Episode 18: Hersheypark (Stacked)

My second theme park road trip concludes with two full days at Hersheypark joined by my brother Karl and his husband Marcus.  After visiting Cedar Point last year, this was next on my list of must-visit parks owing to its top-heavy coaster line up.  Join us for our first-time reactions to their three Intamins, Fahrenheit, Storm Runner, and Skyrush, as well as the new Candymonium B&M hyper and Wildcat's Revenge RMC.  Karl returns to the podcast at the end of the episode, and we rank our top five rides in the park.

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Transcript

Welcome to Episode 18 of Coaster Redux.  My name is Erik and I am a life-long roller coaster enthusiast, but up until lately, I’ve been kind of a lazy one.  For years, I’d all but forgotten my roller coaster obsession from high school and college.  Then during the pandemic, I started following the coaster world again, and after last year’s road trip, I’m now on a mission to ride as many new coasters as I can.

This is the story of my revived roller coaster fandom, and I’m nearing the end of my second theme park road trip.  I drove from Florida to Massachusetts to spend time with family and friends where I grew up, and I visited three parks on the ride north.  After taking a five-day break from coasters in my hometown, I started the southbound run at Six Flags New England on Monday, then spent yesterday at Knoebels.  The traditional amusement park had such a classic appeal with its antique flat rides and amazing wood coasters.

Now it’s time for the main event, the park I’ve been most looking forward to visiting since Cedar Point last summer.  Today will be my first of two full days at Hersheypark, and man, does this line-up look stacked with three Intamins, a brand new RMC, and the newest B&M hyper in America.  I’ll be joined on this day by my brother Karl, and his husband Marcus, and I couldn’t be more excited to share this experience with them.  In fact, Karl is going to join me later in this episode and we’ll talk about our experiences and rank our top five rides in the park.  Because of this, I’m going to describe the rides without going too in-depth on my opinions.  I’ll save that for the Q&A.                   

I know as a roller coaster fan that one of my favorite parts of the hobby is getting the reaction of somebody coming off of a ride they’ve never ridden before.  That’s what I want to share with you.

And with that, join us for our first-time reactions to one of the finest roller coaster collections in America.  The final chapter of the Intamin trip starts right now on Coaster Redux.

We elected to sleep in the next morning since the park didn’t open until 11.  Yesterday’s clouds were gone as I opened my curtains to find unlimited visibility above the tarmac at Harrisburg International.  I met my brother for breakfast in the lobby of the hotel, and we caught up over Belgian waffles from the self-serve station.  Karl and Marcus were only able to stay for the first day, so after breakfast, we agreed to meet back downstairs at 10:30, intending to rope drop the park.

With everybody ready to go, we loaded into my car for the 20 minute jaunt from Harrisburg to the Sweetest Place on Earth.  I listened to the Business Wars podcast describing the history of Hershey and M&M Mars on my way here.  Milton Hershey founded this town with a goal to create a perfect community for the workers in his chocolate factory.  We passed through a few small towns with that same old timey feel as Six Flags New England’s Agawam before turning onto Hersheypark Drive.  

The Milton S Hershey School sits atop a grassy hill to the left; the words “Welcome to Hershey” neatly printed in white on its lawn.  The park comes into view on the right, and it’s part of a massive entertainment complex shared with an outdoor stadium, an indoor arena, and the Chocolate World visitor’s center.

The traffic pattern is unusual.  It seems like you have to make a complete loop around the parking lot before actually being directed into a space.  The pair of hypercoasters, Skyrush and Candymonium are visible up ahead, but the first coaster to catch my eye was Wildcat’s Revenge, the new for 2023 RMC hybrid.  It’s wood structure with red rails over some black steel supports can’t be missed.

We parked the car, and began the long walk towards the gate.  Hershey’s Chocolate World, the museum and visitors center all about the candy company is to the right, and the massive new front entrance is straight ahead. This entry plaza was added in 2020, and it makes a bold first impression.  The park’s logo sits atop the pavilion covering the gate, and the matching chocolate brown lift hill of Candymonium rises behind it.  This B&M hyper opened alongside the new entrance as the anchor attraction of the new Chocolate Town area.  The main gift shop is to the left, featuring Milton’s Ice Cream Parlor.  It’s all done up in classic red brick with brown roofs, and it looks traditional yet fresh.

