A little over a week ago Renee reached out to me to see if Sam and I might be interested in visiting Hersheypark with her before she had to go back to school to teach. I told her that Sam and I were already set to visit Hershey that same week with Sam’s mom, Carol, but I would be interested in going back again. Long story short, so was Sam and the three of us decided to go on Thursday.
Once those plans were made, I learned that the Baltimore Orioles AA affiliate, the Bowie Baysox, were playing in nearby Reading, Pa. I asked Sam and Renee if they’d be interested in catching that a game that evening and they both said yes. Since I love visiting different ballparks, both in the major and minor leagues, I was now looking forward to Thursday even more.
Sweet Start & an Early Departure
There have only been a few times that Sam and I have attended Hersheypark’s Sweet Start entry over the last two years and Renee had yet to take advantage of the pass holder perk. I recommended that we take advantage of the extra hour since we knew we’d be leaving early for the game in addition to knowing how busy Hersheypark was just a few days prior on Monday. Thankfully traffic didn’t set us back as it has the last few times we tried to take advantage of Sweet Start entry. We made our way into the park at 10 a.m. sharp.
Candymonium
Upon entering the park we went directly to Candymonium. Usually this is a ride we save for evening rides due to its tendency to accumulate long lines shortly after opening. Taking advantage of Sweet Start, however, we only had about a 15-20 minute wait.
Getting into the station I requested a front row ride. Our request was granted and we experienced one of the better rides on Candymonium that we’ve had over the last two years. Even in the front, the airtime was sustained throughout the ride. Best of all, the two trim brakes I constantly complain about didn’t feel like they hit. The first one certainly didn’t and if the second one did, it was ever so minor. Maybe this was because the train wasn’t warmed up yet being so early in the morning. Still, not feeling that hard grab on the second trim was great.
Fahrenheit
After Candymonium our plan was to go directly to Fahrenheit. We wanted to skip its usual long lines, if we could, but we made the call to ride Comet first for the same exact reasons. By time we got over to Fahrenheit, the park had officially opened. The line, however, had yet to grow to its typical length.
As we walked into the queue, I spotted a familiar face. A few weeks ago during a visit to Hersheypark, Sam and I met another enthusiast while in line for Storm Runner named Tyler, mentioned in the blog, “Storm Runner Eases Sam’s Skyrush Sadness.” Well, there he was again. He stepped out of his place in line and joined us. He was alone at the time, waiting for a friend of his to get to the park. It was good catching up with him again and we were able to grab a couple rides together before going our separate ways.
Storm Runner
The coaster Renee was most looking forward to riding this trip was Storm Runner. It had been years since her last ride on the Intamin Accelerator and this was her first visit to Hersheypark in 2021 that it was up and running again. For those who might not know, Storm Runner was down for the entirety of the 2020 season and was also closed for the start of 2021.
Tyler joined us for this ride, which had a rather short line. That’s been the case for most of my visits, which also includes a Friday excursion and our National Roller Coaster Day visit on Monday. And it looks like we got in our ride just in time too. When we returned to the ride about 20 minutes later, after a short break, the coaster had gone down. We had hoped to ride it again before heading back to Great Bear, but we were out of luck.
Worst of all, it appeared that the coaster remained down for the rest of our visit. While walking around the rest of the park, Zoo America, and the parking lot upon leaving, we never saw the train go over the top hat once. Maybe it did and we just missed it every single time, but I find that highly unlikely.
A Lap Around Zoo America
Although we managed to get in our fair share of the park’s coaster line up, the three of us took some time to enjoy the rest of the park too, mainly Zoo America. It had also been a while since Renee had visited the zoo.
Most of the animals were out, minus the bears who were enjoying a good rest. We even got to see two Desert Tortoises trying to make a bunch of baby tortoises. I swear, I’ve seen tortoises going at it at several different zoos or safaris in my lifetime. And they say rabbits are always mating…
Final Ride Counts
Candymonium (1)
Coal Cracker (1: Sam, Patrick)
Comet (1)
Fahrenheit (1)
Great Bear (1)
SooperDooperLooper (1)
Storm Runner (1)
Last Rides & a Stop at Milton's
After leaving the zoo the three of us grabbed lunch and our final rides of the day on Great Bear, Coal Cracker, and SooperDooperLooper. As we made our way to Milton’s Ice Cream Parlor, Sam and I decided to see if we could grab one final ride on Candymonium. It showed only a 15 minute wait time at the ride station and on the park’s mobile app. We should have known better, though.
As we made our way into the station it became abundantly clear that those wait times were wrong. I feel like that’s the case a good 90 percent of the time or more no matter which park’s app you’re using. Does anyone ever see wait times that are pretty much on point? We sure don’t.
Sam and I began discussing if we had enough time to wait. We needed to leave by 5 p.m. and it was already 4:40 p.m. It wasn’t looking good. As we were making the call to leave, we saw Tyler walk into the station with his friend. We really wanted to ride with him one last time, but if we had stayed, we would have risked getting to the game late. We decided to leave and join Renee at Milton’s before heading out.
Adding Another Minor League Stadium to My List
Much like my coaster credit count, I love visiting as many different ballparks as possible – both in the major and minor leagues. My first minor league game came when my grandfather, the same one who used to take us to Wildwood in the 1980’s, took me to see the Bowie Baysox. Well, it just so happened that the Baysox were on the road and playing in nearby Reading on Thursday.
Getting to visit a new ballpark, especially an old school one like First Energy Field, and see the Orioles’ AA team made this the perfect way to end the night. Well, except for the Baysox losing a close one. Oh well, they’re still in first place.
Hersheypark Photo Gallery - August 19, 2021
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your commercial and/or non-commercial projects, feel free to do so. I ask that you credit We Were Inverted whenever they’re used. I also ask that you do not alter the image or remove the watermarks. If you need any images/video resized or without the watermarks, please contact me directly.
CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): n/a
Sam
Admiral
New Credit(s): n/a
Renee
Commander
New Credit(s): n/a
