We were finishing even if I had to drag Sam's ass back up and buckle her in myself.
Questions by Greg Lane
On Thursday, May 27, 2021, Sam and I made our way to Hersheypark to attempt something that some people deemed crazy, or insane as our very own crew member, Renee, called us. If you read the blog, “Hersheypark – Skyrush Mission 32 in 9 Accomplished,” then you already know the deal . If you haven’t, Sam and I went to Hersheypark with the intent to ride all 32 seats on Skyrush in a single visit. We succeeded.
During the course of the day, Sam and I were in constant contact with Greg. Even though he couldn’t be there with us, and I know he would have loved to have been, he was great moral support the entire day. That got me to thinking. I asked Greg if he’d be up to interview Sam and I for a companion piece to the Mission 32 in 9 blog and vlog. He jumped at the chance and came up with a handful of questions. I thought this would be a fun piece to close out the Mission 32 in 9 recap, especially since Greg knows how to keep things fun and lighthearted.
Preparing for the Mission
Q. Did Thursday feel like just another trip to Hershey, or was there more excitement knowing what you were about to do? Or maybe even less excitement knowing you were only going to be riding the same ride all day?
- Sam – It was totally more exciting for me. Skyrush is my favorite ride there and my #1 overall. So, of course, I was super excited for our marathon antics.
- Patrick – As many times as I’ve been to Hersheypark these last two seasons, it was neat to go in with a challenge in mind. There have been plenty of days when I’ve grabbed multiple rides on Comet, Great Bear, Fahrenheit, etc. So yeah, there was a little bit of anticipation to do something out of the ordinary and not feel like I was missing out.
Q. With both of you having a love for Skyrush, who would you say was most excited for this challenge?
- Sam – I’m not called “Skyrush Sam” for nothing. So, me, duh!
- Patrick – Even though this idea was all mine, ahem, I’ll give agree with Sam. I will say, however, that I’m glad I got to do it with her instead of doing it solo like my plans last year.
Q. Did you have any doubts that you wouldn’t be able to stick it out for all 32 rides?
- Sam – I had no doubts before riding, but after around ride 25, my legs really wanted me to give up.
- Patrick – Honestly, no. I told Sam we were taking some Advil and not chickening out. The only thing that would have stopped us would have been bad weather or the ride going down. It was all or nothing.
Carrying out the Mission
Did you have any particular order to where you sat?
- Sam – We did at first, but then we just kinda started to sit wherever we needed, especially when we needed breaks from the wing seats.
- Patrick – I had come up with a system for us to sit each time we took a row until it was completed. Of course, we didn’t do that, so it made things a little more hectic. Since the park now allows the mixing of groups with social distancing policy changes, we did sit with other people a few times. When that happened, we sat in whatever seats were open, as long as it was one that we needed to still ride. If that wasn’t the case, we waited for the next train.
How were you able to track all the data you published in your recent blog?
- Sam – Pat’s cool, and funny, little interactive PDF was super helpful for tracking.
- Patrick – I had made a checklist to use last year. My idea back then was to take a print out and pen with me to mark off each and every seat. With two people doing it this year and needing to try to claim all the ride photos on Sam’s All-Season Digital Photo Pass, I decided to turn it into an interactive PDF on our phones. Check out the trip report, “Hersheypark – Skyrush Mission 32 in 9 Accomplished” for all the details on what was put into it. If anyone is interested in giving this a try, I made an updated version other people can download. Ours was based off a nine hour visit, but your timespan may vary. On the version I made for all of you, you will have to do some math to fill in your own pacing based on park hours and/or your time at the park. It’s vital to know that so you can tell if it will be a lost cause based off wait times, the ride going down, etc. I left instructions on how to determine that pacing on the PDF itself.
If you can recall, what lap was your favorite/best ride? What made it memorable?
- Sam – Our 29th ride (photo above), when we sat with a mom and her young daughter. The daughter was so cute and fun to talk to. She was a coaster enthusiast in the making! She thought we were awesome for riding Skyrush so many times too. Bonus points!
- Patrick – I think it was our 5th ride of the day. It was just Sam and I and we were both sitting on the left side of the train. We hit that twisting transition before the final airtime moment and got yanked so hard. We talked about it in our vlog, “Hersheypark – Mission 32 in 9” on YouTube. I think I compared it to something along the lines of being tossed over fence like a wet towel/laundry.
Was there a time you thought you might quit? If so, how far along were you?
- Sam – Around ride 25-ish I thought about it because of the thigh-crushing pain. We were already so close, though! There was no sense in quitting that far along.
- Patrick – Nope. We were finishing even if I had to drag Sam’s ass back up and buckle her in myself.
Did you two “Woo” it up? If not, I’m severely disappointed with you both.
- Sam – Of course, I did! Although I think I found myself yelling, “Can I get a hell yeah?” more often.
- Patrick – Sam was yelling on every drop. I was too busy looking sexy for the camera. Did you notice my hands were up in every single photo? There is one, however, where I got sucked down by the g-forces, which had never happened to me before. I banged my elbow on the restraint pole too. I was 2-percent less sexy in that photo.
Post Mission & Future Missions?
All in all, was this a good experience? Are you glad you did it?
- Sam – This was definitely a super fun and awesome experience! I’m very glad that I got to do it with one of my best pals in the world. Greg, you better be able to join our next marathon!
- Patrick – Yeah, it was fun, especially getting to do it with Sam. I would have never thought, even half-way through 2020 that she’d be up for even attempting something like this in 2021. And here were are, a coaster she didn’t even want to ride last summer, one of the most intense coasters in the world, being her favorite.
Any plans to marathon another ride? If so, which one(s)?
- Sam – I really want to do this with another ride. Maybe Intimidator 305? Twisted Timbers? Nitro for all the B&M fans out there? Wildcat because Pat joked about it so much? Who knows what crazy ride we’ll pick next?
- Patrick – Up next, Laff Trakk. All kidding aside, on a busy day, it might even take longer to do all four seats on its train than it took us to finish Skyrush. Anyone who has been to Hersheypark knows how long those lines get and how slow they move. How about Storm Runner instead? Oh wait…
