Geeky Pastimes
Mega Poster
We just got back from a week around Washington - hit up Hersheypark, Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg over four days (one day of driving between Hershey and Kings) and the parks weren't really what we were expecting from everything we'd read and seen, so though I'd share some thoughts!
HersheyPark:
First of all, this park has the most annoying layout. I'd heard it was a pain to navigate and it really is. While it's quite a nice-looking park, each area barely has its own identity and the whole thing is a weird kind of L-shape with lots of odd paths between parts.
Skyrush: this was the main ride I was here for and it was pretty disappointing. All I'd heard was how crazy intense it was and normally I like that in a ride, but I just didn't feel it. We were on the front (while I like intense G forces I'm not a big fan of getting shaken around) and only went on it around lunchtime, so I'm sure later in the day it would be faster and the back would have been more intense, but beyond the forces it just didn't feel like there was a lot to the ride. I guess it's just getting on a bit and better rides have been built since, but I found it really boring and short.
Fahrenheit: This really surprised me. For some reason I had it in my head that it was going to be like G-Force at Drayton or Rip Ride Rockit, but it was actually so smooth and all the inversions had some fun forces. Really liked it
Storm Runner: Again, this was a surprise hit. I do really like the other Intamin launch coasters, even Rita and Desert Race, and Storm Runner felt like a better version of all of those. Kinda made me annoyed at how basic the Rita layout is when we could have got something like this. Lots of fun.
Wildcat's Revenge: We've been on a few RMCs now and this would definitely be towards the bottom of my list. Despite not being huge and fast, the shin restraints (I'm 6'3 so my shins press firmly into them) were just as uncomfortable as they are on Steel Vengeance, and the layout wasn't super interesting after the half way point.
Lightning Racer: I love duelling coasters and I love mid-size woodies like this, I thought it was a lot of fun, particularly on the Thunder side later in the day. Not the best interactions I've ever seen on a duelling coaster but it was definitely fun.
Great Bear: Lovely setting for the invert and it was fine, I think I'm a bit bored of inverted coasters now - not as good as Afterburner at Carowinds but I'd probably take it over Raptor at Cedar Point.
Candymonium: this rode exactly how I expected it to - it's fine, felt a bit like Nitro at Great Adventure. It's got the usual lovely airtime moments from these hypers, but nothing else really going for it outside of the incredible name.
Laff Trakk: This broke down when we were just about to go on, and then we were on the first train they sent around, meaning we went into a huge empty and quiet warehouse as the theming started up around us. It was spooky - but kinda fun for a ride like this. I had super low expectations and was pleasantly surprised.
Comet: We finished off the night with a front-row ride on Comet and it was probably my favourite ride in the park. Just about felt out-of-control enough without being rough, I was really surprised at how good the layout was for a ride this old. As an added bonus we saw fireflies for the first time ever as we got off the ride. Amazing experience.
King's Dominon:
This park was the biggest surprise of the trip for me as it just felt so small - I completely expected it to be huge. There were no queues all day so we were easily done in a few hours.
Pantherian: This was the main ride I wanted to get on at the park and really the main reason I came on this trip, and it didn't disappoint. It was shut for the first part of the day and we got worried it just wouldn't open as a storm was meant to be rolling in for the rest of the day, but thankfully the storm didn't come and we got a few rides on it. I agree with others that have said it takes some time to warm up - we were maybe a little disappointed in our first ride on the 2nd row, but then we did one on the front and I came back to ride again later in the day hopping onto the middle of the train, and all of these rides were fantastic .Made me grey out every single time during the first corner, then the rest of the layout carried such speed and had a bunch of those little twists that I really enjoy. Great ride and glad I travelled so far to get on it. Also thought I'd hate the new theme but it looks great, the whole area does!
Twisted Timbers: I enjoyed this a lot more than Wildcat's Revenge. It reminded me a lot of Untamed at Walibi Holland, and I love that too. I think the smaller-scale RMCs aren't quite as punishing on my shins and I can focus on enjoying them a lot more, plus the rolls in this are profiled perfectly for me to feel weightless in the middle. Loved it!
Dominator: I don't normally care for the sit-down B&M floorless coasters like this but Dominator surprised me and I had a good time. Still felt super smooth and seemed to go on forever. Great ride.
Flight of Fear: This was a huge surprise - we went on not really knowing anything about it and got absolutely pulverised in the first few elements, but were laughing the whole way around. It's obviously not an incredible layout and really loses pace quickly, but that start was awesome.
Racer 75: Sadly this wasn't duelling on our trip and without that it's just a really boring coaster. It does look funny on the map though butting across the park in a straight line.
Rapterra: I was really excited for this after going on Thunderbird last year but Rapterra wasn't anywhere near as good. For a newer B&M it felt weirdly bouncy and rough and just didn't do anything very interesting.
