Hersheypark, 4/1/18

[Yoshi]

I was hoping to get to Great Adventure today but with snow supposed to start after midnight, I thought that if the forecast was wrong and it started to snow up to a couple hours earlier and I stayed until closing, there was a chance I would be driving home in the snow and didn't want to take that chance. Seeing that Hershey's wait times weren't that bad yesterday compared to Springtime in the Park the last few years (up to 45 minute waits this year vs up to 150 minute waits last year and in 2016) and combined with a 6:00 closing, I didn't it wouldn't be that bad. This was the first time since 2006 I didn't start my coaster season at Great Adventure except the few times I went to Florida in January or February and even though Hersheypark is one of my favorite parks, it was strange to not have Nitro or Kingda Ka be my first local coaster ride of the year.

 

I went to sooperdooperlooper first which is the also the last coaster I rode in 2017 on a Tuesday night the week before Christmas. The queue was changed where Fast Track now is at the entrance and the main lines doesn't go under and around the station anymore. The beginning of the queue has just switchbacks instead of those diagonal sections of path that used to be there. 2 trains were running with a mostly empty station.

 

Comet also had 2 trains running with about a 10 minute wait. It's nice how smooth the coaster is for being over 70 years old.

 

Reese's Extreme Cup Challenge had no wait.

 

Storm Runner had 1 train running with the 2nd train on the other side of the station and was around a 10 minute wait. The more times I ride Storm Runner, the more I like the coaster.

 

Trailblazer was evacuating riders from the brake run. It never reopened when I was there.

 

Great Bear was running 2 trains with a mostly empty station. I took advantage of that and got a front row ride and re-rode in row 7. Row 7 had some vibration but nothing too bad.

 

All 3 Triple Towers were running, I only went to the Hershey tower. It's fun but no Zumanjaro.

 

Some flat rides like Frontier Flyers and The Claw were closed. A lot of kiddie rides were closed as well. I was glad the coasters were open and remember around 10 years ago Midway America wasn't even open for Springtime in the Park.

 

Lightning Racer had 1 train on each track and Lightning had 3 rows closed off, Thunder had 4 rows closed off. They usually close off rows on days with low crowds so they don't have to constantly re-buckle the seatbelts but the station was crowded enough to have all rows open with each row being 2  - 3 train waits. Even with Thunder having an extra row closed off, it was winning most of the races.

 

I rode Wild Mouse since it was almost a walk on. Wildcat had 1 train running and the vinyl or plastic covers around the openings of the sides of the station that were added during Christmas Candylane were still there. I hope they are removed when it gets warmer out since it might be uncomfortable to have to wait in a hot station.

 

It was nice to not have rows assigned at Fahrenheit and being able to wait for whatever row you wanted. I waited 2 trains for the front row. It's fun but I'm not much of a fan of the vertical lift.

 

I walked back to Great Bear and found a completely empty station and also went back to sooperdooperlooper and walked on the front row. After those 2 rides I started to feel like I had enough. Whenever my first trip of the season is, I don't like to ride too many coasters since I have to get used to it again and I guess I rode more than normal and combined with not getting a lot of sleep, I was ready to leave even though the park was open for another 40 minutes. I stopped at Reese's Extreme Cup Challenge again on the way out, walking past Comet with a half empty station which was difficult to pass up and missing SkyRush completely knowing how intense it is. I'll be back plenty of more times this year so missing SkyRush didn't bother me that much.

 

This was a great day to start the 2018 season.

 

Looney Tunes and Batman, am I sure I'm not really at Great Adventure?

 

 

 

 

Breakers Edge looks great, the 2 back to back saucer turns are probably going to be a lot of fun.

 

It looks like the Whip won't be running today.

 

 

sooperdooperlooper's reconfigured queue.