Trip Report: Hersheypark

Hershey, Pennsylvania - 07/30/1998

"Hiya, Squirt! [Footnote 1]"

After a breakfast in Hershey, it was off to Hersheypark. I bought a discounted ticket from a nearby motel, but even with the discount, Hersheypark was the most expensive park on my trip at nearly $30. At least Hersheypark provides tram service in their overpriced parking lot. I arrived at the main gate shortly before it opened.

Upon entering the park, I immediately made a tactical error, following the signs for Great Bear. Those signs are arranged to take those of us stupid enough to follow them on a scenic hike up and down several steep hills. This is very bad form...my legs hurt before I even reached the queue. And I was mad at having been directed around in a big circle when I could have taken a much shorter and flatter route. Grrrrr...

Great Bear
Trains: 2
Load: 32
Interval: 1:35
Ride Time: 2:06
Capacity: 1,212 pph

I took my first ride on Ursa Major in the front seat. The ride begins with a bit of whirling around off the top of the lift, then a sudden straight drop. Even though I was sitting in the front row, I was completely unprepared for the left-handed corkscrew, and got my ear thwacked there. But apart from that, Ursa Major is a fast, smooth ride, and seems to blend perfectly with Hersheypark and Hersheypark's crowd, except for the excessive height requirement. I am almost suprised that Hersheypark did not insist on a special version of the inverted coaster with a 48" height requirement. The ride itself could certainly accommodate the shorter riders, though they might have some trouble hopping up into the seats.

From the Great Bear, I headed down the hill to the Sooperdooperlooper. Uh-oh, this one is DDM. At least they are working on it; I watched as a a group of maintenance men removed a section of the main lift chain. I stopped at the entrance.
"We're --"
"I know. I just watched 'em take out a big hunk of the lift chain. Do you know if they expect to get it running again today?"
"Yes, try around 2:00."
"Thanks!"

Okay, so the Schwarzkopf Looping Speedracer would have to wait. I rode a couple of flat rides and headed back to the Wildcat, as the Comet had a very long wait at this point.

Wildcat
Trains: 2
Load: 24 (6x2+2)
Interval: 1:45
Ride time: 2:20
Capacity: 823 pph

I noticed that the Wildcat has had its computer re-programmed since my last visit. Like many other modern woodies, Wildcat now has to stop two or three times while it parks in the station (it wasn't doing that last time I rode it!) but in the unusual circumstance that the crew misses an interval and has to stack trains, the second train no longer waits on the safety brake over the queue. Instead, it trims there, then stops halfway down the transfer table. Wildcat's transfer table is immediately uptrack of the station, so this means the waiting train is only half a train-length uptrack of the station. None of this two-minutes-between-dispatch-and-next-train-arrival stuff like I see at Kings Island; in fact I remember thinking that Wildcat's blocking is done more-or-less exactly the way I would do it.

There are other changes, too. I don't know whether Hersheypark reprofiled the first drop, ground of a protrusion from the train, changed couplers, or what, but the train no longer drags its chassis aganst the rail on the first drop. This alone should make the ride run faster and smoother. I took my first ride of the day near the back of the train (actually Row #11 if I remember correctly), having forgotten which end I had preferred before. Again, I found the ride to be lacking...well...something. I like the Wildcat, but something about just isn't quite right. And I have no idea what it is. Perhaps John Allen was right. Perhaps for all its visual ferocity, Wildcat is just too completely in control for a wood coaster.

Midway America is starting to take shape near the Wildcat, and every indication is that it will be a very large area, generally "L" shaped. I am also pleased to note that it looks like it might actually be a proper midway as well, rather than one of these Duell-style twisty-path things. A couple of kiddie rides have taken up residence near the Wildcat including a Mangels pony cart ride. Further down is a Chance gondola wheel...in fact, when I first saw the Chance wheel from the road, my first thought was, "What about the Intamin double-wheel??" and I am pleased to report that the Intamin wheel is still operating.

