Hershey Park 2018 new rides

[SatansHockey 21]

Both of these look awesome, a water coaster and the world's largest mat racer...

 

https://twitter.com/Hersheypark/status/894939250600423424

 

I'm going to probably get a season pass for next year, been debating it for awhile and I'd really like to check these out.

[Yoshi 249]

I have been wanting to see a local park get a water coaster. Hopefully this will also help with the crowds in the Boardwalk. 6 full size slides before this addition wasn't enough for a park that gets as many visitors as Hershey does.

[Mrpq 36]

Both new rides look awesome. I often visit Hershey but never ventured into the Boardwalk

[Yoshi 249]

I have been there twice, once in 2007 and once in 2009. Both times it was extremely crowded. Earlier this year when I was at the park and the dry rides were walk ons to 10 minute waits even after 7:00, some of the slides in the Boardwalk still had 25 - 35 minute waits (according to the wait time signs you can see when riding Wild Mouse). I'll probably try to go next year and check out these new additions on a weekday when the water park is open until 8 and while school is in session.

 

Something else I thought of is this probably really hurts Dorney's chances of getting a similar ride which is what I was hoping to see at Wildwater Kingdom. They were supposed to add a Tornado slide for 2007 and cancelled it, one of the reasons I think was because Hershey was adding a Tornado the same year.

[The Master 128]

Nice to see Hershey getting a water coaster that reuses Rollersoaker's old station. Hershey does dispatch their water slides much better than WWK anymore. I do not think Dorney is capable to operate a fancy water slide like a water coaster properly anymore.

[RC98 33]

Both of these new slides look great! These should help the Boardwalk a lot, the one time I went it couldn't handle the crowds it was getting.

[dougdrummer 62]

Based on Hershey history, will these rides be ready for opening day, or later in the year?

[Yoshi 249]

The slides are supposed to be open Memorial Day weekend. Usually dry rides open up earlier. The Triple Towers opened in early April this year.

[Mr.Six 71]

This is really, really going to benefit Hershey and the Boardwalk in general. After the clues you could pretty much confirm a water coaster and mat slides.

[The Master 128]

The one issue I see with the mat slides is that there is a danger the park may remove their steam sawmill display on the side of the Dry Gulch Railroad for them.

[The Master 128]

Sadly I was correct. When I was at the park the other week, I saw from the train that the old steam sawmill was gone with slide footers in its place. 

[Yoshi 249]

That's a shame, it seems like too much theming has been removed from the train ride over the last few years.

[The Master 128]

It would be nice if they moved the sawmill to where the ghost town used to be. I saw the steam donkey was placed in the work yard in the middle of Lightning Racers. 

[Yoshi 249]

Springtime In The Park hours for 2018 have been released. March 29th - 31st, April 7th - 8th and 14th - 15th.  I can't remember the last time Springtime In The Park was 3 weekends and the March opening is nice as long as it isn't too cold for the coasters to run (although there is no way I would go opening weekend with how crowded it gets). The only bad thing is the 6:00 closings on the 3 Sundays.

[Yoshi 249]

Another new addition this year is unlimited Fast Track with pricing comparable to Platinum Flash Pass.

 

http://www.hersheypark.com/rides/ride-upgrades.php

 

 

[dougdrummer 62]

On 11/3/2017 at 12:25 AM, Yoshi said:

Springtime In The Park hours for 2018 have been released. March 29th - 31st, April 7th - 8th and 14th - 15th.  I can't remember the last time Springtime In The Park was 3 weekends and the March opening is nice as long as it isn't too cold for the coasters to run (although there is no way I would go opening weekend with how crowded it gets). The only bad thing is the 6:00 closings on the 3 Sundays.

Have they changed anything at Chocolate World recently?  A few years ago they moved a lot of stuff around and even modified the tour ride, but I haven't been there in probably 3-4 years now.

[Viper26 20]

Why does Hersheypark get crowded on opening weekend while opening weekend for Great Adventure is one of the least busiest weekends of the season?

