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Great Bear
Website: Hersheypark Homepage
Ride Type: Inverted Steel Coaster
Ride Status: Running
Average Rating: 4.0000
TPC Overall Rank: #162 out of 2933 rides.
Reviews: 103
Last Review: 7/2/2012 9:59:00 PM
In User Top 10: 77 times.
User Tracker Count: 270 times.
 

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Page [ 4 of 10 ] 1  2  3  [ 4 ] 5  6  7  8  9  10 
5 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up Axman on 6/12/2005 3:41:00 PM
This may be one of my favorite inverted coasters, not just for the speed and inversions, but because of that first drop. Its probably one of the largest drops of any inverted coaster. I also love the general layout, you constantly are going over and under other attractions like the skyview and the sooperdooperlooper.Simply, a great ride.:thumbsup:

4 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up Broduer477 on 6/7/2005 8:23:00 PM
i thought this was a good inverted coaster. i think its a little underrated. this is a classic at hershey, its got great views from the top, a good drop, and good inversions. a solid classic.

3 Rating
-2 Rating Rate Down Rate Up ing king on 6/5/2005 12:19:00 PM
I dont like Inverts that much and i have to say, that i like Great Bear even less than e.g. Raptor, or Talon.

3 Rating
+1 Rating Rate Down Rate Up BobFunland on 6/1/2005 11:49:00 AM
Great Bear is a pretty good B&M Invert in my opinion. It is not in my personal top tier for Inverts, but a good ride nontheless. The setting is something out of the ordinary -- its built on top of everything. The ride shares all of its space, other than the station, with something else. That calls for an interesting layout, which is exactly what Great Bear has. The first drop is.. um... weird. Though it looks like it is kinda useless, we gained more speed than I had imagined. The first drop was more intense than I had thought it would be as well (I was suprised a lot with this ride). The loop and then immelman were both nice, followed by the always sweet zero-G roll. From there, the ride is merely ho-hum, with a bunch of non-inverting track. The ride does get close to the river, which is cool, and has some really funky support collumns. The ride finishes out with a good flat spin, and before you know it you hit the brakes. The ride was fun, no doubt, but its hard to love it the same as some others. I would call this a strong 7, with the abundance (though understandable because of the land constraints) of strait track and the position of the onride photo (right when you hit the brake run, how dumb is that?) being the determining factors to keep it from an 8.

5 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up Fore91 on 4/25/2005 3:58:00 PM
Wow, I forgot to write a review about this coaster...oh well. I rode it last summer but the ride is very vibrant in my mind. This is my favorite invert that I have ever ridden. I have only ridden like four, but I personally enjoyed this ride more than the raptor and alpengeist.

The one thing that I dont like about inverts is when the ride is very compact and basicially, 10 pounds of crap is stuffed into a 5 pound bag.

Yes, the GB is short, but it didnt come across as disorienting as alpengeist and the raptor. IMO, the great bear is a perfect mix of smooth, flowing elements, including some unique sections.

The most apparent section that im talking about is of course the first helix. Most (actually all of the helixs that I have experienced,) helixs jam you into your seat and put massive positive gs on your body. Not the great bear. Its a whole lot like an inverted loop. The only difference is that the helix is sustained longer.

Just before I got into my seat, the person behind me said, "Make sure your shoes are tied tight" I knew what he meant, but I never would have thought that that little turnaround would be so intense.

After the helix, this coaster honestly felt like a floorless. It was very smooth and the connection of the elements was seamless. Whizzing past the sooperdooperlooper was awesome.

Like many people, my only complaint was the length of the ride. Honestly, it didnt bother me much, but another element or two would have made this a better coaster than it already is.

The great bear will stand as my favorite invert until I ride something better. Unfortunately, I dont think thats going to happen for a while.

4 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up FigNewly on 3/12/2005 9:22:00 PM
I really enjoyed this ride. The thing was, there wasnt much ride to enjoy. The helix drop and immleman were great, but the end had little to it, and it leaves you wanting more. I understand that they didnt have much space, but it really could have used another element.