Across from the Chance wheel is an interesting new ride, an 11-car Whip from Rideworks. The floor is finished concrete rather than steel plates, and the tubs are Fiberglas rather than sheet metal. The result is a lot of resonance in the tubs, making for a ride which is much louder than a Mangels 12-car Whip. The tubs also depart from tradition in that they are mysteriously equipped with headrests and a ratcheting lap bar. The bar is unusual, but not annoying...except that the mechanism is housed in a large box at the front of the tub where Mangels provided a footrest; and there is no remote bar release...the operator has to walk around to let the riders out, unnecessarily increasing cycle time. While Mangels used a roller chain wrapped around the center of the ride, Rideworks attaches the sweeps directly to a large diameter wire rope. Apart from the attachment to the drive rope, .the sweeps look exactly like those used on a Mangels machine. At Camden Park I saw a cart loaded with broken Whip sweeps and I wondered where one gets parts for a Mangels Whip; it appears that Rideworks may be building suitable components. The ride action is exactly right, though again, the ride is extremely noisy.

From the Wildcat, a bit more wandering around and a ride on the Crown-built miniature steam train ultimately led me to the...

Trailblazer
Trains: 2 (of 3)
Load: 30 (5x(2+2+2))
Interval: 1:49
Ride Time: 2:39
Capacity: 990 pph

Trailblazer is a short Arrow Runaway Train. In its favor, the cars are suprisingly roomy, partly because unlike Cedar Point, Hersheypark has not added extra padding to the T-bars. It is worth noting that Trailblazer still has its skid brakes, but I don't recall seeing any governor wheels. It is easily the mildest coaster in the park, but certainly worth a ride.

Sooperdooperlooper
Trains: 2 (of 3)
Load: 24 (6x(2x2))
Interval: 1:12
Ride time: 1:55
Capacity: 1200 pph

They finally got the Sooperdooperlooper put back together, so I took a bunch of rides on it. There was no waiting, even though it was running only two of the three trains, and the hike from the platform exit, down the stairs, back through the zig-zagging queue house, and up the stairs again makes for an annoying re-ride pattern, though not quite as bad as the Viper and Predator at Darien Lake. Sooperdooperlooper is a really good looping coaster, not so much because the loop is so neat, but rather because it does more than just zip through a loop and head back to the station. Indeed, once through the vertical loop, the remainder of this classic Schwarzkopf ride is a lot like an Arrow Runaway Train. I like it a lot, and it does have some neat interactions with Ursa Major.

Of course, Sooperdooperlooper is located in Comet Hollow. It is only logical that Comet Hollow would be good place to ride the...

Comet
Trains: 2
Load: 24 (6x(3x2))
Interval: 1:28
Ride time: 2:25
Capacity: 982 pph
The Comet is pretty much a double out-and-back coaster, except that unlike most double out-and-back coasters, the two routes of the Comet follow different paths, set roughly at 90-degree angles to one another. Several people here have complained about the braking on the ride, and while it is a good ride with good airtime, it is also clear that it would be a better ride if it went faster. But I keep thinking about the crowd that Hersheypark seems to attract...more than any other park on my vacation, Hersheypark attracts complete families with small children. Small children who have just as much fun on the Comet, the Wildcat, and the Trailblazer as their parents do. My understanding is that Hersheypark added brakes to the Comet to reduce maintenance requirements, but it occurs to me that while the braking does not eliminate the airtime on the return legs of the ride, it does significantly reduce the severity of that airtime. While the Comet remains an exciting coaster, is it now more approachable, less frightening than it might otherwise be?

I visited Chocolate World (and managed to avoid getting that song stuck in my head until a week later when someone posted it on rec.roller-coaster) for my three Whoppers, and I rode darned near every flat ride in the park. Once again, I had a wonderful time at Hersheypark. It isn't a favorite park, such as a Cedar Point or a Kennywood, that I must visit every season. But it is a sweet place, certainly worth a visit.

For completeness, here is the ride list:

Time to go on to a very special visit to Bland's Park.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Footnote 1: The costumed characters at Hersheypark are various Hershey products wandering around, in some cases providing great joke potential. The comment, then, is the obligatory greeting offered to a giant bottle of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup walking down the midway. Hmmm...Re-reading that, it looks like the result of a chocolate-induced hallucination. It's a Hershey's cho-co-late, Hershey's choc-o-late, Hershey's cho-co-late world.......[Return to text]

--DCAjr

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