Favorite Dutch Wonderland Memory

http://z8.invisionfree.com/Hersheypark_Crazy/index.php?showtopic=117

Posted by HPCrazy:
I have so many (like Hershey) I can't begin where to think right now. One thing I do fondly remember was having your picnic lunch in the park. We always used to sit around the area where Turtle Whirl and Flying Trapeze are now located. You could always see our table from the train. Something else I wish HERCO would have kept would have been the old blue monorail. I used to always loved those (I remember the old red one when I was really little) but sometimes they would run the old blue one occasionally when I was a little older (the early 90's to be exact).

But anyways, feel free to share whatever you may remember from your previous years at the park.

My favorite DW memory was when I went with Hp Crazy In the summer of 2008. It was a small trip but a memorable trip.

I remember this one time that there was a thunderstorm in the park and most people left (kids got scared, etc..) so I waited it out in the back of park by some games where the river boat is. After the storm passed there was literally no one where I was, everyone was concentrated near the front of the park or left. So I walked around and came across one of the river boat rides..forget which..and an employee came and asked me if I wanted to take a ride on the boat - so I did. It was only me and the captain and I got some nice pictures of the after-effect of the storm and the boat went on a different course too. It was fun and the park only got a little bit more crowded but most of the rides were empty the rest of the day.

That's neat, when did that happen?

Seems strange that a park would run a boat ride right after a storm, but it sounded like a cool experience.

Thats cool!!!!!

Yeah, I thought they wouldn't open it either, but I'm not complaining
It happened maybe 5 years ago or something like that.

Is anyone here a member of DW's Facebook page? They posted two old pics from back in the day. One has an old monorail above the parking lot before the sign was moved inside the beam. The other has the skyride and Old 99 on it. Those brought back memories for me! I've ridden that Old 99 just about every time I was there when I was younger. It's nice they preserved one of the engines and have it back in the Botonical Gardens on display.

Old 99 was my favorite ride when I was younger, and like HPCrazy I rode it every time I visited the park. One time, maybe when I was about 8 or 9, my sister (about 12-13) and cousin (about 10-11) joined me on the ride. Now we were not "large" kids by today's standards (actually we were all skinny!), but right after the cow jumped out out you there was a curve and the train actually tipped over on its side!! My sister, cousin and me were all laughing hysterically, but I could hear my mom screaming as the workers came running over to us. They flipped it back up on the track and away we went. I never thought much about it, but who knows how bad we could have been injured. Of course now with a fuzzy 35 year old's memory, I just remember how funny we thought it was at the time. In 1997, my soon-to-be wife and I took her then 3 y-o son to DW for his first visit - my first visit back there since the mid-'80s. I wouldn't go back again until 2008 with my 2 y-o son, but it was great being back to a park that I spent a lot of my youth in. With another child on the way next month (my son will be 5 in August, and my step-son recently turned 16), I think DW will be a part of my life for the next several years.

BTW, anyone here ever go to Storybook Land in Egg Harbor Township, NJ (10 miles outside of Atlantic City)? Much smaller than DW, but has the same/similar feel to it and is a very clean park. Great for children under 12 and they do a lot of holiday events (we went there in 2007 and have been back for Halloween and Easter events, Christmas is *planned* for this year). http://storybookland.com/

HA HA LOL THATS FUNNY!!!!!