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Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread


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Just got home from the park a little while ago. Skyrush was INCREDIBLE. Admittedly, I haven't rode as many coasters as a lot of you here, but Skyrush is definitely unlike anything I have ever experienced. The amount of airtime is awesome! Also, speed is not an issue through the second half of the layout. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to take a middle seat (in the very back) and I suspect the stengel dive was not as "intense" because of that.

 

I really think Hershey and Intamin outdid themselves on this one though. Just a really intense, fantastic, unique experience! I have absolutely no criticism of this ride whatsoever. I cannot wait to ride it again (and am considering heading back over at some point today to get back in line )!

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Totally forgot about the single rider line! Wasn't that the purpose of the middle staircase? I thought they had one for Skyrush.

 

The middle is for the front row (and the line for the front goes all the way down the stairs).

 

On the plus side today, Storm Runner was a 1-train wait.

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I'm tempted to say Fahrenheit also. It's almost painful to wait in that line when it has a full queue. There's little shade and I don't recall any misters being on in the line. Not to mention watching the trains stacking on the brake run. Then again Sky Rush is an unknown. There could be the typical problems running a brand new coaster.

 

Your recollections of Fahrenheit are incorrect. At least in its opening year, it had misters. I remember specifically placing my hat over one of them so it would get all nice and soaked, cooling off my head.

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Just got home from the park a little while ago. Skyrush was INCREDIBLE. Admittedly, I haven't rode as many coasters as a lot of you here, but Skyrush is definitely unlike anything I have ever experienced. The amount of airtime is awesome! Also, speed is not an issue through the second half of the layout. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to take a middle seat (in the very back) and I suspect the stengel dive was not as "intense" because of that.

 

I really think Hershey and Intamin outdid themselves on this one though. Just a really intense, fantastic, unique experience! I have absolutely no criticism of this ride whatsoever. I cannot wait to ride it again (and am considering heading back over at some point today to get back in line )!

 

Hey, it's my riding partner!

 

I agree with everything Mike said, as we talked about most of it. The operations were unusually slow due to the loading and unloading taking place on the same side-- everyone from the previous train had to clear before new riders entered, and the path along the side of the station was narrow. But there were employees at the base of the stairs, at the merge point into the station, and inside the station trying to maximize efficiency. The single-row boarding didn't seem to confuse anyone, but there was certainly a much higher demand for the wing seats than the floored ones, and the latter often went empty. Although Mike and I both wanted wing seats, we filled in the middle two since they were empty (a pair of riders before us took the wing seats). Even though I didn't get the seat I was aiming for, the ride was still fantastic and I loved every second. I made some pros and cons below:

 

Pros:

The lift: fast and steep, surprisingly so, even after riding Millie and I305.

The drop: a host of airtime in the back, even if I did feel a little bit of rattle.

The airtime: glorious. Simply glorious. You fly out atop every hill and stay there until the end of your descent.

The restraints: very open and unrestrictive, which pairs nicely with the airtime.

 

Cons:

The loading: as said before, the same-side loading/unloading and the wing seats make for inefficient, awkward boarding.

The restraints: although they provide great freedom, the lap bars are quite hard and squeeze tightly. Even though I had plenty of room in the station, the forces of the ride had me stapled by the end, and I'm a pretty skinny kid.

 

In the end, the pros outweighed the cons, and Skyrush is now in fierce competition with El Toro for my #2 coaster.

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A big thanks for all the detailed reviews I've seen so far, and I'm looking forward to more!

 

Skyrush sounds phenomenal and I can't wait to ride it. I guess people really weren't joking when they predicted high demand for the wing seats; I honestly have given up and imagine I won't try too hard for one, at least at first.

 

My main concern so far is the reported auto-staple from the forces. Hopefully it's not too painful, and occurs late enough in the ride that I can still enjoy some freedom.

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The Skyrush lift hill seems to be alternating between two modes: One goes at full speed the entire way up, the other goes slowly until the other train is in the station and then speeds up to about 2/3 of full speed.

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I am a bit surprised they did not use a GIB-style loading system, where they have 16 airgates instead of eight, two for each car; two riders for winged seats, two for the floored seats. And, they could have signs in the queue explaining the system, to hopefully avoid confusion.

