I Heart Storm Runner. Even with the newer toys, this is still the best in show at Hersheypark for me.

Unlike Fahrenheit, Storm Runner actually bites as hard as it barks. Each element gets progressively fiercer than the last, all the way up to the heartline roll/snake dive combo, possibly my favorite single maneuver on any Intamin steel coaster. Darn near impossible to remain seated and keep your appendages inside the vehicle during that thing.

Top Hat: 150 feet going up, 180 feet going down, thank you Appalachian topography.

Cobra Loop, basically an Immelmann but with more snap and curvature on the way out.

Hersheypark's Comet, notable for its T-shaped layout designed by Herb Schmeck, and opening in 1946.

Five of the remaining ten remaining Schmeck coasters are in the state of Pennsylvania, of which Comet is one of the largest, though decidedly not the best.

Although the first two drops along the river valley are nice and deep, the whole layout suffers from a decided lack of airtime and somewhat under-performing pacing. I'd still be ready to start a lynch mob if Hersheypark ever decided to demolish it.

Unfortunately I didn't even get to ride the Comet during this trip. I avoided the morning rush to the Comet and came back later in the day to find this. I wanted to be on the train that had to do the midcourse walk down so much!

Comet, out for the count. This was a recurring theme for the day.

Skyrush, also randomly down to one train operation during the mid afternoon.

SooperDooperLooper was down most of the day, and when it did open it had this sign in front of an hour long queue.

Unfortunately I missed SooperDooperLooper this trip as well. A shame as it received all new trains and some cosmetic improvements for the 2012 season that would have been nice to check out.

One of SooperDooperLooper's trains being serviced.

Another classic, even if it's basically a mine train with a loop at the beginning.

SooperDooperLooper, doing fun curves and stuff that's not fun enough to justify an hour wait with one train operation.

Can Magic Mountain please buy a set of these trains for Revolution?

Swiss brothers, Looper and the Great Bear.

Great Bear is Hersheypark's B&M inverted coaster, opening back in 1998.

I think of Great Bear as being the first of B&M's "mid period" inverted coasters. Montu and Alpengeist represented the climax of the first wave in '96 and '97, and Great Bear was the first ride to deliberately tame the inverted coaster and imagine it as something more accessible for families.

There's still bits that I enjoy, including the still one-of-a-kind first drop.

The elevated helix before the main drop is a great way to tease anticipation and provide a flight sensation while the ride still has plenty of altitude.

Most inverted coasters are so focused on inversions in the first half that you don't get any unique maneuvers until you're halfway to the finish, which I appreciate about Great Bear over, say, Talon.

I'm not sure if the 124 foot statistic refers to the main drop length or the overall height. Anyway, there's something involving that number in this shot.

Great Bear's first 100 foot tall vertical loop.

After the unique first drop, Great Bear has a fairly by-the-books middle consisting of three inversions before it gets back to doing its own thing for the end.

Great Bear's second inversion is this Immelmann maneuver.