- June 5th, 2012, 11:16 pm
#49152
Hersheypark - May 20 and 28, 2012
94 photos from 5/20 http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhawkins/s ... 913292516/
37 photos from 5/28 http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhawkins/s ... 962255798/
Last park of the trip and my first time to Hersheypark since 2004, when I really loved the place.
And the award for weirdest looking season pass photo of all time goes to.
Unfortunately, there was one flaw in an otherwise perfect trip. Skyrush, my most anticipated new ride of 2012, was not set to open until a week later. We hoped for a soft open, but no luck. So, with that in mind, knowing that everyone is reading this specifically for a Skyrush review, let's take a trip forward in time eight days...
Memorial Day. A questionable time to try and visit a park, but I was just too eager to ride this thing. I got to the park at opening and joined the running of the bulls to Skyrush, where this sight greeted everyone. Skyrush was down, with maintenance working under the lift.
The line quickly grew to a massive size before park management starting going down it telling everyone that they did not expect the ride to open until noon at the very earliest. They also gave out coupons for free drinks to everyone, which I thought was a nice gesture. I was at the park the week before and got my fill of all the other rides, so I was in for the duration at Skyrush.
The line turned out to not be as bad as I first thought as they were not letting anyone enter the queue. Ultimately, I should have left and done other rides, as the park was surprisingly uncrowded, but I stuck it out at Skyrush for three hours, by far the longest I have ever waited for a coaster. There were probably less than 40 people who waited around the entire time, but when the ride finally got the green light I was one of the first people on.
There are three things that stood out upon entering the station. One, the lift, just like Intimidator-305, is crazy fast. The train ascends in what can't be much more than five seconds.
Two, the brand new Intamin trains. This was the real reason why Skyrush was my most anticipated ride of the year. I thought Intimidator-305 was a fantastic ride. However, I was extremely alarmed at the fact that Intamin was now putting over-the-shoulder restraints on a hyper coaster. There is no way that could continue, surely, and it has not. I was thrilled when I got my first look at the Skyrush trains several months ago. I couldn't care less about the whole winged seating gimmick, but it looked like Intamin had finally got it right. The trains resemble in a lot of ways the B&M hyper trains, which are the industry standard for comfort. But, let's get back to that in a minute.
The third thing that stands out is that the exit platform is... wait what? Where is the exit platform? Then it hits. In a mind boggling decision, Skyrush has been designed so that riders load and unload on the same side of the station. This could be due to space constraints resulting from the coaster's proximity to the Comet, but whatever the reason, there had to be a better alternative. Installed at every gate are these fancy rotating bag drops, which swivel around so that exiting riders can easily retrieve their belongings. The fact that loose articles are even allowed in the station given the load/unload setup is bizarre to begin with. So, when a train arrives back in the station, the process goes something like this: Riders exit the train to the cramped area near the entrance gates, mill about for a little bit gathering their belongings and chatting, then slowly are herded through the single exit point at the front of the station. After all of these people are clear, then finally the gates are opened to board riders. The result is a long wait on the brake run at the end of every ride and a serious limitation on this ride's capacity. Fortunately, the line still moves quite fast even with this issue.
Now, back to those restraints. The look on these riders' faces says it all. The dream that Intamin has revolutionized their train and restraint design is crushed immediately upon pulling down the bar. I am not sure who they had in mind when they designed these restraints, but it was not human beings. One thing is for sure: this ride is not going to hurl anyone out. The hydraulic locking restraint pins down sharply against the thighs in what feels like the worst possible spot. It's instant discomfort even before the train has left the station if the ride operator pushes down on the bar to check it. Fortunately, after numerous complaints, I heard a supervisor instructing the crew to only pull up to check restraints rather than pushing down. That is only helpful for so long, though, as the restraints tighten down increasingly throughout the ride unless a concerted effort is made to pull up on it throughout. I fully expect something to be done to modify them. I have been on a lot of coasters over the years, and I have never come close to hearing as many complaints exiting a ride as I did all day at Skyrush. This is not just coaster enthusiast moaning and groaning, but there was a consistent reaction from riders that they were in pain due to the lap bar.
The new hot topic of discussion to be beaten to death by coaster nerds this summer.
Now that the ugly stuff is out of the way, back to the actual ride.
