Hershey Park

On Tuesday my awesome parents paid for us to go to Hershey Park. It was by far one of my favorite days! We got to the park a little early so we had plenty of time to park and take the shuttle to the entrance.

We also had plenty of time for the kids to measure themselves so they would know what rides they were allowed on. Steven was a Hershey, Benny was a Reese's and we measured Lucy as a Kiss but when the professionals measured her later, they determined she was right on the line of Reese's. Penny isn't pictured but she was a Miniature. 

Once the gates opened I thought it would be smart to hit rides that might get busy as the day progressed. I was wrong because the park never really got busy (maybe because it was so stinking humid and hot!) and this just made us bounce around and do more walking then we really needed too. It also caused us to get separated from Mike's family and we ended up not getting to spend much time with them that morning.

We started off with the Reese's Xtreme Cup Challenge. This was a good starter for all the kids, not fast and scary at all and it had fun laser guns to shoot with. After that we went on the Coal Cracker and this was a big hit with ALL the kids the first time we went on it. The Coal Cracker was a boat ride through water canals that ended with a big plunge. I was really worried that Penny and Lucy were going to freak out when we hit that plunge but they loved it and were probably less freaked out then me. They all requested to go again but as soon as the ride started the second time, Ben started to cry and said he was too scared to do the plunge again. Too bad it was too late and he had no choice, but thankfully he survived without too much more drama.

After that everyone but Ben and me went on the Kissing Tower. Basically they sit in a room that goes up and down. 

Since Ben was done with thrill rides we decided to hit some kid rides: The Twin Turnpike Speedway, The Convoy (pictured below), the Red Baron, the Frog Hopper.

Then we finally met up with Mike's family only to be separated again as we chose different places to eat lunch at. I think we chose the better place because we got some fun live entertainment.

After filling our bellies, Tyler rode on the Storm Runner by himself. It was a super speedy coaster and I just don't do speedy coasters. He had also done the Great Bear Roller Coaster earlier in the day, another one that I was just not interested in. 

Then we did a couple family friendly rides: The Dry Gulch Railroad, and Monorail (picture below). And then Steven and Lucy went with us on The Trailblazer. Benny was done with coasters but Steven was still being brave (much braver than when we went to Dollywood) and he had a blast on the Trailblazer. Lucy was our little daredevil and she loved every minute of it too!

By this time we were all sweating to death and decided it was time to cool down so we headed over to the water park area. Tyler took Steven to some big water slides while I stayed with the rest of the kids at the Sandcastle Cove. I immediately regretted letting him abandon me because I was not so smart and didn't bring a swimsuit and it was really hard managing the kids in the splash area without getting wet. Thankfully Ben was a super helper and took Penny down the little water slide lots of times for me. 

When Tyler and Steven made there way back to us, they were soon abandoning us again to go to the wave pool (Oliver & Mike went to the wave pool with them too). This time they took Lucy with them but I was stuck behind again with Penny and Benny. We did a lot of boring waiting (since I was done getting wet), and some walking that helped Penny do some napping and then when we were all together and awake we did the Merry Derry Dip Fun Slides (the girls loved this), Tyler & Steven went on the Wild Mouse Coaster (which apparently jerked them around), and then at long last I got to go on my kind of roller coaster with Mike & Tyler, The Lightening Racer. It was a wooden coaster that was not too scary and so much fun!

By this time it was late and everyone was hot and tired and hungry for dinner. We squeezed in one more ride, The Cocoa Cruiser. This was a tiny roller coaster that Ben could handle and absolutely loved. It about killed my back though. And then it was time to say goodbye to Hershey Park!

This was honestly one of my favorite days on the trip. It was so fun to see what daredevils my girls are and it was fun to see my boys get brave. We all just had so much fun and I know we could have easily spent a whole another day there seeing how we didn't even get to the zoo that is there too. I am so grateful that my parents put up with the heat and hung out with us there (it was my dad's birthday for Pete's sake) and I am so grateful that they made the whole day possible. Hopefully we can go there again someday!