Hersheypark - August 2011

I have a few photos from my visit to Hershey back in August. I never got around to uploading photos from my trip, but I'm trying.

These were from the weekend of Hurricane Irene. The park was extremely empty and I've honestly almost never seen shorter lines before. I'm guessing a lot of people were hunkering down for the storm, but I wasn't about to go back home!

So, here are a few cell phone pictures I snapped while in some of the coaster stations. I do have a few photos from my camera that I will upload afterward.

-Some of these are pretty blurry - my phone is rather ancient.
In fact, I have to hold the phone chest-high to keep the card slot down and get decent photos!

First is Sidewinder. I waited for the front row, as there was only 1 party ahead of me. Only 7 or 8 people on the train before me, about the same for my train.


Fahrenheit: The switchbacks were all disconnected and the wait was at the top step.
5 or so minute wait for the front row. Big difference from the 2 and a half hour wait I had when Fahrenheit first opened.

Wild Mouse was an actual walk-on. They had a steady flow of guests, so every car was filled, but the timing was that no one had to wait.


Lightning Racer Normally little to no line, this time it was the latter. They actually had only Thunder running alone, as they were working on something with Lightning. Both were up and running after, still no line, and I rode both sides once.
The ride feels so much different when there's only 1 train running.

Wildcat was another walk-on. No more than 10 riders were in the station at once. Walking through the queue is what took the most time.

Great Bear was the longest wait of the day. About 10-15 minutes for the front row, which is nothing compared to what I have seen in the past. I don't have a picture of Great Bear, however.

SooperDooperLooper was actually a longer wait than I normally have. 2 parties in line for each row at one point, sometimes the rows were empty. 5 minute wait for the front.

Comet - I didn't go on Comet until late the next day, but the line then was only using the ramp and the queue row down to the vending machines. No switchbacks were connected, and the wait was about 10 minutes.

Trailblazer had an almost nonexistent line. There were a few groups of people by the catering area in Pioneer Frontier, but they were mostly non-riders waiting or passing through. I believe only the front 2 and back 2 rows had passengers.
-At the top of the lift hill of Trailblazer, I saw almost no one waiting for Stormrunner. The steps leading up to the back of the station and the small footbridge had no one on them, so I knew the wait must be very short. Turns out it was..

Stormrunner was running 2 trains, one on each side, so the wait took a little longer than a walk-on. The front and middle cars were the only ones in use - the back ones were chained off and the restraints locked down. (Had to take a few shots for this picture. Not the clearest, but you can still see how empty the station was.)

-I waited about 10 minutes for the front row, at which time it started raining and I ran over to Sidewinder. Sidewinder (at top) was covered with light rain when I reached it, but they never stopped the ride. They did stop Stormrunner for a time, however.

The Monorail had no wait as well. The last time I rode the monorail, the line was halfway down the ramp. Just had to wait the five minutes for the train to return, and we waited about 5 minutes more to let others fill up the remaining seats.

Here are a few shots of the Hershey Story.
It's the first time I went there,. It was pretty good - a lot of cool displays and information.

Entrance

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[Chocolate World photos up next!]