Mike, known as NewtonAir on this forum, invited me to go out to PA to Hersheywood with him and tackle some coasters. I accepted the invite cuz I wanted to ride Lightening Racers, Great Bear, Roller Soaker, and Wild Mouse since they werent around yet when I went in 1997. The park has added great coasters to its collection since the last time I was there.

Anyway, here is my TR. Note: I posted how many rides I did on each coaster, and it did not mean that i stayed on for the repeat rides..The rides were spread out through the day to closing. I rode each coaster once at first then did all the flats then came back to the coasters for the # of later rerides.

Arrived at the park at 9 am. Decided to check out Chocolate World, an outside attraction. It was a fun attraction and quite educational at the same time. Did the tour and the 3D show. Gave it 7/10.

Then got in the park as it opened. School crowds were around but began to thin out to a "ghost town" by 4 pm.

Went straight to the Comet, because I had a blast on it in 1997, and still got the blasts of airtime. Two Train Operation. Comet - 5 rides - 2 in front , 1 in middle, and 2 in rear- 8/10.

SooperDooperLooper was and still is a fun coaster. Loved having my hands up while doing the loop. I got pops of airtime on the hill just right before the final helix and the middle of the helix where the helix twist upwards a bit. Amazing feat! A nice thing occured on my 13th ride- The Great Bear Train swooped by us at the same time we were doing the final helix - fun and SCARY at the same time! Two out of Three Train Operation. 13 rides- 1 in front, 2 in middle, and the rest in the rear- 9/10

Then it was on to Great Bear. A nice and moderate Beemer, which interacts with SooperDooperLooper and Coal Cracker very nicely.I liked the helix at the beginning. Nice lateral forces especially in the rear. Two Train Operation. 6 rides- 1 in front, 3 in middle, 2 in rear. 8/10


Had lunch at Berk's Tower Hot Dogs. Best cheese dog I ever had!

Rode Coal Cracker to cool down cause it was HOT! the most uncreative flume i ever rode. didnt even get me wet either. 2/10 for a flume.

Mike wanted me to ride Flying Falcon. I was worried about my vertigo, but the ride was going at a perfect speed and my vertigo didnt rear its ugly head. Was nice to be able to ride a spinning ride again! Not bad for my first spinning ride in 9 years! 8/10 for a spinning flat.

We went down to TrailBlazer. the most smoothest Mine coaster I ever experienced, but my complaint with this one was that it was freaking too SHORT! The highlight was being able to sweep my hands on the grass on the first helix and the prickly needles of the pines during the final double helix. One out of Two Train Operation. Only rode once. 5/10 for short ridetime!

Sidewinder- I dont know why I even bother riding boomrangs and invertigos- they are the most roughest things next to the SLCS. But I was quite impressed with the forward ride- no headbanging at all, but unfortuately the backwards ride was the complete opposite - headBASHing galore from the drop to the stop in the station. I thought I was gonna have one of those brain anseruyms and drop dead on the exit ramp. They need to take this ride down! Token ride- 8/10 forwards, 1/10 backwards for future head injuries!

Went on Canyon River Rapids. What the hell did the park do to this ride?! It has gotten a lot wetter and better than it was in 1997. I was SOAKED to the bone and I even got a surprise dump of water from a rider on Roller Soaker over the rapids. There were more waterfalls and more rapids action to this ride than I remembered it. It became one of the best rapids ride. No one on my raft stayed dry. 10/10 for river rapids.

It was time to tackle the new coasters and the Wildcat in Midway America. The Wildcat was looming ahead so Mike wanted to ride it first before the Racers and Roller Soaker and we did. The Wildcat is still fercious as it was in 1997. Loved the fast turns and all hills delivered airtime. Two Train Operation. 6 rides- 3 in front and 3 in back. 10/10

Then we did the Wild Mouse. Mike commented that it was the BIGGEST wild mouse he ever saw and I had to agree. Richocet looked small in size compared to this monster mouse. Interesting layout and painful airtime on the hills. My privates got abused by the lapbar on the final bunny hops. Only coaster that I actually lock the lapbar in its most secure position thereafter the intial ride. Six out of Ten cars in operation. Two rides- 7/10.

We hit the Whip next. Mike never rode this type of ride so it was a perfect opporunity for him to do so. Thought this Whip was small, but delivers a good whipping action. 8/10

Now it was time to do the Racers. Mike took on Lightening while I took Thunder. My train won! Amazing racing/dueling coaster I have been on! It does an excellent job of racing, but the dueling part needs to be expanded on! Nothing like racing one minute then dueling the next! Bought t shirts for Lightening and Thunder. We spent time on this coaster the most... 16 rides - 8 on each side. This racer/dueler now comes between the Dragons and Gemini for the second position for this type of coaster. 10/10

