Today was my first visit to Hershey Park since May of 2002. It hasn't changed much, from what I can remember, except for Stormrunner, and the Boardwalk. I did not go into the Boardwalk, I'm not a huge fan of waterparks, and it was packed, but I thought it looked awesome. It was definitely a great family addition, and is mostly geared towards a slightly younger age group. The place was packed, but most of the coasters didn't have terrible lines.
Great Bear: as I expected, this is my personal favorite at Hershey. It wasn't overly spectacular, but a good ride nonetheless. I did like the pre-drop helix a lot though, and some of the supports were really cool looking. 8/10
Stormrunner: decent. The zero-g roll and snake dive were fun, but it just seemed so short. It seemed to snap a couple times in the banked rise though, but no head-banging (in the 2nd row at least) 7/10
Sidewinder: good ol' Vekoma quality. lol 3/10
Lightning Racer: decent wooden coaster, pretty well paced. I liked Lightning the best, but they were both good woodens. 7/10
Wildcat: just ok, GCI had a good design, but it just isn't all that exciting IMO. Their recent designs are much better. I am glad it got MF trains this year though, instead of the PTC boxcars. 6/10
SooperDooperLooper: I was amazed at how smooth this was (front row), for as old as it is. It's a nice little family coaster, but not very exciting aside from the loop. The trains are entirely too small too. 5/10
Wild Mouse: probably the worst Mouse coaster I've rode. Arrow's were a lot better. 3/10
Hershey is a great family park, filled with some good beginner, and intermediate coasters. Unfortunately, they do not have too many (really only two IMO) thrill rider coasters. They have a lot crammed in, with some really well designed and placed rides. The staff was nice, but, for the most part, not very efficient. Great Bear's gates would not open until after the other train had cleared the lift
and drop. Ride quality was decent, but not great IMO, but that is understandable it being mostly a family park.
Here’s how I rate a park:
Quality of rides (up to 8 points): 5
Overall Staff (up to 1 point): .5
Park Operations (usual reliably, cleanliness, efficiency of staff, etc – up to 1 point): .5
Score: 6/10 Here’s how I rate an independent visit:
Number of rides running efficiently (up to 4 points): 4
Cleanliness (up to .75 point): .75
Staff (up to .25 point): 0
Score: 4.75/5 -Note- Quality of rides is gauged by actual ride quality, amount or quality of scenery/theming or other interactive elements do nothing for this grade.
...And thats my opinion of Hershey Park
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