Hershey Triple Tower ride coming to Hersheypark
Are you ready for the drop?
Three freefall towers, called Hershey Triple Tower, will be the newest thrill ride coming to Hersheypark in spring 2017.
“This is a first in the amusement park industry,” Kevin Stumpf, general manager of attractions and entertainment for Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company, said Tuesday when the park announced its newest attraction. “Other parks have multiple towers, but they are all the same height.”
The Hershey Triple Tower will offer three towers of varying heights, ranging from the 80-feet-tall Hershey’s Kisses Tower, to the 131-feet-tall Reese’s Tower to the 189-feet-tall Hershey’s Tower.
“With this, we let you, as the rider, choose where to start,” Stumpf said. “You can start at 80 feet to see how it feels, and then graduate to increasing heights if you choose to.”
All three towers will have a maximum speed of 45 mph with the Hershey’s Kisses and Reese’s towers doing “double shots” in which the tower rapidly propels riders to the top of the tower before gently lowering them to the platform with a series of air-cushioned bounces.
Stumpf estimates that the ride capacity will be approximately 1,400 riders per hour, and the projected cost of the project will be around $8 million.
“We want to have something for each family member in every area of the park, and we know that different family members have different thrill levels and thrill tolerances,” Stumpf said. “We wanted to provide varying thrill levels in one location.”
Construction will start after Labor Day, and the ride is scheduled to open April 8, 2017.
“This is the first attraction to ever be opened in the spring before the main park season,” Stumpf said.
Two children's rides, the Frog Hopper and Convoy will be relocated to the current site of the Flying Falcon ride, which will be removed from the park at the end of the summer season, to make way for the Hershey Triple Tower.
In addition to the new ride, Stumpf announced that a Chick-fil-A Express restaurant will be coming to Hersheypark in 2017.
The new restaurant will offer a limited menu of signature items, such as boneless chicken breast sandwiches, Waffle Potato Fries and hand-spun milkshakes. It will also will feature both indoor and outdoor seating for guests, according to Stumpf.