Blasting up the lift, it is clear that all hell is about to break loose. The first drop is one of those "Jesus take the wheel" moments of which there are few of out there on coasters. My first ride was in the back seat, in which there is a dramatic hurdle over the top followed by another extreme pop of airtime halfway down the drop.
From there the ride is just relentless. The first airtime hill makes it clear that this thing wants you out, to fling you right on out of the park and into downtown Hershey.
There is no knock-you-unconscious moment like Intimidator-305, but the turn after the first camelback hill caused me to grey out slightly nearly every time. This is a powerful machine.
Every hill has ejector airtime.
The Stengel Dive is a strange moment of sideways airtime with a harsh directional change. If this ride had over-the-shoulder restraints there would be some ear boxing as there were multiple turns where I was nearly bent over sideways.
The entire layout can be viewed from a new pathway that has been opened along the water.
Surprisingly, the wait was only around fifteen minutes, so I rode four more times.
This may be the most intense roller coaster I have ever been on. It certainly falls into a category with The Voyage, El Toro and Intimidator-305.
There are two real flaws with the ride experience. One is that, like most of the coasters at Hersheypark, it is short. It always seemed like just when I was really getting into the ride it was ending. Two, as has already been mentioned, is the restraints. It is just a damn shame that they are so poorly designed, but this is an incredible coaster. So incredible that despite its length and despite the pain that it caused me on several of my rides, I think it nudges into my top 10 steel coasters list.
Leaving Skyrush behind, there is a whole park to explore.
One more note from Memorial Day is that Superdooperlooper, which was not open the previous week, was in action. The classic Schwarzkopf has received a makeover with new trains, which are fortunately just like the old trains, including the minimalist lap bar. It is a fun ride, though uneventful.
Stepping in the time machine again back to the week before, where my friends would sadly not get to contribute to the Skyrush controversy, but would get to explore the rest of what is a pretty nice park.
The first ride of the day was the only other major new ride for me at Hershey, Fahrenheit.
I had not heard many good things about this ride. I also never really get too excited over any looping coaster. So, it was only fitting that this coaster turned out to be one of the most pleasant surprises for me in a very long time. I loved it.
It's simple, smooth and just plain fun to me. I loved the vertical drop, the numerous inversions and the airtime hill at the end.
Even those damn Intamin restraints bothered me less on this ride than usual.
Storm Runner was next, and while I enjoyed it, I did not love it nearly as much as I remembered back in 2004.
This one does beat me up a little bit.
A wild mouse is nothing to get excited about, but Hersheypark may have the best one out there. It is a standard model, but they run it nearly brakeless. It's out of control.
After that, the most disappointing ride in the park: Wildcat. Since I rode in 2004, Wildcat has had its PTC trains replaced with the more appropriate Millennium Flyers, so I was optimistic and hoping for a great improvement.
Sadly, that was not the case. Great Coasters International gets a break for this ride, because it was their very first, and it is a beautiful looking coaster, but it just does not really have any forces. Also, it's getting pretty rough these days.
The park was so dead we even rode the slide.
Now, while GCI did not exactly hit a home run with their first coaster, four years later with their fifth ever project they took their biggest leap forward. While I do not think anyone would consider the GCI coasters before Lightning Racer to be great rides, Lightning Racer ventures into that territory.
Lightning Racer was billed as the world's first dueling and racing coaster, because sometimes the trains race side by side and sometimes they fly by each other in opposite directions.
A bit more excited about this one than Wildcat.
Unlike so many racing coasters at other parks that do not even seem to race anymore, Lightning Racer was designed to ensure that it does. There is only one operating booth to force syncronization, and the racing concept is really embraced, with spinning lights and an announcement declaring the winner each time. The coaster is also engineered brilliantly, as the winner varied nearly every time, showing how much changes in weight can affect the speed.
If not for the racing/dueling aspect of the ride, it would not exactly be a top tier coaster. While GCI really started to perfect things with this one, getting the pacing and smoothness down, the one thing Lightning Racer does not have is abundant airtime, but it seems like if a lot of the hills were just a tad shorter it would be there. This is not a problem in every GCI installation post-Lightning Racer. The lack of airtime does not really matter that much, though, as this is just a plain fun ride, one that can be ridden over and over without getting boring. We spent a good chunk of the day riding.
