Hersheypark Skyrush Construction Update #70 (1-9-12)

With only 139 more days to go until Skyrush opens to the public, lets get back into the swing of things and check on progress.

With the Gardens closed for the winter, I’ve had to resort to using Hotel Rd to get the airfield and skyline photos. While it’s a pain to walk up and down the hill, the shots you get are worth it.

An empty flatbed… I wonder what’s next?

This crane looks like it wants to pick something up.

I like how the handrails look on the catwalk.

They kind of have a futuristic look to them.

It looks like it will be a double-sided catwalk system.

I spy a catwalk for the top of the lift. 😛

The number of pieces had dropped dramatically. I want to say that close to half of the track is up.

Here are all of the pieces for the lift hill that are left (minus one straight section) inside the airfield. Also take notice that the Funslides are back in Midway and ready for the 2012 season.

The lonely last straight section.

The amount of track pieces is quite few.

But lets check out ground-zero for the construction.

Quite a bit of yellow in the skyline.

A new section of the ride has been added.

Okay, enough photos of the Stengel Dive. 😛

Hmm….what could this be???

Part of one of the high-speed turns has gone in.

And it has a single spine.

I guess it makes sense given the amount of supports in this part of the ride.

I can’t wait until they install the pieces over the flooded part of the creek.

The lift hill truss looks to be around 75 to 80 feet tall at this point.

It’s starting to become noticable.

The Hospitality Services building might act as a foot-chopper effect.

This looks to be for some utility of some sort. Lighting maybe?

By the way, the Preview Center is gone. I guess they can now work on connecting the new path to Rhineland.

I’m interested in seeing how this hill will turn out.

The creek wall on the Comet-side of the construction site is starting to be poured.

Another utility hole going in.

Double to single spine.

They’re working their way down on the Park Blvd side of the creek on the wall.

Looks tastefully done.

Three more lift pieces are ready to be installed.

It should make the truss higher than the first support tower.

That’s a lot of bolts.

The mechanical room recieved some walls and a roof.

Just needs some siding and shingles.

Turns out that the large and bulky item from earlier updates was for the top of the first support tower.

Here is where Skyrush will recieve it’s power from the grid.

Most of the walls for the first floor of the station are up.

Once they get the interior walls up, they can work on adding the station floor.

Looks great so far.

It’s a little hard to see, but the still need to install the walls for the front part of the restrooms.

Airtime through the trees.

Looks like it might still get steeper.

What we see here is probably the height where we will load and unload with the trains.

The lift cable drum is covered up.

This silver piping runs from the mechanical building and under Comet’s first drop bridge. It will probably run over to the station.

Artsy.

Winding track ahead…

…more like 75 MPH.

They moved this off the hill.

Beautiful.

Birds seem to love perching on top of Intamin supports.

Around 4:30 they started to install a few cross-sections inside the truss sections.

Around 4:50, they were prepared to lift one of the truss sections.

Between working on Sundays and working to 5pm, they seem to be really kicking it into overdrive.

That’s it for the gigantic update. Expect another on Wednesday depending on the weather. Should be interesting to see how how many truss sections will be installed by then! 🙂