We woke up early on the seventh and drove the 3-hour drive to Hershey, PA. The hills in Hershey have decent airtime (if you drive over them fast enough). And Pennsylvania is kind of boring to drive through, it's just hills, trees, Dorney, farms, and more trees.
So we got there around 9:50, got ready to go in, and were in Hersheypark just after 10:00.
First thing my brother & I did was to go to Fahrenheit. It's pretty impressive when you're there, and the queue goes in the area between the lift, overbanked turn, and second corkscrew. It was at least 97 degrees in the line (but not falling fast! :sdd) The line started about 20ft. back from where it merges back to the switchbacks, and it was a hour and a half wait. We were assigned (cursed assigned seats!) the second row.
The vertical lift is just, well, a vertical lift, but I've never been on one before. You really can't see the track at all so you don't know when you crest the top. The view is really nice from there, but it only lasts a few seconds before you plunge 97 degrees.
The drop has great ejector airtime. The Norwegian loop wasn't too amazing; there wasn't much floater air on the top but there were a lot of positive G's on the bottom. The cobra roll (in the front) was all positive G's, too. The corkscrews are nice and non-headbangy, but again nothing special. The little overbanked turn was just a turn, but the hill after gives MASSIVE airtime, a little less than the drops, but a lot like El Toro. Then it's just a turn into brakes. It gets a 8/10. (Sorry, but I'm a sucker for airtime!)
In my top five of steel coasters, Fahrenheit comes out a little better than Medusa, so it's in third. (Man, I need to get to Cedar Point!
)It was still very hot out.
Then we went to Wildcat. I didn't think its first drop was that steep, so I was in for a surprise. A little rough all over, but the Millennium Flyers really do the trick for cushioning your body from intense pain. I can't imagine Wildcat without them. 7/10, but still a pretty good ride.
We went on the Whip between the woodies just for fun.
Next we went to Lightning racers. I only rode Lightning on the 7th, but I rode both on the 8th. Both sides give exactly the same ride but do the same things at different times (like heavily banked turns). Being able to see another train really makes you appreciate how large wooden coasters are. The other train looks pretty small on the second turnaround!
The drop was nice and steep, the buckel and hills had great floater airtime, and the first turnaround was also surprisingly steep. Then it's a series of very fast and very intense turns, some going to 75 degrees. Each side went into a turnaround that passed the other, then more intense turns and hills, another dueling turnaround, and then Lightning won. I swear, Lightning won every time. 9/10, just under El Toro.
And let me remind you, the temperature now was near 100. So we got ice cream and ate it near Fahrenheit's cobra roll.
We decided to go over to Storm Runner next. It was a 5 minute-ish wait, but the station is very crowded. We got a seat near the back. The launch is insanely fun, and the tophat had really nice airtime. There were strong G's between it and the cobra loop, which is just a loop with a turn on the top.
Then it goes up a half a hill and has very strong ejector airtime at the top, and the heartline roll & flying snake dive made it even more intense. (When you're spinning around, centrifugal motion pulls you out of your seat.) Then the pullout goes under the monorail into the rising S-turn: a short 90 degree turn right, then small turn left, and then brakes back down to the station. 9.75/10; I really wish they added ejector hills and maybe a helix after the rising S-turn.
We went on it again because the line was so short.
Even with the occasional breeze, everyone was sweating.
I think this is where we went near the Sooperdooperlooper and walked up the hill to the Great Bear. The wait was deceivingly long - the queue slowly wraps itself around the station, and the line started at about the last 2 rows into the switchbacks at the entrance. The pre-drop helix was fun, and I got to kick the SDL, but the rest of the ride has a lot of straight parts, it was only 200ft longer than Storm Runner, which is insanely short, and Talon was much better. 5/10, B&M should've done a little better.
Then we went over to Sooperdooperlooper - man, that's fun to say. It was a walk-on. It's got a great loop - high G's at the bottom, airtime at the top - and then it's some nice turns, drops, and a helix. Short but smooth and enjoyable. I consider it a 7/10, even though it's not in my top 5.
Next was the Comet, 15 minute wait. That was the third longest wait of the trip, besides the Great Bear's 40min. and Fahrenheit's 1:30. It was really cool watching the cars flex, and the buzz bars made a great opportunity for extreme floater airtime. Loosen up your seatbelt and the hills are smooth as glass because you're not even touching your seat! 8/10 for the funnest (controllable) floater airtime I've been on.
It was about 3:00pm by then, and still scorching hot, and since we were at the front of the park we decided to go to Chocolate World then check into our hotel.
The Hershey Chocolate Factory Tour Dark Ride Without Shooting Stuff was pretty cool, air conditioned, and we got free Bliss (it's chocolate) at the end! That's some good, smooth chocolate. Then we walked around there and saw the $30 five-pound Hershey's bar. It was pretty cool. Then we left.