With Skyrush closed, Lightning Racer was the highlight of the day for everyone.
Also new since my last visit, a candy themed interactive shooter dark ride, which is a good fit for this park.
Hershey's classic wooden coaster, Comet, is now dominated by Skyrush looming above it, but still offers a fun and smooth ride. Unfortunately, any potential airtime is killed by a nasty trim brake at the top of the first turnaround.
One of the stranger B&M inverteds out there, Great Bear.
A helix at the top of the first drop is not something you see every day. Great Bear is a short ride, but I still actually like it a lot.
It's just different from what is expected of a B&M, and I really like the low quick turns over the water. It is a great visual ride in the front seat.
They talked me into doing the log flume.
At the bottom of the big drop there is a slight hump upwards, and with Alan and John loaded into the back of my boat and just me alone in the front, we got insane and terrifying airtime. We also did not get wet at all.
For Jay and Doug, the story was different.
We headed out of the park for a bit, because what trip to Hershey is complete without the shameless corporate candy lovefest that is Hershey's Chocolate World?
The free dark ride inside showcases a glamorous perspective on the chocolate making process, complete with singing cows but missing (as was so often pointed out) child slave labor.
Then, of course, they have a store with enough candy inside to give everyone in America diabetes.
Back in the park, we rode the monorail, which affords this nice view of Storm Runner.
Once you've been on Knoebels' flyers these are just downright boring.
I let the rest of the group ride the boomerang. I have done it before and have no interest in doing it again.
I knew Alan loved Hersheypark when he agreed to ride the ferris wheel, an activity I can stunningly say that I have now watched him do twice.
We wrapped up our day with creepy giant dancing candy bars.
Even with Skyrush closed, I think everyone really enjoyed the park. I am eager to get some more Skyrush rides in this summer, especially at the ACE Rush to the Sky event later this month, and will be curious to see if anything is ever done about the restraints, or worse, trim brakes used to slow the coaster down.
Stocked up on groceries after lessons learned from the previous night, we had a great time back at the campground to wrap up the trip. It was a good kickoff to the summer and great to see friends from back home again.
94 photos from 5/20 http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhawkins/s ... 913292516/
37 photos from 5/28 http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhawkins/s ... 962255798/
Last park of the trip and my first time to Hersheypark since 2004, when I really loved the place.
And the award for weirdest looking season pass photo of all time goes to.
Unfortunately, there was one flaw in an otherwise perfect trip. Skyrush, my most anticipated new ride of 2012, was not set to open until a week later. We hoped for a soft open, but no luck. So, with that in mind, knowing that everyone is reading this specifically for a Skyrush review, let's take a trip forward in time eight days...
Memorial Day. A questionable time to try and visit a park, but I was just too eager to ride this thing. I got to the park at opening and joined the running of the bulls to Skyrush, where this sight greeted everyone. Skyrush was down, with maintenance working under the lift.
The line quickly grew to a massive size before park management starting going down it telling everyone that they did not expect the ride to open until noon at the very earliest. They also gave out coupons for free drinks to everyone, which I thought was a nice gesture. I was at the park the week before and got my fill of all the other rides, so I was in for the duration at Skyrush.
The line turned out to not be as bad as I first thought as they were not letting anyone enter the queue. Ultimately, I should have left and done other rides, as the park was surprisingly uncrowded, but I stuck it out at Skyrush for three hours, by far the longest I have ever waited for a coaster. There were probably less than 40 people who waited around the entire time, but when the ride finally got the green light I was one of the first people on.
There are three things that stood out upon entering the station. One, the lift, just like Intimidator-305, is crazy fast. The train ascends in what can't be much more than five seconds.
Two, the brand new Intamin trains. This was the real reason why Skyrush was my most anticipated ride of the year. I thought Intimidator-305 was a fantastic ride. However, I was extremely alarmed at the fact that Intamin was now putting over-the-shoulder restraints on a hyper coaster. There is no way that could continue, surely, and it has not. I was thrilled when I got my first look at the Skyrush trains several months ago. I couldn't care less about the whole winged seating gimmick, but it looked like Intamin had finally got it right. The trains resemble in a lot of ways the B&M hyper trains, which are the industry standard for comfort. But, let's get back to that in a minute.