Backlot Stunt Coaster: This was really fun, and again, not what I expected. None of the effects were working but it's snappy and short enough that I had a great time on it. Just one of those ridiculous coasters that doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.
Grizzly: My last ride was on Grizzly and it was fine. I was spoiled by all the woodies at Holiday World last year and this just didn't live up to any of those. It was fun, but again, nothing super interesting.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg:
While Pantherian was my favourite ride of the trip, BGW was easily my favourite park. It had better food, fun theming, and a great layout that felt huge but was easy to navigate. Would love to come back here again sometime.
Pantheon: We hit up Pantheon first because I went the wrong way trying to find Verbolten, but thank god we did because we got two rides on it then it went down for the rest of the day. Loved this, it was just like Toutatis but without theming, still had the great launches and super smooth and interesting layout. I really hope more and more of these coasters get built because they're always a good time.
Tempesto: I had never been on one of these before and absolutely thought I'd hate it, but it was great! Way smoother than expected and I really enjoyed the forces, the little pause before the big drop was great too - a little short but lots of fun.
Apollo's Chariot: Another fairly standard Hyper, but at least the setting was really nice and I saw a turtle from the ride, which is the second time that's happened for me on a B&M Hyper.
Verbolten: We had to queue a while for this and while it was definitely worth one ride, I wouldn't do it again. I thought the indoor section was great and the outside part was kind of boring - I did like the theming and story though, added something to the experience!
Big Bad Wolf: I really like the newer small family inverts that have popped up all over and this was no exception - fun and gentle if a little more boring than things like Dragonfly at Dollywood or the one at Tripsdrill.
InvadR: I thought I'd heard a lot of hype for this but it didn't really do much for me. Feels like it's what we should have got at Alton Towers when Wickerman was built, and it was definitely more fun than that, but still nothing special.
Alpengeist: Really impressive invert but the queue was long and we couldn't be bothered to queue for the front row in the heat, which I think might have been a mistake. I'm sure this is pretty great on the front - like all inverts riding further back just isn't as interesting because there's not much to see.
Griffon: I normally find dive coasters quite boring but this was loads of fun, felt just like Sheikra with slightly nicer views - really liked it.
Loch Ness Monster: This was a huge surprise, I thought it would be a bit quirky but just like all the other rides from this era, but it's really something special. I don't even want to ruin the surprises but the theming and story was so much better than I expected! Also super smooth all the way around - absolutely loved it.
Sadly we didn't get on DarKoaster as it kept going down and then had a one hour queue which we didn't fancy.
So overall a successful trip, had a couple of days visiting museums etc in DC too and had a great time - the air and space museums were incredible!
HersheyPark:
First of all, this park has the most annoying layout. I'd heard it was a pain to navigate and it really is. While it's quite a nice-looking park, each area barely has its own identity and the whole thing is a weird kind of L-shape with lots of odd paths between parts.
Skyrush: this was the main ride I was here for and it was pretty disappointing. All I'd heard was how crazy intense it was and normally I like that in a ride, but I just didn't feel it. We were on the front (while I like intense G forces I'm not a big fan of getting shaken around) and only went on it around lunchtime, so I'm sure later in the day it would be faster and the back would have been more intense, but beyond the forces it just didn't feel like there was a lot to the ride. I guess it's just getting on a bit and better rides have been built since, but I found it really boring and short.
Fahrenheit: This really surprised me. For some reason I had it in my head that it was going to be like G-Force at Drayton or Rip Ride Rockit, but it was actually so smooth and all the inversions had some fun forces. Really liked it
Storm Runner: Again, this was a surprise hit. I do really like the other Intamin launch coasters, even Rita and Desert Race, and Storm Runner felt like a better version of all of those. Kinda made me annoyed at how basic the Rita layout is when we could have got something like this. Lots of fun.
Wildcat's Revenge: We've been on a few RMCs now and this would definitely be towards the bottom of my list. Despite not being huge and fast, the shin restraints (I'm 6'3 so my shins press firmly into them) were just as uncomfortable as they are on Steel Vengeance, and the layout wasn't super interesting after the half way point.
Lightning Racer: I love duelling coasters and I love mid-size woodies like this, I thought it was a lot of fun, particularly on the Thunder side later in the day. Not the best interactions I've ever seen on a duelling coaster but it was definitely fun.
Great Bear: Lovely setting for the invert and it was fine, I think I'm a bit bored of inverted coasters now - not as good as Afterburner at Carowinds but I'd probably take it over Raptor at Cedar Point.
Candymonium: this rode exactly how I expected it to - it's fine, felt a bit like Nitro at Great Adventure. It's got the usual lovely airtime moments from these hypers, but nothing else really going for it outside of the incredible name.
Laff Trakk: This broke down when we were just about to go on, and then we were on the first train they sent around, meaning we went into a huge empty and quiet warehouse as the theming started up around us. It was spooky - but kinda fun for a ride like this. I had super low expectations and was pleasantly surprised.
