Possible Dorney Park and Hershey Park trip.
Hersheypark: Help with deals?
From Brandon S
Posted August 11, 2009 at 8:07 PM
I have a slight, slight chance of going to Hersheypark and Dorney Park. Does anyone have any tips or know of any deals for Hersheypark(I have a Cedar Fair pass, so I'm fine with Dorney). Any tips are welcome.
Not much help, but just from my experiance, a slight slight chance for this summer will almost never happen for a teenager-parent relationship. I always have maybes, but they never turn out. The only one that has was SFstL this year. Kinda SFOG, but that was from a wedding, so it's not mine. But, I hope you don't have my luck! :D Oh, and have you been to either of the parks? If not, just ask for help if you confirm your trip!
Brandon,
I just recently got back from a trip to HersheyPark (July 30th). It is well worth your while going to this park. There are a few discount coupons that are available at local Hershey area retailers (Wendy's or Diary Queen...if memory serves).
I would rank HersheyPark very high amongst the parks that I have been to as they have a large set of unique roller coasters. You will want to get to the park as early as possible in order to beat the lines...I don't believe they have any fastpass program and the park started getting really busy around 3pm. From seeing the park in the car to getting to the front gate is a good 15-20 minutes, so plan accordingly. Even though it is very highly ranked, I would personally pass on the free World of Chocolate tour unless you have some weird desire to see singing cows and a fake factory pretending to make chocolate...your time will be much better spent getting another ride in...unless you need a midday break...
For some odd reason the regular crowds fill up the right side of the park well before the left side of the park. We had just done a walk on to the Lightening Racers twice, then walked on to the Wildcat, then crossed the park to get on the Comit only to see a 45 minutes wait. If you want to ride Fahrenheit, it should be your first ride of the day and then cross over to Storm Runner...otherwise the lines will get out of control and you will be waiting more than an hour for these excellent rides...
From Brandon S
Posted August 12, 2009 at 12:05 PM
Thanks Jeff, I'll keep that in mind about the left side, right side. And Eli, we're already heading out that way, so I'm trying to get my parents to make a detour to Hersheypark and Dorney Park. Oh, do the coasters at Hersheypark break down a lot? I'm just wondering because I don't want to get there and find Storm Runner down for the day!
Well, Intamin Rocket Coasters brake down a lot more than we want them to! :P stormrunner brakes down about as much as Fahrenheit, and they brake down a little more than the others. (Fahrenheit brakes down from the cable lift, I think.) Oh, and no matter what, don't go to Hershey when it's raining. That's how my day was ruined. Even if it's BARELY running, as long as you can feel the rain, they won't open stormrunner OR Fahrenheit!
Oh, Jeff, when you went, did they let you ride Lightning racer again if there was no one in line? Or did they make you walk around? And Brandon, he's totally right. Also, Lightning racer NEVER has a long line, because they have 4 trains of 18 or something, and 2 load and unload at the same time! :D
Oh, and dorney- you don't need it to rain to have small crowds! That would just mess up the water park! It always has small lines, because the water park is always pretty packed. I'm thinking that if it rained, everyone in the waterpark would just come over and ride the coasters! That would suck! Still, Dominator would be pretty cool in the rain- dropping with the rain! :D And they would only close Possessed, 1 out of the 5 coasters, if it was only kinda raining. Still, that's the 3rd best coaster in the park to me.
Oh, and tips on dorney: ride everything- EVERYTHING- in the front. Even thunderhawk. Very front. And ride everything in the back, but thunderhawk isn't a must, because it's kinda rough. Not very back, but definately very back on Hydra, Possessed, and Talon. And you will have time and short lines to ride them in those places. And Possessed is better in the back for me, because the first launch isn't that amazing, and when you stop at the back spike, you're REALLY high up, and you can see where you are! :D Okay, if you do go, tell us, and when you get back, right 2 separate tr's! Ok, hope this helps!
From Brandon S
Posted August 12, 2009 at 9:56 PM
Eli, so do Farenheit and Storm Runner break down regularly? Also, are the Lightning and Thunder sides on Lightning Racer the same, or do they have different layouts?
From Brandon S
Posted August 14, 2009 at 1:34 PM
One more question, what are the best night rides in each park?
Brandon, I'll do em 1 by 1.
No, they don't brake down that often, just a little more than the other coasters at the park because they are much more complex.
The lightning side and the thunder side both have different layouts. The first 1/3 is a lot the same, but you're still not beside the train. I like Lightning barely better (even though they offer very similar layouts, and have almost the same experiance) because while Thunder leaps over you, you take a hard banked turn to the right. That's so awesome! :D But still, they are both really great. Try em both! Last time I went, like I said, it was raining, but that won't stop the lightning (that's a pun)! I rode it 13 times that day! Even if the park is packed, Lightning racer has a super short line because of the hourly capacity. Try to the ride both sides in the very front and back (maybe back 2 rows).