The third thing that stands out is that the exit platform is... wait what? Where is the exit platform? Then it hits. In a mind boggling decision, Skyrush has been designed so that riders load and unload on the same side of the station. This could be due to space constraints resulting from the coaster's proximity to the Comet, but whatever the reason, there had to be a better alternative. Installed at every gate are these fancy rotating bag drops, which swivel around so that exiting riders can easily retrieve their belongings. The fact that loose articles are even allowed in the station given the load/unload setup is bizarre to begin with. So, when a train arrives back in the station, the process goes something like this: Riders exit the train to the cramped area near the entrance gates, mill about for a little bit gathering their belongings and chatting, then slowly are herded through the single exit point at the front of the station. After all of these people are clear, then finally the gates are opened to board riders. The result is a long wait on the brake run at the end of every ride and a serious limitation on this ride's capacity. Fortunately, the line still moves quite fast even with this issue.
Now, back to those restraints. The look on these riders' faces says it all. The dream that Intamin has revolutionized their train and restraint design is crushed immediately upon pulling down the bar. I am not sure who they had in mind when they designed these restraints, but it was not human beings. One thing is for sure: this ride is not going to hurl anyone out. The hydraulic locking restraint pins down sharply against the thighs in what feels like the worst possible spot. It's instant discomfort even before the train has left the station if the ride operator pushes down on the bar to check it. Fortunately, after numerous complaints, I heard a supervisor instructing the crew to only pull up to check restraints rather than pushing down. That is only helpful for so long, though, as the restraints tighten down increasingly throughout the ride unless a concerted effort is made to pull up on it throughout. I fully expect something to be done to modify them. I have been on a lot of coasters over the years, and I have never come close to hearing as many complaints exiting a ride as I did all day at Skyrush. This is not just coaster enthusiast moaning and groaning, but there was a consistent reaction from riders that they were in pain due to the lap bar.
The new hot topic of discussion to be beaten to death by coaster nerds this summer.
Now that the ugly stuff is out of the way, back to the actual ride.
Blasting up the lift, it is clear that all hell is about to break loose. The first drop is one of those "Jesus take the wheel" moments of which there are few of out there on coasters. My first ride was in the back seat, in which there is a dramatic hurdle over the top followed by another extreme pop of airtime halfway down the drop.
From there the ride is just relentless. The first airtime hill makes it clear that this thing wants you out, to fling you right on out of the park and into downtown Hershey.
There is no knock-you-unconscious moment like Intimidator-305, but the turn after the first camelback hill caused me to grey out slightly nearly every time. This is a powerful machine.
Every hill has ejector airtime.
The Stengel Dive is a strange moment of sideways airtime with a harsh directional change. If this ride had over-the-shoulder restraints there would be some ear boxing as there were multiple turns where I was nearly bent over sideways.
The entire layout can be viewed from a new pathway that has been opened along the water.
Surprisingly, the wait was only around fifteen minutes, so I rode four more times.
This may be the most intense roller coaster I have ever been on. It certainly falls into a category with The Voyage, El Toro and Intimidator-305.
There are two real flaws with the ride experience. One is that, like most of the coasters at Hersheypark, it is short. It always seemed like just when I was really getting into the ride it was ending. Two, as has already been mentioned, is the restraints. It is just a damn shame that they are so poorly designed, but this is an incredible coaster. So incredible that despite its length and despite the pain that it caused me on several of my rides, I think it nudges into my top 10 steel coasters list.
Leaving Skyrush behind, there is a whole park to explore.
One more note from Memorial Day is that Superdooperlooper, which was not open the previous week, was in action. The classic Schwarzkopf has received a makeover with new trains, which are fortunately just like the old trains, including the minimalist lap bar. It is a fun ride, though uneventful.
Stepping in the time machine again back to the week before, where my friends would sadly not get to contribute to the Skyrush controversy, but would get to explore the rest of what is a pretty nice park.
The first ride of the day was the only other major new ride for me at Hershey, Fahrenheit.
I had not heard many good things about this ride. I also never really get too excited over any looping coaster. So, it was only fitting that this coaster turned out to be one of the most pleasant surprises for me in a very long time. I loved it.
