HersheyPark

Visited: July 17, 2022

Attending: Brian, Bryant (Coaster365), Meg, Matt, Gabby, Drew, Drew’s partner

The Buzzed Bars held a big trip to Poland in July 2022…which lots of us couldn’t go on. One of these was Bryant, a.k.a. Coaster365, whom I’d wanted to meet for a while, but we kept missing each other. When he announced on Discord that he was going to come down from New England and visit Hershey that weekend, I decided to seize the moment. Several other folks were there, so we had a nice group of either 7 or 8, depending on the time of day. According to this journal, it’s been years since I’ve been to Hershey, certainly before I got serious about being an enthusiast, so it was interesting to come back with more experienced eyes.

Storm Runner

Because I was the only one with a (newly acquired) season pass, we didn’t get early admission. Several of us needed to ride Candymonium, but since it’s right at the front of the park now, us experienced coaster folk knew that’d be a bad idea, so we headed to the back of the park for Storm Runner. Which turned out to be a great idea, because we basically got a walk-on. Well, sort of a walk-on, because I got separated from the group and had to take the next train, but whatever. It was cool to ride Storm Runner after having ridden Xcelerator, as well as Ka and Dragster, because I have a basis for comparison now. Storm Runner’s launch isn’t the most intense, but that’s cool, because I don’t really like the top-tier intense ones. The seats are just as upright as I remember. I said years ago that it’s like riding in a kitchen chair strapped to a sled, and that’s still true. As a result, the straight-down drop feels even more dangerous. But amazingly, Storm Runner actually does something with its speed. It’s only a couple of elements, although they’re deeply strange elements, but it’s still more than any of the other launchers do.

Jolly Rancher Remix

When I last rode this boomerang, it was called Sidewinder, and it was unexpectedly good, for a boomerang. Now, it’s been completely refurbished: new paint, new station, added a tunnel with fog effects. It’s themed to Jolly Ranchers now, and I don’t care about Jolly Ranchers, but HersheyPark seems to be leaning in to the candy theming for its rides now. The restraints are now the soft vests instead of the old head-bangers, which is a huge improvement. They’ve also got a soundtrack synced to the motion of the train, with speakers all the way up both spikes so you can hear it clearly the whole time. The tunnel I could take or leave. The fog is supposed to smell like Jolly Ranchers, but honestly, it just smelled like dry ice to me. We were able to hop right on, and having a station wait always enhances an experience. Ultimately, it’s just a boomerang, but the loop is forceful, and the cobra roll’s transitions have some jank, so it’s not something I’ll go out of my way to ride, but it’s probably my favorite boomerang now.

We expressed a desire to ride the new flat ride, Mix’d, a Zamperla NebulaZ, but the line was just a touch long for our taste. It’s really fun to look at, and I do look forward to riding it sometime.

Wildcat

There’s universal acknowledgment that Wildcat is a pretty terrible coaster. It’s the first CGI, and back when twister layouts were unheard of, it looked pretty cool. But that was a long time ago. So why ride it now? Because it’s officially closing at the end of July, and the rumors are heavy that it’ll get the RMC treatment. As of this writing, we don’t know for sure, but we saw paint marks in “RMC blue” on some of the footers, so we’ll see. Naturally, we all had to take it for a final spin. And yeah, it’s terrible. I mean, the layout is pretty cool, but wow, it’s rough. There’s one spot right shortly before the brakes where the track just kind of lurches to the right, for absolutely no reason that I could see. So we did what was necessary, paid our respects, and now we’re done.

Lightning Racer

We debated riding Laff Trak, but the line was probably too long. I still need that credit, but I’ll have to get it another time.

So we went over to a much better CGI, which was also a walk-on, because back of park. It’s a racing coaster, so someone suggested that we split the party by gender and see who won. That turned out to be a lot of fun. I’ve known since Twisted Colossus that dueling coasters are fun when they duel, but having friends on the other train makes it even still more fun. Lightning Racer is smoother than Wildcat, but with just enough rumble to make it fun. The layout is twisted enough that you’re never really sure where you’re going next, and it’s nicely long too. As it happens, the guys won (riding Thunder), but it was also pointed out (fairly) that there were four of us to three of them, and we weigh more on average. But whatever.

Skyrush

We knew we had to brave the front of the park at some point, and we had lunch reservations, so we went back to Skyrush. We’d all ridden this before, but for some of us it had been a while. We had to wait about 30 minutes, probably the longest line we had all day, but that was fine. We opted for back seats, and I went for the left wing, as I often do. The last time I rode this, I wasn’t in the habit of putting my hands up for a ride, a fact that I totally forgot until about halfway down the first drop, when I felt like I was sliding uncomfortably. That wasn’t very likely, given the infamous restraints, but I had to grab the handles several times, to my embarrassment. After having ridden a bunch of intense coasters, Skyrush remains up there with the top of the field. I know it’s 200 ft, but it doesn’t really seem like it, and yet the amount of speed it has is absurd. It only has a couple of sharp snaps like i305 or Maverick, but that’s for the best because I don’t think the wings could take it. I will say that the restraints didn’t bother me much, but it was something of a relief when they released on the brake run.

We tried to get in a ride on Candymonium before lunch, but it was 2:00 at this point, and the line said it was 45 minutes, so we didn’t think that would work.

Lunch

Matt had made reservations at The Chocolatier for lunch, but we ended up being early, so we had to hang around the gift shop for a while before we were seated. Lunch took rather a while, and was kind of expensive, but I think it was totally worth it. The others all had beers or other drinks, which they pronounced quite good. The menu has several items with either hints of chocolate or peanut butter, which we all assumed you wouldn’t be able to really taste…except we were totally wrong. It wasn’t overpowering, just surprising little bursts while we ate. I really enjoyed this, much more than most park lunches, and I want to try this again. The only downer was that we didn’t have room for dessert, not if we wanted to do more riding. I had wanted one of the giant milkshakes, which are served there, but it would have been a waste. Next time!

Candymonium

After lunch, Candymonium was reportedly down, so we couldn’t ride it. We took a bathroom break, and while we were away, it came back up! So we had a much shorter line than expected, maybe about 15 minutes. So we all piled in, mostly toward the front, although I’m not sure why. As hypers go, some of it was expected, some of it wasn’t. The first drop was fine, but the terrain boosts the second hill giving some really sustained floater, which impressed me. I wished there’d been room for another camelback before the turnaround, but it is what it is. The “wave turn” was something of a surprise, because I forgot it was there, and it’s a strange feeling on a B&M, but it was nothing like an RMC wave turn. There’s no mid-course, but there were a couple of trims that produced a noticeable tug, much to our disappointment. I think the final turn around the fountain is fun, not because it’s intense or anything, it’s just sweeping and panoramic, which is cool. I definitely want to get back on this some more. It likely won’t displace any of my favorite hypers, but it’s good for the middle of the pack, maybe a little above that.

More Skyrush

After Candymonium, we headed back toward Skyrush, and I took the opportunity to show off the path that the Findleys showed me years ago, which the others all appreciated. It’s a really good part of the park for views of Skyrush, so that went over well. When we got back to Skyrush we found that it also had just come back up from a maintenance period, so it had no line at all! I was starting to develop a coaster headache, but I figured it would be OK if I rode one of the middle seats instead of the wing. Well, no, it doesn’t make all that much difference. I still had trouble keeping my hands up, and my headache didn’t get any better, so I sat out the next two rides the others took. After that, although it was only around 5:00, Bryant and his wife left, because they had to drive back to New England, and I decided to leave so I could have some evening time.