Upon entering the park, Candymonium’s station matches the rest of the area, with its twisting finale surrounding a Kisses shaped fountain.  As enticing as this coaster looks, we decided to save it for later.

Our first ride of the day would be Fahrenheit, an Intamin looping coaster known for low capacity.  We figured we’d get on this one early since it’s known to have one of the longest lines in the park.  We passed through Founder’s Way, the park’s Main Street area, and hung a left towards Pioneer Frontier.  The park has a sort of elongated “L” shaped layout, and we were heading towards the north end.  

Fahrenheit’s track is the most vivid orange possible with perfectly contrasting blue supports.  It’s been painted recently, and this just might be my favorite coaster color scheme ever.  The wooden station sports the ride’s tagline, “97 degrees and falling fast.”  Opened in 2008, the ride features a vertical lift, beyond vertical drop at, you guessed it, 97 degrees, and six inversions.  What’s more, they packed 2700 feet of track into an impossibly small plot of land, making this coaster chock full of near misses.  This is one of so many rides I was hyped for in this park because it’s super unique, and of course it’s an Intamin.

We entered the queue and found two of the ride’s three 12 passenger trains on the track.  These short trains are what causes the capacity to be so low, but they make its tight maneuvers possible.  After only a few minutes, we opted for the back row.  I rode first, with Karl and Marcus riding together on the next train.  The restraints are the same as Maverick at Cedar Point, an over the shoulder lap bar with an accompanying vest restraint.  They’re comfortable enough, but riding hands up doesn’t really work.  I typically put my hands to the side, or just out in front so those vests don’t dig into my shoulders.  

The train leaves the station and turns right before engaging the vertical lift.  You quickly climb to 121 feet, and there’s no slow down or hold at the top resulting in complete ejection in the back row.  Then, there’s an aggressive pull out and you enter the first two inversions, the Norwegian loop, named for a similar element on Speed Monster in Norway which opened two years earlier.  You rise up and start to get airtime before a rapid snap to the left as the track falls beneath itself.  It’s a wicked moment.  Then you reverse course and exit the element in a mirror image.  

Fahrenheit wastes no time as you head upside down twice more in a cobra roll.  It’s whippy, smooth, and intense.  Next come two right hand corkscrews in a row before sharp right hand turnaround, a bunny hill providing ejector airtime, and a hard left turn leading up and into the final brakes. 

I so wish more parks hired Intamin to build this style ride.  Fahrenheit is smooth, forceful, and interesting.  Maybe that’s why I like it so much.  It’s the best inversion-focused coaster I’ve ever been on.  I’d take it over any B&M looper.  Gerstlauer has built a lot of similar rides, but the vast majority of them opened after Fahrenheit, and based on the ones I’ve ridden, this one does it better.

With Intamin #1 under our belts, we decided to head next door to ride Wildcat’s Revenge.  We walked uphill beneath a canopy of trees and approached the coaster’s black and red maintenance shed.  Trains marauded around a tight helix between two zero-G rolls.  A few steps later, we entered the queue for Hersheypark’s newest ride.

Great Coasters International opened their first roller coaster at Hersheypark in 1996, a wood twister featuring high banked turns that continue to be their trademark to this day.  This new Wildcat shared its name with Hershey’s first roller coaster which opened in 1923.  Wildcat 2.0 began showing its age, and had been high on enthusiasts’ lists for best candidate for the RMC treatment for several years.  In July of 2022, the Wildcat gave its final rides, and it wasn’t long before Hersheypark confirmed everyone’s suspicions that it would in fact become the newest RMC hybrid.

Similar to Iron Gwazi, Wildcat’s Revenge would be substantially taller than the original.  A new 140 foot steel truss lift hill would get things started followed by the world’s largest step up underflip which used the original lift and first drop structure.  The queue for this tangled web of track passes right up against the middle of the ride with trains rocketing past just out of arm’s reach.  It’s an incredible photo op.  

Before climbing the stairs to the station, Hersheypark requires all loose items to be placed in a free double-sided locker, just like the ones on VelociCoaster.  This not only helps with safety on this aggressive ride, but it’s part of how they designed it to maximize capacity.  Wildcat’s Revenge features a separate load and unload station, so you can’t leave belongings on the platform.  I wore shorts with zipper pockets and the attendant was fine with me having my phone, wallet, and keys with me on the ride.  This was where we encountered the line, and it was only about ten minutes before we were ready to board.  

