The Fact Mill

I was re-reading my posts from 2010, and two stood out to me: "The Rumor Mill: Hershey's New Coaster " and "Knoebels' Coaster Future." They stood out to me because they were both based on conjecture about what was going to happen in the roller coaster future of these two parks. I thought I would write a "Fact Mill" post updating on the rumors that were surfacing a couple years ago. Some good rumors have proved to be true, some bad rumors have proved to be false, and some things...have stayed exactly the same.

Update on "The Rumor Mill: Hershey's New Coaster"
http://nepamusement.blogspot.com/2010/06/rumor-mill-hersheys-new-coaster.html

Two years ago I wrote about some interesting construction markings in Comet Hollow that looked to be markers for a new coaster. I also heard that Hersheypark had gotten a permit to build "something" over 200 feet. Now, Skyrush, Hersheypark's newest, biggest (and maybe baddest) coaster is about to make its debut this Memorial Day weekend!

Skyrush is Hersheypark's twelfth roller coaster, and it's a doozy. It's a hyper coaster, meaning that it has a 200 foot drop, which is bigger than any of Hershey's other coasters. It will go 75 mph (or more...claims Hershey's web site), and has an 85-degree drop, meaning that it's almost vertical. I got a good look at Skyrush when I visited Hershey on my chaperone trip, and it is beautiful--a yellow behemoth that towers over the neighboring Comet.

 It's also impressive in that Hershey had VERY limited space to fit in any new coaster, and they managed to easily squeeze a 200-foot drop and almost 3,600 feet of track into an area that, frankly, the ride should not have fit. To compensate for what could have made Comet Hollow a tight squeeze, Hershey completely revamped the area. It is now called just "The Hollow," and Hershey has remodeled it so that the Skyrush track, queue and station look like they have been there for years. The old, outdated queue for the Comet has a completely fresh look now, and game and food stalls have been updated and moved around. The SooperDooperLooper, the classic first looping coaster on the East Coast, has sharp new trains and a new brake system that will debut this weekend. Considering this area was completely underwater after a big flood last September, Hershey's work on The Hollow is extraordinary--to say the least! (It is also good to see that Hersheypark is embracing their old coasters rather than getting rid of them, which was a horrible rumor from two years ago!)

On my chaperoning trip, I also got the extreme pleasure of seeing Skyrush make a couple of test runs with empty trains. Let me tell you that this looks like the smoothest coaster I have ever seen. It was made by Intamin--these are the people that brought us Storm Runner and Fahrenheit; and beyond Hershey, Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point, and Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure--three of the top roller coasters in the world.

Most exciting about Skyrush is their one-of-a-kind trains--they sit four seats across, and the two outer seats are "winged" seats. This means that they sit off the track. No other coaster has this is in the world! It is an experience that I am greatly looking forward to having this Monday, Memorial Day, when my sister and I travel back to Hershey to ride Skyrush on opening weekend. (I tried to go on Saturday, opening day, but I couldn't get a sitter. Ah, adult life!)

Update on "Knoebels' Coaster Future"
http://nepamusement.blogspot.com/2010/07/knoebels-coaster-future.html

Two years ago, I wrote about Knoebels' two new coasters that were on the horizon--the Black Diamond, a hybrid Wild Mouse/mine train/dark ride coaster; and Flying Turns, a wooden bobsled coaster. I'm happy to report that the Black Diamond opened last summer--not quite on schedule (it opened in October for Knoebels' Halloween event), but apparently, it was worth the wait! All the reviews I've read have praised the ride. Of course, it's not exactly original, coming from Morey's Piers as the old Golden Nugget ride, but Knoebels seems to have once again completed a great relocation project, much like they did with their heralded Phoenix coaster. I have not ridden the ride yet myself (being pregnant last summer), but I plan on going to Knoebels in August, and Black Diamond is first on my "must ride" list!

Then we have Flying Turns.

I don't want to re-hash the whole Flying Turns fiasco, but briefly--Knoebels tried to bring back antiquated, unsafe coaster technology; Knoebels failed. The ride, which construction began on in 2006, is STILL NOT RUNNING. Hopes were high last summer when the park released a point-of-view video of the ride--but today, the ride is still not running. I realized last week that I hadn't heard a peep about Flying Turns in awhile, so I did some research. Knoebels' Wikipedia page says the ride is projected to open in 2012. But I'm not sure where they got their information, because I searched Knoebels' web site high and low, and found no mention of the ride there. Checked their Facebook page--no mention of the ride there, either. The thing is, both the web site and Facebook page used to mention progress on the ride--now there's nothing? I downloaded a PDF of Knoebels' current map, and Flying Turns is still listed on it, but I'm sure that's just because people walking through the park can't miss a giant, un-operating roller coaster. So, what gives, Knoebels? Is this ride ever going to open? I still predict--NO.

So, for the most part, we've had some nice progress proving some of the rumors from 2010 true and false. True--Hersheypark's new coaster and the Black Diamond are in operation! False--the looper and Comet were goners. Who knows what to say about the Flying Turns fiasco? I guess, for now, we should still treat that as a work in progress!