Located in Hershey, Pennsylvania – a mere 400 miles from Cedar Point, our previous day’s park – is one of the most comprehensive rollercoaster collections in the United States, and it just so happens to be situated in a theme park themed to (questionable) chocolate! Of all the parks on our trip, I went into this one knowing least what to expect. Where do you set your expectations for a one-of-a-kind theme park owned by a candy company?
It’s safe to say our first impression of Hersheypark was… not great. We’d been keeping tabs on the park’s waits in the run-up to our visit on a summer Thursday and things were busy. With waits for all the major coasters routinely topping an hour, we opted the day before to purchase the park’s Fast Track system. With flexible pricing, on the day of our visit, our once-per-ride Fast Track cost $75 per person and included all coasters except for Cocoa Cruiser (the kiddie cred) as well as Reese’s Cupfusion and somewhat inexplicably, the carousel and the Zamperla NebulaZ. The only trouble was collecting it. Arriving in advance of park opening, we were met with an enormous, slow-moving, line to enter the park. This was, of course, completely exposed to the elements and despite being the morning, the heat was already intense enough that I found this a real struggle. Once inside, we were informed that to collect our fast track we’d need to queue again, similarly exposed. These lines together took well over an hour, making for a pretty poor start to the day. In fact by the time we reached our first attraction, I was pretty grumpy. I wasn’t my usual theme park self at all. Perhaps it didn’t help that the attraction was one that made me nervous, real nervous.
I was dreading Skyrush. After riding Intimidator 305, I learned the hard way that I have limits. That ride was simply too intense for me, and I spent the rest of the trip dreading a similar experience. So, when multiple people told me that Skyrush was the most intense ride they’d experienced, I started to panic a little. I’d also found it difficult to get a definitive answer about what exactly made it intense. Was it whippy? Was it forceful? Was it rough? Who knew? All I knew was that some people adored it, and some absolutely loathed it. Me? I’m firmly in team love! Based on my one ride, it was an absolute delight, and certainly not as intense as I’d expected. Admittedly, I am basing this on the mildest possible ride (I purposely grabbed a mid-train inner seat, did I mention I was nervous?) but the wildest thing was undoubtedly the restraints. Resting about ⅔ of the way up my thighs, they offered a level of freedom far beyond that of normal lap bars, meaning the ridiculous airtime of the first drop felt wild. So wild it felt like it shouldn’t be allowed – and that’s mid-train! The rest of the ride was a solid mix of airtime hills and low-to-the-ground bends, but it ended quickly. Far too quickly, to be honest. I’m fine with coasters being short – I’m from the UK, I have to be – but damn, I just wish this could have gone on a little longer. It could be up there with the best of them if it did. Perhaps for some, the fact that it leaves you wanting more is a good thing. For me, it was just a little frustrating. Either way, there’s no denying that this is a fantastic coaster! I’m just sad I didn’t manage a second ride. Skyrush went down around mid-way through the afternoon and never returned to operation. I just hope that one day I can try a back-row outer seat – I need it!
After having such a fantastic time on Skyrush, my spark was well and truly back and I was ready to take on the rest of Hersheypark. But first, I needed a drink! Throughout the trip, in a (failed) attempt to stay hydrated, I’d been buying an all-day drinking cup wherever offered. With Hershey being our final independent park, this was the last such cup I purchased and was without a doubt the worst of all the drink programmes we experienced throughout the trip. This is almost entirely due to availability, with large areas of the park entirely devoid of refill locations, inevitably meaning that when I did find a machine, the queue was always very lengthy. Of course, these queues could also be due to the extraordinarily faffy system in place to obtain refills. To use the Hersheypark cup, a barcode on the cup must be scanned, after which you will be granted 30 seconds to fill your cup. Simple enough in theory. However, on multiple occasions, the fountains didn’t become operational until the third or fourth scan and whilst waiting, I also watched many people also struggle to obtain their drink in the allotted time and then continue to attempt to draw drink after their time had ended. All of which left me dreading having to go refill. It’s worth noting that the drink selection was also comparatively poor, with the only sugar-free offering being Diet Pepsi. But at $18.99 for all-day, compared with 4.99 for a single pour, it still offered decent enough value.