Comet: We finished off the night with a front-row ride on Comet and it was probably my favourite ride in the park. Just about felt out-of-control enough without being rough, I was really surprised at how good the layout was for a ride this old. As an added bonus we saw fireflies for the first time ever as we got off the ride. Amazing experience.
King's Dominon:
This park was the biggest surprise of the trip for me as it just felt so small - I completely expected it to be huge. There were no queues all day so we were easily done in a few hours.
Pantherian: This was the main ride I wanted to get on at the park and really the main reason I came on this trip, and it didn't disappoint. It was shut for the first part of the day and we got worried it just wouldn't open as a storm was meant to be rolling in for the rest of the day, but thankfully the storm didn't come and we got a few rides on it. I agree with others that have said it takes some time to warm up - we were maybe a little disappointed in our first ride on the 2nd row, but then we did one on the front and I came back to ride again later in the day hopping onto the middle of the train, and all of these rides were fantastic .Made me grey out every single time during the first corner, then the rest of the layout carried such speed and had a bunch of those little twists that I really enjoy. Great ride and glad I travelled so far to get on it. Also thought I'd hate the new theme but it looks great, the whole area does!
Twisted Timbers: I enjoyed this a lot more than Wildcat's Revenge. It reminded me a lot of Untamed at Walibi Holland, and I love that too. I think the smaller-scale RMCs aren't quite as punishing on my shins and I can focus on enjoying them a lot more, plus the rolls in this are profiled perfectly for me to feel weightless in the middle. Loved it!
Dominator: I don't normally care for the sit-down B&M floorless coasters like this but Dominator surprised me and I had a good time. Still felt super smooth and seemed to go on forever. Great ride.
Flight of Fear: This was a huge surprise - we went on not really knowing anything about it and got absolutely pulverised in the first few elements, but were laughing the whole way around. It's obviously not an incredible layout and really loses pace quickly, but that start was awesome.
Racer 75: Sadly this wasn't duelling on our trip and without that it's just a really boring coaster. It does look funny on the map though butting across the park in a straight line.
Rapterra: I was really excited for this after going on Thunderbird last year but Rapterra wasn't anywhere near as good. For a newer B&M it felt weirdly bouncy and rough and just didn't do anything very interesting.
Backlot Stunt Coaster: This was really fun, and again, not what I expected. None of the effects were working but it's snappy and short enough that I had a great time on it. Just one of those ridiculous coasters that doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.
Grizzly: My last ride was on Grizzly and it was fine. I was spoiled by all the woodies at Holiday World last year and this just didn't live up to any of those. It was fun, but again, nothing super interesting.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg:
While Pantherian was my favourite ride of the trip, BGW was easily my favourite park. It had better food, fun theming, and a great layout that felt huge but was easy to navigate. Would love to come back here again sometime.
Pantheon: We hit up Pantheon first because I went the wrong way trying to find Verbolten, but thank god we did because we got two rides on it then it went down for the rest of the day. Loved this, it was just like Toutatis but without theming, still had the great launches and super smooth and interesting layout. I really hope more and more of these coasters get built because they're always a good time.
Tempesto: I had never been on one of these before and absolutely thought I'd hate it, but it was great! Way smoother than expected and I really enjoyed the forces, the little pause before the big drop was great too - a little short but lots of fun.
Apollo's Chariot: Another fairly standard Hyper, but at least the setting was really nice and I saw a turtle from the ride, which is the second time that's happened for me on a B&M Hyper.
Verbolten: We had to queue a while for this and while it was definitely worth one ride, I wouldn't do it again. I thought the indoor section was great and the outside part was kind of boring - I did like the theming and story though, added something to the experience!
Big Bad Wolf: I really like the newer small family inverts that have popped up all over and this was no exception - fun and gentle if a little more boring than things like Dragonfly at Dollywood or the one at Tripsdrill.
InvadR: I thought I'd heard a lot of hype for this but it didn't really do much for me. Feels like it's what we should have got at Alton Towers when Wickerman was built, and it was definitely more fun than that, but still nothing special.
Alpengeist: Really impressive invert but the queue was long and we couldn't be bothered to queue for the front row in the heat, which I think might have been a mistake. I'm sure this is pretty great on the front - like all inverts riding further back just isn't as interesting because there's not much to see.
Griffon: I normally find dive coasters quite boring but this was loads of fun, felt just like Sheikra with slightly nicer views - really liked it.
Loch Ness Monster: This was a huge surprise, I thought it would be a bit quirky but just like all the other rides from this era, but it's really something special. I don't even want to ruin the surprises but the theming and story was so much better than I expected! Also super smooth all the way around - absolutely loved it.
Sadly we didn't get on DarKoaster as it kept going down and then had a one hour queue which we didn't fancy.
So overall a successful trip, had a couple of days visiting museums etc in DC too and had a great time - the air and space museums were incredible!