Hersheypark Buys SFMM's Monorail Trains

So now we strong confirmation that the expansion is going towards the golf course with the road moving. Best guess is the new cars do mean that the monorail is going to be expanded, my guess is along the north and western side (parts closest to the parking lots). Seems to be the most logical and shortest route.

I wouldn't surprised if that's a route it follows. It's the most logical way to go, and I don't think the Monorail would work as a perimeter ride very well. So a narrow-ish course along the park's west border makes sense.

So what do we think will happen to the current route? Will the part over to the factory and over ZooAmerica stay or be removed?

Well, here is the first attempt to get the money:
http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/ED_81593.html

tedgarb wrote:So what do we think will happen to the current route? Will the part over to the factory and over ZooAmerica stay or be removed?

I think it's going to be removed. The Zoo portion could survive if the Monorail is re-routed to bypass the old station. Personally, they should eliminate it all and keep it in-park, even if it's fun to see the Zoo.

It could be re-routed to go around the outer edge of the zoo, re-entering at the current point, over the zoo (like the current layout) and re-enter the park before making it's way out to Midway. This configuration would eliminate the need of having it go over and the parking lot as it currently is set up right now.

This is all so exciting....I never would have seen them buying those old trains, though I knew it was SBNO at SFMM for a long time.

I really do hope they expand the line and add another station, would make sence if they expanded to the golf course, otherwise it wouldn't make sense since unless they added at least 2 new stations since the current one is pretty much in the center of the park.

I'm a huge monorail fan in general, and thought it would have been cool had they expanded the monorail (and built double SkyRide) as in the concept design of the "new" Hersheypark back in the day.

Here's a thought, if they really expand it and run say 4 trains, would they go with some new paint/art designs on the outsides? Either 4 different solid colors, or they could paint them like the Hershey brand chocolate products....(red kit kat train, orange recees', brown Hershey's, silver kisses train etc)

Kozmo 1 wrote:
Here's a thought, if they really expand it and run say 4 trains, would they go with some new paint/art designs on the outsides? Either 4 different solid colors, or they could paint them like the Hershey brand chocolate products....(red kit kat train, orange recees', brown Hershey's, silver kisses train etc)

I like the idea of candy branded cars

That's a great concept! I would like to see that happen - it will show some cleverness on HP's side of things. I think Blue Cross might want to keep their name somewhere on the trains, but maybe they can make their logo more of a decal over some Hershey's candy paint.

Hey, maybe something like that could end up happening! I doubt Blue Cross would like it much though. They're paying for the blue trains with the flying Blue Cross Man logo.

Hershey's trains were always blue before BlueCross ever put their name on the ride.

This pic shows the ride in either 1969 or 1970:

HPCrazy wrote:Hershey's trains were always blue before BlueCross ever put their name on the ride.

This pic shows the ride in either 1969 or 1970:

Yes, I know it was always blue.

That doesn't change that BlueCross has an agreement with the park to have blue trains with the flying logo on it though.

^^ Wow! What part of the park/zoo is that picture taken? The park looks amazing in that photo.

The building in the background is now the entrance to the Zoo, and the Monorail track is over top what is now the Twin Turnpike. You can see a car driving on the road between the sculpture and the building. This is the old entrance to the park, the picture is facing if you were leaving the park. The person taking the photo is approximately where the Kissing Tower's computer room is.

I think the car is on Park Ave, but you could drive off of there and into a parking area that would be in the rear left of the photo.

Walter at the Project 2012 Facebook group just sent me some photos of freshly painted pink markings near Storm Runner's launch track. Here's one:

Sorry for the double-post (can't seem to put two images in one post with the image hosting program on here) but here's another one:



He mentioned that the first marking is at the second footer of Storm Runner's launch track, with the second marking located about 16 steps away from the first marking followed by the third marking 16 more steps away (or more) from the second marking. Not sure if this is related to the monorail being expanded out towards Midway or not, but he also mentioned that the paint is fresh. I plan on investigating this further on my upcoming two trips next month.

