There couldn't possibly be any place where despair is so bad that people are willing to do the kinds of things the characters in his stories do. People just aren't like that. Not in America.

Damn, Andrew. Sorry I'm late to this awesome thread. The aforementioned quote makes me wish you could go on a ride-along with me on a Saturday night. I probably wouldn't be able to top The Badlands, but it would definitely change your perspective.

Heh, I'm sure there are some spots in E. St. Louis that might rival it.... But yeah, if there's anything I've learned in the last year, it's that I don't really understand a whole lot about how the world works. I've assumed that my experience is pretty average, and I'm finding out it's definitely not. I've been fortunate. I haven't had to deal with any of the sh*t that a whole lot of people deal with on a daily basis. I've been too busy trying to help people and stand with people, and not busy enough listening to people and understanding people, so I don't even know what kind of sh*t they deal with. Maybe knowing that I don't know is a good starting place.

Not knowing is better. Trust me. Knowing just makes you jaded and bitter. There's no need to ruin more good people.

I just got caught up on your trip. It looks like you had a blast! You took some great photos. I'm glad to hear that Hershey seemed to have lived up to your expectations, since I think we're Northeast bound next season.

It really was great outside of that first day. I think you're planning on most of the same places too, so have fun. All of these parks were worthwhile. Dorney was the weakest, but I think you know that going into it. Hershey was really great, and I'll have more on that next time. Hopefully will have that segment up tomorrow.

Great report! Looking forward to day 2!

Day 5: Rainy Days and Mondays

I awoke early in the morning, as one does while camping. I’m not sure how or why this happens, but I can rise at 6 AM while camping and be perfectly rested. I took my time in the morning and went into the camp store when it opened for some coffee and souvenirs.

Souvenirs. I love these characters.

When the buses started running, I made my way there and was taken to the entrance. It began to sprinkle a bit, but nothing amounting to anything at all. So I took a seat under an umbrella and waited for it to open. I saw a few characters walk by, with their handlers holding umbrellas for them.

I got a mini parade before opening.

And I guess this is as good a place to say this as any: There’s a freaking huge rain cloud hanging out over Hersheypark that would last until about 3. Not a thunderstorm, just a rain cloud. Rain for half the day on a Monday no less. I have full reign of Hersheypark with NO. LINES. EVER.

I began the early entry going straight to Skyrush, and only then did I realize it doesn’t open in the rain. That does make sense, with as crazy as it is. Okay, I’ve got some other early entry rides and an hour to do them all. My first coaster of the day was Sooperdooperlooper. It’s really, really good. I will say that I preferred Revolution, with its loop at the end of the ride rather than the beginning. Revolution felt like it was building up to a grand finale, while SDL felt like it petered out at the end.

Next up was Comet, and holy crap did this ride blow away all expectations! I had heard good things, but I had no idea. I love this ride, and I went back immediately for a second lap. Brilliant layout, great sense of speed, good airtime, it’s got everything you would expect of a wooden coaster of that age and more.

Skyrush was down for rain.

First coaster of the day!

Entrance noted for later.

Beautiful little plaza here by the Kissing Tower.

Love the keystones!

Zoo entrance

Hershey's Tower was very fun.

Next I climbed up the hill to the new hotness, Hershey’s Triple Tower. This was my first opportunity to ride a combo tower, and it was absolutely great. I also rode the other two, and the Kisses Tower had the expected Doubleshot extreme airtime, but the Reese’s Tower had air as well, which I did not expect. Well done, Hershey! The idea sounded weird, but they pulled it off!

Only a few more minutes of ERT left, so I began to make my way toward the rope drop, but not before I stopped off at the Skyride.

Skyride!

Storm Runner cannot run in storms.

Bumper cars and skee ball

Well, I can't rush the sky, but I can still view it.

Once the rope dropped and the park was officially open, all ten of us guests ran for Laff Track. This was a great ride! I don’t normally like spinners at all, but for some reason this one was actually a lot of fun. I rode twice in a row, first going forward up the lift and then backward. If you only get one ride on this, try to go backward, there’s a nice surprise.

Park's open! Time to laff!

He he hee

Ha ha haa

Ho ho hoo

Well, while I’m back here, I might as well ride Lightning Racer again. To my surprise, they were actually running both sides! Just one train on each of course, but I’m impressed nonetheless. There is no way that the expected attendance today justifies this, but I am so glad they did. The ride wasn’t running as fast this morning, what with nearly empty trains, but it’s great nonetheless. Had to do both sides again.

I then went down to Trailblazer and noticed Storm Runner was ironically the other coaster not running in the rain. Everything else was open. Repeating just for emphasis: Everything but Storm Runner and Skyrush was running. This is so awesome. Trailblazer was okay; as previously mentioned, I’m always disappointed by every mine train I ride. There’s only one Thunderation.

Back up the hill now for Coal Cracker, Great Bear, and Kissing Tower. Coal Cracker was pretty great. Nothing like riding a log flume in the rain. Great Bear was even better than I expected. It’s not very intense, and the back half does feel a bit drawn out, but as much as people might say it does nothing in the second half, that’s just not true. It’s a fun ride, and since it isn’t very intense at all, it’s easy to ride several times in a row. I might have done that on about 3 separate occasions that day.

Okay, so that’s all of the coasters now. That didn’t take as long as I had expected. Um...lunch? I went out to the Hersheypark Place Restaurant for a chocolate burger. It was very good, as was the beer selection. Yes, I’m drinking alone at 11 AM. That’s the sort of thing normal, responsible people do on vacation.

Pretty good beer.

Great burger. They serve it to you sideways.

Now back in the park, I went to Reese’s Xtreme Cup Challenge. I looked all over the ride, but I never could find the missing E. The ride is a ton of fun, though, and you get a free peanut butter cup!

