rollerfreak83
05-11-2004, 08:22 PM
While my fellow Michigandars on this forum headed to Cedar Point for opening weekend, I headed to Herseypark. The following is part of an entry I typing into my Live Journal yesterday:
Although the weather forecast was not looking good, we headed to Herseypark (HP) anyway. Turned out to be a beautiful day. It was sunny most of the day with high temperatures in 60's Fahrenheit. Considering that forecast called for isolated thunderstorms, we were really excited about the nice weather. So nice, if fact, that I put on sunscreen on my body but forgot to put it on the back of my neck. Consequently, I got sunburned on the back of my neck.
We bought discount HP tickets for $30.00 US at a Giant supermarket on the way to HP. Gate price for a single admission is $38.00 US. Some time later, I managed to get sunscreen rubbed into my eyes while still traveling to HP. We had to stop at a McDonald's so I could rinse my eyes with water. Shortly after that, we arrived at HP and walked to the entrance. I quickly flushed my eyes out again at a restroom then we entered the park.
I had three main objectives for the day: Ride Storm Runner (SR), ride all the coasters except for Roller Soaker (it was too cold to get wet), and see the grey wolf exhibit at ZooAmerica (ZA). Admission to ZA is included in admission to HP. Not knowing how long the wait time for SR would be, my mother and I headed to SR first. Thinking that the wait time would be at least 2 hours, I was surprised that I was on the train in about an hour. SR does not have much of a queue because it right next to a low area of Trailblazer. That, and HP left all the existing trees in. I thought that were a nice touch and the trees providing nice shade. It is a whole lot better than the expanse of concrete in Top Thrill Dragsters TTD queue with only tarps to use for shade.
SR was efficient considering that Saturday was the second day that the park was open. I chose the back row to ride in. The ride operators were friendly and they checked my harness and pushed it down another click too far. My shoulders were up against the top of the shoulder harness. I wished they had not done that as it hurt my shoulders during the ride.
The train was cleared to leave the station. We headed to the launch area and I waved my hand for my mother to take my photo from the midway below and to the left of the track. The train was then launched 0-72 MPH in 2 seconds. I could not breath at the initial launch. We headed vertically up the 150-foot hill and twisted 90 degrees. Then we had a 150-foot vertical drop. That was absolute a thrill to be free falling. The cobra loop and barrel roll were nicely placed too. All in all, this coaster was better than TTD and would share the number 1 spot with Raptor on my coaster list.
As I walked down the SR's exit ramp, I pulled my glasses out of my cargo pocket and noticed that right lens had popped out. Since I did not have a screwdriver, I had done without my glasses the rest of the day. I was fine without my glasses because I am far-sighted and my vision is not too bad without glasses.
It was about noon so I got some lunch. I ordered a beer bratwurst with kettle chips and a Sprite. It was pretty good. There were a lot sweeps patrolling that area and the park was very clean. About the only thing I could complain about was that the speakers for the entertainment gazebo needed to be replaced.
Next I rode Sidewinder. It is interesting that 11 years ago I was scared of that ride, yet today I consider it to be a rough Vekoma Boomerang. After that I rode Wildcat, then Wildmouse, and then Lighting Racer. The queues for all those rides were short waits. I had expected that for this early in the season. Those rides were in the back of the park, so we had to walk past SR to get to them. I rode SR a second time as we passed it on our way back to front of the park. Again, it was about an hour wait.
After SR, we went to ZA to see the grey wolf exhibit. There was only a single wolf that was visible in the enclosure. The wolf was resting under a tree in the center of enclosure. Since the Canon Elph LT did not have zoom capabilities, I could not get any close up shots of the wolf. I wish the wolf had come up close to the fence so I could have gotten some close up shots of wolf. However, to see a wolf in real life, rather than photos in books or the Internet, was enough for me. I got some photos of the wolf from far away but kept missing getting a shot when the wolf turned it's head and looked at us.
After ZA, I rode Great Bear. I chose the far right seat to try to get that foot-chopper effect with SooperDooperLooper's supports but did not get that experiance. Then I got on SooperDooperLooper (got to love that 1970's name), and Comet. Then I went back to SR one last time for the final ride of the day. I met up with some Coaster Enthusiasts in the queue and finally got to talk to someone who understood the coaster lingo that I use when talking about coasters.
After SR, I rode Trailblazer, then had enough riding for one day, so we walked around the park and did some shopping. I bought a Storm Runner T-shirt. A little while later we were in another shop which had several wolf plushes. I wanted to buy one, but had already spent money on the T-shirt. We then left the park and drove back home without any problems. We stopped at a McDonalds for dinner.
Pluses:
-Friendly staff
-Most of the coasters were running with all of their trains. Only Lighting Racer (one train each on both tracks) and Trailbrazer had one train.
-I saw many sweeps working the midways and food courts to keep them clean. Consquently, Herseypark was clean.
-I saw some of the HP executives checking harnesses on Storm Runner.
-SR was running!
