Hersheypark is a family theme park in the eastern United States in Hershey, Pennsylvania, about fifteen miles (25 km) east of Harrisburg, and 95 miles (155 km) west of Philadelphia. The park was founded in 1906, by Milton S. Hershey as a leisure park for the employees of the Hershey Chocolate Company. It is wholly and privately owned by Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company. Hersheypark has won several awards, including the Applause Award.
A gyro tower, or panoramic tower, is a revolving observation tower with a vertical moving platform. A gyro tower's observation deck is not simply raised to provide its passengers a spectacular view, it is also rotated around the supporting mast, either once in the raised position or while traveling up and down the center mast.
Great Bear is an inverted roller coaster located at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States. Designed and manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, with additional design from Werner Stengel, the roller coaster opened on May 23, 1998, in the Minetown section of the park. Great Bear was the first inverted looping coaster in Pennsylvania and cost $13 million, the largest project Hersheypark undertook at the time. The roller coaster reaches a maximum height of 90 feet (27 m), a maximum speed of 58 miles per hour (93 km/h) to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h), and has a total track length of 2,800 feet (850 m).
Comet is a wooden roller coaster at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It is located in the Hollow section of Hersheypark, next to Skyrush. Built in 1946 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the coaster features a double out and back track layout. When built it was jointly owned by Hershey Park and PTC. The maximum speed is 50 miles per hour (80 km/h).
Storm Runner is a launched roller coaster located at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Manufactured by Intamin and situated in the Pioneer Frontier section of the park, the Accelerator Coaster opened to the public on May 8, 2004. It reaches a height of 150 feet (46 m) and catapults riders from 0 to 72 mph (116 km/h) in two seconds. Storm Runner features a top hat element, three inversions, a dual loading station, and a magnetic braking system. In addition, it was designed to interact with three other Hersheypark rides: Dry Gulch Railroad, the Monorail, and Trailblazer.
Giant Wheel was an Intamin-supplied double wheel that operated at Hersheypark between 1973 and 2004. The entire structure weighed over 135 tons, and was installed in a 25-feet square slab of concrete, 10 feet thick.
SooperDooperLooper is a steel roller coaster at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States. Designed and manufactured by Anton Schwarzkopf, the roller coaster opened to the public on May 8, 1977. SooperDooperLooper is located in The Hollow section of the park and cost more than $3 million to construct and build. The roller coaster reaches a maximum height of 70 feet, with a maximum speed of 45 miles per hour (72 km/h), and a total track length of 2,614 feet.
Wildcat's Revenge is a hybrid roller coaster located at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States. The ride originally opened in 1996 as Wildcat, a wooden coaster manufactured by Great Coasters International (GCI). The wooden coaster was the first from GCI and served as the anchor attraction of the Midway America section of the park. It cost $5.6 million to construct and was built on a 2-acre (0.81 ha) plot of land that had previously been used for parking. The ride traversed a 90-foot lift hill and twelve banked turns, subjecting riders to forces of up to 3.5 Gs. From 1998 to 2009, Wildcat ranked among the top 50 wooden roller coasters in the annual Golden Ticket Awards publication from Amusement Today. Wildcat initially received critical acclaim, but it gained a negative reputation for its increasing roughness.
Roller Soaker was a suspended roller coaster at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States. Manufactured by Setpoint Inc., the roller coaster was announced on August 8, 2001, and opened to the public on May 11, 2002. The Roller Soaker was located in the Boardwalk section at the park and cost $7.5 million to $8 million to construct. In December 2012, Hersheypark announced that the Roller Soaker would be removed to make way for new water attractions in 2013. The roller coaster's station was reused by Breakers Edge Water Coaster, a water coaster added in 2018.
Fahrenheit is a steel roller coaster at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States. Located in the Pioneer Frontier section of the park, the roller coaster was manufactured by Intamin and opened on May 24, 2008. It features six inversions and became the steepest roller coaster in the world when it opened with its first drop of 97 degrees. Fahrenheit briefly held the record until Steel Hawg at Indiana Beach, which featured a 111-degree drop, opened several weeks later on July 5. Fahrenheit is also one of the only coasters in the world to feature a Norwegian Loop.
