Having Hersheypark only 90 minutes away allows for regular visits, and some impromptu trips as well. I’ve done a few of them myself already this year. On Wednesday night, I asked Sam if she wanted to head up for a few hours on Thursday for yet another one and she said sure. We planned to head up just after lunch. With the park open until 8 p.m., we’d have five to six hours to enjoy whatever rides we felt like doing. Well, except for Skyrush, of course.
For those who are not aware, on Friday, July 2, 2021, Skyrush closed mid-day and has yet to re-open. A lot of rumors circulated on YouTube and throughout social media, but the park has yet to announce what caused the ride to close. Thankfully, I was able to visit the park two days before its closure on Wednesday, June 30 and ride it a couple of times. Sam was able to do the same, taking her girlfriend, Kyla, to the park for her first time one day later, on Thursday, July 1.
Hopefully Skyrush will re-open this season, but in its absence, the park has plenty of other rides that we enjoy. And until Sam can go back to being Skyrush Sam, she’ll just have to be, Storm Runner Sam instead. She’s really taken a liking to it after getting her first-ever rides on it back on July 1.
One of Those, Do Whatever Kinda Days
When you’ve gone to Hershey as many times as Sam and I have these last two years, we are perfectly content to just go with the flow and ride whatever we decide to ride, whenever we decide to ride it. On this visit, we ping-ponged back and forth throughout the park, going from The Hallow to the Pioneer Frontier, from Midway America and then back to The Hallow, all before ending back up in Pioneer Frontier to end the day. Yes, we did a ton of walking during that time, but oh well. We can both use the cardio.
Storm Runner
The day’s star attraction was easily Storm Runner. We were able to make up for some of the lost time on this Intamin Accelerator from last year. It was the time Sam and I got to ride it together too. All of my visits since its re-opening have been solo trips and Sam’s lone visit came with Kyla. We ended up riding it a total of four times. Twice in the front, along with one in Row 2 and one in Row 9.
While in line for our second ride of the day, Storm Runner experienced a few minutes of downtime. That’s where we met Tyler, who turned out to be a fellow coaster enthusiast. He was in front of us in line and heard us talking about some past visits to the park. We talked all things Hershey and all things coasters before the ride re-opened and we made our way onto the ride.
Long story short, the three of us rode several other coasters together before parting ways after 7 p.m. If you’re reading this Tyler, please hit me up on Instagram (@WeWereInverted_IG) so I can send you our ride photos and maybe meet up again one day at the park.
Lightning Racer
To be honest, there is only one reason I am making mention of Lightning Racer in this blog. I’m going to keep this reason short and sweet. I have a couple upcoming rant-style blogs that will be talking about this and a few other topics in more detail.
After riding Lightning Racer, Sam logged our ride time so she could claim our digital photo later since the ride’s booth was closed. When we went to pick up the photo, along with a few others, we were told that we were unable to get our Lightning Racer photo. Apparently the people in the row in front of us decided to would be so funny and cool to flip off the camera. Like, seriously?
I know this happens semi-regularly because I also saw it during our Memorial Day visit to Kings Dominion. While purchasing two ride photo keychains at Twisted Timbers, a photo popped up from the train after ours where two boys were doing the same. Just like at Hershey, that employee had to block out that photo, ruining it for the people in the row behind them. I can’t imagine how mad I would be if this had happened in a photo I truly wanted – say a first ride, new ride, or something I waited in line for hours to get and wouldn’t have time to wait for a re-ride for another photo.
Moral of the story… it’s not cool and don’t be a jackass.
Coal Cracker
Yes, another log flume has made its way into one of these trip reports. Sam loves them so much now and told me that Coal Cracker is her favorite. Like Storm Runner, Sam was able to experience Coal Cracker for the first time with Kyla a few weeks ago. Still, I was excited to ride this flume with Sam for the first time. Last year I tried to talk her into riding just this one over and over during our visits. The answer was always no, but since Knoebels, the answer has been yes to every single flume.
Unlike last week’s trip to Dorney park, I came off Coal Cracker pretty dry. The sleeves of my t-shirt were a little wet, but that was about all. For me, Coal Cracker has always been more about that little airtime pop at the base of the drop more than getting wet anyhow. Whoever decided to include that element on this flume from Arrow Dynamics, bravo!
Final Ride Counts
Coal Cracker (1)
Comet (1)
Great Bear (1)
Lighting Racer: Lightning (1)
SooperDooperLooper (1)
Storm Runner (4)
Wildcat (1)
Never a Bad Day at Hersheypark
Thursday’s visit marked my 20th time at the park since the park re-opened after Covid shutdowns in 2021. It’s my 21st visit if you count my snow day visit in January 2021 when I went up to shoot the snow covered coasters while the park was closed.
I guess you can say that I really love the park. I know Sam feels the same way. We obviously love all the rides, but we always find that the staff members at Hersheypark are second to none. So many of them go out of their way to engage guests while still doing their jobs at peak levels. Ride operators, food service members, security, parking booth attendants, photo booth members, and retail cashiers are always pleasant and appear to love working at the park. Both Sam and I have said that if we lived closer, we’d both consider getting a job at Hersheypark. Perhaps Sam and I should go 50/50 on a place and give it a try?
Hersheypark Photo Gallery - July 15, 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
