Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread

[A.J.Counts I305 as 32 credits...]

You honestly haven't ridden Skyrush until you've ridden in that seat.

Uh, yes I have. There's a photo floating around of me honestly riding Skyrush on opening day!

Yeah, the group I was with was assigned to the fourth row the second time we rode and the third row the third time. I'll get a ride in the back eventually!

Also, as an aside (Jake might know more about this), how does the intensity of the big turn after the first airtime hill compare to Intimidator 305's first turn? On all three of my rides on Skyrush yesterday, I began to lose vision about three-quarters of the way through.

[coasterfreak101Gimme Some Candy!]

Uh, yes I have. There's a photo floating around of me honestly riding Skyrush on opening day!

You know what I meant! Being literal is overrated!

Yeah, the group I was with was assigned to the fourth row the second time we rode and the third row the third time. I'll get a ride in the back eventually!

You can request a row, and the person assigning seats will let you wait for it. And it's very worth it!

Also, as an aside (Jake might know more about this), how does the intensity of the big turn after the first airtime hill compare to Intimidator 305's first turn? On all three of my rides on Skyrush yesterday, I began to lose vision about three-quarters of the way through.

Honestly, I don't think it comes close in any way, shape, or form. The turn on I305 is faster and longer in duration. And while it's wider, after riding both of them I definitely think that the radial acceleration around the I305 turn is greater, so it's much more forceful. I can tell you for sure that I've never lost an ounce of vision on Skyrush, but I come within a second of completely losing it every lap I take on I305.

[Skycoastin SteveFive babies drowned in a fire]

Also, as an aside (Jake might know more about this), how does the intensity of the big turn after the first airtime hill compare to Intimidator 305's first turn? On all three of my rides on Skyrush yesterday, I began to lose vision about three-quarters of the way through.

That turn on Skyrush isn't even on the same planet as the first turn on 305. It was good, but the turn on 305 has literally made me almost 100% lose consciousness on a hot day.

[tb81I Guess Donkeys Are Okay]

Skyrush - The new padding on the restraints really do make a difference, especially on the first drop! Resting the restraint just on your thighs lets your butt leave the seat going down. Unfortunately, since the mechanism is still the same, you get stapled in at the bottom of the drop. Still, the OMFGCRAZY hills throughout the layout are much more comfortable!

If the new padding is "better" then I would have hated to have ridden with the old. I went to Hershey on Monday evening and took my first ride. Restraints aside, the ride really is amazing. The airtime is extreme and that first drop really is unbelievable. With that said, the fact that my legs were going numb because the bar was placing so much pressure on my thighs really detracted from the ride experience. By the time the ride was whipping around to enter the last two bunny hops, I couldn't wait for it to be over.

I rode once and I was quite happy with only riding once. There was a small girl in the seat in front of me that was literally in tears because of the restraints pinning her in so hard. I was surprised to hear several other riders that were on my train complaining about the discomfort caused by the lap bars as well. Hershey has a problem on their hands it seems. While I definitely commend them on trying to quickly address with the new padding, hopefully they can find a resolution during the off season to help ease the issue a bit more.

I'm really not one to complain about rides being too rough or painful and usually have a high tolerance for such. This was honestly the first time where it really was unbearable for me...and I have bruises on my thighs to prove it. It probably wouldn't have been nearly as bad if you didn't have to sit on the brake run for several minutes while they are loading the other train. I went to Hershey fully expecting to be blown away with the Sky Rush experience. Instead, I left happy that I only had to ride it once. I'd be willing to give it another fair shake on my next visit, but this time I much preferred spending my time riding Storm Runner (which I had never ridden) and Lightning Racer (which was a lot more fun that I remember it being).

On a positive note, kudos to Hershey on the new Sooper Dooper Looper trains. Had a great ride on it and would have loved another ride had the queue line not been over flowing!

- Todd

[coasterfreak101Gimme Some Candy!]

