Hersheypark Trip Report

The epic conclusion to the roller coaster extravaganza that was 2024: Hersheypark! Going into 2024, this was my most anticipated park. Hersheypark is an extremely unique amusement park. It’s the largest independently owned park I know of, being owned and operated by The Hershey Company. Unlike Busch Gardens, which was started by Anheuser-Busch but later sold to SeaWorld, Hersheypark remains in control of the candy company.

Hersheypark is truly a complex. The area features a zoo, a massive theme park, a huge concert venue, a separate experience next door called Chocolate World, and an indoor arena. The park has what you’d expect—chocolate and candy theming in every nook and cranny of the experience. But it also features one of the best top-to-bottom roller coaster lineups in America.

After departing Knoebels, we had only about an hour’s drive to Hershey (yes, the town is called Hershey as well). Hersheypark has an awesome perk: when you have a day pass, you can get in two hours before the park closes the day before. So after arriving and having dinner, we headed into the park for two bonus hours of ride time. It was only Thursday, and the weather had been overcast with some rain toward the time we arrived, so the park was absolutely dead. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t stay that way for long. It was a long weekend, and the park’s relatively short distance from some major cities (New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, etc.) meant the park was Cedar Point levels of slammed all weekend.

One thing I didn’t know about the park was its unique layout. The front gate is kind of off to the far right, while most of the park is to the left with little paths branching off into separate areas. Everything feels a bit crammed in, and it's easy to get lost if you're not familiar with the layout. The park is also quite hilly, so if you come here, be prepared for a bit of a workout!

Considering the forecast predicted rain on Saturday and Sunday, we ended up getting pretty lucky weather-wise. We got rained out briefly on Saturday, but Sunday turned out to be super nice. This also meant Sunday was the busiest day of our visit. Similar to Cedar Point, the skip-the-line passes at Hershey are ungodly expensive. With the large number of rides and crowd levels, we ended up just getting a pass for Saturday.

When we visit a new park, our routine is always to try and get on all the coasters at least once before diving into re-rides. In the hobby of roller coaster enthusiasm, one of the main activities lots of people participate in is credit counting. A "credit" represents the number of different coasters you’ve been on—re-rides don’t count. Yes, this includes all coasters, from kiddie rides to the tallest in the world. Your overall credit count is the total number of unique coasters you’ve ridden. I probably should have explained this in one of my earlier posts, but better late than never! So our game plan was to get all the credits before re-riding our favorite attractions.

We did end up getting on everything by the first day, which was nice, as it left plenty of time for re-rides on our favorites. The lineup at Hershey is very good. I don’t think it’s on the level of Cedar Point, but aside from that, it's probably the best I’ve experienced. Since there are 14 different coasters, I’ll skip going into detail on the less notable ones. Here are some quick thoughts, lightning-round style:

• Cocoa Cruiser: Kiddie coaster.
• Laff Trakk: Indoor spinner with a painfully long line.
• Jolly Rancher Remix: Boomerang with vest restraints—still painful.
• Sooperdooperlooper: Does a loop, and not much else.
• Trailblazer: Mine train ride I kept confusing with Adventure Express at Kings Island.
• Wild Mouse: A decent wild mouse.

Coasters

Candymonium

Normally, I really enjoy B&M hypers; no one does floater airtime better than these rides. This one, however, left me kind of cold. I’m looking for an awesome first drop, lots of floater airtime hills, and maybe a forceful helix toward the end. Candymonium does these things, just not super well. Of the five B&M hypers I’ve ridden, this was the weakest.

Comet

I’m mostly including this to complain about the line. When we got in, it was a 45-minute wait. Considering this is a pretty standard classic woodie, we thought it was only running one train. Nope—it had some of the worst operations I’ve ever witnessed. Painfully slow. The ride itself is nothing special, just a classic out-and-back layout.

