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beastboy
Posts: 265
Registered: 4/22/2004
Rank: Silver Critic
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 7/29/2004 12:50:31 AM
Well, after about a month of planning, dad and I were ready to hit the road on our North East coaster trip. We left Columbus at about 10:30 AM in hopes to get to Hershey at 5:00 to tak advantage of their sunset plan. About 3 hours into our drive, the light rain began to pick up but we didn't worry as the rain should have cleared some of the crowds out at Hershey. However, as we hit Hershey, that light rain began to intensify and the clouds began to darken. In fact, just 5 minutes after we entered the park, the incredibly slow moving storm grazed Hershey just enough to shut down the rides. We figured the storm couldn't last all the way to 10:00 PM so we hiked out to the Subway by Storm Runner to grab a quick bite to eat. After we finished our food, we noticed the rain had calmed slightly but the thunder was still around. Since we had been to the park in 2002 and rode the other coasters, we decided to stake our claim on Storm Runner. We hung out under the pine tree by the launch and talked to a few security guards about stuff. At about 7:30, the thunder and lightning finally stopped, but the rain did not.
As we watched Sidewinder and Trailblazer test and open, we figured Storm Runner's re-open should have been coming up real soon. We approached the entrance ready to finally ride some rides only to find out an unfortunate amount of information. It turns out, Storm Runner can not be run in any type of rain because it screws with the magnetic brakes. Dad and I were pretty upset at this because the storm was moving incredibly slow and showed no signs going away anytime soon. But, we decided to stick it out. We pretty much moped around and watched the puddles grow all the way up until 9:30. We were ready to pack it in head out as the rain came to a hault. Dad and I briskly walked to the entrance of SR to see if they were gonna give it a shot. They said they needed a mechanic to come give it the O.K. and then test it a few times before they could open it. A mechanic showed up about 10 minutes later and began inspecting the trains. He gave it the go ahead and they rolled a train out to the launch. They rolled it back and forth a few times, lifted and raised the magnetic brakes here and there, and shifted the joining track back and forth for a few minutes. Just as I thought our 5 hour wait payed off, an attendant came out and crushed my hopes by saying there was no possibility of them opening the ride. Fortunately, the security guards advised us to tell our story to guest servicesw and see what they had to say. They understood our situation and were courteous enough to give us free sunset passes which were handy as we planned to be back in the area on Sunday.
So, Thursday didn't quite work out too well, but we got to our Allentown hotel with high hopes of Coney Island, NYC, and Lake Compounce all scheduled for Friday.
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