Remaining in ‘The Hollow’, we worked our way around the other coasters in the area, starting with Superdooperlooper. I say this every single time, but I owe Schwarzkopf an apology. I was not excited for this at all, expecting it to be a janky mess. But, it’s a lot of fun! Sure, it’s of it’s time – don’t be expecting modern level thrills from a coaster from the 70s – but it’s smooth and offers a delightful trip around the treeline. Would absolutely ride again!
I wouldn’t say the same of the other neighbouring coaster, Comet. To be fair, given that this PTC woodie first opened in 1946, the ride experience really isn’t too bad. It’s just, and I don’t know how else to put this, bouncy. I’m not exaggerating when I say that no other coaster had made my entire anatomy bounce up and down in the way this ride did – even wearing a sports bra! A very bizarre ride experience that just about wrapped up our time in The Hollow, next up: Founders Way.
Founders Way feels almost like the core of the park. It’s a small area but one that you’ll have to walk through on your way from the entrance to any other land. Much like the rest of the park, there’s not really much by way of theming. Hershey never really strays too far down the immersion path, offering just a light theme to some rides, with most not having any at all. But that’s okay, especially when they can still produce dark rides as excellent as Reese’s Cupfusion. The land’s main attraction is also the park’s only dark ride and one of my most anticipated attractions. Cupfusion is a shooter that blends physical sets with screens, allowing you to become a Reese’s agent, to take down a villain, who was, of course, an anthropomorphic mint. I think I’ve got that right. Honestly, when your hero is a walking, talking Reese’s peanut butter cup, the story almost ceases to matter, doesn’t it? Either way, the ride was a delight with the tracked vehicles rotating and traversing inclines and slopes throughout the alternating digital or physical scenes. Targets were, for the most part, clear and reactive, with the shooting working particularly well. I also loved that the ride takes an individual photo of each rider, displaying a leaderboard of both the vehicle and day at the end of the ride – and the photos are available for free on the app! The ride also features an enormous screen outside of the attraction with the day’s leaderboard and it was very exciting to see ourselves up there after our ride – although this may have had something to do with riding relatively early in the morning! This really is a top-tier shooting dark ride. Oh, and it smells so good!
It’s worth noting for Cupfusion that it’s one of the few dark rides – in my experience – where loose articles are not permitted on the attraction (except in zippered pockets). Lockers are available outside of the attraction, offering up to two hours of free storage. This is also the case on both Skyrush and Candymonium, with all other major attractions having bins for bags. I would definitely recommend trying to wear clothing with zip pockets for this reason, as the lines for Cupfusion were consistently some of the longest in the park at well over an hour. Thankfully, our Fast Track paid off as we walked straight on!
From Founders Way, we headed up to Kissing Tower Hill. Up on Kissing Tower Hill you’ll find Great Bear, the park’s B&M invert, alongside the Kissing Tower observation tower and the Hershey Triple Tower S&S shot tower trio. This is also where the entrance to Zoo America is located. With bears, big cats, armadillos and more, I was really hoping to get a little time inside this zoo celebrating North America’s native species, but sadly we just couldn’t fit it in to our one-day visit. It’s a shame, because perhaps I would have enjoyed watching a real bear more than I enjoyed riding a Great one. Okay, I’m being really dramatic here. Great Bear was fun – it’s a B&M invert, of course it’s fun – but it’s very solidly at the bottom of my invert rankings. I think we’d all heard that it was a great coaster, so went in to it expecting more than it delivered, which may mean I’m being particularly harsh, but this really didn’t do anything for me. I just found the lengthy spacing between elements made for a ride that was lacking in pacing, and excitement. Sorry Bear, I just don’t think you’re that Great.
