Hersheypark Announces 200-foot Tall Skyrush Megacoaster For 2012

Hershey, PA — Hersheypark announced they will debut a 200-foot tall megacoaster with winged seating for the 2012 season that will be the tallest, fastest, longest roller coaster in the park. Named Skyrush, this new megacoaster will become the 12th roller coaster at Hersheypark.

Skyrush will have two cantilevered trains that will be the first of their kind in the United States. Each car on the train will have two floored seats flanked by two floorless, winged outer seats that will offer a staggering 270-degree panoramic viewing perspective.

Located in the Comet Hollow area of the park, Skyrush will climb skyward at 26 feet per second. Upon cresting the track's peak at twenty stores, the train will plunge down an 85-degree descent and send riders rushing into the first of four high-speed, high-banked turns as they travel at speeds up to 75 mph.

Each car on these trains is designed with two floored seats flanked by two floorless, winged outer seats that will offer a staggering 270-degree panoramic viewing perspective.

The roller coaster will feature five airtime hills, including a transition from positive to negative gravity as the track crosses over the entire length of the Comet, the oldest roller coaster in Hersheypark. Skyrush will travel over Spring Creek, the body of water that was a centerpiece when chocolate magnate Milton S. Hershey opened his park in 1907, and race along nearly 3,600 feet of steel track back to its station.

Skyrush will bring new excitement to the Comet Hollow section of Hersheypark, where it will interact with Comet, a classic wooden out-and-back coaster from 1946, the SooperdooperLooper, the first steel looping coaster on the East Coast from 1977 and Great Bear, which debuted in 1998 as the first looping, inverted steel coaster in the state of Pennsylvania.

The park is modeling the Skyrush station after historic train stations in the Hershey area. New restroom facilities, games and food stands will replicate the Park's buildings of yesteryear, and a new floating fountain in Spring Creek will bring back memories of days gone by.

Skyrush is being designed by Intamin AG, the same company that built the Fahrenheit and Storm Runner roller coasters. Hersheypark is spending approximately $25 million on this new attraction.