We selected the back two rows of the train for our first ride, and as we waited, I was beyond impressed by the efficiency of the Wildcat’s Revenge crew.  They were running three trains and kept everybody moving.  It wasn’t uncommon that the train ahead of you would pass over the pre-lift section while you rolled through it.  I can think of several parks that could learn from Hershey’s RMC operations.  They were crushing it!  The trains are gorgeous as well with an angry looking wildcat clawing its way through the front of an old mine cart.   I sat down in the back row with Karl and Marcus ahead of me, and it was time to take on my second brand new RMC of the year.

I’m excited to compare this to ArieForce One which I rode back in April. Statistically they’re very similar.  ArieForce is 15 feet taller and one degree steeper.  Wildcat is 110 feet longer.  Both feature four inversions, yet their layouts couldn’t be more different.  They’re also the first two RMC’s designed by Joe Draves, who succeeded retired legend Alan Schilke in creating the ride’s centerlines.  He’s credited with designing rides like Maxx Force at Six Flags Great America for S&S, and Lightning Run at Kentucky Kingdom for Chance Rides.

WILDCAT’S REVENGE TIME      

As you roll out of the station, you enter what is by far the best RMC pre-lift I’ve experienced.  You drop down quickly, undulating beneath the turnaround between the final two inversions, then engage the steepest lift hill I’ve seen on an IBOX.  The lift hill jogs slowly upward until the train ahead of you parks in the station, then accelerates to full speed.  The pinnacle approaches quickly with the Milton S Hershey school standing proud straight ahead.  Then down we go.

It’s a great first drop.  Back row riders get ejected before rising up into that step-up underflip.  You twist upward to the left, yet don’t fully unbank before turning out to the right and spiraling downward.  It’s a whippy element, and the Cat is off to a great start.  You then charge over a straight airtime hill providing more ejector before a small outer bank hump leading into a left hand wave turn.  There’s some great sideways airtime here, but we’re just getting warmed up.

You hurdle through the Zero-G stall.  It’s not the longest of these elements out there, but you still get that perfect weightless feeling through the inversion.  Another mini wave turn follows, as the train banks right, then you rise up and the track flattens out.  You’re thrown hard to the right in a ridiculous lateral moment as the track turns left with no banking.  

You drop down and enter the first zero-G roll, and it’s quick and snappy.  You then turn 270 degrees to the left and whip through a second zero-G roll that crosses the base of the lift.  Wildcat’s Revenge concludes with a couple of S-bending bunny hops before another unbanked lateral  left turn crushes your ribcage before entering the brakes.

Well, that was, a lot.  Of course it was amazing.  I absolutely loved it.  It’s one of the most fast-paced rides I’ve ever experienced.  You get those rapid fire gut punches of airtime and laterals without a second to breathe.  My brain was still trying to process this roller coaster as we gently returned to the unload station.  It felt like riding through a blender.

Turns out the guy sitting to my left was a fellow enthusiast, and he turned to me and asked which I like better.  I paused for a second before I remembered  I was wearing an ArieForce One shirt that day, and I clumsily replied that I didn’t know yet.  This was my first ride on Wildcat and I was still processing.  He immediately understood, and I joined Karl and Marcus for the walk down the stairs to the lockers where they retrieved their belongings and returned to the midway.

We were doing great on time.  We only waited about 15 minutes for each of our first two rides, but the park was starting to get busier.  We reversed direction and walked back by Fahrenheit.  This time, we took a left walking deeper into the Pioneer Frontier section.  We passed Jolly Rancher remix, the newly refurbished Vekoma Boomerang, and the ride looked great with fresh paint and theming.  Our next stop was Storm Runner, the park’s Intamin accelerator hydraulic launch coaster.  After riding Kingda Ka for the first time last week, I was really hyped up for this one, especially since it has more of a layout following the launch and tophat.

We entered the queue and climbed upstairs into the station.  The ride only had one train operating, with the second parked on the opposite side of the dual load platform.  It seems like two train ops require the use of both sides of the station, meaning a second ride crew would be needed.  Bummer there.  While it’s a short ride, it would still be nice to have a second train loading while the first is on the course.  While the line was contained within the station, it was slow moving.

