Hersheypark: Candylane 11/14/09 PTR

This is just the "TR" part of this as I have yet to upload the photos, but I thought I would post the trip notes now and do the pictures later on today.

Notes from last night:

-Park wasn't busy at all. Crowds emptied as the night went on. Monorail had the longest wait for part of the night due to only one train running. The guy there told me that they usually run one train during Candylane unless they go to automatic mode and the other train when it's really busy.

-All rides were running except Reese's X-treme Cup and the Mini Himalaya which both shut down around the last hour that the park was open.

-The path in front of the Amphitheatre where N.O.E.L. is was not open. The dancing tree figures were placed right in the middle of that path. The only good way to view the show is on the three bridges, that's it. (By the way, this show was very good and I highly recommend seeing it when visiting. I did get plenty of pics from different angles, I'll post some of the best later on today or tonight).

-The Kissmas Tree is now located in front of the hot dog place by the Amphitheatre exit, on the other side of the bridge from Comet Hollow. They had the N.O.E.L. lights synchronized with it.

-The park received alot of new LED lights this year, assuming to save costs. The Kissing Tower tree and Twilight Express arches appeared to have had new LED lights installed this year.

-The Twilight Express appeared to have had more light displays this year. The stretch from the RR crossing back at Storm Runner running up to near the second tunnel had more lights than last year (last year it was sort of dead through there with just red and green spotlights shining on the trees). The first tunnel (by Sidewinder) had colored lights changing quickly (for example the tunnel would be green, then pink, then blue, etc).

-The park must still have the roofs for the antique cars in storage somewhere. The one antique car that was placed along the turnpike with Santa sitting in it had one of those roofs installed on it this year.

-Again, the Comet, sooperdooperLooper and Fahrenheit all had their trains sitting in the stations or on the transfers again this year. However, Fahrenheit's trains were all sitting to the rear of the station (near the restrooms) so I had to look hard. They also had a pile of test dummies at the top of the exit stairs, I don't know why they were there. I did manage to get a pic of Comet's trains in the station from up in the Skyview queue.

-Characters were very limited this year. All I saw was the Reese's guy walking around by the Carrousel, that's it. I miss the photo spot across from the Kosher Mart. That was always our prime spot to get our pics with them. So much for stupid Hospitality Services when they already have two or three other Guest Services locations located at or in the park.

**EDIT** ~ forgot to mention these two things:

-Frontier Flyers appeared to have the neon blue lights removed. It first I thought the ride was closed until I saw that there were people in the flyers.

-Granny Bugs found a new home this year, in the patio area of sooperdooperLooper Sandwich Stop (Yes, they did remove all the tables and placed the ride under cover). This should have been done the last several years that the ride was down there. Alex pointed this out as I didn't see it at first. The Fun Slide was still in its same place under Great Bear's barrel roll.

Expect my pictures to be up later on today or this sometime evening.

Sounds like it was great, can't wait to see the pics!

I finally have some time to get some pics up from this year's Candylane.


No trip to Christmas at Hersheypark is complete without a visit to Chocolate World.



Tram Circle









It was almost dark when we finally went in.



These zoo posters were posted in the queue for Reese's X-treme Cup Challenge. I don't remember them on our last visit back in August.



Fahrenheit's station. Yes, the trains are up there, but they are in the back and on the transfer track. There was a pile of test dummies at the top of the exit stairs, not sure what they were doing there.





Santa's Stables



The Hershey Community Chorus was presenting us with some nice Christmas carols. A nice backdrop setting when we were over at the reindeer.



For the rides that are open, they re-did the restriction signs with a Christmas-sy theme. Kind of cute. I think this was also done for the first time last year, although I don't remember it.

More pics in just a minute.

The Twilight Express arches and the Kissing Tower tree appeared to have had all new LED lights installed this year. They both looked brighter too.





These critters made a return this year, although I think the red and green spotlights are new (actually recycled from another spot along the train route from last year).





More Twilight Express shots, including the Engine House all decked out.



The Comet's trains, again, sitting in the station on the main track and transfer. SooperdooperLooper also had it's trains visible sitting on the main track and transfer outside the station.



The Elk Statue received some decor this year.





I was happy to see the trains return this year.







Some Kissing Tower pix.


The last part of this feature will be up in a min featuring some pics of the new N.O.E.L. light show.

The N.O.E.L. light show was AMAZING! They did a fantastic job synchronizing the lights to the music. We saw several shows throughout the evening, the first one of the night on the bridge by the Amphitheatre, the second on the bridge by the sooperdooperLooper, and again at the same location as the first time. They also must have worked on the Kissmas Tree because the lights on there really danced around and moved along with the music, unlike previous years. I highly recommend you see this show when at the park this Holiday season.





Der Deitchplatz and Rhineland Christmas lights.



They added signage for the Kissmas Tree, N.O.E.L. and Santa's Stables to the sign posts. They also put up special customized flags with "Santa Claus Lane" on the signposts back in Minetown to compliment the re-theming Santa Claus Lane overlay for the holidays.



I end you with this pic of the lights at Tram Circle.

I may have some more pics coming soon, but I'm not quite sure yet. Enjoy these pics and let me know what you think.

There's a reason why I think Hershey shows off the best during Christmas and you pretty much showed my reasoning. They don't skimp on decorations, it's always festive, and its the most detailed.

As for the N.O.E.L. show, I'll see about getting video of it when I go in several weeks (as well as some sort of a trip report).

Seems like you had a nice time. The dummies in Fahrenheit's station are probably just still there from Hersheypark in the Dark, where they were dressed up and sitting in there on bales of hay.

Thanks guys! Alex has also mentioned to me in the past what Ccron10 has just said. It's a nice relaxed atmosphere, a break from coaster riding. Too bad they aren't ranked up there on the list of holiday/Christmas events around the country.

Nice pictures. None of Turnpike though?

Nothing much has changed on the Twin Turnpike. A Hershey Bear playing hockey and the penguin and iglue that used to be on top of the Conet station are the only major thing new to the ride. It is nothing like how it was 2 years ago.

They were sort of forced to change things when they opened the Sports Cars side of the ride last year. The arches with the synchronized lights that ran back and forth had to be removed because they were made to fit over the Antique Car track. I think they had a bit more this year than last. They could have been relocated elsewhere, unless Hershey recycled some stuff to Dutch Winter Wonderland.

Also, the igloo with the penguin falling into a snowpile, that was near Skyview's turn-a-round, was relocated near the Twilight Express's station because part of N.O.E.L. now currently resides in its old location.

They stoped doing the Twinkeling Turpike because they did not feel like fixing all the lights that burned out. Towards the end of 2007 almost all of the light displays were mostly burned out. Hopely we will see something like it again in the future.

Stormwinder wrote:Nothing much has changed on the Twin Turnpike. A Hershey Bear playing hockey and the penguin and iglue that used to be on top of the Comet station are the only major thing new to the ride. It is nothing like how it was 2 years ago.

I haven't seen the Twin Turnpike since they opened the Sports Cars, which is why I was interested.

Great trip report and pics. I like the look of the lights HP has!