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Back in the fall of 2007, Hersheypark ran a famous viral marketing campaign for their new attraction for the upcoming season. After leading coaster enthusiasts on a wild goose chase, Fahrenheit was eventually announced in September of that year. Not surprisingly, Hersheypark did the same thing this year with SkyRush. Hopefully SkyRush proves to be as great as Fahrenehit, since Fahrenheit is easily one of the best steel coasters I’ve been on anywhere.
Located in Pioneer Frontier in place of the park’s old Western Chute Out water slides, Fahrenheit looks great. Boasting a fresh orange and blue paint scheme, Fahrenheit really stands out and beckons oncoming riders. As one approaches Fahrenheit, one cannot help but admire the imposing vertical lift and beyond vertical drop along with the convoluted Norwegian loop in the distance. Additionally, Fahrenheit has a really nice looking station that compliments the ride’s appearance very nicely if you ask me.
Fahrenheit is without a doubt one of Hersheypark’s “hottest” attractions. As a result, it usually has one of the longest, if not the longest, waits in the park. Fortunately, during my two day visit this past summer, lines were only about 20-30 minutes long, but I overheard people commenting in line how fortunate everyone was since the wait is usually about an hour. While most of the wait can be attributed to the ride’s popularity, one of the other culprits is the ride’s 12 passenger vehicles, which are very small for such a major coaster. Even though Fahrenheit runs 3 trains, stacking unfortunately occurs pretty regularly.
Once dispatched, Fahrenheit begins with the suspense-building, 121 foot vertical lift. My second vertical lift (my first was Canobie’s Untamed), I knew what to expect, but it still is a very cool feeling going straight up towards the sky. Upon cresting the lift, riders are treated to the best part of the ride in my opinion, the incredible beyond vertical plunge. With a 97 degree angle of descent, this drop packs a major punch and is one of my favorite drops on any coaster. Not only is the beyond vertical aspect a neat thrill, but back seat riders experience incredible ejector air the entire way down. This drop sets the tone for the rest of Fahrenheit’s thrilling layout.
Then Fahrenheit treats riders to its unique Norwegian loop, which felt strikingly similar to the B&M pretzel loop in my opinion. Front-seat riders get a nice pop of floater air at the start of this element, and following that is a disorienting in-line twist followed by a dive towards the ground that produces a good amount of Gs. Without hesitating, the train then heads back up like one would for a vertical loop before navigating another nice and forceful inline-twist. Afterwards, comes a good drop that produces a nice burst of air-time for backseat riders. Ultimately, the Norwegian Loop is an incredibly tough inversion to describe, so I highly recommend you see a picture or video of it. However, I can easily describe just how forceful and great that it is.
Following the Norwegian loop is the ride’s cobra roll. Typically I am not a fan of cobra rolls, but Fahrenheit’s cobra roll is amazing. Unlike several of the B&M cobra rolls that I have experienced, this one is quite forceful and really packs on the Gs. In fact, I momentarily began blacking out, which just shows how forceful it is. After this element comes a brief section of track where the ride’s only rough part occurs. While Fahrenheit as a whole is glass-smooth, this relatively straight portion of track vibrated very noticeably. It is by no means uncomfortable, but in future seasons I could see this section of track becoming uncomfortable if the park doesn’t treat the ride carefully.
Then Fahrenheit speeds through back-to-back corkscrews. Both corkscrews are very forceful and disorienting thanks to the fairly high speed that they are taken at. While the two corkscrews finish off Fahrenheit’s six inversions, the ride is by no means done. After a fast, banked curve, Fahrenheit flies over a small bunny hill that completely ejects riders in all seats. Without a doubt, this is one of the most powerful moments of airtime that I have ever experienced since the ejector air is sustained for a good 2 or so seconds. Then, Fahrenheit speeds through a powerful low-to-the-ground turn before charging into the brake run.
Fahrenheit is without a doubt one of the best coasters I’ve been on anywhere thanks to its incredibly unique arsenal of elements and impeccable pacing. Often times, Fahrenheit and Storm Runner are compared, and I just barely preferred Storm Runner, though both are really close in my personal roller coaster ranks. Thrill-seekers simply cannot afford to miss Fahrenheit in a visit to Hersheypark since it boasts a rare combination of coaster elements all executed to perfection.
Best Seat: Back (3:2)
Favorite Part: First Drop
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