Yoshi

Happy Birthday FlumeOp1974

I just got an e-mail for bring a friend free October 30th or 31st. Nice to see the park having so many bring a friend free days.

I thought it was strange the Chocolate World lot was full unless there were a lot of people just going there and not visiting the park or passholders parking there who were just going to the park for under 3 hours. I don't understand why Sundays in October are usually so empty even when the weather is nice. Saturdays seem more crowded and I know Sundays are usually less crowded than a Saturday but not to the point where it's 0 - 10 minute waits on a Sunday vs 20 - 45 minute waits on a Saturday.

Happy Birthday Coasterharrison'98

This was easily my best trip to Hersheypark this year. I got to the park at around 3:00. Looking at the wait times on the app when stopping for lunch near the park, I saw almost everything was a 5 - 10 minute wait so I was ready to spend the day riding as many coasters as I could. I'm not going to post what I thought of most of the coasters since I have already mentioned that in past reports this year and I'm going to post the rides in the order I went to everything. Reese's Extreme Cup Challenge, 2 times, no wait with single rider. Fun but it's no Justice League. Comet, 5 minute wait. Sky Rush, 1 train wait. I like the wing seats slightly more than the regular seats. sooperdooperlooper, 2 times, empty station with 1 front row ride. Hershey Triple Tower, 1 cycle wait. The combination of a launch and drop is fun. Probably my favorite S&S Tower. Great Bear, 4 times. 2 of the rides were in the front row. Normally I don't wait for the front because it means at least an extra 10 - 15 minute wait on most days. The front row rides were 2 - 3 train waits, the other rows were walk ons or 1 train waits. The front row is so much better than other rows with the unobstructed view. Hershey Triple Tower again, 1 cycle wait. Trailblazer, 3 train wait. It's ok for a mine train. Runaway Mine Train is way better. Frontier Flyers, no wait. Impossible to snap with the bumpers on each side of the rudder. Wild Mouse, 2 or 3 minute wait. I'd rather ride The Dark Knight but I like how there is no pre-show to deal with here so you can ride the coaster fast when there isn't much of a line. Both sides of Lightning Racer. 1 train running on each side with no wait except for the front. Lightning won more often since Thunder had 2 rows chained off. Wild Mouse again with no wait. Wildcat, 10 minute wait because they took off the 2nd train. When 2 trains were running the middle 6 rows were chained off so it didn't really make a difference to run 1 or 2 trains. When the ride went to 1 train, all rows were opened. Fahrenheit, 1 train wait. 2 trains running with the 3rd car of each train chained off. The cobra roll was a little rough but not too bad. Storm Runner, 2 rides. 5 minute wait. Earlier in the day 1 train was running. Now both trains were running with the back 2 cars chained off so it didn't add that much capacity. This is my favorite Intamin coaster in the park. Reese's Extreme Cup Challenge again with no wait. Comet with no wait. The lights are turned off for the last hour on all 3 wooden coasters. On Comet, it didn't make much of a difference because the lift hill still had the lights on and there are so many rides in the area with the lights on. sooperdooperlooper, 2 times. Empty station again. 1 front row ride and 1 back row ride. The supervisor was encouraging re-rides. Sky Rush, no wait. Great Bear, 2 times. 1 train wait for the front and a re-ride in a middle row. Row 4 was closed off. Laff Trakk had it's usual long line and for Hersheypark in the Dark, they run the ride in the dark. With the ride being marketed as a glow coaster, I think they should run it as normal most of the day and the last couple hours run the coaster in the dark. Coal Cracker was closed, last year it was added to the lineup of rides for Hersheypark in the Dark so hopefully it will be open the final 2 weekends. I was looking forward to it with the almost 80 degree weather and with most other parks in the area having their log flumes closed for the season. I haven't gotten 30 rides or more at any park in a couple of years and never at Hersheypark so it was nice to be able to ride so much. There were light decorations like this all over the park. It's not too often Comet's line looks like this. The picture was taken 50 minutes before closing.

Another traditional log flume closing, I hate to see so many parks removing them over the past 5 - 10 years. I really hope Saw Mill Log Flume, Thunder Creek Mountain and Coal Cracker aren't going to be removed for a long time.

Another 1st round playoff loss for the Washington Nationals

They used to be open on Sunday for Haunt but attendance wasn't very good. Attendance might be lower for the season. WWK seemed less crowded and the ride side didn't get much more crowded later in the day once the water park closed like in past years. During the last few years, there were times I saw the 2nd part of the lot on the other side of the parking booths with cars in it on weekdays in July and August and only saw them using that lot once during that same time (not counting Labor Day where the overflow lot was being used).

I was going to say Nickelodeon since most kids probably know the characters well but with American Dream that probably wouldn't work. Maybe Cartoon Network since I don't think any US parks use that license.

Unless it rains, the 28th should be one of the most crowded days of the year.

