Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Water Park Mania

Without a doubt, water attractions are usually some of the most popular types of rides at any amusement park. America has over a thousand water parks, more than in any other country, and Hershey, Knoebels and Dorney all have big areas set aside for water rides and attractions that remain some of the busiest and most popular sections of the parks. But NEPA has several other water parks that are pretty popular, as well. Today, a new park will be entering the compare/contrast mix, a water park that is considered one of NEPA's most popular water-only parks. It is called Camelbeach, and is located in Tannersville, Pa at the Camelback Mountain Ski Resort. Camelbeach will enter the blogs when it has a comparable water ride to our three main amusement parks. But out of the four water parks, which one reigns supreme?

Hersheypark: The Boardwalk

Hersheypark opened its water park The Boardwalk in 2007 as a celebration of the park's 100th birthday. Before the Boardwalk, Hershey had several water rides: Canyon River Rapids, a fun rapids ride; the Roller Soaker, a unique interactive water coaster; Tidal Force, a huge splash down ride; and the Western Chute Out, a group of water slides. 2007 separated these water rides into an actual water park and added several new ones, as well. The biggest additions were Coastline Plunge, a more modern group of water slides; and East Coast Waterworks, the biggest water playground on the East Coast. The outdated and rarely-ridden Western Chute Out was dismantled after the 2007 season to make way for the Fahrenheit roller coaster, and a year later Canyon River Rapids was taken down to create "The Seaquel," an expansion to the Boardwalk that included The Shore, a wave pool, and the InterCoastal Waterway, a lazy river. The Boardwalk has been a big success for Hersheypark, and is always, ALWAYS crowded. The fact that Hershey squeezed the Boardwalk into a small area does not help the crowd situation, as it can become unbearable around midday, with waits for even the water playground and wave pool. The Boardwalk is popular, but some (like myself) miss the old, simple days when the four separate water rides were the way to cool off.

Knoebels: Crystal Pool

Knoebels' Crystal Pool was opened in 1926, and although the area has been greatly expanded and changed since then, the pool is still in its original spot (which is pretty cool, if I do say so myself). Going along with Knoebels' "pay as you go" idea, it costs $6 to enter the pool area, with different combo plans available regarding water slides and night swimming. The pool itself is beautiful, and it's huge, with several slides and diving boards of different heights and sizes scattered throughout. Knoebels has been expanding their pool area over the last ten years or so, adding a couple of fun water slides independent of the pool and a kiddie area called Kozmo's Play Pool. While the Crystal Pool area doesn't have the giant water attractions of the other three parks, it makes up for it with a great ambiance and great crowd control. Consider adding a dip in the Crystal Pool to your day at Knoebels.

Dorney Park: Wildwater Kingdom

Wildwater Kingdom is considered one of the biggest water parks located inside a theme park in the USA. It opened in 1985 and originally had a separate admission from Dorney Park. This changed ten years later, when Dorney's "two parks for the price of one" campaign was introduced. As water parks go, Wildwater Kingdom is top-notch. It has 22 water slides that are all different from each other, and each pack a thrilling ride. It also has two lazy rivers, two wave pools and three separate kiddie areas, which means that the park never feels overly crowded, even on the hottest Saturday in July. Finally, Wildwater Kingdom offers easy access to the two water rides that are actually located "across the border" in Dorney Park, Thunder Canyon (a thrilling rapids ride) and White Water Landing (their big splash-down ride). Wildwater Kingdom is a great water park, and a wonderful addition to Dorney Park.

Introducing: Camelbeach!

Camelbeach Waterpark is only 12 years old, but with over 30 water slides, it's hard to believe the park is that young. Camelbeach is the way that the Camelback Ski Resort in Tannersville, PA makes money in the summertime, and its location in the picturesque Pocono Mountains is a different type of feel than other, "beachier" water parks. The park features some great rides, including the Titan, a family giant tube slide; Triple Venom, extremely intense body slides; two "toilet bowl" slides called Vortex and Spin Cycle; and Pharaoh's Phortress, a big water playground that is Camebeach's newest addition. The park features a nice-sized wave pool, lazy river and kiddie area, as well, and is well spaced-out, so the crowds don't become overbearing. I have visited Camelbeach several times and am excited to add it to the NEPA-musement blog. Any time we have a blog focusing on some sort of water ride, you can bet that Camelbeach will be in the mix!