We drove behind Hershey, which is where you can see this view of Storm Runner, checked into the hotel and rested there. We ate dinner around 5 at Fuddruckers, and went back to Hershey.
It was still pretty hot out.
First thing we did was the Reese's Extreme Cup Challenge thing. There was barely a wait, and it was okay.
Then we checked out Fahrenheit's line; it was a no-go for us. We went on Sidewinder next, even though I've been on a boomerang before. Then we checked Storm Runner's line; it was like 20 minutes, and we didn't feel like waiting 20 minutes! So we went on Trailblazer, the little mine train. It was a walk on; a short ride, but fun. It was so much smoother than Great Adventure's Runaway Minetrain.
Next we went on the Frontier Flyers there. I was controlling and I nearly managed to get the cart 90 degrees both ways. It was very fun.
We then went on the Flying Falcon or whatever it's called - the spinning ride that goes about 100ft. in the air. We found out that we were right next to Zoo America, so we decided to go in and look at the animals.
We got back to Hershey around 8pm, and we went over to the Looper of Sooperdooper, but they said it and the other coasters were closed. Being curious, my bro and I decided to check out Fahrenheit's line. It was open, and just an hour wait, Hallelujah! It was still pretty hot in the line - hands down hottest queue in the park - but not as hot as that morning in the sweltering heat. The chaser lights on the woodies were on by the time we crested the lift, and they looked good. Still the same as before.
We went to Storm Runner next (deja vu? Heh,) and it was dark out. The lines were even shorter, and we began waiting for the front but the second to front seats had nobody in them. Okay, we shaved off three or four trains' time for the second to front, not bad. I also find it enjoyable to watch the people in front, heh. Storm Runner is MUCH more insane in the front; even stronger ejector airtime over the tophat and in the heartline. It seemed much faster, and the turns at the end were extremely quick (I almost banged my head on the 90 degree turn!) 9.9/10 for the front car night ride.
It was nearly 10pm, so we decided to hit the SDL at night - it was great, and was creepy when the Great Bear roared nearby and you can't see it. Then we went on the Comet in the far back, and got the best floater airtime ever. It's fun just being held on by a loose seatbelt.
And then we went back to the hotel and slept.
We woke up, ate breakfast at McDonalds (meh) and got to Hershey at about 9am. Whoops. We decided to do Chocolate World again, got our free chocolate, walked around for a bit, and went to the Hersheypark gates at 9:45. It was scorching hot and nearly unbearable to wait for the gates to open.
We tried to go to Fahrenheit first, but they closed off that section for about 15 minutes. When it opened, my bro decided to run while I decided to catch up with him. We were about sixth in line, but they were still testing. Eventually everyone in front of us left so we ended up being first in line. For some stupid reason Fahrenheit needed maintenance and, after waiting for an hour, we got into the "Holy Church of Intamin" - err, station - by 11.
They decided to put the third train on just then, but lo and behold it got stuck when it was nearly there. It took them a half an hour and a crowbar to push the track over a little and move it back. In the end, they wasted a half an hour of our time to try and fail to put the third train on. Yeah, they ran it with two. Since we were the first two in line, we got to choose where we sat, so we opted for the far back. We were in the second and third rows the other times.
The far back was a good choice, even more ejector air on the first drop and hill, and a little bit of floater at the top of the cobra roll. It was a better ride, except the massive vibrations on the last half of the cobra roll were still there.
We rode Wildcat again, and went to Lightning Racers but they were having lift troubles. We then went over to SDL, rode that again, and rode the Comet a last time. While we were on the Comet, our mom asked an employee if Lightning Racers were open. Thankfully the staff there are willing to help, and apparently the racers were done testing.
As tired as we were, we walked all the way back for two rides (since we had only gone on it once before). Then we walked our tired feet all the way back to the entrance, got in the car, and went home.
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Hershey has a great environment. I love how all the coasters intertwine, especially the SDL and Great bear around the hill. Hersheypark has a lot of hills, though, so expect a lot of walking up and down. There's a lot of wild birds and ducks and I even saw a cute little bunny in Sidewinder's exit. I definitely want to go back some time.
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Rides:
Fahrenheit x3, 7/10
Storm Runner x4, 9.75-9.9/10
Great Bear x1, 5/10
Wildcat x2, 7/10
Lightning Racers x3, 9/10
Comet x3, 8/10
SooperDooperLooper x3, 7/10
Trailblazer x1
Sidewinder x1
The Whip x1
Reese's shooting ride x1
Frontier Flyers x1
Flying Falcon x1
Fuddruckers x1 (Okay, so Fuddruckers isn't a ride...)
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Pictures eventually.
EDIT: I also made this sig from pictures we took.