Storm Runner opened in 2004.  It was the first Intamin to open at Hersheypark, and the third hydraulic launch coaster, following Xcelerator at Knott’s Berry Farm, and Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point.  Riders accelerate from zero to 72 mph in 2 second flat, and ascend a 150 foot tophat before diving 180 feet due to the terrain.  Unlike its predecessors with T-Bars, Storm Runner features the same restraints as Fahrenheit, presumably because it has inversions.  

After about 25 minutes in line, we climbed aboard for a back row ride.  With the all clear, we gently rolled out to the launch track.  I love the build-up to the launch on these rides.  You coast out, and the train pauses, then backs up slightly to engage the catch car with a thud.  The brake fins drop simultaneously.

GET READY HERE WE GO

Within a split second the train charges forward with a ferocity unique to this launch system.  It’s got that Intamin shake like Kingda Ka, but it’s not nearly as intense.  You pull up aggressively and twist to the left.  The train slows at the peak, then the airtime comes on hard in the back.  My shoulders are extending those vest restraints as far as they’re allowed to stretch, and I love that the drop off the tophat is straight with no twist.  It feels like a drop while the twisting ones feel more like inversions.

Next up is the cobra loop, which is basically an Immelman, but the exit has some strange profiling.  There’s a bit of hangtime at the top, and it’s more punchy than what you would find on a B&M.  Next up is the most unique element on the ride, the Flying Snake Dive.  You rise up as if you’re heading into an airtime hill, but at the top, the track levels out and you enter an in-line twist and a half.  I think you come off your seat just a bit before entering the inversion, and it seems like you just keep twisting through those 540 degrees of rotation.  The track then dives down beneath itself while still twisting.  It’s a very fluid maneuver, and it feels so right.  

You then begin climbing back upward and get a couple of snappy twists, first to the right, then back to the left.  Kinda gave me a bit of a Maverick vibe, though not nearly as intense.  You then enter a downward sloped brake run and turn left returning to the station.

While many of this ride type are considered one trick ponies, this renegade stallion is anything but.  Sure, it’s a short ride, but you get the thrill of the launch, great airtime over the tophat, and three completely unique inversions to round out the experience.  Hershey’s first two Intamins absolutely delivered, and the next one was not only my most anticipated coaster in the park, but of the whole road trip.   

We left Storm Runner and climbed upward toward the back of the park, passing the Triple Tower S&S freefall rides, and reaching the park’s highest elevation, Kissing Tower Hill.  It’s named for the park’s observation tower.  The station for Great Bear is here, but we bypassed the B&M invert on the way to the Hollow.  This coaster makes its presence known with one of the loudest B&M roars I’ve ever heard.  This compact valley is home to four roller coasters built over and under one and other with a small creek running through the middle.  While all these visuals are impressive, this area is dominated by the yellow lift hill of Skyrush.  It’s held up by only two blue support columns, and the profile looks weird.  Unlike more recent B&M hyper drops, its summit is more rounded.  Then at the maximum angle of descent, the pull-out begins immediately.  Strange.  

Opened in 2012, this is the most recent Intamin hyper coaster to open in the U.S; maybe with good reason, but more on that later.  It features a 200 foot cable lift hill, and four-across trains with the outer seats being floorless, meaning Skyrush is also a wing coaster.  The layout is squeezed over Spring Creek which passes between the Comet wood coaster, Great Bear, and a maintenance road.  At 3600 feet long, it might just be the shortest hyper out there on track length.

Skyrush is praised for its insane ejector airtime and non-stop pacing, but it’s got an achilles heel.  The restraints are said to tighten on riders’ legs during the ride earning it the nickname “thigh crush.”  Y’all know I’m a sucker for Intamin airtime, and many say this has some of the strongest out there, so it was go time.

Hershey offers free lockers opposite the entrance, and we emptied our pockets to avoid the possibility of phone crush or key crush.  There’s a separate line for the front row and it was long, so we climbed the stairs for all other rows to find it would only be a handful of cycles before we were onboard.  Skyrush only had one train operating, but the line was short enough that we were on within ten minutes.  It’s a nice looking train; its blue/grey contrasting nicely with the yellow track.  Its nose looks like a Formula 1 car.

