The heat is on at Hersheypark, Hershey, Pennsylvania, as construction begins on the park’s 11th rollercoaster, Fahrenheit, scheduled to open May 2008. To be built at a cost of $12.1 million, it will be joined next season by a new flat ride.
Farenheit is a vertical lift inverted loop coaster from IntaRide featuring stadium seating. Riders will be positioned on their backs as the coaster train begins a 90-degree ascent to the top of a 121ft lifthill. As the cars crest the hill, riders will lean forward and see no track visible below, plummeting down a 97-degree first drop, the deepest drop of any coaster in the United States.
At the bottom of the first hill, the coaster will be travelling at 58 mph as it begins an ascent that will then drop riders into a 107ft inverted loop. Coming out of the loop, the track will twist though an inverted corkscrew roll, a cobra, an airborne inverted S-roll and a second inverted corkscrew roll. Just as riders think they are slowing down, they will experience an airtime hill, a high-speed/banked curve, a second airtime hill and a final high-speed/banked curve before arriving back in the station.
Travelling over more than 2,700ft of steel track in 85 seconds, Fahrenheit will feature three four-person vehicles per train and a capacity of about 850 people per hour. It will be located adjacent to The Boardwalk at Hersheypark.
The second new ride will be a more family-focused addition. “Howler” is a Tornado ride from Wisdom Industries that will allow riders to spin their cars to create their own ride experience. It will be located adjacent to the Rodeo ride in the park’s Pioneer Frontier area.