Fahrenheit

The second Euro-Fighter ripoff on this trip. It’s decent, albeit a tad shaky in some valleys. The vertical lift is trippy—the slow ascent makes you feel like you're falling out of your seat. The inversions are pretty good, and you get some high G-force moments in the valleys. A solid ride, but not something I needed to re-ride.

Great Bear

A very interesting B&M invert. The layout is unique, with the station on top of a hill. You maneuver around a bit before the first drop into a vertical loop. Aside from that, it’s your standard B&M invert with a barrage of whippy elements in quick succession. One weird thing about Great Bear: it’s super loud. You know exactly where it is even off the ride—the bear does indeed roar.

Lightning Racer

Normally, I’m a big fan of GCI coasters, but this one is just alright. The racing element is cool, with some neat moments where the two tracks interact. You weave around each other through the twister layout. My main issue is that it’s just kind of rough, especially the Lightning side. Not the roughest I’ve experienced (that title goes to The Great Canadian Spinebuster), but rough enough to diminish the ride experience.

Skyrush

One of the most polarizing coasters among enthusiasts—you either love it or hate it. Critics complain about the short duration and painful restraints, calling it "Thighcrush." Fans praise its out-of-control intensity and powerful forces. This year, the park replaced the much-maligned restraints with new-generation Intamin seats. My take: it’s fun, but I wish I’d experienced its thigh-destroying days. Skyrush is sometimes described as a "car crash in the best way," and I saw hints of that, but I think the ride is entering a new era. The cable lift is awesome (Millennium Force, take notes), the first drop is excellent, and the airtime hills are powerful. I don’t think it’s on the level of the best hypers I’ve ridden, but it’s still great.

Storm Runner

I love this ride. The launch is simply excellent. It was my first time experiencing a hydraulic launch, which is somewhat rare these days as most new launch coasters use magnetic launches (LSMs or LIMs). There’s something special about the initial tug of a hydraulic launch. Even though the ride has audio letting you know when you’re about to blast off ("Here we go!"), it still takes your breath away every time. Like a lot of similar rides, the layout after the launch/top hat is short, but it’s packed with great elements, most notably the flying snake dive. We ended up riding this 10 times since it was dead in the mornings and at night—my second favorite ride in the park.

Wildcat's Revenge

Rides like Wildcat's Revenge are the reason I love coasters. It’s as close to a perfect ride as you can get. The layout is elite, the pacing relentless, and every element hits. The inversions are well-timed and effective, the airtime hills are thigh-destroying in the best way, and the wave turn after the first inversion is insane. RMC is truly second to none at creating elite rides. It was super close between Iron Gwazi and Wildcat's Revenge, but I have to give the edge to Wildcat's Revenge. Every element on this ride hits. I still have Steel Vengeance as my number one coaster, but that mainly comes down to length. This ride alone is worth the trip to Hershey.

Conclusion

Hersheypark is great. I think I still have Kings Island as my number one new park this year, but Hershey is very close. Like Cedar Point, Hershey suffers a bit from its own success—when a park gets this busy, it’s hard for that not to affect the guest experience. But with Hersheypark, it's still a question of when, not if, we’ll be back.

Operations-wise, the park is hit and miss, with most rides being a miss. Comet and Candymonium had painfully slow dispatches, and even though Skyrush wasn’t terribly slow, the ops staple you to the seat. I’ve never understood why parks do that. Phoenix is a great example of how having room between the rider and restraint can enhance the ride experience. Wildcat's Revenge had elite ops on Thursday night, but other than that, it was more of the same.

Aside from the operations and some crowds, there isn’t much to complain about at Hersheypark. The park is extremely well-kept, the food is decent, and the overall atmosphere is enjoyable (minus the Philly fans).

And with that, the year of the coaster comes to a close. It was a truly epic year filled with great rides across both coasts of North America! Next year might not have as many theme park adventures, but who knows—there could be a few new rides waiting to surprise us.