We ended up in the second to last row and I opted to ride center right.  I lowered the lap bar from over the shoulder, and it felt similar to Pantheon’s.  How bad can this be?  Once we were checked, the train began its forward roll.  Before we were clear of the station, that elevator cable went into overdrive.  It felt unnerving.  I know cable lifts are fast, but this is unnatural.  Like something just isn’t right.  We shouldn’t be going over that drop with this much speed, right?  It’s too fast.  And that’s just the lift hill.

We reached the top and got yanked downward with stunning ejector.  That max angle point I mentioned has a kink, and the train begins to turn slightly right and just keeps going faster.  You bank hard and pull out into an elongated camelback.  I’d estimate this is half the height of the drop, and the airtime is prolonged and extreme!  Skyrush then begins its first turnaround with a low left hand turn.  You pull up and level out into another airtime hill that barely crosses beneath the first with a great head chopper, completing a perfect figure-8. 

You turn around again right against the lift hill, then enter a mini overbank that’s whippy and fun.  You reverse course again, snap hard left, and enter a bonkers bunny hop before a left hand turn over the Comet.  From here, you can catch your breath as Skyrush coasts gently above the midway and into the brakes.

So I just rode Skyrush, and what a rush it was!  I’ve never ridden anything like it.  It’s in a class by itself.  No other hypercoaster comes close to that level of intensity.  It’s short, but it doesn’t let up until that turn off towards the brakes.  It’s got unbelievable airtime, crushing positive G’s, and a bit of jank.  Did I mention it’s weird?  I think that’s part of the appeal of this ride.  As for my thighs?  Uncrushed.  Minorly sore from the airtime?  Possibly.  Did it blow my mind?  Not exactly.  Did I dig it?  Absolutely.

We exited Skyrush back into the Hollow, and walked back up the Kissing Hill for a ride on Great Bear.  This B&M inverted coaster opened in 1998, right when this ride model was all the rage.  Like Skyrush, it was built into this tiny piece of land operating over the Super Dooper Looper Schwartzkopf coaster.  This leads to it having a very unique layout as well.  We hopped in line and decided to wait the extra time for a front row ride.  The line wasn’t bad and we were climbing aboard within 15 minutes.   

The train leaves the station and immediately engages the 94 foot lift hill.  At the top, you dip down B&M’s regular pre-drop, but instead of heading into the first drop, you build speed in a short 360 degree helix.  It’s a great moment to soak up the view before the Bear dives down to the creek below.  The drop height is 127 feet due to terrain, and at the bottom you launch into a vertical loop with the water to your right.  Next up is a bit of straight track before pulling up into an Immelman to reverse direction.  The zero-G roll inverts above a building, then on the pull-out, there’s a quick hop leading into a left hand turn that crosses the creek again.  I definitely got a pop of airtime on this element!

Next you soar through a relatively straight section of track just above the bank of the creek.  You feel the sense of speed while low to the ground, then snap through a corkscrew before meandering above the log flume on the way back to the station.  It’s a solid B&M invert, and I love the visuals of interacting with the creek and the other rides.  Great Bear still runs glass smooth, and that airtime pop was an awesome surprise.  It’s cool how B&M were able to engineer this coaster into a very crowded space and still make it work.

Next, we made our way back to the Chocolate Town plaza to ride Candymonium.  We recalled the old internet cartoon where Charlie the Unicorn joins his friends in search of the magical Candy Mountain.  ((CANDY MOUNTAIN CHARLIE)).  I couldn’t get that out of my head.  The station stands in its own little corner off to the side of the main entrance path.  The whole area is fresh and very well done.  The wait was posted at 30 minutes, which would be our longest thus far, but as we entered the queue, it moved along quickly thanks to three-train operations.  

Hershey claims this is their most highly themed coaster, and I suppose they’re right.  Logos for their major candy brands are plastered all over the walls and ceilings, and why not?  The three trains are painted to represent Reese’s in orange, Twizzlers in red, and Kisses in blue.  The track is chocolate brown representing the backbone of the company.  I just made that last part up, but it sounds good, right?

Now the interesting thing about Candymonium is that it’s the park’s second hypercoaster.  Skyrush opened just eight years earlier, and is located nearby.  Many enthusiasts thought this was a strange decision to build such a similar attraction.  They didn’t follow the Carowinds model by going larger with a giga next to a hyper.  Candymonium stands just ten feet taller than Skyrush, but its layout is over 1000 feet longer, and therein lies the answer.  