It's simple, smooth and just plain fun to me. I loved the vertical drop, the numerous inversions and the airtime hill at the end.
Even those damn Intamin restraints bothered me less on this ride than usual.
Storm Runner was next, and while I enjoyed it, I did not love it nearly as much as I remembered back in 2004.
This one does beat me up a little bit.
A wild mouse is nothing to get excited about, but Hersheypark may have the best one out there. It is a standard model, but they run it nearly brakeless. It's out of control.
After that, the most disappointing ride in the park: Wildcat. Since I rode in 2004, Wildcat has had its PTC trains replaced with the more appropriate Millennium Flyers, so I was optimistic and hoping for a great improvement.
Sadly, that was not the case. Great Coasters International gets a break for this ride, because it was their very first, and it is a beautiful looking coaster, but it just does not really have any forces. Also, it's getting pretty rough these days.
The park was so dead we even rode the slide.
Now, while GCI did not exactly hit a home run with their first coaster, four years later with their fifth ever project they took their biggest leap forward. While I do not think anyone would consider the GCI coasters before Lightning Racer to be great rides, Lightning Racer ventures into that territory.
Lightning Racer was billed as the world's first dueling and racing coaster, because sometimes the trains race side by side and sometimes they fly by each other in opposite directions.
A bit more excited about this one than Wildcat.
Unlike so many racing coasters at other parks that do not even seem to race anymore, Lightning Racer was designed to ensure that it does. There is only one operating booth to force syncronization, and the racing concept is really embraced, with spinning lights and an announcement declaring the winner each time. The coaster is also engineered brilliantly, as the winner varied nearly every time, showing how much changes in weight can affect the speed.
If not for the racing/dueling aspect of the ride, it would not exactly be a top tier coaster. While GCI really started to perfect things with this one, getting the pacing and smoothness down, the one thing Lightning Racer does not have is abundant airtime, but it seems like if a lot of the hills were just a tad shorter it would be there. This is not a problem in every GCI installation post-Lightning Racer. The lack of airtime does not really matter that much, though, as this is just a plain fun ride, one that can be ridden over and over without getting boring. We spent a good chunk of the day riding.
With Skyrush closed, Lightning Racer was the highlight of the day for everyone.
Also new since my last visit, a candy themed interactive shooter dark ride, which is a good fit for this park.
Hershey's classic wooden coaster, Comet, is now dominated by Skyrush looming above it, but still offers a fun and smooth ride. Unfortunately, any potential airtime is killed by a nasty trim brake at the top of the first turnaround.
One of the stranger B&M inverteds out there, Great Bear.
A helix at the top of the first drop is not something you see every day. Great Bear is a short ride, but I still actually like it a lot.
It's just different from what is expected of a B&M, and I really like the low quick turns over the water. It is a great visual ride in the front seat.
They talked me into doing the log flume.
At the bottom of the big drop there is a slight hump upwards, and with Alan and John loaded into the back of my boat and just me alone in the front, we got insane and terrifying airtime. We also did not get wet at all.
For Jay and Doug, the story was different.
We headed out of the park for a bit, because what trip to Hershey is complete without the shameless corporate candy lovefest that is Hershey's Chocolate World?
The free dark ride inside showcases a glamorous perspective on the chocolate making process, complete with singing cows but missing (as was so often pointed out) child slave labor.
Then, of course, they have a store with enough candy inside to give everyone in America diabetes.
Back in the park, we rode the monorail, which affords this nice view of Storm Runner.
Once you've been on Knoebels' flyers these are just downright boring.
I let the rest of the group ride the boomerang. I have done it before and have no interest in doing it again.
I knew Alan loved Hersheypark when he agreed to ride the ferris wheel, an activity I can stunningly say that I have now watched him do twice.
We wrapped up our day with creepy giant dancing candy bars.
Even with Skyrush closed, I think everyone really enjoyed the park. I am eager to get some more Skyrush rides in this summer, especially at the ACE Rush to the Sky event later this month, and will be curious to see if anything is ever done about the restraints, or worse, trim brakes used to slow the coaster down.
Stocked up on groceries after lessons learned from the previous night, we had a great time back at the campground to wrap up the trip. It was a good kickoff to the summer and great to see friends from back home again.
