Hersheypark In The Dark, 10/15/17

[Yoshi]

This was easily my best trip to Hersheypark this year. I got to the park at around 3:00. Looking at the wait times on the app when stopping for lunch near the park, I saw almost everything was a 5 - 10 minute wait so I was ready to spend the day riding as many coasters as I could. I'm not going to post what I thought of most of the coasters since I have already mentioned that in past reports this year and I'm going to post the rides in the order I went to everything.

 

Reese's Extreme Cup Challenge, 2 times, no wait with single rider. Fun but it's no Justice League.

 

Comet, 5 minute wait.

 

Sky Rush, 1 train wait. I like the wing seats slightly more than the regular seats.

 

sooperdooperlooper, 2 times, empty station with 1 front row ride.

 

Hershey Triple Tower, 1 cycle wait. The combination of a launch and drop is fun. Probably my favorite S&S Tower.

 

Great Bear, 4 times. 2 of the rides were in the front row. Normally I don't wait for the front because it means at least an extra 10 - 15 minute wait on most days. The front row rides were 2 - 3 train waits, the other rows were walk ons or 1 train waits. The front row is so much better than other rows with the unobstructed view.

 

Hershey Triple Tower again, 1 cycle wait.

 

Trailblazer, 3 train wait. It's ok for a mine train. Runaway Mine Train is way better.

 

Frontier Flyers, no wait. Impossible to snap with the bumpers on each side of the rudder.

 

Wild Mouse, 2 or 3 minute wait. I'd rather ride The Dark Knight but I like how there is no pre-show to deal with here so you can ride the coaster fast when there isn't much of a line.

 

Both sides of Lightning Racer. 1 train running on each side with no wait except for the front. Lightning won more often since Thunder had 2 rows chained off.

 

Wild Mouse again with no wait.

 

Wildcat, 10 minute wait because they took off the 2nd train. When 2 trains were running the middle 6 rows were chained off so it didn't really make a difference to run 1 or 2 trains. When the ride went to 1 train, all rows were opened.

 

Fahrenheit, 1 train wait. 2 trains running with the 3rd car of each train chained off. The cobra roll was a little rough but not too bad.

 

Storm Runner, 2 rides. 5 minute wait. Earlier in the day 1 train was running. Now both trains were running with the back 2 cars chained off so it didn't add that much capacity. This is my favorite Intamin coaster in the park.

 

Reese's Extreme Cup Challenge again with no wait.

 

Comet with no wait. The lights are turned off for the last hour on all 3 wooden coasters. On Comet, it didn't make much of a difference because the lift hill still had the lights on and there are so many rides in the area with the lights on.

 

sooperdooperlooper, 2 times. Empty station again. 1 front row ride and 1 back row ride. The supervisor was encouraging re-rides.

 

Sky Rush, no wait.

 

Great Bear, 2 times. 1 train wait for the front and a re-ride in a middle row. Row 4 was closed off.

 

Laff Trakk had it's usual long line and for Hersheypark in the Dark, they run the ride in the dark. With the ride being marketed as a glow coaster, I think they should run it as normal most of the day and the last couple hours run the coaster in the dark.

 

Coal Cracker was closed, last year it was added to the lineup of rides for Hersheypark in the Dark so hopefully it will be open the final 2 weekends. I was looking forward to it with the almost 80 degree weather and with most other parks in the area having their log flumes closed for the season.

 

I haven't gotten 30 rides or more at any park in a couple of years and never at Hersheypark so it was nice to be able to ride so much.

 

There were light decorations like this all over the park.

 

It's not too often Comet's line looks like this. The picture was taken 50 minutes before closing.

 

 

 

 

[The Master]

Oh jeeze, I was there too! I only had 3 hours there but I rode 20 rides in that time which is pretty good. Wish I could have gotten there earlier. When I first pulled in, the lot was jammed and I thought the park was going to be jammed but thankfully it wasn't. They even had a sign up saying chocolate World's parking lot was full. 

[Yoshi]

I thought it was strange the Chocolate World lot was full unless there were a lot of people just going there and not visiting the park or passholders parking there who were just going to the park for under 3 hours.

 

I don't understand why Sundays in October are usually so empty even when the weather is nice. Saturdays seem more crowded and I know Sundays are usually less crowded than a Saturday but not to the point where it's 0 - 10 minute waits on a Sunday vs 20 - 45 minute waits on a Saturday.

[robertleax]

Might have to go this Sunday.  But I will be going by myself since my daughter is in college.  Wife wont want to go so I can just ride coasters all day.  Have not ridden Fahrenheit, skyrush or Laff Trakk yet.

 

[Viper26]

15 hours ago, Yoshi said:

I don't understand why Sundays in October are usually so empty even when the weather is nice. Saturdays seem more crowded and I know Sundays are usually less crowded than a Saturday but not to the point where it's 0 - 10 minute waits on a Sunday vs 20 - 45 minute waits on a Saturday.

People have school and work on Monday and the lack of scare mazes, actors, and shows hurts attendance more. Saturday crowds in the fall are comparable to average weekday crowds in the summer for both Hersheypark and Great Adventure if wait times average 20-45 minutes.