Then it was time to hit Roller Soaker. A short, but wetter coaster with a nice interactive playarea. I was bombed on the most during the queue line switchback from the lower level to the upper level. As we reached the station house, the ride breaks down! I thought "Oh no!", but mechanics came up really quick. It turned out that an incompentent ride op did not stack the ride properly, causing the cars missing the water fillers so most of the cars were "dry" cars so the bombers didnt work for those riders. The ride op were relieved of his duties and sent to somewhere else or home. One of the ride crew peepz had to take over the controls and the ride returned to its normal wet self and I got on.
I got soaked even more on the ride by those geyers and water guns operated by mischevious kids and teens. I sent out my water bomb on the easiest target, which obviously is the queue ramp switchback. Then Mike and I operated two geysers near the beginning of the ride and spent a hour and half shooting up water when the riders doesnt expect it coming and causing them to misbomb early. What a fun ride!!!!! 10+/10

We took on Tidal Force next since we were still wet from Roller Soaker. An okay shoot the chutes ride. I think I would enjoy this more if I was hot and sweaty instead of cold and dripping. 7/10

We even caught the Nightlights show. It was a fabulous laser show. It was neat to see green lasers moving up and down like a wave on the Wild Mouse and the Wildcat and the Ferris Wheel. Nice selection of music.

This park is definitely the SWEETEST place for coaster enthaunists by providing 9 top notch coasters, a nice selection of flats for flats lovers, and excellent water rides for water lovers. This park definitely dont need a waterpark since their rapids, raft, and water coaster, and the interactive playarea does an excellent job of keeping people wet and cool!

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Roller koasters are beautiful pieces of art. The movement of the trains is my anime. The screams are music to my ears.

Good TR, yea I felt the same about Roller Soaker the best water coaster and I got soaked from head to toe, no wonder they have a place for your shoes. Comet was a surprise cause it had airtime on every hill. But I disagree with you on Sidewinder, I loved the ride and it was the best Vekoma Boomerang I've been on and it was really alot of fun when I went on it, so I was disapointed when it was closed when I went on Mother's Day. The only downfalut of this park is that this park is doable easily in a half day.

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13 Bravo Company Field Artillery Unit. An Army of One.

What a great trip report, Professor KoasterFreak. Hersheypark is one of my favorite summer destinations. I love what they have done with the park and Chocolate World over the past few years, and I agree that NightLights is a well done laser show. I hope they keep that around for a while.

Jokercoaster, how do you do Hersheypark in less than a day? My family spends 2-3 days each summer to see and do all of the rides, shows, and ZooAmerica.

Well probably cause on Mother's Day it was supposed to rain and I guess scared most of the people away, but I only had one long wait and that was on Roller Soaker a second time. The other time I went it wasn't that crowded, but believe me its more than possible to do. Hersheypark may be a somewhat large park, but I manage to do it w/o even trying. Great Bear and the rest have alwaays been walkons, maybe its been my good choice to go. On Mother's Day I was out of there by 6 and thats when it started to rain.

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13 Bravo Company Field Artillery Unit. An Army of One.

I just got back from Hershey today (Wend 19th) and I must say it was the least crowded I have ever seen it. Before I headed into the park I checked out the new 3d show at chocolate world.. Felt like I was back at Disney again! No really it is a great 3d show with a lot of special effects and a live actor. I give it a 9/10 would have been 10/10 for this show but the pre show was sort of dull if you don't like history.

Got in the park around 2.00, First thing I noticed right away was the amount of security.. They were checking everyone's bag before you entered the park and throughout the park I saw about 50 or more security guards and Im not joking. It really is ashame what a few terrorists can do to the country but what can you do.

Anyway, I really don't want to do a full trip report so I will just give highlights and facts of the day.

Canyon river rapids- (kosterfrek wrote about how the ride got better) Today was the first time riding this since 3 years ago. I usually skip it on my trips because the line is way to long but today there was practically no line so I gave it a try.
They sure did add more waterfalls, I remember just 1 but now there are about 3 big ones and I got wetter then ever. Much better ride now, gave it a 10/10

Roller Soaker- First time seeing it and I wasn't impressed. The ride looked way to short! I did decide to ride with a friend and I must say looks can be deceiving. Got soaked and I mean SOAKED right away in the queue line which actually got annoying after a while. The ride cars are very slick and I was suprized that there was nothing much to hold on to because the ride does have some speed and height to it. Again I got soaked from all the water curtains and geysers along the track. I gave it a 8/10 for being a unique ride.

I rode all the coasters once except the trailblazer and wild mouse which I did not decide to ride this time.. Rode great bear twice.
Since Hershey is my hometown park I really cannot comment on the coasters since I have ridden them like a thousand times and they are starting to get old to me, I will however give my top favorite coasters in the park.

1. Great Bear
2. Lightning racer (both sides)
3. WildCat
4. Sidewinder
5. Roller Soaker
6. SuperDooperLooper
7. Comet
8. Wild Mouse
9. Trailblazer

The flat rides in my opinion are pretty weak. Most of there flat rides are old Huss rides. I think Hershey needs to spend some dough to replace some of the flat rides before adding any other big ride to the park. Some rides that need replacing could be Conestoga Wagon, Rodeo, Cyclops.. Basically the whole frontier area lol.

So there you have it! All in all I think Hershey Park is a top 10 park that any park enthusiast should visit at least once in there life. The smell of chocolate in the air and that Hershey atmosphere will keep you wanting for more.