Hersheypark (HP) Discussion Thread

[Ccron10]

Does this happen every year?

 

I was thinking the same thing! Nice pictures of the flooding. I remember that picnic area from the TPR trip a few years ago. I think there was a good BBQ place nearby.

 

It honestly feels like clockwork as Central Pa has had some sort of major storm or flooding event every year in this late August to late October time period. In 2011 we had Hurricane Sandy, Tropical Storm Lee (which was the worst), and a very unusual snowstorm in October, 2012 brought Hurricane Sandy, and 2013 has so far brought this massive rainstorm the other week. Hopefully this is the end of it for awhile.

 

What would the waits be for the big coasters this Saturday compared to this Friday since it's opening of Hershey in the Dark?

The lines for Friday most likely won't be bad at all, but it might be pretty full on Saturday like during the summer season. You're better off going on a Friday if you don't like lines.

[YoshiFan]

You were right about the lines/crowds. Other than Storm Runner at around 15 minutes because 1 train was running and 15 minutes for Comet, everything else was a walk on or at the most 5 minutes. I never walked right onto Fahrenheit before and was surprised Skyrush was only a 5 minute wait.

[Schrecken]

I went to HP today (I've been waiting all summer and fall for this day - hoping that I could marathon on Skyrush and up my ride count by a lot) and I got really lucky - sparse crowds and most everything was a near-walk-on, if not a total one train wait type walk-on, and of course, perfect weather.

 

Today I got:

2 front seat rides on Storm Runner

1 front seat ride on Great Bear

1 front and one back seat ride on Lightning Racer (both on Lightning side, because that side seemed to have shorter lines, and for some odd reason the ride ops were moving very slowly on LR today, and also, they were only running one train per side)

1 front seat ride on the Comet

1 front seat ride on SDL.

Also did a couple of flats as well.

AND - I got a whopping 27 rides on Skyrush! Add to that my count from earlier this year and it puts me at 40 so far, accrued in one season. And it never had any sort of line - the most I saw was maybe 6-7 people being stopped (not including myself) at the top of the stairs. The front seat did of course have longer lines, but part of the issue is that one seat on each train was roped off, so you would see only two people riding the front most of the time and the third seat being empty.

 

And speaking of Skyrush, I finally got up the nerve to ride in the back wing seats (not because I was afraid but because I have a bad back). And I found out that I had no problem with sitting there, especially since I just hunched over in those places where I thought it might hurt my back. It isn't good to have a favorite coaster when you can't ride in all of the seats, including those that are most notorious on the ride. In fact, I solved that problem many times over - I did quite a few wing seat rides (but not as many as in the center seats) today. My back didn't bother me a bit, but unfortunately my legs did get rather sore, and so I called it a day around 8 pm with my 40th ride. Now that I have worked out the problem of being able to ride in the wing seats, the only thing I don't like about them is that the restraints seem to grip even tighter in those seats than in the center ones.

 

Also, I discovered some weird GP ideas about Skyrush today, given that I rode so many times. For some reason, I met at least a few people who rode the back the first time because they were kind of afraid, and yet as anyone who has ridden it would know, the forces are way stronger (especially on the first drop) back there. So these members of the GP were putting themselves in the "scariest" part of the ride by mistake! And there was one lady who kept asking the ride ops to check her restraint as she was afraid it wouldn't hold her in place (she was in a center seat and I was in a right wing seat in the back row). I assured her that while she might feel like she was going to be ripped out of the seat, she would indeed be pinned hard to it like a board clamped in a vise (she did end up liking the ride). It was kinda funny, though. But I guess I shouldn't make light of such stuff since I used to a huge coaster phobe. And the other woman whom I told that she was in the wrong place in order to escape the most extreme part of the ride - she screamed all the way but she ended up loving it. The reactions of the GP on Skyrush are almost as amusing as riding it - quite a few novice minds were blown today by their first ride.

[Devins3]

I was wondering if anyone knows hersheys temperature policy? I'm going Friday and it looks to be around low 40s,high 30s for that day. I don't think I am going to go if none of the coasters are going to be open.

[Ccron10]

I was wondering if anyone knows hersheys temperature policy? I'm going Friday and it looks to be around low 40s,high 30s for that day. I don't think I am going to go if none of the coasters are going to be open.

 

To answer your question, Hersheypark's Facebook page made this post about two years ago:

From October 28, 2011

Many people have been asking if we’ll have the coasters open tonight and/or tomorrow and we thought that it would be a great time to ask Laura, our director of rides, what goes into deciding when roller coasters can open. With weather there are 3 common factors; lightning, temperature, and precipitation. If there is snow on the track, they won’t open. If we detect lightning within 10 miles we close the coasters. Now for the temperature…it needs to be near 50 degrees to START the coasters and get them warmed-up. Once they’re warmed-up they can run continuously until the temperature drops to the lower 40’s at which point we need to shut them down. The key is to keep the trains full and constantly running in colder temperatures. Roller Coasters may shut down sooner if there are other factors in play such as few or no riders when the temperatures hover around the upper 40's, wind, or any kind of precipitation. Who knew operating roller coasters was just as difficult as building roller coasters!

 

As of right now according to the Weather Channel, the temperature is predicted to be 52 for the high and 32 for the low.