The Verdict

1. Dorney Park
2. Camelbeach
3. Knoebels
4. Hersheypark

Every one of these four water parks are very popular, but the top two--Dorney's Wildwater Kingdom and Camelbeach--are heads and shoulders above the other two. Both parks have tons of water rides that can keep a family busy all day, but they are both located in big areas that never feel overcrowded or unbearable. I gave Dorney a slight edge just because it is slightly bigger and has more overall to do, but Camelbeach is growing rapidly, and if we address this topic again in five years, that park may get the advantage.
Knoebels' Crystal Pool came in third due to its lack of rides and attractions compared to the other parks. However, its ambiance and crowd control are what set it above the chaos that is Hersheypark's The Boardwalk. Simply put, Hershey crammed an entire water park into a very small area, which has created extreme overcrowding and a general uncomfortableness to what should be a fun, relaxing environment. On top of that, NONE of the newest water rides have amounted to anything special--their best water rides are the two old ones that are left, Tidal Force and the Roller Soaker. Hershey may have more attractions than Knoebels when it comes to the water, but Knoebels sets the bar higher when it comes to quality.

So, spending a hot day in NEPA? Feel free to cool off at one of these water parks!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Hersheyprk Trip, Day 2

Here is the continuation of my trip to Hersheypark that I took with my husband and ten year-old sister on Sunday, August 8 and Monday, August 9th. This entry covers our second day, on the 9th.

We checked out of the Grantville Days Inn at about 7:40 AM. We then got back on Interstate 81 south, getting off at exit 77, which is the other Hershey exit. There is a nice, out of the way Perkins restaurant right off this exit where I knew we could get a filling breakfast before the park opened. The restaurant was almost empty, and we got our fresh, yummy food within twenty minutes of sitting down. It was a low pressure way to start the day. I made sure that we ate enough food to get through several hours, since I knew the Boardwalk water park was one of our first destinations that day, and eating meals in the always-crowded Boardwalk is always a hair-raising experience.

We arrived at Hersheypark by 9:15 (and didn't have to pay for parking because we had yesterday's parking stub and Preciew Plan-marked admission ticket) and got in line in front of the main gate by 9:30. There was a good-sized line of people waiting to get in, but it moved fairly quickly, and the gates opened slightly before the official opening time of 10:00.

Our first stop was to be Fahrenheit, Hershey's newest coaster with a record breaking 97 degree drop. However, since it was still only 9:57, we got stopped by ropes in Music Box Way. We only had to wait three minutes before the ropes dropped, and we quickly moved on to Fahrenheit. My little sister and I got in line for Fahrenheit, which was already about a twenty-minute wait two minutes after opening, while my husband went to the Boardwalk to get a locker. It was a good thing we went right to Fahrenheit, because in the twenty minutes we waited in line, the queue became very long. However, we got on and rode the ride without any issues.

We then met up with my husband, who had gotten a locker at the centrally-located Boardwalk changing rooms near the Roller Soaker and Nathan's hot dogs. After changing and putting on sunscreen, we headed first for the Roller Soaker, a unique interactive water coaster that is very popular and always has a long line by the middle of the day--and, to make things worse, the line is one of the slowest-moving in the park. Luckily, it was so early in the day that there was not a long line, but we still had to wait about a half hour due to technical difficulties with the ride. The ride operator announced that it could only be a five-minute delay, or it could stretch to hours. My family decided to take a chance and stay in line, since if we got out of line we risked the chance of it getting very long later on. Our risk paid off--the ride was fixed in about ten minutes, and we had a fun, soaking wet experience.

We next rode the Intercoastal Waterway, Hershey's lazy river that is only in its second year of operation. The park has made some nice changes to this ride. There are no more double tubes, which cuts the wait drastically. Also, you can now ride around the Waterway as many times as you want. This was a nice addition, and we floated around the Intercoastal Waterway twice before deciding to disembark.

Next we rode Tidal Force, Hershey's great splash down ride, which had an average-sized line. By this time, it was after noon. The Boardwalk was becoming very, very crowded due to the popularity of the area and the 90-degree heat, so we decided to pick and choose our next rides. While my husband went to ride the Vortex "toilet bowl" water slide, me and my little sister spent some time in Hershey's other new attraction that is in its second year, The Shore wave pool. The wave pool was pretty crowded, but we had a nice time riding the waves.

