Hersheypark has set an official opening date for its Rocky Mountain Construction coaster, Wildcat's Revenge. And the park has dropped some drone footage of the ride's first test run, too.
The park announced today that Wildcat's Revenge will open to the public on June 2. Debuting 100 years after the park's original Wild Cat coaster, Wildcat's Revenge will be the first RMC production in the state of Pennsylvania.
RMC has put down 3,510 feet of red steel track upon a black steel and wood structure that shares some of the remaining wood from the latest, 1996 GCI iteration of Wildcat. With a 140-foot lift hill dropping 82 degrees into a top speed of 62 mph, Wildcat's Revenge will put riders through four inversions during their ride time.
For an aerial view of what to expect on the coaster, check out the park's drone video:
We also earlier posted a rendered front row POV video for Wildcat's Revenge.
Stay tuned for opening day coverage and a review.
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Considering most of the other coasters are walkway adjacent, I would be surprised if they changed the loose articles policy for this. Also, I'm unsure about how Fun Spot, Dollywood, Silverwood, and Silver Dollar City handle their loose items for their RMCs.
Pretty impressive that the ride is opening just two weeks after sending the first test run. I can't recall another major coaster that was ready to go so quickly. Curious to hear how this one runs...it's not in my 2023 plans, but if it can set itself apart from other RMCs more than it looks to, it might make the cut for 2024.
Regarding loose articles, I believe it's the same double sided locker setup we're seeing more and more parks adopt. This coaster is going to have separate load and unload platforms, so bin storage wouldn't be an ideal option. I'm doubtful they'll go full Cedar Fair with metal detectors, though, and expect there will be pouches on trains for small items (or they'll just let riders keep them in secured pockets).
I really like this layout. There's an elegant symmetry to the middle section, it does the original Wildcat's ending helix justice with a great-looking finale, and the underflip is one of my favorite RMC inversions (the one on Steel Vengeance is heavenly) and this one is even bigger and comes right after the first drop. I'm probably in the minority here but I'm looking forward to this one more than ArieForce One, which largely seems interested in slamming you as hard and as many times as possible into the unforgiving RMC lapbar.
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I'm pretty shocked they have been able to get through testing so quickly. The track wasn't topped off until just a month ago (April 17th), so RMC must have been put into overdrive to deliver this coaster to the park just a week after Memorial Day (I'm sure they originally wanted to hit "post" that is Memorial Day Weekend). I will be interested to see how Hersheypark handles loose articles on this coaster, because this will be the first RMC that is not at one of the big "chain" theme parks. Hersheypark is generally very accommodating in terms of items in pockets and bags on their coasters, but as we all know, RMCs can be a completely different beast when it comes to dislodging items from pockets. Ultimately it will come down to how guests behave on the coaster, so hopefully Hersheypark will not have to go to the extremes that other parks have taken (metal detectors, mandatory lockers, and pat downs).