[The Master 128]

On 2/1/2018 at 2:53 PM, Yoshi said:

Another new addition this year is unlimited Fast Track with pricing comparable to Platinum Flash Pass.

 

http://www.hersheypark.com/rides/ride-upgrades.php

 

 

 

That sucks, hopefully it won't interfere with normal lines like with HH. 

[Yoshi 249]

I don't think it will. I rarely saw the regular Fast Track being used this past season and the merge points are far enough back that it will make it difficult for anyone using the system to constantly re-ride something like Storm Runner over and over again without waiting.

[Viper26 20]

16 hours ago, Yoshi said:

I don't think it will. I rarely saw the regular Fast Track being used this past season and the merge points are far enough back that it will make it difficult for anyone using the system to constantly re-ride something like Storm Runner over and over again without waiting.

Or you can always find an empty seat and stay on, that is if they don't have a no re ride policy.

[Yoshi 249]

Most of the times re-rides are allowed.  Once last year they wouldn't let me re-ride past closing time at Comet even though the train I had just ridden in was going out 2/3 empty for the last ride of the night (I never had that problem at Great Adventure). Another time in October at Wildcat they made everyone walk around. Every other trip to the park when it was empty, I was allowed to re-ride.

[Viper26 20]

1 hour ago, Yoshi said:

Most of the times re-rides are allowed.  Once last year they wouldn't let me re-ride past closing time at Comet even though the train I had just ridden in was going out 2/3 empty for the last ride of the night (I never had that problem at Great Adventure). Another time in October at Wildcat they made everyone walk around. Every other trip to the park when it was empty, I was allowed to re-ride.

It probably depends on crowd levels or at the operator's discretion, the latter more likely. I was temping to get a re ride on Skyrush but I didn't want to risk getting told by employees to get back in line. The only rides that don't allow re rides at Great Adventure are The Joker and The Dark Knight only if there are people in line.

[The Master 128]

Hershey usually allows re-rides, but sometimes they don't. Once last year they did not allow re-rides on Fahrenheit near closing. Sometimes even at GADV they don't allow re-rides. Its rare but I seen it happen on Nitro and KK. Besides employee discretion, I believe other factors include conflicting orders from supervisors and different employees being taught different rules.  

[Viper26 20]

On 2/15/2018 at 8:51 PM, The Master said:

Hershey usually allows re-rides, but sometimes they don't. Once last year they did not allow re-rides on Fahrenheit near closing. Sometimes even at GADV they don't allow re-rides. Its rare but I seen it happen on Nitro and KK. Besides employee discretion, I believe other factors include conflicting orders from supervisors and different employees being taught different rules.  

I was once denied a re ride on Skull Mountain but it was because I was on the last train of the night. A lot of the times re rides aren't available at Great Adventure is usually because the ride ops wait for the exit platform to be cleared before opening the air gates.

[Matt Kaiser 235]

2 hours ago, Viper26 said:

I was once denied a re ride on Skull Mountain but it was because I was on the last train of the night. A lot of the times re rides aren't available at Great Adventure is usually because the ride ops wait for the exit platform to be cleared before opening the air gates.

 

Waiting for the platform to clear usually isn't the case--only if guests are blocking the air gates. (So tip: if you want to re-ride in a different row, don't walk along the air-gate side of the train)

 

Six Flags doesn't have any formal policy on re-rides and so it's not formally covered in any employee training. It's just something that new employees learn on the job or is passed down from the supervisor if a new operator/attendant questions a re-rider. It's just a common sense thing that employees pick up on, which is why your mileage may vary. Every ride/crew/supervisor could be different. If the crew doesn't let you re-ride, it's simply because the operator/supervisor was never taught or never picked up about re-rides and made their own judgement call that they're probably not allowed.

 

As for the last train of the night, I believe there's again no formally trained policy, but the employees want to go home so they make everyone in the station fill up the entire train so they can close quicker.