After that, we decided to try out East Coast Waterworks, the biggest water play area on the East coast. However, there was actually a line to get into it! None of us wanted to wait in a line to get into what should be a free-entering play area, so we decided to call it a day regarding the Boardwalk. We changed but left our bags in the locker (since we had paid a $15 all-day charge), then headed to the back section of the park and the Boardwalk's next door neighbor, Midway America.

The first thing we did, since it was around 2:00, was eat a late lunch of popcorn chicken and perogies from Midway Munchies, a great little stand next to the Ferris Wheel. After we were full, we rode all the Midway America rides--the Ferris Wheel, Lightning Racer (Hershey's wooden racing coaster), Music Express, the Whip, the Wild Mouse and the Wildcat (Hershey's third wooden coaster). They have some good midway games in this section, and my husband played some of those, as well. Lines were a big longer than usual, but the longest we waited for any of these rides was probably around twenty minutes.

It was very, very hot by this time. To stay cool in lines (some that should have been better shaded), I decided to buy a misting fan/spray bottle. They have these all over the park; I bought ours at Fun in the Sun, a shop near the Wild Mouse and Wildcat. It really came in handy for the rest of the day, and was well worth $12.99 for keeping cool while waiting in lines.

We next headed to Pioneer Frontier and tried to ride the Frisbee pendulum ride The Claw. However, we had another technical difficulty--this time, we were on the ride and ready to go when the ride operators detected some problems, and we had to vacate the ride. Unfortunately, we didn't feel like waiting in line all over again, so we had no Claw ride that day. We did ride several other Pioneer Frontier rides with no problems, however--the Pirate ship, the Dry Gulch railroad, Storm Runner (Hershey's launching coaster) and the Trailblazer (a tame mine train coaster) were all fun rides with average-sized lines.

We walked back to Minetown, at this point having done almost everything we wanted to do in the last twenty-four hours. My little sister and I decided to ride the Great Bear again, only this time we decided to ride in the front seat. You have to wait in a separate, slow-moving line for the front seats, but the view during the ride is totally worth the wait!

After a couple more Sooperdooperlooper rides, we decided to call it a night. My husband went back to the Boardwalk to get our things out of the locker while my sister and I waited for him at the main gate (doing some shopping along the way). Upon leaving the park, we had a late dinner at an Olive Garden restaurant about seven miles away from the park. We ended up leaving the Hershey area around 10:00 PM.

My trip to Hersheypark was loads of fun. A few issues cropped up, but we planned a loose schedule of rides ahead of time and concentrated on making the most of our time, so these issues did not put a damper on our trip. Hershey will be open for about two more months, with crowds becoming thinner as the summer wanes. Plan a trip before the park closes for the season!

We'll be back to regular blogs next week.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Hersheypark Trip, Day 1

I went to Hersheypark for two days on Sunday, August 8th and Monday, August 9th, using the Preview Plan for the first night. I went with my husband and my ten year-old sister. Here's a recap of our first day!

We left our home in the Scranton area around 1:00 in the afternoon, heading down Interstate 81 for almost the whole trip. There were some traffic issues, but our GPS guided us around them easily, and we arrived in the Hershey area in exactly two hours, at around 3:00.

The first thing we did was check into our hotel. We stayed at the Days Inn in Grantville, which is right off the I-81 exit. It's only seven miles away from Hersheypark and is drastically cheaper than any hotel you'll find closer to the park. Plus, it's nice and clean with good amenities and a polite staff who seem to be knowledgeable. As long as you don't care about things like having a pool or fitness center, the Days Inn Grantville works great for families on a budget.

At around 5:00 we headed toward Hershey, eating dinner at the Cocoa Grill, a diner near all the chain restaurants in Hershey. The food is good and not too expensive, but the ambiance definitely leaves something to be desired.

At 6:00, we headed off toward the park. We parked in the Hersheypark lot and paid the full $10 parking charge, which at first seems a bit steep for the Preview Plan's two and a half hours in the park. However, as long as you keep both your parking ticket and admission ticket, parking the next day is free. Hershey doesn't go out of their way to advertise this--I had seen it tucked away on their web site, and we received a piece of paper explaining this when we paid for parking, but I think that if someone wasn't paying close attention, they could easily pay for two days of parking and be none the wiser.

