Hersheypark, 12/23/18

[Yoshi]

I went to Hersheypark on Sunday for my first park trip in December and probably my final time going to a park for the season. Like Holiday in the Park, crowds were low for the first few hours the park was open but later in the day it got very crowded. The difference from Great Adventure was even with low crowds early, the coaster lines picked up quickly.

 

sooperdooperLooper was first. I thought it would probably be closed the rest of the year but reopened a few weeks ago. This is my favorite coaster open for Christmas Candylane. Knowing the line would get worse later with 1 train running, I went back for a 2nd lap.

 

Wave Swinger would have probably been more fun to ride at night surrounded by lights but I went to the ride early while it had no line.

 

Laff Trakk is decorated for Christmas Candylane with some additional theming such as presents, snowflakes and a giant Christmas tree with lights. It looks nice and I would like to see some Halloween decorations added for Hersheypark in the Dark rather than the current setup of running the ride without any lights.

 

When I rode Wildcat last month it was horrible and gave me a headache. On Sunday it was running better, still rough but tolerable. Like sooperdooperLooper only 1 train was running. The 2nd train was on the transfer track and covered with a tarp. I was hoping they would add the 2nd train later in the day when the line got to 45 minutes, that never happened.

 

Wild Mouse was also running at reduced capacity with 5 cars, the line still moved fast although not as fast as at The Dark Knight's line after the pre-show. This is my 2nd favorite Wild Mouse coaster after The Dark Knight because the top half of the ride runs without many brakes.

 

Frontier Flyers was having a little trouble running with the ride not starting and after a few tries, the ride ran like normal.

 

I skipped Sidewinder because of how horrible I felt last time I rode the coaster over a year ago. I don't think this is the best choice of a coaster to have open for Christmas Candylane as even when the park got crowded, most of the other coasters had 45 - 60 minute waits, this coaster still had a 5 minute wait. It's in a bad location with 2 of the 3 paths to the coaster closed off and maybe it's too extreme for the event with much of the crowds being families with younger kids. I'd like to see another coaster open in it's place next year, maybe Comet.

 

The Hershey Triple Towers were another ride that wasn't too popular on this visit to the park. All 3 towers were running and all were a walk on or 1 cycle wait. I rode all 3 towers taking advantage of the Reese's Tower open since it's been closed the last few times I have been to the park. I like the Hershey tower the best because it is like 2 rides in 1 with it running in combo mode.

 

I walked back to Midway America riding Wild Mouse again since it was only 10 minutes and also to the Whip.

 

The Skyride had a 90 minute wait with an overflow queue set up. It doesn't look like it would be nearly as good as the Skyway at Great Adventure. I checked sooperdooperLooper's line on the way out of the park and it was at least an hour. With 1 train running, even if someone had purchased Fast Track, they would still be waiting around 20 minutes for sooperdooperLooper and around 25 minutes for Wildcat with how many people were in line past the merge points.

 

I also spent some time in the arcade. I like how they have a lot of different sports team themed prizes that aren't that many tickets to win unlike Dorney where there is nothing anyone over the age of 12 would want except prizes that have impossible ticket costs like a Playstation 4 Console for 190,000 tickets.

 

Even when leaving at around 6 with 3 hours until the park closed there were still a lot of people entering the park and a long line to buy tickets.

 

Ride Count:

sooperdooperLooper, 2

Wildcat, 2

Wild Mouse, 2

Laff Trakk, 1

Triple Towers, 3

Whip, 1

Frontier Flyers, 1

Wave Swinger, 1

 

I planned to take more photos and had enough room on my phone for a few pictures. My phone decided to run out of memory after I took this picture (I'm never getting a  phone with 16GB storage again).

[The Master]

It is a good idea to ride the wave swinger during the day as it is often very cold ride at night during Candy Lane. The reason Laff Trax is dark for Halloween is to hide the Christmas decorations that are already setup inside. Near the final brake run you can see the snowflakes are already up on the walls during HPITD. They still could switch to a spooky soundtrack for Halloween in the dark. I wonder if the single train operations is due to safety concerns with operating in cold weather? Even at Halloween time, Hershey had portable large heaters hooked up under some of their coaster stations that are not open for Christmas. PA is somewhat more strict about rides than NJ is. 

Edited December 26, 2018 by The Master

[Yoshi]

That makes sense with more time in October to add the decorations compared to November with Hersheypark In The Dark now running into the first weekend of the month and then the park closed only 1 weekend before Candylane starts. That's also good to know about Wave Swinger being cold at night.

[ThemeParkRider]

Great report. Do you guys recommend going this time of year? Besides crowds, how does it compare to HITP?

[Yoshi]

Thank you. I think HITP is better because more coasters are open. Both have nice decorations and lights. The entire park area is open at Hershey with all the flat rides open and just the 7 closed coasters. I still think Christmas Candylane is worth a visit especially since admission is around $27 for non pass holders. The park is also more strict about the weather than Great Adventure. The outdoor coasters and drop towers will close if it gets under around 38 degrees.

[ThemeParkRider]

Good to know, thanks. That's definitely way more strict - the temperature's dropped below 38 a lot of times this season.