HersheyPark now owns me.

[vsp]

My company picnic was at HersheyPark this afternoon. If they keep sending me there every year, I plan on having a long and faithful career with this company. I hadn't been there in several years, and was pleasantly surprised (being a coaster junkie) to see a BUNCH of new coasters, including one that left me speechless just looking at it...

...that being Storm Runner, the new addition for this season. DAY-UM. When I read "zero to 72 MPH in two seconds," I figured it was some sort of free-fall drop. Nope -- it's straight horizontal acceleration, driven by hydraulics, BEFORE you hit the first hill (which goes up 18 stories and then comes straight down, but that's another story). Imagine an invisible slingshot with the coaster cars in its cup, pulled back as far as the elastic will allow, then let go suddenly and ZING! That's the effect, and it looks like it ought to defy several laws of physics (much less what it ought to do to one's anatomy). Adrenochrome in coaster form. (I didn't get to ride it myself today -- the lines were insane and my wife and I had too much ground to cover, but I'm coming back for it on a weekday.)

Wildcat is like the old Comet on heavy steroids. It's a wooden coaster in a deceivingly compact area, but it packs a major G-force wallop with a nasty array of turns, drops and banks.

Lightning Racers is a pair of slightly tamer wooden coasters with a gimmick -- they run side-by-side simultaneously, crossing over each other, and "race" to see who finishes first. Since riders have no control over the coaster (and I'd be alarmed if they did), the winner is pretty much a coin-flip or operator's whim, but it's fun to watch, and both sides pack a lot of energy into them.

Great Bear was down for repairs, which sucked, because it appeared to be the second meanest metal coaster in the park (this one inverted). A tight teardrop loop and some corkscrew inversions looked promising; it loops through and around the SooperDooperLooper and makes the SDL look like a kiddie ride.

I didn't remember a Wild Mouse being there, but there's one now; the usual whiplash turns around tight corners. The lack of railings unnerved my wife amusingly.

Roller Soaker looked like a one-trick pony (a slow inverted coaster that runs into water jets), but it rounded out the water section nicely.

Speaking of, Tidal Force is similar to rides I've seen elsewhere (log flume from hell, 20-person rectangular raft launches a wall of water onto itself and the observation bridge), and it does a superb job of drenching everybody. I had to hit the restroom to wring out my socks afterwards.