My complete breakdown of Skyrush

I had wanted to post this the day after our URC gathering at Hershey back in mid-June, however, with the forums being down for the rest of the weekend and most of the following week, I decided to hold off until after our ACE event this past Saturday. I remember asking “why is everyone posting TR’s about Hershey that focus solely on Skyrush?” Well, after my 3 rides on June 14th, it became “painfully” clear, much pun intended. Jen covered all of "the sides" of our trip, so I will give kudos to her and move right to the main course.

I’ll start with the layout. The ride uses a cable lift that gets you to the top in record time. You are flung over into a 1st drop that is indescribable. There is the typical pop of air at the top followed by a sudden jolt of ejector air right before the bottom and a high positive G right turn into the 2nd hill, which immediately thrusts you into the lapbar. All of this happens in a matter of seconds on the ride. Next, a high speed 180* left turn into the 3rd airtime filled hill that snaps you underneath the 2nd hill. It is just a few feet from being the ultimate head chopper. A right hand 180* turn and rise into a Stengal dive that turns the train up on its side before dropping down into a small “trick track” left bend followed by a hard right hand 180* turn into the last 2 air time hills. The first one has a twist at the top, the second is just straight up and down . One more 90* left turn over Comet before rising into the brake run over Comet’s final brake. The ride turns over Comet’s station to park right next to Comet’s lift.

So, originally I was going to do this “the Good, The Bad, and The Ugly style.” When I used to have to write out report card comments for the kids, we were always told to say something nice about the kid before explaining why they got their grade. After this past weekend, I believe there is hope for the ride, so I’m going to start with “The bad”.

The station set up is, to put it nicely, not good. There are 3 sets of stairs. Two are for the queue line, one for the front row, one for all other rows. If you are going to wait for the front row, I’m not convinced the wait is any longer than the front line queue of any other popular front row rides. With 4 across seating, it can’t be over 30 mins extra from the top of the stairs to the bottom when the line is moving. Just be prepared to watch a lot of people walk by you to walk on the other rows. The bad part is that the loading and unloading take place on the same side of the station. In a baffling move, Hershey decided to put the exit stairs parallel to the other 2 on the same side of the station. There is plenty of room on the other side of the station and if they did not wish for people to walk under the lift because of the cable drive, they could cut down the queue size to allow for a path on the other side of the lift to empty onto the midway. The representative we spoke with on our maintenance tour said that is was something they are looking into next year.

The other problem with the station set-up are the lazy susan-style storage bins. The idea was that people put their stuff in, the bin automatically spins around for them to pick it up after they get off. Unfortunately, Hershey underestimated how much crap people bring in the station with them and the bins are too small for the majority of it. What results is a clusterf#$% of confusion when the train returns to the station. People are trying to find and gather their stuff from the loading side, the crew can’t open the gates or they will hit the people trying to find their stuff, the people waiting are trying put their stuff in the bins that won’t spin because they are jammed with all the stuff, etc. Loading times were in excess of 5 mins when we went in mid June, often taking as long as 10 mins. This past weekend seemed to be better. I only took one ride with GP Saturday and the 1st 4 queue rails in the cattle pen took the exact same 30 mins as the 1st 2 of 2 weeks prior. We only sat on the brake run for approximately 1 min. The maintenance rep on our tour said the bins were supposed to be taller, but operations cut them down in size when they discovered that they interfered with sight-lines in the station.

