Background
Skyrush is an Intamin hyper coaster located at Hersheypark in Hershey, PA. A hyper coaster is any roller coaster with a height or drop between 200- 299ft, and Intamin is the coaster manufacturer that built Skyrush.
Skyrush opened in 2012 as a prototype wing coaster with a height of 200 ft. and a top speed of 75 mph. Up until the opening of Wildcat’s Revenge in 2023, this was my favorite attraction at Hersheypark, and today it is still one of my favorite overall coasters.
Ride experience
Once you have secured your restraint and the train is dispatched, the train is pulled to the top of the lift hill very quickly because of a fast cable lift. Skyrush’s iconic first hill was built directly over another coaster’s lift hill named Comet, and the engineering is astounding. When the train has fully crested the first hill, the train goes down a 200 ft. drop, and in my opinion, this is the best first drop on any roller coaster. All riders receive ejector airtime during the first drop, and it feels like you are going to plummet into the creek which is something that roller coaster enthusiasts love.
After that, Skyrush goes through three ejector airtime hills, several low to the ground turns, and a few whippy transitions which is something that I really enjoy. After approximately 45 seconds of ride time, Skyrush goes into a trim brake on top of the station of Comet, and then drops into the final set of brakes near the station.
Future of Skyrush
On February 10th, 2024, Hersheypark posted a picture on Facebook saying, “Mark this shipment First Class,” and you can view the picture here.
In this photo, there is a crate with a picture of the logo for Intamin which is the manufacturer of Skyrush, and if you look at the upper left corner of the crate, it shows the numbers “#2007512.” The number 200 is the height of Skyrush, 75 is the top speed, and 12 is the last two digits of Skyrush’s opening year.
Although nothing is confirmed as of when this article is being written, it’s likely that Hersheypark is hinting at updating the restraints to Skyrush. If the rumors of Hersheypark updating the restraints on Skyrush are true, it will make the ride experience better.
I have experienced the newer restraints that Intamin has created on other roller coasters such as VelociCoaster at Islands of Adventure, Sandy’s Blastin’ Bronco and Timmy's Half-Pipe Havoc at the Nickelodeon Universe in New Jersey, and they are extremely comfortable.
The future looks bright for Skyrush at Hersheypark, and I cannot wait to experience it again this summer.
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