Today we really felt like the Griswolds. We went to Hershey Adventure Park. We were looking forward to a fun day of thrills, smiles, and maybe a few screams. We didn’t know we would be screaming because the hours of rain shut down the whole park!
Hershey Park is a great amusement park. It is set up in neighborhood-like areas, each with a specific name. There are kids rides in each area rather than being concentrated in one place, which made it easy for all of us to enjoy the park together.
Our first ride was the Carousel. Van loved riding the horsey around and around. From there we went to the tiny-tot train, dino-go-round, Himalaya Adventure, helicopters and Starship. He got a little nervous when he rode the helicopters alone, but otherwise was giggling and screaming from excitement the entire time. Eventually we found the larger train (Dry Gulch Rail Road) and ended up riding that over and over and over. During this time, the rest of the NewGriswolds were riding roller coasters. They gave great reviews of each of them, and were looking forward to experiencing more after we met for lunch. Then, the unthinkable happened… something that had not happened all week… it started to rain.
It rained, and it rained, and it rained. At first most of the rides were still going, but none of us really wanted to walk around in the rain. Then there was a little thunder and lightning. That’s when the rides shut down. We decided to wait it out, but we all got a little restless. When the rain lightened up a bit, I decided to take Van to Zoo America, which is included in admission to the park. It houses animals from all over North America. The real selling point for me was that it had some indoor exhibits. Away we went. Jim and the girls stayed behind to do some shopping and try to find some rides that had reopened.
After about an hour and a half, we decided to meet up at the water park. By that time the rain had subsided and most attractions were in operation. Besides, we figured we are already wet, so we may as well go swimming. We got to the water park, changed our clothes, gathered near the wave pool, and discovered they had just shut down the park again. UGH! Visions of the arrival of the Griswolds at Wally World went through my head. I asked Jim when he was going to pull out a firearm and go “Clark W” on the ride operators. He laughed, but I had some really violent thoughts going through my mind at the time.
Finally the rain stopped, we went in the wave pool, and we made the most of the time we had left in the park. After playing in the water for a while, Van decided he wanted to ride the train again. We returned to the train while Jim and the girls found more coasters to ride. While riding the train, Van announced we were on Sodor. I think he was mixing up some of this tv shows, though, because he also kept saying we were riding the “Dinosaur Train.” So, we rode the Dinosaur Train, located on Sodor, and all the while looked for Thomas, Percy and James. He was thrilled and grinned from ear to ear the whole time! His happy mood was pretty amazing since he had not had a nap. I was so impressed with his behavior. He was such a good boy.
We decided to call it a day about 8:00. It had been a long, but very fun day. Hershey Park, as with the other Hershey attractions, did not disappoint… other than the rain. However, even though it is chocolate heaven, Hershey is not the actual heaven and doesn’t have control over the weather, much to our chagrin. It is just the luck of the Griswolds that the one day we choose to spend in the park it rains. Why did we, as the NewGriswolds, expect anything else?
08/12/10
The New Griswolds 