Now “the Ugly”. I think Hershey wanted an intense thrill ride this time, but I don’t think they completely understood exactly what they were getting with Skyrush. The 1st drop is just soo wrong. I think when Intamin designed the ride, they intended for a typical smooth drop into the 1st turn, but when the ride was constructed, there must have been issues with the 2nd support scaffold clearing Comet’s structure. With the limited space at the bottom due to the hillside, there was no room to push the drop out to reestablish the typical parabolic curve that most drops follow. The result is a parabolic drop with a sudden bump in it as the train clears the 2nd scaffold, resulting in a double dip-type sensation. I have ridden Jack Rabbit at Kennywood. Imagine that type element on a steel coaster at 72 mph and you still don’t have Skyrush’s first drop. Ejector air does not begin to describe it. You are catapulted out of your seat. Coasters like the original Steel Phantom, the Hurlers, and Hercules should have taught coaster designers that it is not a good idea to put a tight turn at the bottom of the 1st drop without properly widening the radius of the turn to dissipate the forces. Intamin has been quite skilled at this until the I-305 debacle and with the extra bump in the 1st drop, Skyrush is no exception. The result is your butt being shot forward from the air time and your shoulders and head going being slammed sideways from the sudden turn right at the bottom. Many people have complained about decapitation from this combo. I don’t know what the G forces are, but this is the 1st time your legs receive the positive g assault that acts on the lap bars, earning the ride the famed “Thighcrush” moniker. To add insult, after this assault, you immediately rise into one of the strongest air time hills on the ride, which literally does the exact same thing to you as you enter the 180* left hand in the opposite direction. I found this turn to be bumpy and despite trying to hold up my restraint, each bump still managed to ratchet it down a little more with each small jolt. The third airtime hill is just as strong as the others. I think this is where the trim brake is (I never got a front row ride until that night and I did not see it.) The 3rd turn is not as strong in the positive G’s as the other two, but the ride has not really let up any speed yet. The Stengal dive is really the only brake you get from the brutal ejector air you receive, but it acts to set you up. The trick track, I assume serves to set up the final 180* turn, but it just acted as a jaw breaker for me as I leaned to the left, only to be snapped quickly to the right. The last 2 airtime hills are absolutely gripping, launching you upwards before snapping you down in rapid succession. The rise into the brake run looks like it would give you one final airtime assault, but fortunately (if your lap bar has indeed ratcheted down from the other G-force turns), it does not.

Now I’m going to do “the good”. If you LOVE airtime (I don’t mean regular airtime. I’m talking the “oh my &^&K, I’m going to die” airtime), Skyrush is your dream come true. Every hill delivers butt-lifting out of the seat airtime. The park claims hills with as much as -2 g’s. I don’t believe there is another coaster on the planet that can claim that kind of negative G action across every hill. The ride is a literal assault on your body, positive G’s, negative G’s, lateral G’s, all extreme. This is NOT a “family ride.” This is also not a ride for casual riders. You must actively ride this ride, bracing for every element. To put your hands up and try to casually ride is a kiss of death. You have to hold on, not just to protect your thighs from the restraints, but to brace for the sudden G-force changes. I learned to keep my back against the seat back and fold my legs back under the wing seats to keep my fulcrum at my hips. Too many people ride with their legs straight down like on an inverted coaster. When the bar ratchets down, I still have my upper thighs free to bend.

Summary, Hersheypark is now home to the most extreme steel coaster on the planet. The only thing holding it back from being my new number one is the length. People are trying to compare it to I-305, El Toro, even the Voyage. While elements of those rides are present in Skyrush, it really does not compare to any of them. Skyrush can only be compared to Skyrush as there is nothing like it anywhere.