Because Hersheypark was landlocked when they built Skyrush, the ride turned out more intense than the park wanted because they had to build tighter elements creating higher G-forces than most hypercoasters.  The park acquired additional land allowing space for a longer layout with larger elements creating a less forceful ride.

Fresh off our first rides on Skyrush, we were ready to take on the more mild hyper.  Upon entering the station, we opted for the back row.  Candymonium features seven row trains like Mako at SeaWorld Orlando, but unlike that ride, there are seat belts along with the B&M clamshell lap bar.  Properly secure, it was time to kiss the station goodbye and head out on Hersheypark’s longest, tallest, and fastest roller coaster.

You pitch up onto the lift hill right out of the station and quickly ascend to the top.  The whole park is behind you with only a view of the parking lot to the right.  The front of the train begins to fall, and you’re whipped down a 76 degree first drop to ground level.  The max angle lasts longer than Skyrush, but there’s no wacky kink.  It’s smooth and fun.  You emerge from the valley into a parabolic camelback providing strong sustained floater airtime before the positives come back on and the train navigates a hammerhead turnaround similar to Mako’s.  

You pick up speed as the train reaches the ground, then head upward again into another large camelback.  This one is lightly trimmed, but it doesn’t hurt the ride.  Next comes a sweet speed hill providing excellent flojector before a 360 degree upward right hand helix.  It’s got some great positives, but then on exiting the element, the train banks left giving a bit of sideways airtime.  It feels like a mini version of the treble clef on Fury 325 and the last hill on Orion and it’s a great whippy moment.

You then drop down again, heading straight towards the Kisses fountain.  Then the train climbs up another hill and hits a nasty trim brake.  It hits hard, and it’s definitely a buzz kill.  Next you bank left twisting around the fountain before another short hop leading into the brakes.  

So Candymonium just might be my favorite B&M hyper.  I strongly prefer their newer hypers to older ones because they’ve profiled the hills to provide stronger airtime that is sustained through each hill.  Despite the second trim, this coaster has a stronger finish than Mako hands down.  It’s butter smooth, and delivers that sublime reridability that makes B&M’s hyper model so good.  I really like having this next to Skyrush.  While it’s a 200+ foot tall coaster featuring hills and turns without inversions, the overall feel of the ride couldn’t be more different.  Hersheypark’s two strikingly different hypercoasters may in fact complement each other better than the three Cedar Fair parks sporting both B&M hyper and giga installations.  As far as the Candyrush saga goes, I’m a fan.  

So we’d just ridden six of the best coasters at Hersheypark before lunch.  It was about 1:30 and we were definitely ready to eat.  We ended up at the 1906 Grill, located on Founders Way.  It’s typical theme park fare and I enjoyed my chicken fingers and fries.  

After lunch, we decided to trek all the way to the back of the park for a ride on Lightning Racer.  As we passed Fahrenheit, the track absolutely popped against the blue sky, and I tried to take photos and video, but the sun was right behind the ride, making this impossible, so we continued all the way to the back.

Lightning Racer is oddly placed in a far corner of the park beyond the Boardwalk’s water attractions.  Opened in 2000, this was GCI’s second dueling wood coaster following Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa which opened the year before.  I’d ridden Gwazi several times before it closed and on its best days it did nothing for me.  Lightning Racer is said to be much better, so I was excited for this one.

Karl and Marcus waited for the second row on the Thunder side, with me riding row two on Lightning.  We left the station in GCI’s phenomenal Millennium Flyer trains and reversed course to engage the staggered lift hills.  Thunder would start the race just behind Lightning.  The tracks run spaced apart on the first lap out, then turn around in opposite directions to rendezvous in the center where the race really gets interesting.  The two sides cross each other four times during the ride and stay close the whole time.  The double out-and-back layout features GCI’s trademark laterals and airtime with the dueling element making it all better.  Karl and Marcus won this race, and it was amazing how much better this coaster was than Gwazi.  The dueling worked perfectly, and the actual roller coaster is fun as well.  

