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I booked my hotel rooms for the June coaster trip (prices were reasonable by today's standards-seemingly no issues from the World Cup, and I didn't really expect any, given where and when I'm going) and got some of the requisite tickets. Now I'm getting excited about planning.
I'm realizing this kind of trip is markedly different from a family vacation where I have to care about the needs of other people. With the lodging I've arranged, I can rope-drop the park and stay until closing. I can stand in line for 2 hours for something if I see fit, and not bother anyone else. But that doesn't mean I want to.
So I've been looking at Thrill Data and Queue Times and figuring out what the situation is. My plan for my main visits is to do 2 days at Hersheypark, have a non-park break day after that, then 1 day at Knoebels and 1 at Dorney Park. It looks like Knoebels and Dorney Park basically do not have crowd issues at that time of the year if ever. The one ride at Knoebels that gets a significant line is their unique recreation of an early-20th-century wooden bobsled coaster, Flying Turns--and we're talking 30-40 minute waits there, like Yankee Cannonball at Canobie, easy peasy compared to the situation I just encountered in Singapore. At Dorney, basically there's nothing to worry about (except that the park might not have a future).
So that leaves Hersheypark. The last time I went there, over a decade ago now, I remember getting stuck for an hour waiting for Fahrenheit, their Intamin ersatz Eurofighter. That one still seems to be a bit problematic because of its low capacity, but the real standout that can have 100-minute waits or more seems to be their crowd-pleasing B&M hyper Candymonium, which has its entrance right at what is now the front of the park. I guess I could buy whatever skip-the-line pass they have, but with two days there, I'm not really pressed for time. I gather you can get shorter waits on Candymonium by just waiting until near close to ride it, so I think I'll just do that, using the classic coaster-enthusiast plan of working from the back of the park forward on each day. Same with Great Bear, the B&M invert, another ride with broad appeal that seems to be the second worst wait of the coasters.
With the other big ones I want to ride (Wildcat's Revenge, Skyrush, Storm Runner etc.), it sounds like I can expect waits in the 30-minute ballpark, which is just not a problem for me in this situation. The other long waits are in the waterpark, and, eh, waterpark stuff is a nice-to-have for me, at best. If I want to get wet I can always do their venerable flume, Coal Cracker, which was really the first significant thrill ride I ever rode as a child. It looks like Dorney has a decent waterpark too!
Hersheypark has this cool perk called "Preview Plan" included with all of their regular 1- and 2-day tickets, which lets you arrive for the last 90 minutes of operation the evening before your main visit begins and get free admission and parking. I am hoping to use that, if I'm not too beat from the road trip, and it might be the way to hit Candymonium or Great Bear as the first ride of my visit.
I might hit Quassy, one of the few New England parks I have not yet visited, as a stop on the way there and finally ride Wooden Warrior, the only existing wooden coaster in New England that I have not ridden. For the non-park day and a break on the trip home, I'm thinking museums--there are some interesting ones on or near my way. With my hotel bookings, there's enough flexibility that I could probably move one or more of these park visits one day forward or back to avoid bad weather, if it's extreme enough to worry about. But the usual coaster-enthusiast way is to brave mild rain and look forward to lighter crowds (as long as the rides stay open).
I'm realizing this kind of trip is markedly different from a family vacation where I have to care about the needs of other people. With the lodging I've arranged, I can rope-drop the park and stay until closing. I can stand in line for 2 hours for something if I see fit, and not bother anyone else. But that doesn't mean I want to.
So I've been looking at Thrill Data and Queue Times and figuring out what the situation is. My plan for my main visits is to do 2 days at Hersheypark, have a non-park break day after that, then 1 day at Knoebels and 1 at Dorney Park. It looks like Knoebels and Dorney Park basically do not have crowd issues at that time of the year if ever. The one ride at Knoebels that gets a significant line is their unique recreation of an early-20th-century wooden bobsled coaster, Flying Turns--and we're talking 30-40 minute waits there, like Yankee Cannonball at Canobie, easy peasy compared to the situation I just encountered in Singapore. At Dorney, basically there's nothing to worry about (except that the park might not have a future).
So that leaves Hersheypark. The last time I went there, over a decade ago now, I remember getting stuck for an hour waiting for Fahrenheit, their Intamin ersatz Eurofighter. That one still seems to be a bit problematic because of its low capacity, but the real standout that can have 100-minute waits or more seems to be their crowd-pleasing B&M hyper Candymonium, which has its entrance right at what is now the front of the park. I guess I could buy whatever skip-the-line pass they have, but with two days there, I'm not really pressed for time. I gather you can get shorter waits on Candymonium by just waiting until near close to ride it, so I think I'll just do that, using the classic coaster-enthusiast plan of working from the back of the park forward on each day. Same with Great Bear, the B&M invert, another ride with broad appeal that seems to be the second worst wait of the coasters.
With the other big ones I want to ride (Wildcat's Revenge, Skyrush, Storm Runner etc.), it sounds like I can expect waits in the 30-minute ballpark, which is just not a problem for me in this situation. The other long waits are in the waterpark, and, eh, waterpark stuff is a nice-to-have for me, at best. If I want to get wet I can always do their venerable flume, Coal Cracker, which was really the first significant thrill ride I ever rode as a child. It looks like Dorney has a decent waterpark too!
Hersheypark has this cool perk called "Preview Plan" included with all of their regular 1- and 2-day tickets, which lets you arrive for the last 90 minutes of operation the evening before your main visit begins and get free admission and parking. I am hoping to use that, if I'm not too beat from the road trip, and it might be the way to hit Candymonium or Great Bear as the first ride of my visit.
I might hit Quassy, one of the few New England parks I have not yet visited, as a stop on the way there and finally ride Wooden Warrior, the only existing wooden coaster in New England that I have not ridden. For the non-park day and a break on the trip home, I'm thinking museums--there are some interesting ones on or near my way. With my hotel bookings, there's enough flexibility that I could probably move one or more of these park visits one day forward or back to avoid bad weather, if it's extreme enough to worry about. But the usual coaster-enthusiast way is to brave mild rain and look forward to lighter crowds (as long as the rides stay open).