Thought I would share my experience of Hershey Park since I recently had the opportunity to return after missing it for 25 years.
Family of 3 (7 1/2 year old daughter) and little one%26#39;s best friend drove straight thru from Southern Maryland on Tuesday arriving at Hershey before lunch. $10.00 to park and we were on our first ride pretty quick. I had purchased tickets prior to driving up so entrance went pretty smooth at that time of day.
The park has changed so much in the last 25 years that I hardly recognized it. As was previously mentioned it is truly ride upon ride and I think there is too much in such a small area. With the addition of the ';Boardwalk'; there is a lot to do and if you add ZooAmerica, Chocolate World and some time in the water attractions at the Boardwalk, you can easily spend 2 full days there which was our plan. But as also mentioned, time can be eaten up waiting in line with even weekday waits over an hour for the big roller coasters.
All rides have size requirements that correlate to a Hershey Candy. My daughter is only 44'; which was a Reeses and she was very limited on what she could ride (not enough to warrant the hefty entrance fee in my middle class opinion). Sort of a purgatory where she felt too big for the ';baby'; rides and too small for the big kid rides. Her friend, who is taller at 48';, was a Hershey and allowed to ride quite a bit more.
The big ticket rides include Great Bear (suspended coaster), Storm Runner, Farhenheit and Sidewinder. Farenheit is the only one with a ';singles'; line although the waits were lengthy for all of them and every train had empty seats.
We stayed at the park on Tuesday riding as much as possible until it got dark and cool and we weren%26#39;t about to spend the crazy prices on Hershey sweatshirts to stay later. Summer closing is 10:00 PM with fireworks at 10:15 every Saturday night.
We stayed at the Coutyard Marriott in East Harrisburg which was only 15 minutes away and very nice for the money (I used Marriott points lol).
The park doesn%26#39;t open to the general public until 10:00 AM in order to give the guests of the Hershey properties bonus time in the mornings. Well worth it if you want to spend the money to stay there but not completely necessary on weekdays, even in the summer. THere is a bit of a cluster at the gates starting at about 9:30 but clears out quick at 10:00 and then by 10:30 if you have your tickets you can walk right in with not much of a wait.
We were in line at the gate on Wednesday at 9:40 AM and on our first ride (near the front gate) by 10:05. It started pouring around 4:00 PM and by that point we%26#39;d pretty much had our fill of Hershey Park and ready to head back to the hotel.
Now for some overall impressions. First the good. Hershey Park is truly a family place and has a little bit for everyone. The shows are good quality, the roving band highly entertaining and enough rides of all categories to keep most busy. The park is immaculate including the bathrooms and eating areas. There are a ton of food options with of course the normal amusement park price tag ($3.00 for a normal bottle of water). Like I said before, if you walk ZooAmerica, take the 90-minute Chocolate World tour and spend some time at the Boardwalk, you can easily spend two full days there. Bathing suits are only allowed in the Boardwalk area of the park and there are changing rooms and lockers nearby. IF you do not want to get wet then I advise not to even go into the Boardwalk area as there are a bunch of ';splash zones'; and a ride that drops water on you from overhead (at the rider%26#39;s discretion).
Now for the bad. As I wrote earlier - things are on top of each other and seem to be crammed into a small area of land so that large crowds develop all over the place. The Great Bear coaster and Sooper Dooper Looper are intertwined and sit right next to the Comet coaster and since this is only 2-minutes from the front gate, its always crowded. Customer service at Hershey Park has evaporated to NONE over the last 25 years. I%26#39;ve traveled to amusement parks from Japan to England and everywhere in between and am used to at least a smile and sense of customer service or at being thanked for my patronage and hard earned dollar. Not at Hershey Park. There is no bounce in the step of the ride operators or even the initiative to do a good job. If the ride was one that is less popular and didn%26#39;t have a steady stream of patons, the operators seemed to be asleep. There are a large amount of young foreign workers employed for the summer (learn English visa program) and they are the only ones that seem to be making an effort - our homegrown American kids certainly aren%26#39;t. No ';thank you'; at the cash registers, no ';enjoy your day'; from anyone and the the game attendants only want to take your money and offer no instructions to the little ones who want to try their luck at the game. Smoking has been relegated to little wooden gazebos all over the park which is a great idea but security guards are too busy engaged in conversation with their buddy or on a cell phone to correct the inconsiderate adult (or teenage rebel without a clue) who chose to ignore the smoking ban and light up anywhere. The whole place is like an assembly line to get you in and out (on and off a ride) as quick as possible and rob you of as much cash as possible in the process.
Maybe I%26#39;m expecting too much from these great United States and maybe we%26#39;re spoiled by the smiles and ';over the top'; way Disney makes you feel when you arrive, spend time in the park and then leave but I have such fond memories of Hershey Park as a child and I don%26#39;t think my daughter left with those same feelings. The park has morphed into simply a money making commercial giant and they are quickly becoming a Six Flag type park of NJ and MD fame which is just sad. Needless to say - the bad absolutely outweighs the good and they have lost a life long fan. Good Riddens Hershey but I%26#39;d rather be robbed at Nationals Stadium in SE DC where at least I get to see a baseball game.
Another Trip Report of Hershey Park (June 17/18)Thanks for the report. Sorry Hershey Park wasn%26#39;t up to your expectations and or memories. :(
Another Trip Report of Hershey Park (June 17/18)I really appreciated reading your report. We will be there 6/29-7/1/2008. I, too, haven%26#39;t been there since I was a child. I am hoping my 8 yr. old and 4 yr. old will enjoy it. I%26#39;m going to go with low expectations and hope we are pleasantly surprised. Thanks again for the info.
Hershey certainly has changed over the years.I took my son there a couple of years ago.Same lines,same amusements ,same food as other name amusement parks all at outrageous prices,Attitude will determine if the child has a good time. Gp planning on spending a lot of money and waiting in line for that special thrill and it will be fine.go grumpy and you might as well stay home.
Everyone has their own expectations when paying admission to any amusement park anywhere in the US. I have become comfortable traveling with my daughter%26#39;s entertainment and enjoyment as our main goal. Don%26#39;t get me wrong, she still had a great time and probably didn%26#39;t notice half the issues that I raised and if we were to win 3 free tickets, we%26#39;d probably go back but I was frustrated too often which prompted my post. Thanks for your comments, either way.
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