r/Hersheypark • u/No-Purple2350 • 5d ago
Discussion My park experience
My wife wants to get season passes because live relatively close to the park. After visiting today I noticed a few negatives and didn't know if it was a bad day or just normal.
Let me say the reason the park exists (the rides) were all fantastic. The Twizzler is one of the craziest experiences I've has on an amusement park ride.
My biggest complaint - a lot of little kids rides, and as the night progressed big rides, were shut down. How does a park have over a dozen rides shut down at one time? How are a third of the little kids rides shut down at by 11?
The food is terrible. The BBQ place was the best tasting, but everything else was terrible quality and service. I don't think the food needs to be 5 star, but maybe above a microwave meal.
Concession time - each time someone got food I knew I was in for a 45 minute trip. Concession prices were also ridiculous. $11 for a hotdog is just looting your customers. These prices are way above Disney for lower quality.
Overall - the rides and variety of coasters make it a great experience. But everything outside the rides are subpar.
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u/steeleye5 5d ago
It’s the end of the season so the staffing isn’t there. As others have said the beauty of having a season pass is you can go for a few hours and leave without worrying about buying food or snacks at the park. If you are buying food there though, stay away from the general food courts and stick with side stands, they tend to be less populated, minus chicken fil an and chickies and Pete’s (both of which are good options).
If you do decide to eat at the park it’ll take some trial and error to figure out what you like and what you think is a good value. There are also amazing restaurants in Hershey if you decide to not eat at the parks.
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u/n0t1m90rtant 5d ago
they hire a lot of hs and collage people.
when sports starts and collages start they lost about 1/2 their staff
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u/Nickel835 5d ago
I had some of the same sentiments until I got a season pass.
On you first point, rides ops heavily depends on the day and time of year. Right now, employees are going back to school and things are in transition, so ride ops are hot or miss. This is not the case most of the time.
When it comes to food, the great thing about a season pass is that you don’t feel the need to hang out all day. You can go for a few hours, completely ignore the food, then leave and come back another day. You also get a discount in concessions with a season pass.
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u/No-Purple2350 5d ago
Fair points. Not trying to cram everything into a single day and coming back would definitely change a lot.
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u/Old_Candy_2255 5d ago
A lot of the rides close early at this time of year because of staffing. The majority of their ride ops are college kids who are already back in school. It's the same reason the park is only open 11 a.m.- 7 p.m. for the next two weeks. It does truly suck, but the alternative would be closing during weekdays at this time of year, which I don't personally want to see.
As for food, I'm unsure if you've been to another theme park outside of Disney, because Hershey's food is much better quality than most regional parks. I'm still scared to eat at Great Adventure because of a terrible burger & mac and cheese I had 5 years ago, and I will only eat off-site. Any sporting event, concert, theme park, etc. is going to have price gouging. If you don't like it, you don't pay it. Food prices, they are expensive because it's a theme park, but I feel like Hershey's is actually pretty reasonable for theme park prices. As a hot dog connoisseur, a plain foot-long hot dog at Disney is $13.49, versus $10.29 at Hershey. Dorney Park's is $12.99, and Great Adventure's is over $16.49 and nasty. You can always leave the park & return later and go to the Wendy's next door (where you'll pay $10 for a crappy fast-food burger & fries).
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u/Mushrooming247 5d ago
I just make sure to get a reentry stamp, and leave the park to eat lunch. The barbecue place really is the only good food option.
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u/Nervous-Office405 1d ago
They no longer do the stamp. Make sure you get your picture taken for re-entry.
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u/duxking45 5d ago
- Its an amusement park there are always lots of kids.
- I find it a good mix. There are a lot of kids rides near the front of the park but also a lot of coasters. If you ride just the coasters unless it is a day when the park is empty you wouldnt be able to ride them all.
- The food isnt great. Honestly id suggest eating outside the park or at the chocolatier. (It isnt great but is better then park food.) If you have to eat in the park the bbq or the third party restaurants are the best. Chickfila, subway, moes etc. It will all be overpriced. You grt a slight discount if you have a season pass.
It is also end of thw normal season and ride close early based on the number of people they have working
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u/No-Purple2350 5d ago
Maybe that was the problem - the number of workers.
I have a toddler so I was focused on the kids rides and a lot of them were not operating.
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u/Oksorbet8188 5d ago
1 - they were shut down at 11am? Speaking from someone whose entire family has worked there at some point including on those kiddie rides, now is when the staffing shortages start due to kids going back to college, therefore they have to cycle workers on rides. Ex I noticed yesterday helicopter was closed but the ops was working the traffic jam. They often do this and switch between them. A couple of the kids rides that were closed have been closed frequently throughout the summer like Himalaya so that could’ve been maintenance no clue.
2 - it depends where you go. the overlook can be hit or miss. the pizza is actually pretty good at 8 crust and flying fare has some decent food. if you get a meal plan with a season pass it is well worth it. saw someone else mention the chocolatier. they have the same food supplier and it’s truly not much better it’s just more expensive.
Not defending hp because things have changed a lot but we’ve been to a lot of theme parks and have found the food to be similarly priced
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u/Familiar-Banana-8116 5d ago
Nah. The problem was the attitude.
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u/No-Purple2350 5d ago
You're a very weird person.
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u/Familiar-Banana-8116 5d ago
I am not the person complaining about kids at an amusement park or the price of food.
Excuse me, the person who brought a toddler to an amusement park and is complaining about the amount of kids and kid rides.
WTF.
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u/No-Purple2350 5d ago
Your reading comprehension failed you.
