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beastboy
Posts: 265
Registered: 4/22/2004
Rank: Silver Critic
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 8/5/2004 2:32:08 PM
After a rocky Friday, dad and I were ready to relax a little. After about a three hour drive, we arrived at The Great Escape at about 10 AM. Initially the park seemed a little on the cheesy side and I'm sad to report that it stayed that way for our entire visit. I'm sure The Great Escape is great for families but it seemed to be lacking in originality. Quite a bit of their rides aren't even in their original locations. They're lacking in thrill rides too. With exception to The Comet, they have no world class thrill rides. Anyway, we headed to Nightmare (#95) first to get it out of the way and we shortly realized that the capacity was even worse than we expected. Luckily we got there before the line began to pick up but even then we waited over an hour. We tried to calculate the capacity and we came up with something like 360 pph. Not good. As for the ride itself, steep drops and quick direction changes make for a rather fun ride. However, the capacity absolutely kills any re-ridability. Next ride, Canyon Blaster (#96). Only running one train so capacity wasn't great and the twenty or so people (no exaggeration) that line jumped ahead of us didn't help either. It didn't help that the ride was dissapointing too. Great Escape probsbly shouldn't have marketed this as more of a thrill ride because it pretty muck is a kiddie coaster mine train. The ride lacks any action until the final helix which would have been fine if it were marketed as a kiddie coaster. Steamin' Demon (#97) was up next. A basic Arrow corckscrew. Unfortunately too short for two trains. However, Great Escape could have done more to improve capacity. Major problem is the restraints. All restraints have to be released and lowered individually rather than all at once. Anyway, after an average ride on Demon, we headed to the other half of the park to grab a quick bite to eat. On the way to the beer garden, we decided to ride Boomerang (#98) . We figured it wouldn't take long but thanks to the slow crew and a breakdown we waited an hour and a half for this all too prolific coaster. However, it was during this wait that our day became very interesting. Since we had no women with us to tell us what was possible and impossible, our male minds decided to wonder and we eventually conceived the crazy plan to rush all the way back to Hershey after our visit to The Great Escape. It made sense because it was supposed to rain on Sunday so Storm Runner may not have been open but Saturday was supposed to be dry all day. Anyway, after our ride on Boomerang and a delicious meal at the Beer Garden, we advanced to Alpine Bobsled (#99) . There were a lot of people in line and I figured the wait would be one of the longest of the day. However, much to our surprise, the crew was moving fast and dispatching trains quick. The wait ended up being under 20 minutes. The ride was pretty cool too. All bobsleds are real fun and this one even had some additional theming to boot. It was now time for the big one. The number 100!!! Comet was the only coaster left and dad and I were pumped. The Comet crew was pumped too and were dispatching real fast. The ride was awesome with fabulous airtime and great visuals of the mountains. After a few more rides on The Comet and a little gift shopping, we decided to hit the road for Hershey at about 4:30 PM.
We survived 5 hours of crazy man driving through New York and Pennsylvania to arrive in the Hershey area at about 9:30 PM. However, we couldn't have picked a worse time to show up. Not only were we the only car trying to get into Hershey park with only 1 hour and a half before the park closed, but we confronted a tidal wave not only from the Big 33 football game, but the Hilary Duff concert was just letting out as well! After weaving through traffic and using exits as entrances, we finally got to the entrance of the park and used our free passes to enter at 10 PM with only an hour to go to closing. We hauled
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larrygator
Posts: 4654
Registered: 11/7/2002
Rank: Platinum Critic
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 8/6/2004 11:05:49 PM
Great choice for #100, The Comet was also #100 for me.
That's an insane drive to make for one ride on Storm Runner but I'm glad you got on the ride. Let me get this straight, you used a free all-day pass for only one ride.
I guess it makes sense since you live so many hours away. How did you get the free passes, share the love and send some my way.
Great assessment of Great Escape it really is a weak park for thrills.
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beastboy
Posts: 265
Registered: 4/22/2004
Rank: Silver Critic
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8/9/2004 8:41:52 AM
We got the free evening passes because we had drove to Hershey that Thursday and Storm Runner was down all evening due to rain and thankfully guest services understood our situation and gave us free evening passes.
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Knoebels
Posts: 854
Registered: 7/2/2003
Rank: Gold Critic
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8/12/2004 6:00:52 PM
So, where's the Knoebels TR? I'll be looking for it   .
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Swimace
Posts: 5916
Registered: 8/28/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
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8/12/2004 6:29:44 PM
I got 5 rides on SR when I went, but then again, I wasn't there for an hour
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beastboy
Posts: 265
Registered: 4/22/2004
Rank: Silver Critic
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8/13/2004 8:02:31 AM
Sorry about the Knoebels Tr. 2 a days for football have started so I don't have much time left. I'll try to get it up this weekend.
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Knoebels
Posts: 854
Registered: 7/2/2003
Rank: Gold Critic
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8/13/2004 11:35:45 AM
Doesn't realy matter when. I'll be here.
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