Moving our way around the park, we arrived in Pioneer Frontier, a land ostensibly themed to the Wild West, yet also with a brand-new, vibrantly colourful Jolly Rancher area – go figure! Before we wandered down into this area of the park, I’d never heard of Storm Runner, which, dear reader, was one hell of an omission on my part. But, it was all worthwhile for the way I felt as we walked into this unknown area of the park to be met with the very familiar sight of Intamin trains flying down a hydraulic launch. What a pleasant surprise! And it really was the surprise of the day for me, with a wonderfully powerful – not as intense as Stealth, but still momentarily breathtaking – launch, 150ft top hat and three inversions packed into its brief duration. I’ve got such a soft spot for Intamin accelerators, and this just really made me smile.
Just across the way from Storm Runner sits the only Vekoma Boomerang that I have actively looked forward to: Jolly Rancher Remix. Before its reinvention, this would doubtless have been an attraction that would have found me checking both the wait time and restraints, only riding if both were favourable – no rock-hard over-the-shoulder restraints, please! However, as of 2022, the ride now boasts an effects tunnel featuring the smell of five different flavours of Jolly Rancher. Or so they say. It all started off so well, with a very dramatic ‘flavour selection process. On entering the station, a series of Jolly Rancher-shaped lights suspended from the ceiling rotated through the colours of each Jolly Rancher before fixing on one, and declaring the upcoming ride’s ‘flavour’ to the riders. I absolutely loved this. Together with dancing lights and pumping music, the energy in there was glorious. So, I was pretty excited when I hopped aboard for our ‘green apple’ flavour ride. Music continued to pump out of speakers alongside the lift-hill as we ascended. Then the ride began. It was about as jerky as any other boomerang I’ve ridden (read: not comfy, but not super painful), but that was fine. Soon, we’d be in the flavour tunnel. Suddenly, there it was, the much-hyped tunnel. We were about to be caught up in a cloud of green apples! Except we weren’t. Instead, we were greeted by the absolute atrocious smell of expired theatrical smoke – at least according to James, my ride companion with experience in these things. I just thought it smelt awful, and certainly not anything close to apple. What a disappointment! At least the station rave was fun.
By this point, it was definitely time for some food, and boy, does Hersheypark have food covered. Whilst walking around the park, I saw a lot of incredible looking snacks and set my heart on getting a Reeses peanut butter cup funnel cake. Sadly, when I came to get food, it was so hot that I just could not face any sort of heavy food, ruling out pretty much all of the park’s unique sweet offerings. I ended up splitting up from the rest of the group on a mission to find a decent, light vegetarian offering and settled on Moe’s Southwest Grill, a Mexican chain restaurant with a branch in the park which offered a veggie burrito bowl. This was delicious and felt far more nutritious and fresh than almost anything else I’d managed to obtain in a theme park on this trip. The only issue I had was that the menu listed the protein options as chicken, beef, tofu, or veggie. Tofu can be very hit or miss, so I opted for veggies, but when it was time to choose my toppings, it turned out that they didn’t actually offer vegetables. ‘Veggie’ just meant no main item. They did heap on the sweetcorn salsa, though, so I guess that counts.
Reconvening after lunch, we decided it was time to head into the furthest reaches of the park. Located around the outside of The Boardwalk, the park’s waterpark, Midway America features a selection of more classic rollercoasters, with the first on our list being Laff Track. This indoor Maurer Spinner is themed to the circus, plays an incredibly annoying soundtrack, has a queue full of terrifying props, and being the ride type it is, has a terrible capacity. Even with Fast Track, we waited around half an hour against the posted 70. However, it is a really fun time. I’m a sucker for these rides. Sure, they can be hit or miss, with greatly variable spins, but they’re consistently smooth and enjoyable. Worth 70 minutes? No, not at all. But an enjoyable ride nonetheless.
Thankfully, the other rides in this area were far more forgiving queue-wise. We walked straight on to both sides of Lightning Racer without needing our Fast Track. These duelling coasters continued my love affair with GCI with both sides providing a super fun experience – the Lightning side also became my 300th coaster! Nearby, in a shock to no one, there was absolutely no one lined up to ride Wildcat. With a reputation far proceeding it, this is a coaster that sat firmly on my ‘never even try’ list, which turned out to be entirely the right call. My friend James is the hardiest coaster rider I know, so when he calls a ride ‘entirely unredeemable’, you know it’s bad. Thankfully, you’ll no longer have the option to find this out for yourself with the ride having closed since our visit, soon to open as Wildcat’s Revenge, an RMC conversion! Phew. There was also a wild mouse. I used my Fast Track here to skip the approximately five people in line and get this thing over and done with. Not a fan. Not a fan at all.
