I went to Hersheypark for the second time yesterday. It was a Saturday with really great weather forecasted all day so the crowds were pretty large all day. I went with my girlfriend Cindy and my mom and dad. We arrived a little before opening, and got into the park a little after opening. After finding our way through the pretty complex parking layout they have, walking through the large assortment of shops they have before getting to the main gates, we paid for our admission and walked through to the mainstreetish area. This place was really starting to remind of BGE right away with the huge number of shops you see first thing you enter the gates… The similarities end there, though, because you soon find yourself surrounded by all sorts of old school flats (mostly kiddy rides). Me and Cindy left my parents and decided we’d meet up for lunch later.

We walked past Comet, Superdooperlooper, and the other rides close to the front gates in favor of beating the crowds over to Great Bear. This was the first of seven new coaster credits for the day and my 120th coaster. There was about a 4 train wait for the front, 1 train wait for the back, and no wait for the middle rows. We jumped in the line for the back and after waiting one train were on. I was sitting to the far right with Cindy in the seat directly to my left. The ride starts out amazing with the helix over a hundred feet in the air, there was loads of positive g’s and it’s a really unusual element so I got a kick out of it. The first drop wasn’t as good as those found on other B&M inverts like Alpengeist, Montu, or Raptor. But the arm/foot chopper with one of the supports at the very top on the right side of the train made it pretty cool. The vertical loop was silky smooth; the immelman was also very smooth. The zero-g roll was pretty intense with lots of speed and airtime. The ‘S bend’ turn into the flat spin, and the flat spin itself, were both really cool. Probably the best flat spin I’ve been on, very smooth but at the same time has enough force to give you a thrilling whip around it and leave you semi-disorientated. The last bit of track towards the block brakes had nothing exciting about it and wasn’t noteworthy. All in all I was happy with Great Bear, I had heard mostly bad or at least not good reviews of the ride so I had low expectations; but it’s a good, high quality B&M. I do have to admit that the vertical loop and immelman have no great forces what so ever in them, though. But they are at least extremely smooth so I can get a good amount of fun out of gracefully flying through two huge inversions, especially since they are in a great setting with a lake to the right and the classic wooden coaster, Comet, to the left. I’d give it 8 out of 10.

Next we walked down and found ourselves at Trailblazer’s entrance accidentally. We decided while we were right there we should go ahead and go for a ride. There was no line for any row, sadly a little girl and her dad had beat us to the station and she took the front seat, so we sat in the back. Trailblazer is a nice little family coaster, way better then most of the older arrow mine trains I’ve been on. Normally these mine train coaster beat me up with uncomfortable restraints and bad transitions. This one was good and smooth all the way through. The helix through the trees was especially a surprisingly good time. It still just a little family coaster, so I’ll give it a 5 out of 10.

We walked up a hill towards Storm Runner and Sidewinder. We decided to hit up Sidewinder first. This was my very first time on a Vekoma boomerang! I was very excited to say the least… After going all these years hearing about these rides and how much they sucked I couldn’t wait to see what I thought. We waited one train for the 5th row. Going up the lift gives a pretty nice view not only of the ride but of the whole park. The drop isn’t all that impressive, however I did think “I’m not in pain yet.” as we went flying back through the station. Next we went through the boomerang, I honestly thought it was great, lots of great speed and very smooth. The vertical loop was the same, fast with some g’s in it. I was having a blast, and wasn’t in pain half way through the ride so I was ecstatic. We climbed up the second lift which gave the train a good jolt when catching it and lifting it up. Dropping backwards gave a bit of negative g’s, and the inversions were great and even more intense backwards and had some weird feeling of negative and positive g’s that seemed to come and go randomly… I was very happy; it was a better ride then Great Bear. I don’t know if Sidewinder is an exceptionally good boomerang or what, but it was awesome and WAY better then I expected. I think I hit my head once through the whole ride. I give it a 8 out of 10.