[Devins3]

Thank you very much, I think I am going to change up plans and go to knoebels Friday night and go to Hershey Saturday. I would rather wait in lines than not ride the coasters at all. I think Knoebels will be more apt to run rides, and if not we can just use tickets.

[jray21]

^Interesting to hear about the weather. Guess I'll have to remember that if it's cold when I visit next!

[TyRush]

Anyone heading out to Candylane this weekend?

[eddie200330]

Anyone heading out to Candylane this weekend?

 

Should be nice weather wise......

[jray21]

Any reviews on Candylane?

[A.J.]

From the Adventuredome thread:

Could this be the first successful implementation of trick track on a steel coaster? I have personally never experienced it but it seems to me that people don't seem to care for it on Skyrush or Cheetah Hunt.

 

Where is there trick track on Skyrush?

[eddie200330]

From the Adventuredome thread:

Could this be the first successful implementation of trick track on a steel coaster? I have personally never experienced it but it seems to me that people don't seem to care for it on Skyrush or Cheetah Hunt.

 

Where is there trick track on Skyrush?

 

Good God....as fast as that thing goes.....could you imagine trick track!!! Yeeeeha....OUCH! LMAO

[The Yeti]

I think he meant Sky Rocket...and as far as Skyrush with trick track goes, I bet Intamin could do it!

[CPmillenia94]

Do you guys think the restraints on skyrush will ever be more appropriately addressed and fixed?

[TyRush]

Do you guys think the restraints on skyrush will ever be more appropriately addressed and fixed?

That's a great question..There was much less complaining this past season, so I would say that they wouldn't change them any further. But who knows!

[netdvn]

Can anyone confirm Skyrush's lift slowing even further? I talked to a few TPR locals on Saturday about it and they all said the lift was slowed in August and September so the ride is less intense than it was last year.

 

I'm really hoping a slowed lift doesn't hurt the ride too much. It was running balls to the walls last July. I'd hate for it to be tamed by my next ride in August.

[TyRush]

My last visit to the park was later in the month of August and the hill speed was the same as it was all season. Fast to the crest, slower over it.

[YoshiFan]

That's how the lift was when I rode the coaster at the end of October as well.

[Schrecken]

I went to HP twice in June this year and then again in October, and I noticed no difference in the speed of the lift. I never got to ride it last year so I have nothing to compare it to in that regard, but it is plenty potent as far as I'm concerned.

[Dr. M]

The fact is that no matter what they do to the lift, a few miles per hour one way or another will not significantly affect the intensity of the ride. Plummeting 200 feet in those gigantic trains is always going to produce approximately the same result. So everyone can stop worrying. We're all standing around on pins and needles waiting for the day they pussify Skyrush, but I really don't think it's going to happen. The only thing they could do is turn the trims up, which I guess they might do if they think it would make the ride more comfortable and result in significantly increased ridership... but the ride is so short, and the first drop/turn are so intense just on their own, one has to wonder what the point would be. I think they're going to leave it just the way it is. We know now they specifically asked Intamin for a more intense ride, and that's what they got.

[Rollercoaster Rider]

Based on what I've heard, They need to add a single rider line to the coaster.

[coasterbill]

We rode Skyrush for the first time this year and I have to admit I really didn't enjoy it at all. The restraints on this ride are terrible, and they completely take away from the whole experience of the ride.

 

I went into the ride with an open mind because I heard people complaining about Gatekeeper's restraints and Maverick's restraints earlier in the year before we went to Cedar Point and in both cases the rides turned out great and I just wrote it off as enthusiast's whining. I made no mention of it at all to my girlfriend so she wouldn't have any pre-conceived notions about the ride. Skyrush has a great layout with a ton of airtime but after awhile I was dreading every airtime hill because they're really uncomfortable. This ride doesn't need trims, but I wish it had new restraints. If they were a little more comfortable this would easily be a top 10 coaster for me. The park clearly knows it's a problem since the restraints pop up in the brake run which I've never seen on any other coaster... I wish they would (or could) do more to fix these restraints.

[coasterfreak101]

I hope they keep the restraints because a) they're just fine and b) it keeps the ride a walk-on for most of the afternoon since no American can seem to handle it more than once.

[rcjp]

^I guess they hurt some people more than others and it does make sense that a lot of guests will only ride it once and, therefore, the lines won't be long. Still, when I visited Hershey his summer the lines were no shorter than in their other rides and, at least in my case, the restraints did really hurt. And it's not a matter of being tight as that's something you only notice when the ride is over but it's that they are poorly designed. The part of them that actually holds your legs is no bigger than those roll shaped bars on some family rides. Besides, they do not secure you closer to the waist but more or less in the middle of your legs which only makes things more painful. I know it would be tricky to have similarly shaped restraints to the ones on B&M hypers as the fact that they are lowered instead of being pulled back means the shape has to be different. If I were to change them I would make them hold you closer to the waist, make them rounder (with a bigger diameter in the circular part) and give them two concave shapes (one for each leg) so that they would adjust properly. I'm not a designer but I guess that would improve the ride which is really the only thing left to make it perfect (in my opinion).

[A.J.]

In all seriousness, if the park would have decided at the end of the 2012 season, "Hey, let's ring up Intamin and have them make new restraints for Skyrush", we probably wouldn't see them until next season (2014) at the absolute earliest. It's not like Intamin would get right on redesigning them, because they most likely were booked solid for 2013 (with all those installations in Europe and China).