WindSeeker is a 301-foot-tall (92 m) swing ride at several Cedar Fair parks. The rides are Wind Seeker models manufactured by Mondial. They opened for the 2011 season at Canada's Wonderland in Ontario, Cedar Point and Kings Island in Ohio, and Knott's Berry Farm in California. Carowinds in North Carolina and Kings Dominion in Virginia opened their WindSeekers in 2012. The first four each cost US$5 million, while the remaining two each cost $6.5 million. Cedar Fair relocated the Knott's Berry Farm WindSeeker to Worlds of Fun in 2014, where it reopened as SteelHawk.
Skyrush is an Intamin prototype Wing Coaster at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States. It opened to the general public on May 26, 2012, as Hersheypark's 12th roller coaster and the park's third coaster made by Intamin. Skyrush features a 200 ft (61 m) cable lift that raises the train at 26 ft/s (480 m/min). The roller coaster is located in the Hollow section of Hersheypark, next to the Comet wooden coaster; Skyrush itself is mainly set above Spring Creek.
Mini-Comet was a kiddie roller coaster located at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It was situated near Comet in The Hollow section of Hersheypark from 1974 through 1975. It was relocated to Kissing Tower Hill in 1976, where it remained in operation until its removal at the end of the 1978 season. The ride was purchased used at a public sale; it was constructed by B.A. Schiff & Associates, some time before 1974. The coaster featured an oval track with a series of small hills. It completed the circuit five times before the ride cycle ended.
The history of Hersheypark begins with the founding of the town of Hershey in 1903. Milton Hershey, The owner of the Hershey Chocolate Company surveyed a nearby area of land, which was to become a leisure park for the employees of his chocolate company. People began visiting the grounds of the future park in 1904 and 1905, while the park's first pavilion was built in the fall of 1905. The park was formally opened on May 30, 1906, when it opened as Hershey Park. The park slowly added rides until 1923, when the first roller coaster, the Wild Cat, was built. From then on, rides were regularly added, except during World War II. The park was redeveloped into Hersheypark in 1970, through a multi-phase project. Since then, it has added ten roller coasters, expanded to over 110 acres, and features many other attractions including shows with sea lions, well-known acts including Weird Al Yankovic and Duff Goldman from Charm City Cakes in the Hersheypark Amphitheater, and a short-lived laser light show.
The Miniature Railroad was a ride at Hersheypark from 1910 until 1971. The train ran a course along Park Boulevard, near the intersection with Park Avenue, around Spring Creek into Comet Hollow. It was the second ride Milton S. Hershey purchased for his park, after buying a carousel. While the railroad is no longer in operation, the train has been undergoing restoration since 2007, and was first publicly displayed in 2011.
The Mill Chute was a ride at Hersheypark from 1929 until 1972. Milton S. Hershey purchased the ride from the Philadelphia Toboggan Company when the decision was made to build a new pool and drain the existing pool and neighboring lake in Comet Hollow. In 1963, the ride was renovated and rethemed. It was renamed Lost River and maintained that theme until 1972. During the 1972 season Hurricane Agnes struck Hershey, and the resulting flood of the park caused irreparable damage to the ride. As a result, the ride was closed for the remainder of the 1972 season and was torn down in the off season.
The Disney Skyliner is a gondola lift system, part of the Disney Transport system, that opened on September 29, 2019, at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. The system is composed of five stations that service four resorts and two theme parks, with a fleet of over 250 gondola cabins that can accommodate up to ten guests per cabin, or up to six with an open wheelchair or other mobility device. Guests sit on twin, inward-facing, wooden benches.
Candymonium is a steel roller coaster located at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Designed by Bolliger & Mabillard, the ride was announced in 2018 and opened on July 3, 2020. It is the tallest, fastest, and longest roller coaster at Hersheypark. It was introduced with a newly-themed section of the park called Hershey's Chocolatetown, adjacent to Hershey's Chocolate World.
Must transfer from wheelchair