Here's a better view of the area we're looking at:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=hersheypark&hl=en&ll=40.289629,-76.653832&spn=0.003224,0.008256&sll=43.039374,-89.450764&sspn=0.012358,0.033023&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=40.289551,-76.653899&panoid=qfEemF1y6t3n5LgTujZIlw&cbp=12,276.28,,0,33.57

It's probably something that's not a big deal or relevent to the Monorail and just may deal with utilities. It is hardly possible for them to recieve the trains a few weeks ago and already have a layout figured out. It's more than just drawing a line and saying, "build here".

Yeah, I agree. There tends to be a lot of stuff like this that pops up in that area every year. Typically has to do with utilities...but, it's something to keep in mind I suppose. I don't think that's all to likely of a path for the Monorail to take though. Not saying it can't happen, but the Monorail would have to clear Storm Runner's launch pad and that would make that hill rather steep to accomplish that. Steep enough that I don't think the Monorail would be able to make it up the hill. It has a difficult enough time maintaining speed going up the hill between Trailblazer and Pirate as it stands now.

Ccron10 wrote:It's probably something that's not a big deal or relevent to the Monorail and just may deal with utilities. It is hardly possible for them to recieve the trains a few weeks ago and already have a layout figured out. It's more than just drawing a line and saying, "build here".

I wouldn't count out a monorail expansion just yet, but like you said, it could also be utility markings, so that can't be ruled out either. They could also possibly be looking at options on designing a new route, even if it's going to be a little while until it actually happens. We saw that happen within the last year with Attraction 2012's markings on the ground. Cutting the track through that area wouldn't be the best option either because like what gb980109 said, it would have to clear Storm Runner's launch track. Only time will tell on what's currently happening right now.

HPCrazy wrote:

Ccron10 wrote:It's probably something that's not a big deal or relevent to the Monorail and just may deal with utilities. It is hardly possible for them to recieve the trains a few weeks ago and already have a layout figured out. It's more than just drawing a line and saying, "build here".

I wouldn't count out a monorail expansion just yet, but like you said, it could also be utility markings, so that can't be ruled out either. They could also possibly be looking at options on designing a new route, even if it's going to be a little while until it actually happens. We saw that happen within the last year with Attraction 2012's markings on the ground. Cutting the track through that area wouldn't be the best option either because like what gb980109 said, it would have to clear Storm Runner's launch track. Only time will tell on what's currently happening right now.

Yes, but I highly doubt that they would go out into the park this early and spraypaint all the paths say, "here's a possible route that might work".
While we did see that happen with 2012, but keep in mind that they may have already planned it out long before where what we might be seeing is only in it's infantcy.

And here is the official answer thanks to Brandon Strouphauer's questioning of Donan on facebook:

Donan Michael
Also SF tram trains are for parts ... no expansion

Brandon Nathan Strouphauer
None, even in the long term future? Will there be any type of park transportation in the future?

Donan Michael
Don't know about the long term future but no immediate plans

CoasterBGW wrote:And here is the official answer thanks to Brandon Strouphauer's questioning of Donan on facebook:

Donan Michael
Also SF tram trains are for parts ... no expansion

Brandon Nathan Strouphauer
None, even in the long term future? Will there be any type of park transportation in the future?

Donan Michael
Don't know about the long term future but no immediate plans

Drat. Was hoping for an expansion of the Monorail.

warhawk911 wrote:

CoasterBGW wrote:And here is the official answer thanks to Brandon Strouphauer's questioning of Donan on facebook:

Donan Michael
Also SF tram trains are for parts ... no expansion

Brandon Nathan Strouphauer
None, even in the long term future? Will there be any type of park transportation in the future?

Donan Michael
Don't know about the long term future but no immediate plans

Drat. Was hoping for an expansion of the Monorail.

Same here, I'd rather have that over a 3600' Hyper....well at least it seems the monorail should be safe from removal for the foreseeable future. You would think they could at least get both trains running on busy (most every) days aswell. I hate having to wait 20+ minutes because they're only using one train.

Kozmo 1 wrote:Same here, I'd rather have that over a 3600' Hyper....well at least it seems the monorail should be safe from removal for the foreseeable future. You would think they could at least get both trains running on busy (most every) days aswell. I hate having to wait 20+ minutes because they're only using one train.

I'd rather have to walk to Midway America to have a 200 foot coaster in Hersheypark than take a Monorail ride out to Midway.