In a year when people have come to expect the unexpected, should I really be surprised that I fell in love with an 8 year old roller coaster? A coaster, that since 2012, I’ve been riding at a park I go to a couple of times every year? It’s not like anything about the ride has changed… or has it?
People seems to fall into one of two camps with Hersheypark’s Skyrush. Camp 1 loves the ride for its intensity, speed, and rapid pace from the cable lift to the brake run. Camp 2 are the people who said “never again” after riding it just once. For the longest time, I felt like I was in Camp 1.5. Let me try to explain.
The Complaints About Skyrush
Skyrush’s negative reputation mostly comes from the pain it causes you below the waist – by crushing your thighs. The odd restraint system swivels down from above you, clamping you into your seat by your legs. Add in the angle the pads come down and it means all the pressure from those rapidly-paced elements goes straight to your thighs. And for seven years now, that was my biggest complaint. I used to claim the ride was overrated and said its nickname of “Thigh Crush” was well-earned.
With all that being said, I never truly feel into one camp or the other. I still rode it every visit, but rarely more than once. I do that with most rides – even ones like Anaconda at Kings Dominion and Mind Eraser at Six Flags America (SFA) too. Up until this year, however, I never truly loved it either. I fell somewhere in the middle.
My Former Solution to Riding Skyrush
Up until this year, I developed a means to ride Skyrush to negate the pain – in a way. I would just save it until the end of the day. In doing so, I would have sore thighs on the ride home, when I could sit down and rest. In it’s first few years, I’d ride it early and have to walk around the park all day with sore thighs. It sucked.
Taking all the above into account, when Sam and I visited Hersheypark for Opening Day in 2020, I saved Skyrush until the end of the day, but had a pleasant surprise. My thighs didn’t hurt. Not at all. In that day’s trip report, I wrote, “I still got an amazing ride and my thighs weren’t mad at me for the rest of the day.”
What an omen for the 2020 season that turned out to be. I have ridden Skyrush somewhere between 12-15 times this season. Not once did I experience the same pains in my thighs that I did in years prior. Is there still pressure on your legs during the ride? Yes. Did I feel it for hours after riding? No. As a matter of fact, once I the ride was over, I didn’t feel much of anything. Something feels like it has changed!
Has Something Changed? Or Mind Over Matter?
Are You Comfortable?
One thing I have noticed, not only on Skyrush, but Great Bear as well this year, is the park’s staff asking if riders are comfortable while checking their restraints. It’s not like some parks where they come by, staple you, and send you on your merry way. I have heard them countless times asking riders if they’re comfortable.
Based on those answers, I have seen them not only push the restraints down further, but also have them released if they’re too tight. Obviously, they don’t leave them to where you are not safe, but on a ride like Skyrush, I appreciate having even just an extra inch between my legs and the restraints. It’s nice not going up the lift hill with your circulation already being cut off in your legs.
The Final Brake Run
Many enthusiasts have commented on the fact that now, during two train operations on Skyrush, the park has instituted a change. The coaster coming back in on the brake run will oftentimes have its restraints popped up slightly. This alleviates the pressure on riders’ legs from restraints that might have come down tighter during the ride. I wish this was something they did from the start. That brake run was notorious for people wanting to rip those restraints up. I often heard grumblings, groans, and things such as, “Oww!”, “Damn!”, “Oh my god!”, and my favorite, “I can’t feel my legs!”
You hear a lot less of those things now, even when the park doesn’t pop up the restraints. While they do it most of the time, it hasn’t been something that was done 100 percent of the time either. When they didn’t, however, my legs weren’t in pain and I wasn’t hearing all those famous cries around me. That leads my theory – one that is not based on anything confirmed by the park itself.
Pad & Seat Color Change... Materials Too?
It is my belief that Skyrush’s restraint padding is of a softer material than it used to be. While I cannot prove this, I have made several observations that lead me to believe that this could be true.
When I went to ride Skyrush for the first time in 2020, walking onto the ride, something seemed a little off to me. Something looked a bit different. I couldn’t place my finger on it until I was home later that night, though. That’s when I noticed that the padding on the lap bar and the seats is now a dark blue. When I looked up some stats on the Roller Coaster Database (RCDB), all the photos of Sktrush showed both the lap bars and seats being a light blue.
It’s a good possibility this was done solely for the purpose of hiding wear and tear and dirt and grime. That makes perfect sense and is something I’ve seen other parks do. That being said, however, I feel like it would also make perfect sense when getting said darker padding to get a material to make the ride more tolerable/enjoyable. As the saying goes, kill two birds with one stone. It’s not like they weren’t already trying to figure out ways to improve rider comfort with the restraint release on the brake run.
End-of-Year Maintenance
During Christmas Candylane 2019, James, Elaina, and I saw all the Skyrush trains sitting on top of picnic benches down in the line queue region of Skyrush all pulled apart. We were riding back into SooperDooperLooper’s station and could see they had them stripped down. It was hard to see with the limited light in the area, but they looked pretty barebones. It is my guess that if the padding was changed for the 2020 season. If it was changed prior, I don’t know how I could have missed it during those visits.
Asking Staff Members at the Ride
While talking to several staff members at Hersheypark, I mentioned that I feel like the park had softened up the restraints. I’ve gotten some mixed replies and a few inquisitive looks to my theory.
The first employee I talked to was working on Skyrush. She’s one of the ones who asked riders if our restraints were comfortable. I joked with her that they have been much more comfortable this season. That’s when she told me she had only rode Skyrush one time, back when she was hired. She then added that she had no desire to ride it again either. With our train taking a few minutes to load, we were able to talk for a bit. That’s when I asked her about the pads.
I asked her if she knew if they had changed them out. I told her they felt softer, but she said no. Whether she meant they’ve never changed the pads, or they’re still the same material, I don’t know. The pads and seats have clearly changed, however.
We didn’t have much more time to chat, but I told her that something’s different because I would have never ridden Skyrush that early in the day, or multiple times in the past. She laughed and repeated how she could never do that. Then I was then off and running.
Asking Staff Members at Hershey Supply Co.
Just this past week, while taking Sam up to the park to register her 2021 season pass, we struck up a conversation with a couple of employees in the Hersheypark Supply Co. store. I was buying a Skyrush magnet and the topic turned to the ride. Both employees commented on how wild the ride is, to which I agreed. That’s when I mentioned how much I’ve come to love it this year and told them my theory.
As I was talking about the padding color change, both of them grew an inquisitive look and said, “maybe.” Neither were sure if it was the case, but agreed with me that Skyrush is a little more comfortable this year. Not concrete evidence, I know, but that’s why this is all a theory.
No Help Online
Not yet having a media contact at the park, I reached out to Hersheypark’s Facebook account and inquired about the padding on the ride. For the first time this whole season, I did not get a response. Their social media team is usually on top of things, replying to guests within 15-20 minutes at most – even during non-operating hours. They’re quite impressive in that regard. On this topic, however, mum. Perhaps they’ll respond to me after I published this blog? Whether or not I’ll get any kind of answer confirming or denying my theory, I don’t know.
One thing I do know is that this year Skyrush has went from “Thigh Crush” to my Crush in 2020. I can’t wait to ride it again this month with Sam during Hersheypark in the Dark. Much like Chris Darling’s feelings on Alpengeist at Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW) in his recent blog, “When Roller Coaster Rankings Change,” I’m certain Skyrush will be moving up my list of favorites. It currently sits as my 18th favorite coaster overall and 13th favorite steel coaster. I’m going to have to take a good, long hard look at that list here soon.