Great bear is amazing at night, but lightning racer is just as great, because it's in the back side of the park, and no one goes around there at night. Totally empty back there, so when both trains have a combined amount of about... 8 people, it seems like the coaster is deserted, and I love the feeling of it. The only light anywhere near is the camera! :D Haven't ridden Stormrunner at night... because it was raining, as you know :( but my brother said it was way better at night, so give it a shot!
This might sound silly, but at some point I would do the ferris wheel at night. Hersheypark really lights up at night and is beautiful from above.
I chanced upon an online coupon code that was a ten dollar discount just by searching google. If you haven't tried that already, I would do so.
You are going to love Hershey! Also, I don't know how set you are on Dorney, but if it' not too much of a difference in distance, I would recommend heading to Knoebels instead...just a suggestion.
From Brandon S
Posted August 15, 2009 at 1:01 AM
^Yea, I asked my parents but they sort of said no to 3 parks. This trip really isn't set in stone yet, but it's looking better and better for Hershey. My parents aren't so sure about Dorney though, as the reason we are heading out this way is for a vacation with my cousins, and going to Dorney would be one less day with them, but still we see them all the time so I'm not too worried about that. But I really want to go to both because they both look so much fun.
Well, John, I'd say Knoebels is much more of a family park. Brandon, who would you be going with? Still, you said you're going for the coasters, right? Yeah, Knoebels has 2 awesome coasters, and a few great midway rides, but I'd go with Dorney with your needs.
From Brandon S
Posted August 15, 2009 at 11:09 AM
Yea I'm going for coasters, but I am going with my family. We don't have any younger kids and all of us will be riding coasters. Still, I would love to go to Knoebels but I don't think I have a great chance at getting 3 parks. Hey, but Hersheypark is looking good!!
brandon forget bout knoebels they only have 2 coasters...definaely hershey 11 amazing coasters... dorney has 5 good ones
brandon forget bout knoebels they only have 2 coasters...definaely hershey 11 amazing coasters... dorney has 5 good ones
Still, tell your parents Knoebels has a free entry and free parking for everyone! :D you just have to pay like 50 cents for a ride!
From Jake Jones
Posted August 16, 2009 at 10:23 AM
How far are these parks from Philadelphia? I spend some time there, but have not been to any of these parks- maybe next time. Which is the closest- Dorney, Knoebels, Hershey or SF Great Adventure?
From Brandon S
Posted August 16, 2009 at 10:51 AM
I think Dorney is only an hour and a half or so away from Six Flags Great Adventure.
Jake you can look em all up on google maps or on someone's ipod touch or iphone that has internet.
But since I'm nice, I did it for you :D
Hershey: About 98 miles, and almost 2 hours
Dorney: About 60 miles, and a little more than an hour
Knoebels: About 151 miles, and a little more than 2 hours 45 minutes
SFGAdv: About 55 miles, and a little more than an hour
Hope this helps, Jake :D
From Brandon S
Posted August 16, 2009 at 11:54 PM
So unless something changes in the next couple of days, it looks like I'm definely going to Hersheypark!! I'm not sure about Dorney yet.
That's awesome Brandon! Have fun! Any more last tips you need? And make sure you write us a tr after!
From Brandon S
Posted August 19, 2009 at 5:41 PM
So I leave for Hershey, PA tomorrow! One last question, what other flat rides should I ride there?
Have fun brandon! The claw is pretty awesome, but those rides are around, so you might have ridden one. Now that I think of it... Hershey doesn't have a great collection of flat rides... maybe I'm just having a "coaster block"... yeah, the claw is the only good intense one... :P that sucks.
From Brandon S
Posted August 19, 2009 at 8:05 PM
^Yea I saw the claw, I've ridden Huss Giant Frisbee's before like maXair at Cedar Point, but I don't believe that The Claw is Huss right? And I know the seats are faced inward not outward right?
Yeah, it's not by huss. I REALLY wanna go on a giant Frisbee! the look so awesome! And yeah, these are smaller, and I've ridden one at dorney. Dorney has actually quite a few good flat rides. At least 5!
Maybe too late for Brandon, but one cool thing about Hershey was that with internet tickets they'd let you in after 5 p.m. or so one night, and then you get back in the next morning. Don't recall if they had a name for this "preview," but I'm sure it's on their website, and by doing that, I was able to ride at least 4 or 5 coasters after dark and then come back and ride them again (along with the rest) the next day. A cool thing (which was also allowed at Dollywood).
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