Now we walked over to Storm Runner. There was a little wait but it wasn’t too bad, I figured it would be about 30 minutes. We got to the station in no time at all and waited for the fifth row. In the end we wait maybe a bit more then 20-30 minutes. The launch is great with lots of accelerating in a very small length of track. The top hat is fantastic both racing up and twisting 90 degrees and dropping straight down. The Cobra Loop/Immelman was huge and amazing. Racing up through the supports and then diving back down the opposite direction was great. The hill leading up the heart line roll gave lots of ejector airtime, and the heart line roll itself was intense and taken with great speed. The final inversion, the flying snake dive, might be my favorite inversion just because it is so wild. The final turns before the brakes are taken with great speed and wrap things up nicely. Storm Runner had a couple moments of roughness but all in all is still an awesome ride. Definitely the best Intamin rocket coaster I’ve been on. I give it a 9 out of 10.

After exiting Storm Runner we went to Roller Soaker. It was kind of hot so it seemed like a good idea to get a coaster credit and cool off a bit. The line didn’t seem to long, but this ride’s line moves VERY SLOW. So it took about 30 minutes before we boarded a car facing backwards. The ride doesn’t take too long to start soaking you, but the rolling is less then satisfactory. Basically my legs got pretty wet, other then that I was relatively dry. I pulled my lever to drop the water and didn’t hit anybody; Cindy however nailed a really little girl which was hilarious. Roller Soaker overall isn’t nearly as good as Super Saturator at Carowinds. It was nice for a kiddy ride to get a bit wet on, but as a coaster it’s not very great. I’ll give it 4.5 out of 10.

Wildcat was the next coaster. I was very pumped up to ride Wildcat, based on what I saw it looked like Roar at SFA on steroids, from beginning to end nonstop action through the entire course. There was about a 30 minute line for the front seat of the back car. The first drop was good, but the second drop through the lift’s structure was way better. The whole way down I was out of my seat. The next hill had some floater airtime. And the next set of twisted turns was very intense. The last couple drops and turns however were very crazy; you went from WAY out of your seat to being pushed back down by huge amounts of positive gs in no time at all. Wildcat is one of the wildest coasters I’ve been on without a doubt. Although there were some rough jolts, it was still a great ride. I give it a 8.5 out of 10.

Next we walked across the path to Wild Mouse. Hersheypark’s wild mouse is great, there are no brakes through the entire ride so the turns are out of control and all the drops give you insane amounts of weightlessness. Definitely the best mouse out there that I’ve been on. I say its a 6.5 out of 10 or so.

Lightning Racer was next on our agenda. There was a one train wait for the middle of both Lightning and Thunder, and a few trains for the front and backs. First we rode the back of Lightning. This ride is great, there’s nothing Lightning Racer doesn’t have. From beginning to end there is loads of airtime, smooth twists and turns, and the racing/dueling effect is amazing. The millennium flyer trains also look and run superb. This is my favorite GCII coaster of the few I’ve been on. After riding Lightning, we ran around and rode the front of Thunder. There was a couple train wait which went by very quickly. The front is even better then the back on this ride in my opinion. The millennium flyer trains give you a totally unobstructed view, its great. I give it a 9.5 out of ten.

We went back towards Trailblazer to meet my parents for lunch. They were taking longer then expected because they were waiting to ride Storm Runner, so me and Cindy went for a second ride on Trailblazer while waiting for them. We rode in the fourth row this time and waited one train. It was better this time because the train was loaded with little kids so it was fun to freak out and scream like crazy through the whole ride with them. I’ll now give it 5.5 out of 10.

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We ate at a nice place with chicken sandwiches and live music. The live music was really loud country music, though, so it wasn’t that great.

Me and Cindy walked on over to Superdooperlooper to take a ride after lunch. It was a couple trains wait for the back, so we went back there. The first drop wasn’t that great; the loop was fun though with some nice positive gs and lap bar only trains. The rest of the ride was a nice surprisingly long ride with a tunnel and a cool helix. I love Schwarzkopf coasters so this was a great classic coaster for me.