Speaking of the overflowing SDL queue, it's been filling up at least to the exit of the under-the-station part a lot this year, but they've only been running one train every time I've been this year. Have they run both and I'm just missing it, or is something not ready with the second one? I've only ridden once this year because of how bad the line is with one-train ops.

[tb81I Guess Donkeys Are Okay]

Speaking of the overflowing SDL queue, it's been filling up at least to the exit of the under-the-station part a lot this year, but they've only been running one train every time I've been this year. Have they run both and I'm just missing it, or is something not ready with the second one? I've only ridden once this year because of how bad the line is with one-train ops.

When I was there on Monday, they were running one train. The second was on the transfer track and had a few pieces that had been removed. I went back for a few hours yesterday morning and, much to my surprise, they were running both trains. Even with both trains running, the queue was still completely full and out of the entrance.

- Todd

[coasterfreak101Gimme Some Candy!]

Wow. And on a Tuesday? That's crazy. Glad to hear that both trains are being run, though I'd like to know why they aren't both being run every other day - I think I might've seen one-train operations with the old trains once in all the years I've been going.

[tb81I Guess Donkeys Are Okay]

^ It has been 10 years since my last Hershey visit, so I'm not a regular by any stretch of the imagination...but the park seemed packed yesterday. Sooper Dooper Looper, Comet and Sky Rush all had over flowing queues when I left at noon yesterday. Fahrenheit also had an hour wait, which we endured because we didn't get to ride it on Monday night. Not sure if crowds died down or not. I can tell you that on Monday evening, though, that both SDL and Comet still had full queues while we were in line for Sky Rush around 8:30pm. Based on our experience, seemed like a lot of people were taking advantage of the preview ticket like we did!

- Todd

[ahechtBonafide Donkey Expert]

Skyrush - The new padding on the restraints really do make a difference, especially on the first drop! Resting the restraint just on your thighs lets your butt leave the seat going down. Unfortunately, since the mechanism is still the same, you get stapled in at the bottom of the drop. Still, the OMFGCRAZY hills throughout the layout are much more comfortable!

If the new padding is "better" then I would have hated to have ridden with the old. I went to Hershey on Monday evening and took my first ride. Restraints aside, the ride really is amazing. The airtime is extreme and that first drop really is unbelievable. With that said, the fact that my legs were going numb because the bar was placing so much pressure on my thighs really detracted from the ride experience. By the time the ride was whipping around to enter the last two bunny hops, I couldn't wait for it to be over.

I rode once and I was quite happy with only riding once. There was a small girl in the seat in front of me that was literally in tears because of the restraints pinning her in so hard. I was surprised to hear several other riders that were on my train complaining about the discomfort caused by the lap bars as well. Hershey has a problem on their hands it seems. While I definitely commend them on trying to quickly address with the new padding, hopefully they can find a resolution during the off season to help ease the issue a bit more.

I'm really not one to complain about rides being too rough or painful and usually have a high tolerance for such. This was honestly the first time where it really was unbearable for me...and I have bruises on my thighs to prove it. It probably wouldn't have been nearly as bad if you didn't have to sit on the brake run for several minutes while they are loading the other train. I went to Hershey fully expecting to be blown away with the Sky Rush experience. Instead, I left happy that I only had to ride it once. I'd be willing to give it another fair shake on my next visit, but this time I much preferred spending my time riding Storm Runner (which I had never ridden) and Lightning Racer (which was a lot more fun that I remember it being).

On a positive note, kudos to Hershey on the new Sooper Dooper Looper trains. Had a great ride on it and would have loved another ride had the queue line not been over flowing!

- Todd

Yet the consensus by the Powers That Be is still that we are a bunch of whiners who don't deserve intense rides.

[HugecoltsfanThis B&M donkey is so smooth!]

I rode Skyrush this past friday for the first time. Those restraints are pretty brutal on the legs. It was worst because we ended up being stuck on the break run.