Problems:
-HP should do some crowd control on the midway leading to SR. Many people just stand in the midway watching the launches. I would suggest HP do something like CP and put in bleachers for people to sit and watch the launches.
Although the weather forecast was not looking good, we headed to Herseypark (HP) anyway. Turned out to be a beautiful day. It was sunny most of the day with high temperatures in 60's Fahrenheit. Considering that forecast called for isolated thunderstorms, we were really excited about the nice weather. So nice, if fact, that I put on sunscreen on my body but forgot to put it on the back of my neck. Consequently, I got sunburned on the back of my neck.
We bought discount HP tickets for $30.00 US at a Giant supermarket on the way to HP. Gate price for a single admission is $38.00 US. Some time later, I managed to get sunscreen rubbed into my eyes while still traveling to HP. We had to stop at a McDonald's so I could rinse my eyes with water. Shortly after that, we arrived at HP and walked to the entrance. I quickly flushed my eyes out again at a restroom then we entered the park.
I had three main objectives for the day: Ride Storm Runner (SR), ride all the coasters except for Roller Soaker (it was too cold to get wet), and see the grey wolf exhibit at ZooAmerica (ZA). Admission to ZA is included in admission to HP. Not knowing how long the wait time for SR would be, my mother and I headed to SR first. Thinking that the wait time would be at least 2 hours, I was surprised that I was on the train in about an hour. SR does not have much of a queue because it right next to a low area of Trailblazer. That, and HP left all the existing trees in. I thought that were a nice touch and the trees providing nice shade. It is a whole lot better than the expanse of concrete in Top Thrill Dragsters TTD queue with only tarps to use for shade.
SR was efficient considering that Saturday was the second day that the park was open. I chose the back row to ride in. The ride operators were friendly and they checked my harness and pushed it down another click too far. My shoulders were up against the top of the shoulder harness. I wished they had not done that as it hurt my shoulders during the ride.
The train was cleared to leave the station. We headed to the launch area and I waved my hand for my mother to take my photo from the midway below and to the left of the track. The train was then launched 0-72 MPH in 2 seconds. I could not breath at the initial launch. We headed vertically up the 150-foot hill and twisted 90 degrees. Then we had a 150-foot vertical drop. That was absolute a thrill to be free falling. The cobra loop and barrel roll were nicely placed too. All in all, this coaster was better than TTD and would share the number 1 spot with Raptor on my coaster list.
As I walked down the SR's exit ramp, I pulled my glasses out of my cargo pocket and noticed that right lens had popped out. Since I did not have a screwdriver, I had done without my glasses the rest of the day. I was fine without my glasses because I am far-sighted and my vision is not too bad without glasses.
It was about noon so I got some lunch. I ordered a beer bratwurst with kettle chips and a Sprite. It was pretty good. There were a lot sweeps patrolling that area and the park was very clean. About the only thing I could complain about was that the speakers for the entertainment gazebo needed to be replaced.
Next I rode Sidewinder. It is interesting that 11 years ago I was scared of that ride, yet today I consider it to be a rough Vekoma Boomerang. After that I rode Wildcat, then Wildmouse, and then Lighting Racer. The queues for all those rides were short waits. I had expected that for this early in the season. Those rides were in the back of the park, so we had to walk past SR to get to them. I rode SR a second time as we passed it on our way back to front of the park. Again, it was about an hour wait.
After SR, we went to ZA to see the grey wolf exhibit. There was only a single wolf that was visible in the enclosure. The wolf was resting under a tree in the center of enclosure. Since the Canon Elph LT did not have zoom capabilities, I could not get any close up shots of the wolf. I wish the wolf had come up close to the fence so I could have gotten some close up shots of wolf. However, to see a wolf in real life, rather than photos in books or the Internet, was enough for me. I got some photos of the wolf from far away but kept missing getting a shot when the wolf turned it's head and looked at us.
After ZA, I rode Great Bear. I chose the far right seat to try to get that foot-chopper effect with SooperDooperLooper's supports but did not get that experiance. Then I got on SooperDooperLooper (got to love that 1970's name), and Comet. Then I went back to SR one last time for the final ride of the day. I met up with some Coaster Enthusiasts in the queue and finally got to talk to someone who understood the coaster lingo that I use when talking about coasters.
After SR, I rode Trailblazer, then had enough riding for one day, so we walked around the park and did some shopping. I bought a Storm Runner T-shirt. A little while later we were in another shop which had several wolf plushes. I wanted to buy one, but had already spent money on the T-shirt. We then left the park and drove back home without any problems. We stopped at a McDonalds for dinner.
Pluses:
-Friendly staff
-Most of the coasters were running with all of their trains. Only Lighting Racer (one train each on both tracks) and Trailbrazer had one train.
-I saw many sweeps working the midways and food courts to keep them clean. Consquently, Herseypark was clean.
-I saw some of the HP executives checking harnesses on Storm Runner.
-SR was running!
Problems:
-HP should do some crowd control on the midway leading to SR. Many people just stand in the midway watching the launches. I would suggest HP do something like CP and put in bleachers for people to sit and watch the launches.