Now, the real question. What is the future of Skyrush? I’ve been reading the comments on several coaster boards and universally, the restraints are bothering the majority of people. Hershey is not turning a deaf ear to these complaints and have already switched to a squishy material on the undersides of them on train 1. Train 2 will supposedly follow after the 4th of July holiday. From talking to people who have ridden both trains, this is a fix that will work for some people, but I doubt it will not solve the “problem” with the ride. I was not willing to allow the restraints to ratchet down on me to test the new material, but I did stand by the brake run for around 20 mins to observe people’s reaction (before I knew which train had the new material). It was clear the discomfort was more on the 2nd train, however, there are people that just do not like that feeling of being thrust out of the seat repeatedly into the restraints. No matter what they change the material to, that will not change in the ride’s current configuration. Now, imagine if they put I-305’s soft shoulder restraints on it. Sure, I-305 has some airtime moments, but those hills are fairly large and somewhat floaty. Every hill on Skyrush is a stabbing motion of suddenly being popped up and slammed down. That action is not going to be any more comfortable with OTSR’s as it currently runs. The solution I can see would require an I-305 type pad without the huge, bulky tray table style hand grips on the front of it, but after my 11 rides Saturday, I see why Intamin does not feel comfortable with this set up. You need the large base to make sure that someone is not ejected. Strengthening the restraint “springs” has been brought up as a solution. Well, I don’t believe there are springs with hydraulic restraints. I was able to successfully hold mine up for 2 rides. It is exhausting and after that, I was could feel it ratcheting down under my grip. I doubt Intamin has any mechanism in their coaster inventory that could hold the restraints in place under the intense G-forces it exerts.

GP seems to be speaking with their feet regarding Skyrush. When the URC group went in mid June, the line got shorter throughout the day with very few people interested in a reride. Saturday, I completely avoided the area in the morning (focusing on the Western and Midway America rides), but the ride still had a more sizable line once the water park let out. I felt like these, too were 1st time riders. Among the enthusiasts, obviously everyone was there to ride Skyrush for ERT, but after the 1st 15 minutes of our ERT, the amount of riders dropped off to “pick your seat to stay on” from rows 3 on back. Oh yeah, the front seat is absolutely unbelievable and the best seat in the house (this coming from a person who likes the back seat on everything). I have never ridden a coaster where you get ejector airtime on the 1st drop in the front row and Skyrush does it. With that being said, I say we have a possible Drachen Fire or OTSR FOF situation, where the ride will command a long line in the morning hours then be a walk-on in the afternoon/evening once Hershey puts another ride in to draw the attention from Skyrush (I would have said 2014, but I think the new restraint material may have bought them another year of satisfied riders.) Those who like Skyrush will ride it. Those who don’t will avoid it, claiming it is too rough for them. It is unfortunate that a ride of such extremes can get the same label as terrible rides like SOB, Mean Streak, and Arrow Loopers. Once again Skyrush is not rough, but it requires active riding.
One last thing I have to comment on. It really annoys me when parks put on events for enthusiasts and some people feel the need to complain to park personnel about minutia that is out of their control, giving us all a bad name. As a former ride op, I have heard all the enthusiast excuses for thinking ride rules do not apply to them. During ERT, a guy next to me was complaining to the ride ops that he could not put his fanny pack to the side of his body because the ride “hurt too much”. (this about halfway into our session.) Obviously, he must have got away with it earlier otherwise he would not have been so adamant in refusing to do so, holding up the entire loading process. The op was being very kind, trying to explain that the restraint had to touch his body, the pack interfered, she’s really sorry. After about 2 minutes of this I had enough and just said to him “it’s to keep your butt from flying out!” (I wanted to add “dumb#@$ to it, but refrained.) He then looked at me, looked back at her, who nodded but said nothing, them he moved his fanny pack to the proper position. I was probably not a good ride op as I would be too blatant with people when they were insistent about disobeying ride rules “ma’am, I’m sorry if your child has ridden this ride today by accident, but he is not tall enough now and he is not safe” or "sir, the harness has to touch your shoulders or you may not ride" or "the ride is broke. Ride some other stuff, look up in the sky every now and then and come back when you see it running." After our ride, the guy immediately came back up the entrance to ride again and this time was complaining the park suits who were obviously trying to judge our reactions to the ride. We were on the “bad” train, so I can assume he wanted to switch to the “good” one. Seriously, if the ride hurts you that bad, DON’T RIDE!! I just hope they guy will be seen as the nutjob individual he is and not "those coaster enthusiasts."

Paul

* This post was modified at 7/2/12 10:15:52 AM *