Next we walked over to Comet. We waited about 30 minutes for a ride in the back seat. The first couple drops give great floater air, all in all it’s a very smooth and fun classic woodie. I wish there was a bit more airtime, but this is a fine coaster. I really like the single lap bars, also, now they just need to ditch the seatbelts and seat dividers and they’d really have a great coaster.

After riding all the coasters, we got on a bunch of flats and other attractions including the Tilt-A-Whirl, Pirate, Claw, Canyon River Rapids, Flying Falcon, Whip, and the Ferris Wheel. We also got on the Reese’s Xtreme Cup Challenge dark ride. The story is pretty silly, but the ride it self is a blast with the peanut butter lovers and chocolate lovers competing against each other. Sadly my car got beat really badly. I liked the free candy at the end, too.

We also took a couple more night rides on Lightning Racer and Wildcat. Lightning Racer is an even more amazing coaster at night with all the tracer lights all along the course. Wildcat was WAY rougher at night compared to when I rode during the day. I really liked all the airtime but I came away with a pretty bad headache in the end.

All in all Hersheypark is amazing and I really like it. If you haven’t been there, I strongly suggest you plan a trip right away.

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Rebel Yell is better backwards.

Sidewinder is also the only boomerang I have been on and I also really liked it. I didn't find it rough at all.

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^ Same here. I, too wonder why people say Great Bear sucks... it's a really good ride!

Nice trip report, I'm beggin my mom now to set up our first trip to Hershey next year. But I got a slight hint of nervousness when you said there were a few spots of roughness on Storm Runner. Can you explain this in further detail, or anyone else who reads this may know what he meant.

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Good TR. I Love hershey park, was my home park most my life and have been their countless times. great bear is alright I think, kind of pales compared to some of the other B&M inverts i've been on. Storm Runner amazing, Sidewinder bleh i find it boring and rough normally. And glad to see you really liked wildcat its my second fav wooden coaster only behind El toro. Glad you enjoyed your day.

^^Back when I rode Storm Runner in 2005, it was slightly rough on the Barrell Roll/ Flying Snake Dive and the final element, that really twisted section of track which its name I can't remember, but it isn't that bad. I think it's more of the restraints than anything, but it still isn't unbearable. Besides, Storm Runner has been my number 1 steel coaster for over a year now, so you see the roughness isn't much of a problem, although Mean Streak is my number 2 wood coaster (I first rode it 2 years ago)

Storm Runner was smooth as glass up until the end during the flying snake dive and the final totally horizontal turn and hill leading to the magnetic brakes. My neck got shoved into the restraint a couple times at the end of the ride but it was far from being rough to the point where it made the ride unenjoyable. My guess is its the speed you go through the tranistions at the end of the ride, you're going over 60 MPH and suddenly twisting from a vertical drop to a turn totally horizontal to the ground and back up a slightly banked hill before finally hitting the brakes. Storm Runner is deffinitely on my top ten list, I'm not sure where exactly, but its deffinitely on there.


O yeah and a side note, after this trip I'm deffinitely buying a season pass to HP next season, it ended up being a 1.5-2 hour from my house which is well worth it just for the superb coaster collection alone.

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God I want to ride a rocket coaster so bad...Storm Runner would be a great first experience on one.

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Great Bear is a great ride. It has such neat quirks to it. Some of the supports over the creek are crazy. It's a stretched out Talon or B:TR. A civil engineering marvel if you see just how it was shoe-horned in.

SFKK guy, Stormrunner is the perfect rocket coaster for a beginner. It's basically the best of a rocket coaster in a bottle.

Pantsfree, I'm glad we share the same excitement over Sooperdooperlooper. We just have to thank Grandpa Schwarzkopf for that nice First on the East Coast Modern looper.

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It was actually pretty funny because my dad was making cracks about how Superdooperlooper wasn't anything special and I was like "oooo no, Schwarzkopf was a genious and all his rides (but especially Mind Bender @ SFOG) are amazing."

Looking at Great Bears supports around the flat spin and how they are twisted into the hill around the lake is REALLY awesome.

Storm Runner is easily the most complete rocket coaster IMO (atleast here in the states, dunno about the other ones around the world).

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