HersheyPark

Visited: August 19, 2025

Attending: Brian, Kate, Steven, Jude

In early August, my sister Kate and her family spent some time in Orlando at the various Universal parks, including the new Epic Universe. I am terribly jealous. I took a week off from work in mid-August, and asked if they wanted to go to HersheyPark. I fully expected them to say that they were theme-parked out for the summer, which was fine by me. I had several free tickets, so it was no huge loss if they didn’t want to go. However, their experience in Florida only increased their coaster appetite, and they wanted to go on some that they hadn’t been on before, so they agreed. We got started a bit later than usual, arriving at the park at around 11:30. The super-premier parking was full already, but the mostly-premier parking still had spaces, so we went with that. The forecast was for low 70s and overcast, which I thought would keep the crowds down. Sadly, neither prediction turned out to be accurate.

Skyrush

Once we entered, we discovered that Candymonium had a 60-minute wait posted, so we took the secret Skyrush path to Comet Hollow. It turned out that Steven and Jude were excited to ride Skyrush, as they’d skipped it on their previous visit. It’s a fairly intense ride, so Jude was a little apprehensive, but he’d just ridden Velocicoaster recently, and judged that he could handle an intense Intamin. I was willing to start with something a bit tamer, but we’d taken the complimentary lockers, and Skyrush is right there, after all. After a not-terribly-long line, we filled up row 4. Kate and Jude took the center seats, and Steven and I took the wings. As always, the lift hill was remarkably fast, getting to the top almost before we knew it. I felt like I was able to get some good air on the couple of airtime moments, which is a pleasant surprise for Skyrush. I hadn’t ridden with the new restraints before, and found them fairly comfortable.

SooperDooper Looper

After Skyrush, we went on the SooperDooper Looper, because it was right there, and we had the lockers for a while. There’s really not a lot to say about the Looper in this day and age. It’s still fun in that it has more elements than just the loop.

After the Looper, we had a leisurely lunch at Los Tres Cubanos (?)

Wildcat’s Revenge

Wildcat was the thing I really wanted to ride today, as I’d only gotten a single ride on it in the past. Although there was a substantial line by this point in the day, it moved fairly quickly, as the operations are good. Although we took a central row as a nod to caution, this ride is every bit as intense as I remembered. Kate and Steven both said afterwards that it’s intense, but a good intense, and I don’t think I could’ve put it better. It’s just exhilarating all the way through. I really need a back-row ride on this sometime.

Storm Runner

We rode Storm Runner because my sister is apparently now a fan of launches. I hadn’t been on Storm Runner in a couple of years, so I didn’t mind riding it again. There’s not a ton to say about it, other than I appreciate that it’s not a one-trick pony like the other xcellerator coasters. The flying snake dive, for all that it’s a dumb name, is kind of a fun element, a full roll that turns into a dive. It’s still not my favorite in the park, and I don’t think I’ll ever be a huge launch fan, but it’s fun.

Although we didn’t get a ton of rides in, we decided we could be done after that. Which is odd, because I do like Candymonium. I think the wait was just too long to put up with, though.