My wife and I took our 15 year old, 3 of her friends, our 10 year old daughter and a friend of hers to Hershey Park this weekend. And while it could easily have been a disaster, everything worked out great and the girls had an awesome time.
We left at 6:30 on Saturday to get an early start. Picked up all the girls, who were on time and eager to get going. I drove the first half into Pennsylvania, and Donna drove the second half. We arrived around 11am, which was amazingly short drive time, checked in at the Hershey Lodge, and were at the park by 11:30, not bad at all.
It is a lot bigger then I expected! The park has 11 roller coasters according to my oldest, and she and her friends wanted to make sure to hit them all. A couple were out of commission for maintenance, but they managed to get on every one that was working, at least once, and a couple 3 or 4 times! One of the coasters, called Fahrenheit, has a 90 degree vertical ascent (yes, straight up on your back) up 121 feet, a 97 degree NEGATIVE drop, and a top speed of 58mph! I was nervous just looking at the thing! See here for information on the coaster. Here is a picture..
Of course it poured rain while we were there. The girls actually went on a ride in the rain and got soaked as Donna and I hid under a Dippin' Dots umbrella LOL. We spent a total of over 8 hours at the park on Saturday, and finally went back to the Lodge after the world's slowest bus driver took us back (anyone need to get off at Cocoa RRrrrrrrr?). Girls tried to go swimming in the pool, but they closed it due to the thunder and lightning.. lol closed an INDOOR pool! Too funny.
Breakfast the next morning, early but not too early, 4 more hours in the park, a tour through Chocolate World, bought a ton of candy we didn't need, and finally on the road again at a little after 4pm. Took us a bit longer to get home, some traffic in jersey and Staten Island, but surprisingly the Belt parkway was clear. Everyone home by 9:30, and exhausted.
I would definitely recommend a trip there, everything went well, plenty of activities for everyone, kids, young adults, adults, and wide variety of food, even a kosher and a vegetarian restaurant! Hershey Lodge was very nice, comfortable and clean rooms, not very spacious, but how long are you really going to spend in the room anyway? Very convenient bus service from the lodge directly to the park, so no parking hassles. It was crowded Saturday, but Sunday was a breeze, with lines no more then 5-10 minutes at most, even for the popular rides.
Great weekend, girls had fun, which is what the trip was all about. Everyone is wearing their matching t-shirts to school today!
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