Hey guys, Im headed to Hershey and Dorney. Going to Hershey on Monday June 1st and Dorney Wednesday June3rd. Just wanting a general idea of what you guys have to say about these parks, and what the crowds might possibly be like. Food, cleanliness, park employees. How strict are they on rain policies? Are the parks easy/hard to navigate? Thanks for any info. Christy

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Its rollercoaster time baby!!!

It should be way better during the week than weekend. I would be more concerned about Hershey than Dorney.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

Well, as my uncle lives 20 minutes from Dorney and an hour and 15 minutes from Hershey, I have visited both MANY times, and love them both.

Dorney Park:


I will have to say, that not many enthusiasts seem to like Dorney for some reason. I'm not sure why. It's a clean park, the rides are fun, and the overall atmosphere really reminds me of a mini Cedar Point. Sure, Hydra isn't the most insane roller coaster in the world, but it's unique and fun. (If the lift was made 20 or 30 feet higher, it would have kicked major butt) There seem to be almost no major lines at Dorney Park.

The only ride that you will regularly wait more than 10 minutes for is Wild Mouse, averaging in the 30 - 45 minute range. Get on it once for the credit, or more if you are obsessed with wild mice. Steel Force is deemed as one of the best Morgan Hypers, right behind Phantom's Revenge. Unfortunately, you missed Laser (now traveling the German Fair Circuit) and that kicked major @$$. It was wicked intense.

If Thunderhawk's stupid trims were taken off the end of the ride, and the pre-lift tunnel was put back on, IMO it would be comparable to Knoebels' Phoenix. Instead, it's just fun. Talon is by far the best coaster there, a great ride and it seems to be fairly even with the front and back seats for intensity. (My personal #5 steel coaster.) Voodoo (I'm still calling it that, I don't care) was a fun ride, and had a line at around 30 minutes, due to the fact that it was new and has a low capacity as it's a shuttle coaster, and it defintiely fits the atmosphere of the park.

Apparently there's quite a bit of food around, but you have to look, as they were a little hard for me to spot, except the larger restaurants, so keep your eyes peeled. The food is decent, (the frozen custard is actually pretty good, it's around where Talon is) but a little expensive like most parks.

It does have trees, unlike what several people had said it being a concrete wasteland. The end nearby Thunderhawk and Steel Force has some good amount of trees, but the Talon side could have some more shade. Sure, it doesn't have as many trees as oh say, Knoebels, but it's actually rather nice. (Now, I'm going to go to college for Engineering, so I might think parks are actually "nicer" than they are because I also look at the technological marvels that are at amusemenet parks...)

The staff are decent, (there are LOTS of foreign interns, many seemingly from South America and Eastern Europe) and the park is quite clean, probably because of the trademark millions of trash cans at a Cedar Fair park. Their rain policy isn't bad, although I have had a habit of going to the park during a MASSIVE downpour. Probably half of my trips there have had a severe rain/thunderstorm for at least part of the day. Dorney's waterpark is actually quite good. Oh, and you can go on two of the three kiddie coasters there. Because of the short lines, it doesn't really matter what order you do everything in.



Hersheypark:

Awesome. One of my personal favorite parks. It's a big park, some parts also have that small park feel. There are two "halves" to the park. One half has LOTS of trees, and the other is like a giant midway, although it still has charm.

The park overall is very clean, and the food is pretty good. There was a candied nuts shop next to Comet that was awesome. The coasters that get line regularly are Comet, Great Bear, Storm Runner and Fahrenheit. I'd probably go to Comet first as that fills up pretty quickly, then run over to Great Bear (I've seen it get over an hour long wait) and then Storm Runner and then just roam around the park for the day, doing whatever you please, probably saving Fahrenheit for last after the crowds die down a bit. It got to about an hour and fifteen minutes when I first went on it in the morning, but at about a half hour or less when I rode it in the evening. The "handicapped" entrance right next to the regular one is also a single rider line, which you would have a fairly high chance of getting the front or the back because the trains are so small.

Go on the Ferris Wheel for some nice shots of the park as a whole (I wish they would have built Turbulence to replace their weird double wheel, it was an iconic and rare ride that I really miss) and take the train for some really nice shots of Storm Runner. The monorail is fun, and gives a brief tour of part of the park, the adjacent Zoo America, and the chocolate factory. Sidewinder has soft restraints, and it's one of the better Boomerangs I've been on, and I've been on six.

Be sure to get over to Chocolate World, it's a fun place to spend a couple of hours at. The eatery is pretty huge, and the Hershey "grocery store" is one of the largest places of chocolate and other candy that I have EVER seen in one spot. It looks like pretty much their entire line up of candy in one massive area, and the dark ride on how they make their chocolate is entertaining. The animatronic singing cows were definitely worth the ride, and that ride actually has an almost Disney feel to it.

Great Bear is much better than most people say. Yeah, the ending was not the greatest, but overall it's really fun, and the first drop is something to remember. The atmosphere of the park is great. It's very well balanced, although IMO it needs some more adult flat rides, especially after Chaos is gone. There's a cafe' near Great Bear and Sooperdooperlooper that has some good Paninis, (the Gourmet Grille) and the Freeman's Texas BBQ walk up restaurant near Trailblazer is really good, too.

IMO Wild Cat is the best of all the wooden coasters, and Comet is still really good for a 60 year old ride. Lightning Racer is fun, but it's a little weak on the airtime, but it is still a ride that's not to be missed. (You will get virtually no lines on this one, it always seems to have only about a five minute wait.)

Hersheypark is probably the best park out there that doesn't have a hyper coaster. (Storm Runner has been my #1 coaster for five years running, and yes I think it's better than Behemoth and SFNE's Bizarro. It has ejector air, as well. But it also has an amazing launch, especially in the back seat, awesome vertical G's, unique inversions, and it tosses you around a bit, which makes it even more wild.)




You are going to have a great time at both parks.

Laser being gone is enough for me to skip this year since I said goodbye last year and got Voodoo.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

omg the website says Storm runner is closed for maintenence Does anybody have any info on this I will be so upset if I dont get to ride this

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Its rollercoaster time baby!!!

They've said that since April for their early season opening that Stormrunner would be closed. I read about queue line work being done but that should be amongst the smaller things. At least this is not Six Flags.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too