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Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread


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Fahrenheit and Sidewinder (if you want to ride that one) are the only two major coasters that might get really long, slow-moving lines. I highly recommend hitting Fahrenheit early since it's an amazing coaster that has a little of everything (drops, inversions, air-time) but is plagued by painfully slow loading and a dismal hourly throughput.

 

The other coasters are really good with capacity and should be no problem at all. At worst, you might have to wait 30-45 minutes for Skyrush, the Comet, and the Great Bear.

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I think Comet typically has the most skewed ride-quality-versus-time-waiting-in-line ratio of any coaster I've ever seen. It's common during peak season to never have less than a half hour wait, and often more, when there are two woodies on the other side of the park that blow it out of the water and that rarely see lines over ten minutes. Baffling.

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^I would add Storm Runner to that list. If it is past the first switchbacks its about 30min wait. And if it is in the overflow queue under Trailblazers drop then that is a long wait

 

I've never waited beyond the staircase inside the station for Storm Runner. Maybe I've just been lucky.

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Went this past Sunday, had a great time. It poured for maybe forty minutes near the end of the night, but luckily it stopped an hour before closing and they opened everything back up, including Skyrush. I wanted to point out that they really had operations licked on that ride, what would've been a 45 minute wait last year was about 30 minutes on Sunday. They got the line moving very quickly. That said, it really does suck that besides the first row you don't have any say at all where you sit, the only other coaster I remember that loaded that way was Lazer at Dorney. For a major attraction, it's pretty dumb (although the op at the end of the night let me sit at the back of the train when I asked if I could).

 

Speaking of which, Skyrush is as bonkers as ever, despite the slowdown at the top of the lift. If anything I think it's an improvement, lets you enjoy the height for a moment before plummeting to your doom. I don't think there's anything they could do to neuter this ride. The one thing the slowdown does change though is it makes the crazy pop of air you get on the first drop more pronounced in the back, making that the clearly preferable seat IMO, so again it's a little lame you can't pick your seat. I only tried asking to change rows at the end of the night though, maybe they'll always let you if you ask.

 

Only ride I didn't get on was Fahrenheit. Waiting an hour or more in that IV drip of a line out in the blazing sun is such a black hole of unpleasantness right in the middle of the day and it's never worth it for that ride, vertical lift hill or no. Get it done early or don't bother. That was the only hour wait we saw all day.

 

Oh, one more thing, Hershey has the best designed mobile app of any park I've been to. Puts CP's to shame, that's for sure.

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I finally got to ride Skyrush on Saturday. I've been on a lot of rides, and that is one of the most intense, if not the most intense, coasters I've ever been on.

 

I really loved the aggressiveness. Unfortunately for me, the ejector airtime is so severe, all of the forces go straight to my femurs, and the pain was pretty brutal. I admit that my pain threshold is low. So I found that I had to hold on for dear life, mainly to shift the forces to my arms, holding my body into the seat in order to save myself the femur pain.

 

I know it probably has to do with body type. For me, if Skyrush had a restraint that mainly held the hips, I'd be more comfortable. As designed, if it went a bit slower, I'd probably be happier.

 

In any case, it's a brilliant ride.

 

Sorry for not having read the earlier 500 pages of this threat.

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I'm convinced it isn't body type, it's all mental. Flexing your thigh muscles helps, but what it comes down to is how much are you focused on the pain, versus how much are you focused on the ride. The more you go on it, the less focused you are on the pain and the more you can enjoy the ride. The softer restraints ARE better than what it had at first. And you have to ride defensively. The special thing to me about Skyrush is every single element packs such a wallop, every twist, every hill, and you have to be braced for it, physically and mentally. That's much easier the more familiar you are with the layout. Due to the openness of the restraint, it'll toss you around like a rag doll -if you let it.

 

And about holding on for dear life: Is there ANYBODY who can keep their hands off the restraints on that last airtime hill? I found it virtually impossible, my hands went diving for it every time no matter how hard I tried. No other coaster has done that to me either.

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When I was at HP with a group of fellow enthusiasts earlier this summer we asked if we could sit in certain seats (mostly the very back) and every time our request was honored. So if you ask when you approach the station they will probably let you sit where you want (unless maybe the lines are really long).

 

As for needing to hold on, I have ridden very few coasters where I feel the need to hold on for almost the entire ride, and most all of those are due to extreme roughness where I need to brace myself. However, Skyrush seems to be one of those coasters where you can only let go in a few places, if that. It is also a coaster that really has me wishing that I never got rid of my gym membership! When I woke up the next day after doing ten rides in one day I felt like I had done a heavy-duty power lifting work out session at the gym after I had skipped a couple of weeks of going regularly - in other words, my whole body was really sore. Gee, if I only lived closer to HP I could get a season pass and forgo the gym membership and still get a good full body work out by riding Skyrush a few times once or twice a week! And not only that, it would be a lot more fun and much cheaper then spending 45 minutes or so at the gym.

 

That said, probably the only people who could comfortably ride without holding on at all would maybe be athletic people who experience those kind of forces on a regular basis - like professional bull and rodeo riders.

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I was at the park today. I rode Skyrush 4 times. It seemed different this year then last year. I'm not sure if it was the speed or what. I never had a problem with the restraints so it wasn't that. It just seemed overall different but then again so have a lot of coasters since Hades 360 took out my brain functionality. It wasn't very busy today but this is about what the station looked like all day for Skyrush. I still loved it and like that they release the restraints now in the break run.

 

image.thumb.jpg.ac44d267c699fd9c63e2dde8fdef7d0b.jpg

The station around 5. Almost no line.

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^It just has to do with people migrating towards the back of the park. Then coming back up front around 8, it works out great if you have a season pass! Show up for 5, pound out a good 5 rides on Skyrush, move to GB and SR, and so on. But that always boggles me

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It is the general migration of people. As people our natural reaction is move to the right - It is drilled in our heads from infancy to stay to the right. So when most people walk into any park they tend to go to the right, in this case into Comet Hallow. I always go to the left no matter which park I am. I usually end my trips at Hershey with rides on Skyrush once the line drops to 30 min or less. I have never waited more than 30 minutes for it.

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I'm not really sure if someone already pointed this out, but every 4 years since 2004 Hershey built a new intamin coaster, each one having a world's first

see look:

2004: Stormrunner - first accelerator coaster with inversions

2008: Fahrenheit - first vertical lift inverted loop coaster

2012: Skyrush - first winged seated mega coaster

see what I mean?

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I'm not really sure if someone already pointed this out, but every 4 years since 2004 Hershey built a new intamin coaster, each one having a world's first

see look:

2004: Stormrunner - first accelerator coaster with inversions

2008: Fahrenheit - first vertical lift inverted loop coaster

2012: Skyrush - first winged seated mega coaster

see what I mean?

 

 

If you ask me, a concept more parks should be adopting.

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I was at the park today. I rode Skyrush 4 times. It seemed different this year then last year. I'm not sure if it was the speed or what. I never had a problem with the restraints so it wasn't that. It just seemed overall different but then again so have a lot of coasters since Hades 360 took out my brain functionality. It wasn't very busy today but this is about what the station looked like all day for Skyrush. I still loved it and like that they release the restraints now in the break run.

 

[attachment=0]image.jpg[/attachment]

 

SkyRush is my favorite steel coaster. What a dream that lineup is. Your too lucky, as I have never seen it that empty.

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