Since we still had about an hour before I wanted to go to the Hersheypark gate, we decided to go visit Chocolate World. This is a big "visitors center"-esque venue outside of Hersheypark, with shops, food, a factory tour ride, a 3-D show, and Hershey's Factory Works, where you can make your own candy bar (among other things). The crowd at Chocolate World was big but not too bad for a Sunday in the middle of summer. Since we were trying to save both time and money, we only chose one thing to do at Chocolate World. My family decided to ride the totally-free chocolate factory tour ride.

The line for the factory ride was out the door when we queued up. However, I wasn't daunted--the factory ride has an extremely fast-moving line due to the fact that it is a continuous-loading attraction with a high capacity. Therefore, we only waited in line for ten minutes before we got to ride the ride. I have probably ridden the factory tour ride at least fifty times in the past twenty-one years, and it never disappoints. It's a nice ride through a simulated factory that explains all about how they make the chocolate. As you exit the ride, you get a complementary Hershey bar, which is a nice way to satisfy the craving you developed while riding the ride.

After buying some fresh cookies and milk from a stand in the food and shops area of Chocolate World, it was about 7:10 and time to head down to the Hersheypark gate. The first thing we did was go to the Candy Brand measuring stations. Hershey puts a creative twist on height requirements, separating each height into categories featuring their own products. We were all thrilled to find out that my little sister was a Twizzler for the very first time--she barely made the 54" Twizzler cut off, but she was definitely over the line. This meant that she could ride the park's biggest coasters for the first time!

There was a line formed for the Preview Plan outside the gate. (Check out the "Let Me In!" entry from a few months ago, which explains this fantastic Hershey perk in more detail.) The line was long, but we were let in slightly before 7:30 (two and a half hours before park closing). The first ride we decided to ride was the Great Bear, Hershey's fantastic inverted coaster. This decision was made for several reasons--first and foremost, my little sister was dying to ride one of the coasters she had just been watching for years. Second, the Great Bear is located in Minetown, which is right in the middle of the park, yet not a far walk from the entrance gate. When you only have two and a half hours of park time, taking long strolls around the park isn't an option!

The line for Great Bear wasn't very long, and we rode it in a good amount of time. (My little sister loved it, by the way.) We next headed to the Great Bear's next door neighbor, the Coal Cracker, which is a standard flume and had no line, which was a great surprise. My family then continued down into Comet Hollow, which is one of the older sections of the park; therefore, it's pretty close to the entrance. We rode the famous Sooperdooperlooper (the first looping coaster on the East Coast) and Wave Swinger with lines that weren't too long, but the next ride we wanted to try, the Comet, had a VERY long line. The Comet, Hershey's classic wooden coaster, is a favorite, especially by people leaving the park who want one last thrill. Since it was about 8:30 at this point, I made an executive decision to wait on the Comet until the line was shorter.

Instead, we headed up the hill to Music Box Way. There, we rode the Reese's X-treme Cup Challenge, an indoor arcade game-like ride that can have really long lines--but only had an average one tonight. We also rode the Skyview, a scenic sky ride that takes you over a river and inches from the mighty Great Bear.

By this time, it was about 9:40, only twenty minutes before the park closed for the night, and lo and behold, the line for the Comet, which had looked to be forty minutes an hour ago, had now dwindled down to about a five to ten minute wait. Excitedly, my family rode the Comet, glad we had spent the last hour riding two additional rides and not standing in the long Comet line.

It was 9:57 when we got off the Comet. We finished off the night by getting some soft ice cream at the Crossroads Creamery, which is located next to the Reese's X-treme Cup Challenge, before heading out of the park.

After leaving, my husband and little sister both wanted some roller coaster shirts to wear the following day, which would be our full park day. Outside the park gate, I found a store called Hersheypark Memories, which actually had many coaster shirts to buy! It was a nice surprise, since I hadn't known about this particular store before. They bought their shirts, and we walked back to the car, ready to go back to the Days Inn and sleep. After all, we had a full day at Hersheypark to wake up for!

To be continued!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Hersheypark Bound

I just wanted to let everyone know that tomorrow I will be heading off to Hersheypark for a two day trip. While there, I will be trying the Preview Plan for the first time and also checking out those mysterious markings in Comet Hollow. Watch for an entry next week on all this and more!