Yesterday my girlfriend and a couple friends made a trip to Hershey Park with me. We left the DC area around 8:30 and arrived at the park just after 11 A.M. We purchased our tickets in advance on-line, so after a quick tram ride we walked right in.

We started our day on the Reeses Cup Challenge dark ride. The line was pretty short, about 15 minutes or so. This is a pretty fun little ride, we dominated the kids in the other car... After this first easy going ride we made our way back to Storm Runner.

Storm Runner's line was fairly short as well, only extending down the ramp a short distance. After about 15 minutes we were riding in the back car. I love this short and intense ride, the launch is fantastic and the airtime over the top hat was superb. The inversions are also fantastic. All around it was a great, smooth, and exhilarating ride.

We went next door to Sidewinder after exiting Storm Runner. We quickly boarded in the back of the ride after waiting a couple cycles. We had a nice mostly smooth ride, going backwards through the vertical loop and boomerang inversions is always a blast. After getting on a couple Vekoma boomerangs I'm not sure I understand their bad rep, I've had nothing but enjoyable rides on the three I have been on.

After this we made our way down towards the boardwalk area of the park. We grabbed some drinks and a bite to eat by the wave pool, the chicken tender baskets were a pretty good value. After eating we thought we would jump in the wave pool to cool off. Unfortunately I didn't realize that Hershey Park has a line for their wave pool, there is no way I'm waiting an hour in line to go in a wave pool... It seemed stupid to me to have it set up like that, especially given how much empty space there was in the pool. So we moved along and checked out the newer water play structure thing by Lightning Racer instead which thankfully didn't have a line. This attraction was amazing. All the water guns and buckets and various water effect things were sweet. Everyone was having a blast in there. I'd like to see more of these at water parks all over. After spending a good hour in the water park we left to see how the line for the lazy river was. Although much like the wave pool there were countless empty tubes and plenty of empty space, the line was massive, so we called it a day as far as the water park attractions go and went off to ride more coasters.

First we checked out Fahrenheit, the line was huge so for now we passed it up and instead moved along to Lightning Racer. We waited about two trains for a ride in the back row of the Thunder side. This ride was MUCH better then I remembered. Plenty of speed and some nice pops or airtime throughout the ride. Gave a great, smooth ride all in all.

Next we went down to Wildcat where waited about 30 minutes for a backseat ride. Although it had a few rough spots I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Its definitely much better with the new trains that replaced the old PTC trains in my opinion.

Next we decided to get in line for Fahrenheit, the line was just as long as before but we figured it was already later in the afternoon and it probably wouldn't get too much shorter before we left for the day. It ended up being about a two hour wait for a ride in the back. The first drop is superb as is the pretzel loop element. The remainder of the ride was an intense borage of elements. All in all I thought it was a really neat ride, but certainly not worth a two hour wait.

After Fahrenheit some clouds rolled in and some rain started to fall, we took this chance to sit down for a bit and rest our legs while enjoying a couple sodas. As the small amount of rain tapered off we headed towards the front of the park where got in line for Comet. We waited about 30 minutes for a ride in the second and third rows. Unfortunately as we were climbing the lift the rain came back harder then ever and we were caught in a down pour. We tried to cover our faces from the rain as we sped around the track but by the end we were pretty soaked. Comet gave a nice smooth ride with some exhilarating drops and a couple moments of airtime, a good time despite the rain shower.

Following Comet we headed to Super Dooper Looper. Unfortunately they were only running one train, but the line was still only about 30 minutes long to ride in the back. I always thoroughly enjoy this ride, its a great Schwarzkopf coaster. Very smooth and fun. The setting really helps make this coaster great as well with all the trees and the river close by.

Great Bear was the final ride of the day, we waited about 45 minutes for the back row. I feel this ride is underrated, its a great invert. The elements are well paced and it is silky smooth from beginning the end. The one of a kind layout and awesome setting is neat as well.

It was just after 8 PM and we had a long drive home to look forward to so we headed towards the exit, but not before picking up some almonds and a frozen banana.

Hershey Park always impresses me, the rides are fantastic and the atmosphere in the park is really nice. You never run out of things to do and I've never had a bad time there.

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"For each path you walk down, there are several others you have to bypass. Maybe walking those paths would have made you happy, maybe they wouldn't have. You'll never know. Choose your path, walk it, and make the best of it."

That's great to hear Lightning Racer is running better. I'm a fan of that coaster, Stormrunner, Comet, and Great Bear. You'll have a great day when you mix those in. It's going to take quite a while for the Boardwalk to rub off on me.

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

I love Great Bear! =D

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Hershey Park for life!