PLEASE NOTE: The awarding of ribbons above and the official summary below represents the voting results as of the official close of voting at midnight on April 23, 2017. For categories where a voter selected "N/A - I don't have an opinion on this category," the results are based upon those votes actually cast for the given nominees. The 10th Annual 2016 Warner Awards Results Thank you to everyone who voted in our 10th Annual GreatAdventureHistory.com Warner Awards. There were many categories where the voting was close. Here are the 2016 winners! For the third year in a row, Zumanjaro Drop of Doom wind the Best Ride (Non Roller Coaster) award with 51% of the votes. Sky Ride moved from third place last year to second place this year with 17% of the votes. Safari Off Road Adventure finished third with 15% of the votes. El Toro and Nitro again finished with the first and second place awards for the tenth straight year in a row in the Best Roller Coaster category. El Toro had 57% of the votes and Nitro had 21% of the votes. Bizzaro finished third with 13% of the votes. Dare Devil Dive won Best Upcharge Ride or Attraction with 57%, followed by th the Sling Shot with 18% and taking third place was Great American Road Race with 14%. Great Adventure's Best Remaining Original Attraction from 1974 had the same top 3 results as last year. There is Sky Ride with 35%, the Log Flume 29% and Runaway Mine Train 21% Houdini with 34% retook first place in Best Themed Attraction followed by Safari Off Road Adventure with 26% and The Dark Knight with 21%. Bizarro's themed sign was once again the top winner for the eighth consecutive year in the Best Attraction Sign category with 45% of the votes Kingda Ka with 19%. Tied for third place are El Diablo and The Joker each with 9% of the votes. Nitro won Best Attraction to Ride at Night with 52%. Big Wheel got 13% of the votes and tied for third were Bizarro and Sky Ride each with 11% of the votes. Best Children's Ride was won by Road Runner Railway for the fourth year in a row with 53% of the votes, followed by Air Safari 25%, and Wile E Coyote Canyon Blaster with 16%. The winner of the Best Themed Section had a new winner this year with Plaza del Carnaval 35% of the votes. The Golden Kingdom went from first place this year to narrowly missing first place again with 33% of the votes. Frontier Adventures stayed in third place with 17% of the votes. Wildlife Show won the Best Show with a majority (52%) of the votes. This Magic Moment was second with 21% of the votes and Looney Tunes Talent Show with 17% of the votes. Repeating as the winner of Best Event, Holiday in the Park got 57% of the votes. Fright Fest got 36% and the New Year's Eve Celebration got 7%. Dead Man's Party was again voted on as Best Fright Fest Attraction with 49% of the votes. The Awakening and Slash tied for second place each getting 14% of the votes. While everything about Holiday in the Park is excellent, the voters thought Best Holiday in the Park Attraction was having the rides and coasters open (37%). A Celebration of the Season (Christmas Tree Show) was also a popular choice (24%) followed with All the decorations throughout the park (20%). Polar Point was overwhelmingly chosen as Best Holiday in the Park Section with 55% of the votes. Gingerbread Junction finished second with 17% of the votes and Merry Market Place with the festive food offerings finished in third place 12%. Best of the West won Best Restaurant Food (with indoor seating) again with 52% of the votes. Panda Express took second with 14% and Garden State Grill took third with 12%. For the second year in a row Macho Nacho (near El Diablo) got the most votes for Best Food/Snack Stand with 33% of the votes. G.A. Café moved from third place last year to second place this year with 16% of the votes. Main Street Pub got third place with 14% of the votes. Johnny Rockets (36%) retook first place in Best Name Brand Food after dropping to second place last year. Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs (22%) which won the award last year went back to second place and Rita's Ice Custard (18%) narrowly won over Panda Express for third place. Best of the West and Macho Nacho swapped spots from last year for Best Season Pass Dining Plan Facility getting 33% and 26% of the votes respectively. Granny's Country Kitchen finished in third place with 18% of the votes. Best Games Facility was once again won by the Boardwalk Games area with exactly 50%. Studio 28 Arcade remained in second with 41% and the Dream Street Arcade came in third for the second year in a row with 9%. Three Point Challenge finished first Best Game of Skill again by with 41%, followed by Ladder Climb with 33% and The Heist with 26%. The results for Best Shop were identical to last year. Main Street Market won (46%), the Looney Tunes Shoppe took second (26%) and The Justice League Store took third (10%). Tornado tied with The Falls for first place in the Best Hurricane Harbor Attraction category each getting 28% of the votes. There was also a tie for third place between Big Wave Racer and Taak It Eez Ee Creek each getting 16% of the votes. Camp Aventura had another first place finish with 29% of the votes in the Best Safari Off Road Adventure Attraction award. Wild Plains remained in second place with 24% of the votes. Taking third place is Tigris Asiana with 16% of the votes. The Joker overwhelmingly took first place for Best New Feature or Improvement for 2016 with twice as many votes (43%) as the second place winner Opening Sky Ride during Holiday in the Park (22%). In third place was Parking Lot Improvements (11%) With Justice League Battle For Metropolis opening this season and the choice of a dark ride removed, Most Like to See in 2018 had a new winner. Flat Rides - Thrill Type won with 29% of the votes and the voters will be happy that is exactly what the park is adding next year with the addition of Cyborg Cyber Spin. In second place was a Wooden (Family/Classic) Style coaster with 15% of the votes. In third place was Park-wide maintenance and upgrades with 13% of the votes. That takes care of the results for our 10th Annual Warner Awards for the best of Great Adventure's 2016 season as voted by our members at GreatAdventureHistory.com. Congratulations to all the winners!

I'm hoping Merlin doesn't buy the parks. After reading how bad things have gotten at some of their other parks, most specifically, possibly closing or removing Colossos at Heide Park after not maintaining it, I don't know if I trust them to run these parks properly.

I wouldn't mind seeing a GCI either. With my increased amount of trips to Hersheypark this season and riding Comet, Lightning Racer and Wildcat more often, it makes me miss having a traditional wooden coaster at Great Adventure even though I think El Toro is better than any of those coasters.

I'm not expecting much to change but I'm hoping there is a slight chance maybe Cedar Fair will stop almost ignoring the smaller parks in the chain.

Probably, the rain is supposed to end before the park opens for the day.