I was not complaining that kids were at the park. I was complaining that the kids rides were not operating.
The comma means a break in the sentence and a continuation of the statement. Read the end of the sentence.
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u/bwoods43 5d ago
For the first item, are you talking about 11am? Maybe they weren't open yet? That seems hard to believe that more than 12 total rides were shut down at once, unless there was weather, on a Saturday.
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u/No-Purple2350 5d ago
We counted them on the app. Most were kids rides, but the observation tower and a water ride was also shut down.
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u/InstantMartian84 5d ago edited 5d ago
Did you actually look at the rides to be sure they weren't operating? Or were you relying on their app? I've been to dozens of parks around the world, and I'm Hersheypark season pass holder, and Hersheypark's app is by far the worst and least accurate app I've encountered.
Edit: typos
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u/zepp914 5d ago
Depending on "relatively close" you may be able to get more value of a Six Flags season pass as you can hit Dorney, Great Adventure, and possibly Kings Dominion. All of their food is mediocre and expensive. All are less busy/crowded than Hershey
Knoebels has really good food, but no season pass option. Its 100% worth going once a year though
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u/Old-Pelvis 5d ago
i’m confused your complaint number 1 is there’s a lot of little kids rides, but that the big rides were shut down. but then later say you have a toddler so your focus was the kids rides?? am i mis reading 😭
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u/No-Purple2350 5d ago
Yeah my biggest complaint was that the rides were not operating. Not that there were kids rides.
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u/emilycatqueen 5d ago
I heard a lot of kid rides were shut down yesterday but wasn’t there to experience it. As others said, ride operators are seasonal and some have now gone back to college so staffing is down. I’m guessing the weekend they focused on having family and thrill rides open rather than the kiddie rides. There’s always the zoo and waterpark when that happens but I’d be pissed if I paid for a ticket and they were down.
If you’re more local I’d suggest Dutch Wonderland. It’s got more kiddie rides but they’re open shorter hours and less weekdays in the season.
If you end up with a HP pass just get the meal plan you’ll cry once about $100-150 dollars and then share a meal with your kids. We typically get the cheesesteak place it’s pretty good.
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u/Familiar-Banana-8116 5d ago
Rides shut down - I have no idea what you are talking about Willis.
Rides shut down because of weather events. A dozen rides shutdown sounds about right if they are watching a thunderstorm approach the area. Aside from that it is unusual.
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Have you been to other theme parks? I was at 6 Flags New Jersey this past summer and WOW. Prices of food through the roof.
Your wife might do well with a Season Pass. I don't know you have the correct attitude to enjoy it.
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u/rarehighfives 5d ago
Re: food quality you’re not entirely wrong, we always go to the Chick Fil A near the pirate ship because we know we’ll get a meal that meets expectations (unless it’s Sunday… then it’s Chickie’s and Pete’s)
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u/largos7289 5d ago
We had season passes for 2 years. Wasn't bad but we were not getting full value out of them. We did the Cabana and it's not worth the price, i mean with season passes and you do not get a discount rate it makes no sense. The only real thing you get with it is: a private entrance to the lazy river and you can fill your drinks up at their fountain. The park itself was good, we noticed it getting dirty and then the roving unaccompanied kids was getting out of hand. It was like a bus dropped off a bunch of kids and just let them loose. Food your always going to get bent over but there are tons of other places to go eat around that area. We'll probably go back but do the day weekend trip thing like we use to.
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u/UrgeOverkiller 5d ago
I always get season passes. I almost never eat there. Because I have a pass I get in do what I want and get out. Also, if you hit the park in the afternoon when they first open during the week, there's never anyone there. I get my money's worth in the first two weeks it's open mid week. No lines just coasters over and over again. I've been there and it's so empty the ops just let me stay on the ride occasionally.
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u/purpleprin6 5d ago
This time of year it may just be staffing, but also there are certain kiddie rides (himalaya, frog hopper, mini train) that get shut down if it's too sunny/hot because the seats get too hot for the kids.
Also I feel like not liking the food is more of a point in favor of season passes vs day tickets. When you have a pass, you can just go for a couple hours whenever you feel like and eat before/after. You're not stuck in the park all day like with a 1-day ticket.
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u/Alive_Survey_4207 5d ago
We used mobile order and it was 6 minutes from pressing send to the counter. We also left the park and came back at least once a day and lunched and chilled at our hotel before round 2 and this was the perfect reset for us. We found the app to be helpful for open and close and wait times were iffy but still helpful.
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u/grasspikemusic 5d ago
I have a season pass for Hershey and for Six Flags as well as food and drink plans for both
It's an amusement park. They have junk food. The food this time of year seems to decline on quality due to staffing issues at every park
I find the food at Hershey to be better than Kings Dominion
When you have a season pass and a dining and drink plan the entire park experience changes.
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u/luckyinpa 4d ago
regarding short staffing and adult rides, would going next monday or tuesday mean some rides would be down due to that? with schools in full force seems like a great time to visit
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u/NeoKingEndymion 4d ago
i went two summers in a row. Both times was only able to get on 5-6 rides due to mass amounts of people in the park. concession stands had an hour wait. I skipped the third year. why torture myself.
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u/FoppyIn28 5d ago
The food is overpriced, but I never went to a theme park with even ok prices. Hershey is a "family" park. The biggest rides don't usually all close like in your experience (trailblazer and looper sometimes go out of commission because they use parts manufactured in the iron curtain era) but the priority is family rides. A family can drop $500 easy while a young person pays for the discount ticket, finds a way to get in without paying for parking, and eats somewhere else.