Roller Soaker removal, 2013 speculation?

This place has been so dead latley. Is there another site where people are discussing Hersheypark?

Anyway, RS's removal all but confirmed, is there any other rumors or speculation on 2013?

Even though RS's ad was found....I guess it's possible there could be more removed in that area for a likely Boardwalk expansion. I thought Tidal Force would make sense.

I'm just happy hopefully RS is the only coaster leaving for now as I'm sure most enthusiasts don't seem to care for it as it's pretty lame and seems to have the lowest capacity I've ever seen on a coaster.

I'm not all that pleased with the news. Carowinds took away Flying Super Saturator a few years ago, which was similar and the only other ride of its kind in the US. That makes RS unique. And speaking of capacity, doesn't it have nine cars? How is it any different from Fahrenheit, which has the same number (three trains with three cars each)? I'm thinking of what could replace it. Maybe they might add a "watercoaster," which in case you didn't know, is not an actual roller coaster. It's a water slide with both up and down. It certainly could fit where the RS is. If Hershey elects not to have a wet ride, maybe they could get a drop tower or a Windseeker like most Cedar Fair parks now have. It would be fun on these rides if at the top, you'd see the top of Skyrush at the same level. Although the section of the park we're talking about is a literal frisbee toss away from people's houses and a tall structure might be horribly unpleasant in their "backyard."

It was my understanding that the topics were locked a while ago...I guess they aren't now, though.

The capacity may not be the problem, but from my experience, the average wait time to ride experience ratio was not too great. When RS first opened, it was a really cool ride and people on the ground and above interacted. Nowadays, many rides around the track result in nowhere to dump the water except only on the pavement.
I don't want to see any ride go, and RS is no exception. However, if RS is sold, I would prefer to see another water coaster instead of more slides or some pools.

Fanatic wrote:It was my understanding that the topics were locked a while ago...I guess they aren't now, though.

The capacity may not be the problem, but from my experience, the average wait time to ride experience ratio was not too great. When RS first opened, it was a really cool ride and people on the ground and above interacted. Nowadays, many rides around the track result in nowhere to dump the water except only on the pavement.
I don't want to see any ride go, and RS is no exception. However, if RS is sold, I would prefer to see another water coaster instead of more slides or some pools.

I can sorta see what you mean. I'm not someone who goes to HP much, but I remember going on the Roller Soaker way back in 2003, when it was only a year old. That was before Storm Runner, Fahrenheit, and of course, Skyrush, and more importantly, the addition of the "real" water park. Back then, RS was listed as a Midway America attraction. I would not be surprised if the ride has lost popularity due to the proximity of the newer water rides. (Just like Western Chute-Out in 2007, Hershey replaced it with Fahrenheit b/c they knew it was a crappy slide complex which the Boardwalk would overshadow).

Btw, if there usually is a line for the Soaker, then why is there nothing but pavement to dump water on? Can't you drench people standing in line, from what I remember? Although people wait, does no one interact with riders using the water guns on the plaza anymore? From what it appears to be on Google Maps (the street view images), you briefly go almost above the Lazy River. Do you get to drop on people there? (When I went on it, that was when Canyon River Rapids was there).

When you say you'd want "another water coaster", do you mean an actual roller coaster that gets you wet or like I mentioned, one like a Proslide Rocket (e.g., the Wildebeest at Holiday World or the Black Anaconda at Noah's Ark). I got confused since you said you wouldn't want a slide, which a watercoaster basically is on a grand scale.

Yes, toward the end of the ride there is a segment of the queue where you can dump water on people, but that's only if the line is out of the station.

[This is the queue segment I'm talking about]

Last time I was on Rollersoaker, not a lot of people were interacting with the ride like they used to. When RS was the newest thing at HP, of course a lot more people were interacting and going on the ride in general. (This is sorta what I was trying to say). A lot of people now stay around the waterslides and pools instead.

I'm not sure about the Lazy River segment since I've never been in it ... I keep thinking of Canyon River Rapids because that's what I remember.

