Comet (Hersheypark)

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Comet

The Comet as seen from the since removed
Giant Wheel
Location Hersheypark
Park section Comet Hallow
Type Wood
Status Open
Opened 1946
Manufacturer Philadelphia Toboggan Company
Designer Herbert Paul Schmeck
Track layout Out and Back
Lift/launch system Chain lift hill
Height 84 ft (26 m)
Drop 78 ft (24 m)
Length 3,360 ft (1,020 m)
Max speed 50 mph (80 km/h)
Duration 1:45
Capacity 950 riders per hour
Height restriction 3 ft 6 in (110 cm)
Comet at RCDB
Pictures of Comet at RCDB

The Comet is a wooden roller coaster at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Built in 1946 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the coaster features an out and back track layout. When built it was jointly owned by Hershey Park and PTC.

[edit] History

  • In 1964, The Comet received 6,650 individual 10-watt chaser lights.[1]
  • In 1994, The Comet received 2 new trains. They are named "Mork's Comet" and "Halley's Comet".[2] One of the old trains is currently used as seating at the Hershey Museum, and the other was donated to ACE.[2]
  • In 2006, during the parks off-season, The Comet was re-tracked. [1]

[edit] Ride Experience

The Comet goes up an 84 foot lift, and then drops 96 feet, according to Hersheypark. Though Hersheypark claims this to be the correct number, other people dispute this measurement and say that the lift is the same as the drop, at 84 feet.

After the first drop, also called the "Chocolate Drop," the train goes up a hill and then makes a 180 degree turn, drops back down another hill, goes up a small hill, and then up a larger hill, making another 180 degree turn. After the turn, there is another drop, and after a bunny hill, the track makes a right turn ("dog leg"), going through several bunny hills before another 180 degree turn. Following the second set of bunny hills is a left turn, two bunny hills and the then the train slows into the station.

As is typical, the train usually sits for a few moments before coming around into the station because of an extra "brakage" that served as an unloading point until the Comet was renovated in the mid 1990s. By having a "load" and "unload" point, the ride could handle three trains, as it did when it was built.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sweetness of Success, Charles J. Jacques, Jr., Amusement Park Journal, 1997
  2. ^ a b Hershey Community Archives


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Roller coasters at Hersheypark
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