While I thought it tracked well, Karl and Marcus said it was too rough for their liking.  With that, we went back to Wildcat’s Revenge for a second ride.  This time, we opted to ride up front.  The line was about 20 minutes, and it was well worth it.  While the visuals are spectacular, the front felt even more intense than the back.  It may also be that the ride had time to warm up since our first time this morning.  The speed on the two zero-G rolls was almost too much.  I’ve never felt whip like that on a roller coaster.  The lateral moments were insane, and overall this coaster has that same aggressive feel as ArieForce One.  Joe Draves’ two RMC creations have a feel of their own.  As bonkers as Alan Schilke’s rides are, Draves kicks up the intensity by another quarter point, and he’s not afraid to throw in stupid ejector airtime, or ungodly whip or laterals.  If this is a sign of where RMC is going, I think we’ve got a lot to look forward to.

By this point, Karl and Marcus were getting close to being coastered out.  My initial inclination  was to ride more of the park’s supporting coasters like the Comet and Super Dooper Looper, but they were looking to form an exit strategy, and weren’t interested in getting credits like I am.  We decided to take one more ride each on Fahrenheit, Storm Runner, Skyrush, and Candymonium.  Waits were pretty short, and by the time we’d re-ridden the best coasters in the park, it was about 4:00 pm.  We got off Candymonium, and I walked back down the hill to get photos and videos of Skyrush, and encountered the same problem as Fahrenheit.  It felt like I was chasing the sun trying to get pictures.  I’d have to start tomorrow with photos and videos before riding. 

We chose to end the day with ice cream at Milton’s right inside the flagship gift shop, and it was so good.  It had been a great first day at Hersheypark, and I was glad to have an entire second day to take more rides on my favorites and check out some of the park’s other attractions.

We returned to the hotel and cleaned up before heading to dinner at El Sol Mexican restaurant in Harrisburg.  The food was awesome and the margaritas flowed freely.  I had a great time catching up with Karl and Marcus and riding some phenomenal roller coasters together.  

The next morning brought more gorgeous weather, and I had breakfast with Karl and Marcus before we parted ways.  I returned to Hersheypark for a second full day and started out taking photos and videos that I couldn’t the day before.  I only had about an hour before the sun would be behind all the major rides, and I really wanted to have some good stuff for Instagram.  If you enjoy the podcast, I strongly encourage you to follow me @coasterredux on Facebook and Instagram.  My socials are a companion piece to the podcast.  I like to post a reel right after I leave a park to capture the feeling of the day, and another one once the podcast episode drops.  

Anyway, I started out at Fahrenheit again because of its low capacity, then made my way around riding all the other coasters.  Between Wildcat’s Revenge and Storm Runner, I stopped at Jolly Rancher Remix, and walked onboard for a ride.  This Vekoma Boomerang has been here since 1991 as Sidewinder, but was renamed and re-themed in 2021.  It looks great with the bright colors of the Jolly Rancher candies throughout.  Part of the redo was adding a Zamperla Nebulaz flat ride under the cobra roll, and it’s very visually impressive.  

The ride itself was good enough.  The trains were replaced with the re-theme, and feature vest restraints to prevent headbanging.  There’s a shed between the cobra roll and vertical loop that’s supposed to smell like a different flavor of Jolly Rancher on each cycle, but I couldn’t smell anything.  Regardless, the park did a nice job refreshing this area, and I think it’s great that with this and Candymonium, they’re really playing up the candy theme for the first time.  It just makes sense.

After Storm Runner and Skyrush, I decided to check out Super Dooper Looper.  This was the second modern coaster to feature a vertical loop, opening one year after Revolution at Six Flags Magic Mountain.  It uses the terrain in the Hollow, and it’s really cool how they worked the Great Bear in around this ride.  I waited about 20 minutes for this one, and it’s an enjoyable classic.   It tracks smoothly and has a unique layout winding along the hillside.

Next up was the Comet.  Built in 1946, this PTC wood coaster is the oldest at Hersheypark.  After 25 minutes in line, I climbed aboard the three bench trains with buzz bars.  The train was filled with younger kids taking their first big roller coaster rides alongside their parents.  The ride has a T-shaped layout, and again, it’s amazing how the park worked its newer attractions around it.  Skyrush’s lift goes directly over Comet’s first drop.  Super Dooper Looper’s final turn is wedged against the second drop, as is Skyrush’s station.  As for the Comet?  It’s an absolute joy.  It’s smooth as should be, it’s got a great presence in the park, and you get plenty of floater moments with those buzz bars.  Unfortunately, next year, Hersheypark will be replacing these trains with new ones from PTC equipped with their more common ratcheting lap bars, so I was happy to have ridden this coaster with the more minimalist restraint.

