Day 20 - Hersheypark
So my final new park of the trip, Hersheypark, home of the very well regarded Skyrush as well as all things chocolate. I'm reliably informed that Herhey chocolate isn't actually that nice but do not know myself thanks to pesky allergies. But anyway, on to the park.
You arrive at what can only be described as a massive multi-venue complex. There the theme park, a stadium, an indoor arena, chocolate world attraction and one big ass car park. The park had been a victim of the heavy rain earlier in the summer which had led to closures but thankfully water levels in Spring Creek were much lower for our visit and the whole park was open.
After a fair walk from our parking space to the park entrance we entered in to the quaint little entrance street, Founders Way, which is made up of numerous shops and eateries. This winds up to a slightly more expansive space where the park's carousel is the centrepiece. This of course will be all change in a couple of years once their brand new entrance area is complete.
It looked set to be quite a busy day and we had opted not to get any sort of fastrack; they are rather expensive at Hersheypark. So we decided to head over to Laff Trakk first and get this lower capacity family coaster out of the way. It was new in 2015 and is still popular with families who do visit. It's actually located right on the other side of the park from the entrance, and walking to it made me realise just how big Hershey is, something I had not realised at all beforehand! After a 45 minute wait for Laff Trakk I could not help feel disappointed; it's a standard SC2000 layout but the theming and effects were poorer than expected. However there was air condition in the building which was welcomed!
Seeing as we were at the back of the park we did the other coasters in this area, starting with Wildcat. This is the first ever GCI woodie that was built and to be honest you can tell, it is not the smoothest. Not a bad layout though. And then was Wild Mouse, a Mack Wild Mouse (shock horror) which had no queue but was surprisingly good fun thanks to a lack of trimming!
The other coaster in this area of the park is Lightning Racer, well it's actually 2 coasters. These are duelling GCI wooden coasters that opened in 2000 and are much smoother than Wildcat. I forget which side was better but they are both good fun and some of the duelling and near misses are well done.
Fahrenheit was next as we made our way back through the park. This is an Imtamin Blitz style coaster but with a Eurofighter style vertical lift and beyond vertical drop. It's fairly long and has a good mix of elements with 6 inversions, a couple of tight bends and an airtime hill. It really should be a brilliant coaster, and don't get me wrong it is good, but it just felt a bit bland. You did not have any of the forces that you really expect from an Intamin. It was slightly better later in the day once it had warmed up but still not what I hoped it might be.
After a spot of lunch it was time to head to Skyrush although it seemed to be suffering from a case of Intaminitus and was closed. However they had let people who were already in the queue stay there if they wanted to, so we hung around the entrance waiting for it to re-open. Thankfully it wasn't long until they sent an empty train round and it was back up and running again. It was however on one train all day and I am assuming that this is because of technical problems.
My first ever ride on Skyrush was the back row in an outside seat, perfect for the most intense riding experience! It's actually a little nerve wracking sitting in the station awaiting your first ride, and boy is that lift hill fast! It slows slightly as you approach the top, and then you are flung over experiencing some serious ejector airtime. Ejector airtime is the name of the game on Skrush and it makes no mistake in ensuring that you get plenty. You are thrusted in to turns and transitions at great speed then inbetween these are hills that push you in to your lap restraint the the lap restraint in to you. The restraints are not ideal, the contact point with your thigh is quite narrow which does cause them to really dig in and they can be painful on the airtime hills.
My first couple of rides on Skyrush were really great but maybe not as phenomenal as I'd hoped. But when we came back to Skyrush later in the day it really did become a wild beast. The fantastic airtime of before was just mental to the extent that you wondered if it was safe. You wonder how it is possible on a coaster. Skyrush really is one of Intamin's special coasters and one that everyone should try and ride at some point.
A couple of other coasters located down in The Hollow with Skyrush are Superdooperlooper and Comet. The former is a disappointing Schwarzkopf single loop coaster which doesn't really do much and the latter is a surprisingly good wooden coaster which opened in 1946 and has some nice pops of airtime.
A couple of other average coasters at the park are Trailblazer, an Arrow Mine Train and Sidewinder, a Vekoma Boomerang (although this does have new trains with Vekoma's vest restraints and a magnetic braking system). There's really not much to say about either.
There is something to say about the next coaster; Storm Runner. This really was the park's flagship coaster before Skyrush and it features an impressive launch of 0-70mph is 2 seconds. It's quite a simple layout that looks like a slightly deformed square from above but the interesting range of elements make for a great and punchy ride. I really did enjoy Storm Runner and it is easily the second best coaster at the park for me.
Great Bear is the park's B&M Invert coaster which does have somewhat of an unusual layout. From top of the lift hill you have a small drop in to a 360 degree turn and then the main drop down to a vertical loop. Some expected B&M Invert elements follow before it dives down to run over Spring Creek all the way to a corkscrew, and then it slowly winds its way back to the station. It is a B&M Invert so of course it is good, however the ending is weak.
The other coaster I did was Cocoa Cruiser which is a standard Zamperla kids coaster, I did far too many of these on this trip!
Hersheypark does not have a rapids however it does have a slightly unusual log flume. At the bottom of the drop the boats skim across the water, something I have never seen on a log flume ride before! The park also recently invested in 3 tower rides from S&S. These are located next to each other with the 2 smallest towers being shot towers and the biggest tower being a shot/drop tower. I did the biggest tower and the medium towers, and the airtime at the top of the medium tower was quite brilliant!
We also rode the park's dark ride, Reese’s Xtreme Cup Challenge, which has since closed and is being re-theme for next season. It was an interactive dark ride and to be honest it wasn't that great. Hershey does have a traditional Whip, something I had never experience before, so that was quite novel.
Overall Hersheypark did not leave a great impression on me; maybe that's because it was towards the end of the trip or because it was busy. It seemed a bit like a glorified amusement park which had some nice areas but didn't seem like a place you can come for a more of a relaxed day out. Having said that it is worth visiting for Skyrush alone!
In terms of the food, it was your usual theme park offerings which was perfectly fine. They do however sell huge refreshing lemonades which are made to order in many different flavours, perfect on a hot day.
So after a long day on park it was time to leave and head to our hotel for the night. The next day would be our last park of the trip - Six Flags Great Adventure.