A Hershey Park ( mostly The Boardwalk ) review.

[Papa Deuce]

We just came back last night from 2 days at Hershey. The "regular" part is pretty much what you would expect, but more crowded than I thought.

The "Boardwalk" is the new water park.

1. I was hoping for a pool, but unfortunately there wasn't one.

2. The place is HUGE.... and was packed to the brim.

3. Many people, including adults seemed to be lost. I saw many children crying that they could not find their parents.

4. I don't know why, but the water seemed inordinately cold. I could see people turning kind of blue while in the water.

5. They have a very nice changing room in the area, but need more lockers, IMO. We could not get one.

6. They park supplies chairs but I would bet that at least 50% of the people who wanted one could not get one.... But some of this is due to greedy people. I saw one lady using 3 chairs... one to sit, one to prop her feet up, and one to place her towels. It appeared that she was alone, because in the 2 hours she was near our family I never saw her with anybody.

7. There is a very nice variety of water attractions.

8. Be prepared to wait 45 minutes to an hour for the log flume.

 

[mamamary]

Thanks for your review. We were thinking of going there before the kids go back to school. Sounds like it was pretty crowded. Maybe we'll take a pass. Would you recommend the amusement park & boardwalk area for an 8 and 10 year old?

Thanks.

 

[Papa Deuce]

Thanks for your review. We were thinking of going there before the kids go back to school. Sounds like it was pretty crowded. Maybe we'll take a pass. Would you recommend the amusement park & boardwalk area for an 8 and 10 year old?

Thanks.

Absolutely.... as long as you can deal with the crowds. The main park was very nice, and while crowded, the lines were not too long. However we didn't do the major adventure rides. My daughters were not tall enough.

It does seem to me that Hershey has tougher standards than most for what kids are allowed to ride.

 

[gina2000]

We were in Hershey Monday night and Tuesday. I have to admit, I hated the Boardwalk area. It's enormously hot and cramped and very overcrowded. The food concessions didn't have enough seating and there was no shade to be found. By comparison, we went to Camelbeach last week and it was a much more pleasant experience.

Having said that, we enjoyed the rest of Hershey. Quite frankly the 19 million dollar Boardwalk was lost on us.

Mamamary, the last week of August excluding the weekends is usually very quiet at Hershey. I believe many schools are back so the crowd level is quite low.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

We went last week was a bit disappointed with the Boardwark.
However my kids are 13 & 16. They enjoyed the rest of the park and the roller coasters.
I don't remember the park haviing so many hills.
Between that and the 95 degrees, I really felt my age.

For some reason I could do 9 hours or more of WDW in August but
I was done after 5 hours at Hershey.

I do like that you can go to the park the night before about 3 hours before closing on the next day's pass. We did almost one section of the park.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

We were in Hershey Monday night and Tuesday. I have to admit, I hated the Boardwalk area. It's enormously hot and cramped and very overcrowded. The food concessions didn't have enough seating and there was no shade to be found. By comparison, we went to Camelbeach last week and it was a much more pleasant experience.

Having said that, we enjoyed the rest of Hershey. Quite frankly the 19 million dollar Boardwalk was lost on us.
Mamamary, the last week of August excluding the weekends is usually very quiet at Hershey. I believe many schools are back so the crowd level is quite low.

They spend 19 million on that??

 

[gina2000]

They spend 19 million on that??

I lied. I went back to look it up. The cost was 21 million dollars!!!


http://www.hersheypa.com/attractions/hersheypark/boardwalk/index.php

 

[disney junky]

We were in Hershey Monday night and Tuesday. I have to admit, I hated the Boardwalk area. It's enormously hot and cramped and very overcrowded. The food concessions didn't have enough seating and there was no shade to be found. By comparison, we went to Camelbeach last week and it was a much more pleasant experience.

Having said that, we enjoyed the rest of Hershey. Quite frankly the 19 million dollar Boardwalk was lost on us.

I don't think Hershey had any idea how popular this would be, but it's crazy. They don't charge any extra for it. My neighbor lifeguards, and they are completely understaffed based on attendance. And since there isn't any separate admission, there is no way to monitor how many people are actually there for the water park part.

 

[Papa Deuce]

I don't think Hershey had any idea how popular this would be, but it's crazy. They don't charge any extra for it. My neighbor lifeguards, and they are completely understaffed based on attendance. And since there isn't any separate admission, there is no way to monitor how many people are actually there for the water park part.

I would bet that 35% of the people in the park were at Boardwalk, but Boardwalk is probably 1/8th of the whole park's size, or less.

 

[KarenB]

We are about an hour away from Hershey Park. We try to go every year and we really do have a great time. I know it is not WDW, but we still have fun. We were just too busy this year to get there and check out the new water area.

Anyway....I remember the year the new "Roller Soaker" opened. We actually waited for nearly 2 hours for this ride. Now when we go, there is rarely a long line. Hopefully the newness will wear off a little for this new section too. I am glad people are coming to the park. There really is a lot more to do that just the water section.

Karen

 

[LovintheLodge]

My family loves Hersheypark! We try to go for a couple of days every other year or so. I have to say that it seemed that the 'boardwalk' area was going to be kind of small based on the construction area we saw during our visit last summer and when I read about the attractions they were building in that area. I'm not really keen on the idea of a waterpark within an amusement park anyway.

 

[PaulaSue]

LOL, we were there on Monday.

You forgot to say that the Boardwalk area was NUTS!

 

[Charade]

I was there about 2 weeks ago. I didn't get to check out the Boardwalk because I was trying to find some friends. But I did walk through it. The "beach" area was pure mayhem!! Which was kinda nice because it meant the ride lines were short. However, it was dripping profusely humid but overcast.

 

[htmom]

LOL We live here and have only been to the Boardwalk area three times this entire summer. It sure does make the rest of the park nice though.

I think most of the crying kids was from parents who think since the area is enclosed it is fine to leave them. We stayed with our five year old son and his two friends and never had a problem. But I did find a little girl crying, they found her dad over watching body surfing....

Truthfully the boardwalk is pretty much empty if you go first thing in the morning, the kids played pretty much alone until close to 11. Then we went to the rest of the park.

Boy I wish I could do Hershey in 5 hours though. But ds and dh are riders (I am too, I just usually end up with the backpack) so it takes us a long day just to do the "fun" stuff.

 

[isyne4u]

I'm excited to see the review...we leave for Hershey on Sunday (well starting in Lancaster and then moving to Hershey on Monday night). I've been telling my sons about the park and what they'll see. I haven't told them much about the Boardwalk tho.

How was the kiddie area? I have a 3 and 7 yo and they much prefer to just play in the water and get splashed.

thanks!
tara