Speaking of rides I was dreading, after having my neck whipped around on Maverick, one look at Farenheit’s layout combined with those intamin over-shoulder trains had me fearing decapitation. I was also anticipating being completely yeeted over that first drop – a vertical lift-hill with normal trains, what??? – but was (as usual) completely wrong on both counts. I think my neck jerked into the restraint once in the whole, spaghetti-like layout, which is impressive! The drop was also very smooth and enjoyable. This was a pleasant surprise, and would be high on my re-ride list had we had enough time!
Of course, I’ve missed quite a major coaster here. One you can’t help but notice on arrival in the park, Candymonium. Ah, Candymonium. The park’s newest and tallest coaster stands proud over the entry plaza, looking absolutely stunning. It’s no surprise that this gets wild lines early in the day (75 minutes when we entered), as it immediately draws everyone in. It was surprisingly hard to resist its call. Damn I wanted to get up that hill! But, we’d heard people talk about how… meh… the ride experience could be, so decided to give it time to warm up. As the day went on, I began regretting this decision. Throughout the trip, we made sure to get on headliners as soon as we could in case anything went down, and Candymonium had occasional periods of downtime throughout the day. By the time we rode, it was 6pm with 2 hours left of operation, but we managed to walk in with a 10 minute wait and were on the back row in no time. But still, after running all day on a very hot day and sitting in the back, this was still just… mild. There’s no denying that it’s a lot of fun, with a wildly enjoyable first drop and had I not done so many coasters in the weeks proceeding, it probably would have been a huge hit with me, but as it was, I’d done so many that did the same thing better. The most egregious thing here was the trim brakes. Twice, we were hit by extremely noticeable trims, killing the momentum of the ride. This is undoubtedly a great coaster, it’s fun, it’s glass smooth and it’s jam packed with floater airtime, making it a strong choice for anyone who’s perhaps a bit intimidated by big rides. But for me, it just wasn’t particularly memorable, at least not in a good way.
Finally, I am very happy to say that I was able to score one of my most anticipated attractions of both the park and the trip. I got to meet one of the horrific anthropormorphic candy creatures that roam Hersheypark. Though I really wanted to meet the awful Hershey Kiss, I settled for the almost-as-bad human Twizzler. Though I did also see a person with a Jolly Rancher for a head walking around the park. Incredible stuff.
Outside of the main gate in ChocolateTown, there is also Hershey’s Chocolate World, which houses an impressive free-to-ride dark ride showing the entire chocolate-making process, with a free sample at the end! Honestly, this is a must-do, and well worth a quick nip out of the park for in my opinion. The gift shop both in here and the park (which also doubles as the park’s exit) was pure chaos, so I sadly didn’t manage to get any merch, but there was plenty of great stuff on offer from coaster models to just about everything you could slap the Reeses logo on to!
Hersheypark has a delightful, diverse mix of attractions with not only a park filled with great rides but also the zoo and waterpark all included in the comparatively cheap admission (we paid just $44 in a promotion). However, this was sadly one of my least favourite park days of the trip, and I think that almost entirely came down to how the park handled the heat. This was undoubtedly the day with the most prolonged heat. It seemed that aircon was all but non-existent across the park. Not even the bathrooms were a manageable temperature. In fact, on more than one occasion, I found myself desperate to escape out from the bathroom into the comparative cool (36 degrees) outside. With the highest crowds of any of our visits, this was also the day we finally found ourselves having to wait in these temperatures, often unshaded, and it was close to unbearable. Waiting just fifteen minutes for the kiddie cred was horrendous, so I really don’t know if I would have coped at all without Fast Track. This is something the park could do with resolving. If Six Flags St Louis can put on ‘cool spaces’ to recover in, there’s no excuse for a park of this scale. Despite this, and perhaps because of it, I would absolutely love to return to Hersheypark. Just on a cooler day.
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