I started to get hungry and stopped at Chickie and Pete’s on my way to the back of the park.  I had a buffalo chicken phillie cheese steak, and it was really good.  While I wanted to try their crab fries, the sandwich was so big, I couldn’t imagine eating fries along with it.  My final two credits resided next to each other by the water park.  First was the Wild Mouse, and it was a typical Mach rides lateral machine with hairpin turns.  Second was Laff Track.  It’s an enclosed Maurer spinning coaster, and it had the longest wait throughout my visit.  I waited 45 minutes for it, and I only did that after getting my fill of everything else in the park.  It’s fun.  The show building is lit with blacklights and you wizz and spin through a glow-in-the-dark fun house.  I’m glad I rode it once.

I wrapped up my second day in the park absolutely loving this place.  It’s a beautiful traditional amusement park with one heck of a well rounded coaster collection.  So how do the coasters at Hersheypark stack up?  I’m now joined by my brother Karl to go through our opinions on everything in the park.

I returned to my hotel with that same feeling of lament I experienced when I left Dollywood last year.  I didn’t have a new park to visit tomorrow, and I was 17 hours away from home.  I’d allotted Saturday and Sunday for the drive back to South Florida, and I didn’t return to work until Tuesday.  That would give me a full day to decompress, unpack, do laundry, and get ready for re-entry.  You know, that inevitable barrage of work that’s been piling up for two full weeks that’s just waiting in the office.    

I hadn’t made a hotel reservation for the next night and set about getting that out of the way.  I pulled up Google Maps and was looking at the route, and it hit me.  Carowinds is about halfway home.  Interesting.  I would love to pop into the park for a couple hours and maybe get some night rides on Fury 325.  Maybe that way I could keep the fun vacation vibe alive for another day, and give myself something to look forward to other than 1100 miles and re-entry.  

I pulled up Carowinds’ website on my laptop and they were offering a promotion on their 2024 season passes.  I didn’t have a Cedar Fair pass at the time, but I planned to buy one for next year, and the deal was too good to pass up.  I booked a room at the same TownePlace Suites I stayed at on my first visit to Carowinds last year, and bought the 2024 pass which gave me access to all the chain’s parks for the rest of this year as well as next.  Now we’re talking.  

I awoke the next morning motivated to get on the road to maximize my time at Carowinds.  Unfortunately, about an hour into the trip, there was a major accident resulting in a section of I-81 being closed leading to gridlock traffic that cost me two extra hours.  While I didn’t get to the park until almost 7:00 pm, I had plenty of time.  I started with Fury, then made my way back to Copperhead Strike for a sunset ride.  While it was only running one train and the line as about a half hour, I got off this Mach multi launch coaster remembering just how much I enjoy its varied elements.

I checked out the new AeroNautica Landing at dusk, and it was a massive improvement to the park.  I grabbed a night ride on Intimidator which was also so much fun, before returning to Fury to marathon it with only a 5 minute wait.  I got a total of 7 rides on my favorite giga that night, and it was running even better than I remember from my rainy visit in November.  It was absolutely hauling through the layout with unparallelled whip and airtime.  The combination of darkness and the LED lights on the lift hill and Hive Dive combined for a serendipitous ending to my trip.  I couldn’t have been happier.

Over the course of two weeks and 3,460 miles, I visited 7 parks and added 31 new coasters to my track record.  The Intamin trip was in the books, and it was unforgettable.  I hope you’ve enjoyed this journey as much as I did, but my 2023 wasn’t over yet. 

My next roller coaster adventure brought me to Southern California for a 4-day getaway the first weekend in December.  I took advantage of low airfares and inexpensive hotels during this known dead week for tourism to check out Six Flags Magic Mountain and Knott’s Berry Farm.  I’d made a quick visit to Knott’s back in 2006 when I was in town for a wedding, but I didn’t really get a good feel for the park.

And after visiting Hersheypark, Six Flags Magic Mountain was next on my bucket list, as it sports more roller coasters than any other park in the world.  

Join me for the next episode for my first-time reaction to rides like Tatsu, Full Throttle, Twisted Colossus, and of course X2.  Two full days at Six Flags Magic Mountain during Holiday in the Park are coming up next time on Coaster Redux.