I went on the monorail next and got a nice scenic view of the park. I’ve actually never been on a monorail before (Disneyland’s was closed when I was there). It was really fun. I went from there to the train, which was pretty good too, but certainly not the best theme park train.

I'm a little nervous. I hear these things are awfully loud.

Genuine, bonafide, advertised, six-car monorail.

All right, great first monorail ride!

The famous Music Box Theatre

And now it's time for a ground-level train.

Headed west!

It was time to get to know Fahrenheit better. The only operating Intamin in the park had a 5 minute line practically all day. I rode this many, many times throughout the day.

No more fooling around with rides not made by Intamin.

Headed to the back now. Lightning Racer is so far from all the other awesome stuff at this park, but it's so worth the walk. Especially when I'm not waiting in any lines.

Lightning Racer is so good.

Yeah, that's right. BOTH TRAINS.

Tidal Force was next on the agenda. Yes, I was cold and wet already from the rain, so you’d think this would be one to skip. I do love this ride type, though, and it was tough to get any wetter really, so why not? It was fun.

Skloosh! Yeah, I did that.

After Tidal Force, I needed a place to sit and warm up, so I headed back up to Kissing Tower Hill, and where else but the beer garden? I got a pretzel at first, but it wasn’t that great, so I grabbed some crab fries from the nearby Chickie’s and Pete’s and took them back to the beer garden for some quiet and local brews. Really liked Yard’s.

I thought about getting some of that Bblz stuff, but it was the same price as a beer, so...

Yeah, beer. For some reason I took a photo of this pretzel from the beer garden and not the crab fries. No idea why.

Time for more Coal Cracker and more Great Bear! I headed down the hill for another spin on Superdooperlooper, then went up to the loop to get a photo. It was just then that I noticed…Skyrush was testing! Ah, yeah, this day was already running on all cylinders, and now it just hit the nitrous.

Wheee!

Holy crap, it's testing!

And Storm Runner's open now too! Best Day Ever!

The Claw was really great. Not as good as "it," but nothing is.

So much fun.

The rest of the day was a blur of a ton of Skyrush, Comet, Great Bear, Storm Runner, and Fahrenheit, with a brief stop in the back for a couple more laps on Lightning Racer. Hershey is an incredible park, with something for everybody. The rides are great, the atmosphere is great, the food is great, and not to mention CHOCOLATE EVERYWHERE. This is such a special park, and it sits proudly on my list of parks I would go back to right now, even if they added nothing else. And the very next day I found out they are doing very much the opposite of adding nothing else—that new water coaster looks amazing. I never went to the waterpark, or actually any waterparks on this trip, but it did look pretty good, and that will be a great addition to it. Kozmo threatened, er, I mean, strongly encouraged me to return to Knoebels soon or else, so I’m sure I’ll be back in this area before too long. Hershey will definitely be on the itinerary when I do.

This has been such a great day.

So much attention to guest experience. This photo right here pretty much sums up what Hersheypark is all about.

Bravo, Milton Hershey. I think you'd be proud of what this place has become.

And I was so lucky to be here.

What an AWESOME day you had! Wow, really, that couldn't be better IMhO.

Great shots taken, and comments made.

That sounds like the greatest day ever. I say it all the time but Hershey is the best park I've ever been to. I've never been there during a crowded summer day, so that has a lot to do with it but goddamn I love this park so much and you made me want to go back so bad.

Great TR

love "Mini Parade"

Looks like you had an awesome day! So glad you came away feeling about the park the way you do. It's one of my favorite parks and is Rikki's favorite.

Sounds like you had what they would call a Zen Day at Hershey

Damn, that sounds like a pretty awesome day!

Andrew, your rainy day at Hershey looked incredible! Great TR!

Awesome photos! Hershey is one of the more reliably-nice parks I've visited; I don't think I've ever had a bad time there, even when the park was crowded. The coaster collection was sneaky-good even before SkyRush, but now it's great. While the Intamin trio steals the headlines, I think Lightning Racer is one of the most underrated hands-up fun coasters out there. Glad you had a good time!

I was just telling Michael the other day that I would LOVE to do a weekend at Hershey this year, but alas...we are rapidly closing in on the end of the season. Where does the time go?

Love looking at the reports and yours are very well written and presented, Andrew...thank you!

As far as Gettysburg, you are right in that it's kind of a quirky place. Luckily, Michael's brother is a military historian and he took us on a three day tour of Gettysburg about ten years ago. He knew where everything happened, the order of events in which they took place...it was amazing, sad and surreal all at the same time.

Thanks everybody! Glad you're still enjoying the report.

While the Intamin trio steals the headlines, I think Lightning Racer is one of the most underrated hands-up fun coasters out there.

Totally agree.

I was just telling Michael the other day that I would LOVE to do a weekend at Hershey this year, but alas...we are rapidly closing in on the end of the season. Where does the time go?

 

Love looking at the reports and yours are very well written and presented, Andrew...thank you!

 

As far as Gettysburg, you are right in that it's kind of a quirky place. Luckily, Michael's brother is a military historian and he took us on a three day tour of Gettysburg about ten years ago. He knew where everything happened, the order of events in which they took place...it was amazing, sad and surreal all at the same time.

You still have time for Hershey! They're open until 12/31. Very cool to get to do Gettysburg for that long. I would assume that he would have taken you play-by-play through the three days of the battle, which would be quite the experience I would think.

I love that you loved Hershey!

I went before Skyrush and really loved the park (Lightning Racer for the Win!!,) then went back after they had built SkyRush. Talk about some lovely yellow airtime filled icing and an already wonderful cake!!

I live on the west coast of the USA, what is a Chickie and Pete? Never heard of it.

^ Here. http://chickiesandpetes.com/