 

Also, the problem with Hersheypark ops, from what I have observed, is that they seem to spend a lot of time doing nothing. They actually move at a descent speed, but, once I visited to see the Great Bear crew waiting for the trains to stack before even starting to check restraints. For some reason, I can see the ops on Skyrush doing the same thing.

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With Skyrush now open Hershey is honestly one of my favorite parks, but looking back and seeing how they seem to put in a coaster every 4 or so years makes me wonder... When the time does come in a few years for their next coaster, is there any space left in the Park? If you look at it basically all the useable land is being used now. I know parks have jammed coasters in before, but I don't see how they will be able to fit any more major additions.

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With Skyrush now open Hershey is honestly one of my favorite parks, but looking back and seeing how they seem to put in a coaster every 4 or so years makes me wonder... When the time does come in a few years for their next coaster, is there any space left in the Park? If you look at it basically all the useable land is being used now. I know parks have jammed coasters in before, but I don't see how they will be able to fit any more major additions.

Let's not bring up the whole "Park has no room for major coaster" debate again. If a park wants to have a coaster, they will make room for it.

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I was also wondering how to get the most out of my day when I go. I am going to the park in a few weeks. I really want to ride everything, including skyrush, but I am probably not going to get to the park until about 11 and I'm not really sure how to go from there. Any advice?

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If they don't work through the loading issues people are mentioning it's going to be a looong summer. Any sort of soft-opening would've really helped them work out these kinks before the summer crowds got there. Oh well. Hopefully they'll find a way to enforce people walking to the last available seat in their row - you can fight over the winged seats within your group, but you can't take that from other groups, that's not fair at all.

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I was also wondering how to get the most out of my day when I go. I am going to the park in a few weeks. I really want to ride everything, including skyrush, but I am probably not going to get to the park until about 11 and I'm not really sure how to go from there. Any advice?

 

This afternoon, before the rain started, there was less than an hour wait for SkyRush. You can also get the fast lane pass if you're concerned about the rest of the rides.

 

^I think they might've had a soft opening. According to this video's description, Skyrush was up and running Friday night.

 

That was a private event for the Project 2012 junior researchers and about 100 radio station contest winners to ride once, not a soft opening.

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I was also wondering how to get the most out of my day when I go. I am going to the park in a few weeks. I really want to ride everything, including skyrush, but I am probably not going to get to the park until about 11 and I'm not really sure how to go from there. Any advice?

In all honesty, get there at opening if not before. Otherwise try to get the Fast Lane pass if there are any left. You shouldn't have any issues with lines for Lightning Racer or Wildcat at all. Fahrenheit and Sky Rush will most likely be the worst of the lines. But that being said, all the coasters can get crazy lines almost any time. I was lucky all last summer with Storm Runner being a walk on around 3:00 for some reason while Sidewinder right next to it had a 45 minute wait.

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Another (High-Definition) pic from the "SooperDooperLooper" testing-phase, made (Source) by the Flickr.com-Photostream by Ride Entertainment Group.

 

Why do all the water dummies have duct tape over their eyes? They know their not real people right? Right?

 

It's so they don't get scared and piss away all the water!...lol

 

 

 

The Skyrush lift hill seems to be alternating between two modes: One goes at full speed the entire way up, the other goes slowly until the other train is in the station and then speeds up to about 2/3 of full speed.

 

 

It's supposed to do that, if one train is still on the course while another is starting up the lift, the lift will run slower to allow the other train to clear the course or block (it has to do this since there is no MCBR). Once that happens the train on the lift speeds up.

 

It's just a block thing.

 

 

 

Look at that, magnetic brakes on a Schwarzkopf coaster!

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With Skyrush now open Hershey is honestly one of my favorite parks, but looking back and seeing how they seem to put in a coaster every 4 or so years makes me wonder... When the time does come in a few years for their next coaster, is there any space left in the Park? If you look at it basically all the useable land is being used now. I know parks have jammed coasters in before, but I don't see how they will be able to fit any more major additions.

 

 

They have plenty of room with the now closed golf course next door (speaking of which, I'm surprised SkyRush wasn't extended further into the course), and if they ever decide to demolish Hersheypark Stadium and build a new one closer to the GIANT Center, they'll have even more space for a marquee ride.

 

Getting rid of Hersheypark Arena is possible, but I'm not sure if they'll ever tear it down due to the historical significance (site of Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game, etc.) and the fact that it's still used a fair amount.

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