I've been on those Proslide Rocket rides, and I wouldn't mind seeing one of those put in, but they might still have space for a pool (going to need a exit pool, of course) or something else small / water-related.
I consider this to be a slide, but now that you mention it, I think I really meant something like a Mack Rides water coaster or an Intamin one, but those take up a lot of space. (Then again, HP did fit Skyrush into Comet Hollow )
In short, I just would prefer to see rides like this instead of another wave pool or simple body slide / tube slide.

If the queue does not normally extend outside the station building onto the wooden ramp, then how can people say that lines tend to be long for the ride (at least for the experience of the ride itself)? Is there a large switchback area in the station? One thing about Roller Soaker, is that, although it is not very intense, gives an outstanding view of the Boardwalk, since you get to look down directly on people in the lazy river and on the pathway leading towards the shower building. Looking at Google Earth, I don't see a water coaster (If you're talking about one like Shoot The Rapids at Cedar Point or Journey to Atlantis at SeaWorld) fitting into the area, it would be even more difficult squeezing it in than it was for Skyrush, even if it went underneath the Tidal Force. Also, people were told that "the coaster count will be different next year," so it can't be another rollercoaster. But a Proslide Rocket would certainly be feasible. Maybe Hershey will try to compete with other parks in the area, and get a Kraken racer or Octopus Racer like Hurricane Harbor will get.

Most of the time the queue doesn't extend onto the ramp, but from what I can remember, there are two switchback areas inside the station.

The arrows point to roughly where these areas are. After the ramp is one set of switchbacks, then there's an outside portion of the queue and finally the last set and train loading queue.
The ride also only loads 4 people per car, and there is almost always 3 waiting in the station while the rest are somewhere on the track.
Many people want bigger and better thrills, and there are coasters for that, but RS is not necessarily one of them. There's a reason why HP rates RS a 3 (for "moderate thrill ride"). Also, sometimes people are already coming from the other water attractions, and it can get chilly waiting in line for Rollersoaker in particular, so that detracts from the ride experience before the ride even starts.
I enjoy Rollersoaker because of its novelty. There's plenty of rides with more thrills at HP, but there literally aren't many rides like RS itself.

Proslide Rockets are almost always suspended, and so there can be more than just a slide placed in this area. So far, I think Hersheypark has all the waterpark basics covered, from a kiddie area and water structure to lazy river and wave pool, plus tube slides in general. The only other things I can think of are hot tubs and generic pools.
Perhaps other types of water rides like a speed slide or Proslide rocket can be placed somewhere among these attractions.

Kozmo 1 wrote:This place has been so dead latley. Is there another site where people are discussing Hersheypark?

Anyway, RS's removal all but confirmed, is there any other rumors or speculation on 2013?

Even though RS's ad was found....I guess it's possible there could be more removed in that area for a likely Boardwalk expansion. I thought Tidal Force would make sense.

I'm just happy hopefully RS is the only coaster leaving for now as I'm sure most enthusiasts don't seem to care for it as it's pretty lame and seems to have the lowest capacity I've ever seen on a coaster.

KT is still open, it's just very dormant right now since Skyrush opened. I am brainstorming something to jumpstart the blog and forums though.

Speed slides, a racing slide, or a Proslide rocket or WhiteWater Industries Water coaster might be good substitutions to the Roller Soaker, and could compliment the existing Boardwalk attractions. I mentioned earlier that Hershey needs a tower ride, like a StarFlyer/WindSeeker or a freefall drop, but how a tall structure would be very ugly for people who live right across the street. However, maybe Sidewinder might be able to fit where Roller Soaker was, they'd move it over and put the tower ride in SW's original location near Storm Runner. This is similar to what Cedar Point did, where the addition of the Wind Seeker displaced the Pirate Ship to the Demion Drop's former site. Another ride HP needs is a Screamin' Swing, though I can't see that replacing RS. Considering the distance the catapults need to travel, it would be impossible because of Lightning Racer to the north and East Coast Waterworks and the Tidal Force to the west. If they could angle it so that it did not interfere with either, maybe it could swing over the wave pool/lazy river? I certainly doubt it's legal for a ride to swing over Hwy 743 lol!

Anyhow, I will be at Hershey sometime during the Halloween season, so I'll be able to investigate the area. I've also been looking on Google Earth and measuring the dimensions of the area to see what could fit. The default image is still from 2004, but you can adjust it for a blurry image that shows all of the boardwalk.