3 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up RCGenius on 1/9/2005 8:55:00 PM
A fun coaster back in 2000, but a really boring B&M invert right now. I cant even tell yall how many times Ive been on Great Bear, & this ride just keeps getting more & more boring. Its not just because Ive been on it so many times, but I feel like the elements it provides will have that effect on you that doesnt really stick out for your tastes. It cant even compete with the other B&M inverts Ive been on so far (Talon: Grip of Fear, Raptor, Montu, & Dueling Dragons: Fire & Ice). Theres just too much straight track on it between elements that couldve been used to add a cobra roll, another corkscrew, & a double helix at the end. The only good parts of Great Bear are the helix before the first drop, the first drop itself, & the zero-g roll. After those elements, the rest of the rides mediocre. I know that it was designed to be a B&M family invert, but theyve taken the whole B&M family invert thang to a whole other level. Id still ride Great Bear at Hersheypark since its the second best steel coaster there (which doesnt say a lot since their steel coaster departments weak anyway & why I believe that 2007 should be the year that they should get a B&M or Intamin hyper), but dont even bother with it if theres a huge line because its not worth it. Comet, Storm Runner, Lightning Racer, & Wildcat are much better rides anyway.

3 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up Hercules on 10/18/2004 3:29:00 PM
Whenever I hear the name Great Bear I will forever think of the marvelously designed Jack Nicklaus golf course in the Poconos. If you mention Great Bear at Hersheypark to me I will merely laugh and say something corny like "You mean... Care Bear!" Hopefully Ill come up with a better insult than that, but, you get the point. Being a B&M it is hard to overlook the fact that this thing is very well engineered with some unique supports and other areas, but the ride quality is just less than stellar. The ride looks like it is a great one with its area in the park and surroundings, but it does not live up. All I have to say is: straight track. The straight track kills the ride. After coming out of the vertical loop, you dive into a revine. Cool a revine..... and then, isnt nothing but straight track until the Immelman. Then, straight track. There are 4, maybe 5 noticable areas of just straight track. Now, dont get me wrong, these areas have a few good foot choppers and weave in and out of other rides, over pathways and over water, but they arent as exciting as what they look when off of the ride. There are some good parts such as the interesting helix before the first drop (which gathers some good speed), packs in some interesting elements throughout the ride and also has some interesting visuals, yet the negatives just outweigh everything else. The ride just doesnt give that B&M feel. It is really weird. Its not that it isnt smoother because it is, it just has this odd kind of vibration the I havent experienced on any type of B&M to this point. And going into the brakes is just plain different to the point I cant explain it. The ride is decent and a crowd pleaser, but it is nothing to write home about or pick up some merchandise in the gift shop. One other little thing before I finish... I had never noticed it before but with the station being so close to the ground it kind of has the funky Roller Coaster Tycoon feel to it. You know, when you first got the game and you started building coasters and they were all right on the ground? Thats what it is like and I havent seen a station like that in person or in pictures before. Im not saying it is a bad thing, it is just kind of funny. Great looking coaster, excellent design for the area that it is crammed into and good visuals = not so great ride. This was a huge addition back in the day and got a lot of hype. Then again Roller Soaker got that same hype just a couple of years ago, so go figure. So, you want to meet up at Great Bear at 7 tonight? Isnt that a little late for a tee time?

4 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up Swimace on 8/8/2004 6:22:00 PM
Having already been on Alpengeist, Montu, and Dueling Dragons, I didnt expect that much of this coaster as far as inverts go. I was very surprised. I really didnt expect this to be as good as it was. That first helix is so much more intense than it it looked. I saw the helix and thought that it would be nothing, it turned out to be pretty intense indeed. This coaster also packs great G-Forces. The Gs you get on the first three inversions are excellent. Its easy to overlook this ride when you think of inverts, but dont do it, this ride is much better than it looks

5 Rating
-1 Rating Rate Down Rate Up fishy on 7/26/2004 7:28:00 PM
WOW what a fun ride.One of the best inverted coasters in Pennsylvania.This and Storm Runner are the best rides in the park

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