Sidewinder (Hersheypark)

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Sidewinder
Half of Sidewinder's Cobra Roll
Hersheypark
Location	Hersheypark
Coordinates	40°17′24″N 76°39′14″W / 40.289932°N 76.653773°W / 40.289932; -76.653773Coordinates: 40°17′24″N 76°39′14″W / 40.289932°N 76.653773°W / 40.289932; -76.653773
Status	Operating
Opening date	May 11, 1991
General statistics
Type	Steel – Shuttle – Boomerang
Manufacturer	Vekoma
Model	Boomerang
Lift/launch system	Cable and Chain lift hill on both towers
Height	116.5 ft (35.5 m)
Length	935 ft (285 m)
Speed	47 mph (76 km/h)
Inversions	6 (3 forward, 3 backward)
Duration	1:48
Capacity	760 riders per hour
G-force	5.2
Height restriction	48 in (122 cm)
Trains	Single train with 7 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 28 riders per train.
Sidewinder at RCDB Pictures of Sidewinder at RCDB

Sidewinder is a shuttle roller coaster located at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It is located in the Pioneer Frontier section of the park, right across from Storm Runner. While the coaster itself is a standard Vekoma Boomerang, this installation is notable because it was the first Vekoma Boomarang to use Vekoma trains (previous Boomerangs used Arrow trains). This ride was also the first coaster installed in the park in 14 years since the SooperDooperLooper in 1977.

For the 2011 season, the Sidewinder's trains were replaced with Vekoma's modern trains, similar to the train on Carowinds' Carolina Cobra. And in 2017, the friction brakes in the station were replaced with magnetic brakes, creating a more comfortable and smoother stop at the end of each ride cycle. Sidewinder is currently being repainted changing its brown tracks to a vibrant, bright green with blue and purple supports.

Each ride contains six inversions: 3 loops in the ride's structure, each of which is traversed forward and backward.

History[]

Sidewinder was built on a former catering area. This moved to the area that at the time was occupied by Kaptain Kid's Kove, and became Trailblazer's catering pavilion.^[1]

Ride experience[]

The ride begins with riders being pulled backwards out of the station up a hill by a cable winch. At the top of the hill, the train is released, and speeds through the station and goes through the ride's three inversions, including a cobra roll and a vertical loop. The train goes up a second lift hill and, when it reaches the top, the lift disengages, and the train falls backwards through the inversions, pressing about 5 G's of force on riders (especially in the loop) before it returns to the station. The restraints on the trains have extra padding so that there is minimal discomfort, this has been used on many modern Vekoma Boomerangs. At only 935 feet long, it has the shortest track length of any roller coaster at Hersheypark.

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  Sidewinder's dual incline spike towers

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  Sidewinder's dual incline spike towers

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  Half (end of) of Sidewinder's cobra roll

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  Sidewinder's loop

References[]