Hersheypark Skyrush - Sunday, May 27th, 2012

sorry to jump in late, but one quick question:

Can anyone compare Skyrush to the Mega-Lites? The ML at Happy Valley Shangai was incredible, airtime galore, and I don't remember it being uncomfortable at all.

Anyone ridden both yet? I haven't ridden Skyrush so I'm trying to gauge against ML, which I thought was incredibly aggressive, but not painful. From the description (and layout) of Skyrush, I can imagine the similarities. However, I suspect there is more going on with Skyrush.

Would love to hear someone else's opinion.

Lord Gonchar said:

Ok. I get it. You're arguing the other side of the same coin. Making the ride more comfortable with speed adjustments would likely reduce the intensity of the ride.

But here's what you originally said:

Though I thought Robb Alvey's general response to this criticism (e.g., "American riders are lame; let's just let Intamin build the best and intense coasters in Europe") was a bit intense and perhaps inappropriate given that he apparently hasn't ridden it yet, I'm starting to agree with him on this.



So as you'll note Gonch, I've never said that people are complaining about intensity. At worst I suggested some level of agreement with Alvey's contention on the "lameness" of American riders. Also, I'm not precise here in so far as the extent to which I agree with Alvey, so it's not obvious that I even believed here that others were complaining about intensity.

Potato.

ApolloAndy said:
For what it's worth, I have tiny legs and also found the ride unenjoyable.

Andy: that's too funny. I actually kinda figured that it wouldn't make a difference because little tiny kids were riding it and saying their legs hurt, which I mentioned before actually, but I figured maybe it would be LESS painful. Apparently not...I'm still losing weight though. I would like to fit better into Fahrenheit and El Toro and just in general feel better.

I'm off topic again. Squirrel! (thank you Vater for the fun reference).

I saw little kids exiting the ride limping and complaining of leg pain. The restraints need to be wider or something spreading the pressure out over a larger area... it wasn't the most comfortable ride, but it was pretty cool.

I'm hearing reports that one of the Skyrush trains has already been fitted with new "in house" restraints. The other train still has the old, problematic restraints temporarily.

Anyone been out to ride it this weekend?

CreditWh0re said:

sorry to jump in late, but one quick question:

Can anyone compare Skyrush to the Mega-Lites? The ML at Happy Valley Shangai was incredible, airtime galore, and I don't remember it being uncomfortable at all.

Anyone ridden both yet? I haven't ridden Skyrush so I'm trying to gauge against ML, which I thought was incredibly aggressive, but not painful. From the description (and layout) of Skyrush, I can imagine the similarities. However, I suspect there is more going on with Skyrush.

Would love to hear someone else's opinion.

The airtime between the two is very comparable. Both are very compact, making for very forceful transitions. The main difference (other than the first drop which is the scariest I've ever experienced), is the speed Skyrush hits those hills. This makes for an abrupt airtime that (if you're not prepared for it) is quite frightening.

John Knotts said:

I'm hearing reports that one of the Skyrush trains has already been fitted with new "in house" restraints. The other train still has the old, problematic restraints temporarily.

Anyone been out to ride it this weekend?

We were there Thursday night and Friday. Only 1 train was running so there may be something to this.

FWIW I had to sit in the fat guy seat on Great Bear (6'4" 260LB), but fit fine in Fahrenheit, Storm Runner and Sky Rush, although I experienced the guilitine like forces on my upper leg when my rear end came out of the seat LOL.

I just got back from Hersheypark, and though I'll probably write a trip report on it, I figured I'd weigh in here as well.

I rode the train with the new restraints, and I can't imagine how nasty it must have been with less padding. Even the supposedly softer ones I experienced weren't nice and cuddly. That said, I thought the ride was straight-up epic (my new #1) and a whole new kind of intense. I don't know what Intamin's deal is these days, but man, they pull no punches.

I might as well throw in my two cents as well. Been to Hershey twice this summer (June 17th, and July 8th). Got to ride SkyRush once on 6/17. Outside Right seat, Row 4. On that ride I experienced the intense thigh pain that has been the talk of the town (tied with the station issues)...and it was amplified by the ride breaking down and being stuck on the break run for 20 minutes. Was a bit disappointed but didn't want to write it off yet.

This past Sunday there was almost no wait, so we waited for the front and I rode on an interior seat. Instead of holding on to the handles on the front of the restraints I held on to the side bars leading to the plastic-y part. I found this helped a bit with the stapling. This ride I had no leg pain at all. In fact we looped around and re-rode with a walk-on in row 4. Again interior seat and no pain. I should mention that both trains were being utilized and we rode each train and i didn't notice a difference in the restraints (new v "old"). We took a final ride at night. A bit of a wait as someone came back into the station with a bloody nose (never found out why) and they had to sanitize the train. Anyway, this last ride was on a wing seat (left this time) and while it still didn't hurt as much as first ride I had on the outside, it was noticeably more painful than either run on the inside.

So, in the end i guess it's a collection of small reasons that add up to make some rides extremely painful, while others are not. I would say the ride would be a bust for the possible pain...except the inside rides were crazy fast and fun and perfectly not painful (IMO). I still hope they can tweak the restraints some more to eliminate the pain all-together but keep the sheer insanity of the air...

Just wanted to chime in (it's what the internet is for, right? :) )

Just got off the ride and I can no longer feel my thighs. But was good and lines were short (25 min)

You should go to the hospital then.

CreditWh0re said:

Can anyone compare Skyrush to the Mega-Lites? The ML at Happy Valley Shangai was incredible, airtime galore, and I don't remember it being uncomfortable at all.

Having done Kawasemi at Tobu Zoo, I think Skyrush was better. They're both outstanding coasters, but Skyrush wins with the open trains, the drop, and the more insane ejector air.

cdude3 said:
You should go to the hospital then.

I was good just the restraints were hard to bare. But now at six flags NJ and having a blast on kingda ka and el toro.

SO jealous. Haven't ridden Toro yet this season.

its pretty awesome but on the 200 ft hill I was stuck for 15 min. Other then that el toro has lived up to it's expectations or 2nd on the top 100 list.

This ride is driving me nuts.

Got another ride in last Friday with my previous riding partner and some SkyRush newb friends. Me and my previous riding partner, who hated our last ride, loved this on. All friends seemed to enjoy it.

Scenario: I was in a middle, non-wing seat third row from the back. I held onto the sides of the lapbar instead of the middle, which I had read helps. The ride felt smooth, and not quite as face-meltingly fast as it did on my previous ride. The tracking might have also felt a little softer - more like B&Ms built in the past 5 years or so. Could have been softer/different/older wheels or just completely my imagination.

The result was an extremely wild, intense ride, but not so over the top that it wasn't enjoyable. Lapbars were tight at the end but not painfully so.

At any rate, this last ride was a top 10 coaster ride for me, but all 3 I've had on SkyRush have been completely different. I completely understand now why people are coming off this thing with such wildly differing opinions.

SkyRush is stupid-intense. My legs are killing me. Stuffing my, ummm, "self" as far under the restraints as possible helped quite a bit on subsequent laps. The first thing I recall saying after lap 1 of ERT was "I don't recall ever wanting an OTSR before." Glad I got to ride before it (virtually inevitably) gets tamed...