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Hersheypark · US & Canada · typical hours 10 AM–10 PM
The one-minute version: be at the gate 30–45 minutes before opening and ride Skyrush first. Waits peak from late morning to mid-afternoon — do shows and meals then. The final hour is often as quiet as rope drop. There is no headline evening show, so the final operating hour is usually the quietest time to ride.
Worth it on busy days: Fast Track is a summer Saturday product.
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Hersheypark runs in seasons (spring weekends, summer, Hersheypark Halloween and Christmas Candylane), with hours that change by date, so check the official calendar for your day. 'Preview' (the Preview Plan) gives free evening entry the night before your full-day visit: guests with any 2026 ticket type have their admission ticket scanned at the main entrance for the last stretch of the evening, about the final 1.5 hours before close on the official fall table (longer for resort guests). Preview does not have to be the night right before, but it must come before your full day. With a 2-Day Ticket it is only available before your first day. Parking is free for Preview visits if you tell the parking booth attendant.
| Day | Park hours (local time) |
|---|---|
| Fri 23 Oct | 5 PM – 10 PM |
| Sat 24 Oct | 12 PM – 10 PM |
| Sun 25 Oct | 12 PM – 9 PM |
| Fri 30 Oct | 5 PM – 10 PM |
| Sat 31 Oct | 12 PM – 10 PM |
| Sun 1 Nov | 12 PM – 9 PM |
| Sat 7 Nov | 12 PM – 8 PM |
From the park’s published schedule. Hours change, and evening events can close the park to day guests early — check with the park before you go.
Hersheypark is an amusement park in Hershey, Pennsylvania, next to Hershey's Chocolate World, and it bills itself as the largest amusement park in the state. It is best known for its roller coasters, including the Candymonium hypercoaster at the entrance to the Hershey's Chocolatetown area, and for grouping riders into candy-named height categories such as Hershey's (48 in) and Twizzlers (54 in). Admission also covers ZooAmerica, entered by the bridge from inside the park, and The Boardwalk water area in summer.
| Ride | Min. height |
|---|---|
| Candymonium · HypercoasterThe park's tallest and fastest coaster: a 210-ft lift hill and a 76 mph top speed, at the Chocolatetown entrance. | 54 in (137 cm) |
| Skyrush · Winged steel coaster200-ft lift and 75 mph over Spring Creek; casts and hard braces are not allowed. | 54 in (137 cm) |
| Storm Runner · Hydraulic launch coasterLaunches from 0 to 72 mph in about two seconds. | 54 in (137 cm) |
| Fahrenheit · Steel coasterA 121-ft vertical lift followed by a 97-degree drop, the steepest in the park. | 54 in (137 cm) |
| Wildcat's Revenge · Hybrid coaster (Rocky Mountain Construction)Opened in 2023 with a 140-ft hill, 62 mph, an 82-degree drop and four inversions; casts and hard braces are not allowed. | 48 in (122 cm) |
| Great Bear · Inverted coasterInverted coaster with your feet dangling, at about 61 mph. | 54 in (137 cm) |
| Lightning Racer · Racing wooden coasterDouble-track wooden coaster where two trains race each other. | 48 in (122 cm) |
| Twizzlers Twisted Gravity · Screamin' SwingA 137-ft swing ride that opened in May 2025. | 48 in (122 cm) |
Height minimums as the park publishes them; some rides also have a maximum or need a companion below a second height. Check the ride's sign on the day.
Checked 2026-10-11 against the park’s published information.
Queues here follow a predictable daily shape. Lines are shortest in the first hour and the last, and peak 3 PM–5 PM — that is the window to spend on shows, meals or indoor attractions rather than headliners.
Typical shape of a Hersheypark day, shown as each hour's share of that day's own peak wait. Actual minutes vary by season and day of week — check today's live waits.
| Hour | Typical wait level |
|---|---|
| 10 AM | 30% of the day's peak |
| 11 AM | 45% of the day's peak |
| 12 PM | 65% of the day's peak |
| 1 PM | 82% of the day's peak |
| 2 PM | 95% of the day's peak |
| 3 PM | 100% of the day's peak |
| 4 PM | 100% of the day's peak |
| 5 PM | 92% of the day's peak |
| 6 PM | 78% of the day's peak |
| 7 PM | 60% of the day's peak |
| 8 PM | 42% of the day's peak |
| 9 PM | 30% of the day's peak |
Be at the gate 30–45 minutes before opening and ride in this order. Skyrush has the smallest trains and the longest sustained line; Candymonium moves quickly despite its popularity.
The first hour is the cheapest capacity of the day — no pass, no fee, and typically the shortest waits you will see.
Red = busiest, green = quietest, grey = moderate.
Expect the year's longest waits during the summer holiday and Christmas Candylane weekends.
The best value for short lines is May weekdays and September weekends once school returns.
Scores are the crowd forecast, 1 to 10, averaged over the stretch. Visiting in a busy stretch anyway? Be at the gate before opening, and ride the big ones in the first hour and the last. Every day is scored on the crowd calendar.
Worth it on busy days
Fast Track is a summer Saturday product. On most other days Hersheypark's capacity keeps up with its crowds.
Looking for a fast pass or skip-the-line pass? At Hersheypark it is called Fast Track: A paid add-on to admission. You link it to the free HPGO wristband and tap the Kisses-shaped HPGO reader at Fast Track lanes to skip the regular line, either once per day on each participating attraction (Fast Track) or all day (Fast Track Unlimited).
Price: roughly $40–$100 limited quantity. Prices change often and by date — treat this as a range, not a quote.
Maben Parks shows every wait live with a "vs typical" marker, and your magical fairy will run the numbers for your party and date — including telling you to keep your money when the answer is no.
Check today's waits before you buyPlanning ahead? The free Hersheypark crowd calendar scores every day for the next twelve months, 1 to 10 — no sign-up.
Median posted wait across the rides we track, on moderate days — the crowd level most visitors get. The shaded band is the middle half of readings at that hour.
Detected automatically from the live feed — each of these reported closed all day, every day, for at least three operating days. Observed through October 19, 2026.
| Attraction | Closed since | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Granny Bugs - Closes at 5PM | October 2, 2026 | 11 operating days |
| Mini Himalaya | October 2, 2026 | 11 operating days |
| Red Baron - Closes at 5 PM | October 2, 2026 | 11 operating days |
| Wild Mouse | October 2, 2026 | 11 operating days |
| Mini Pirate | October 16, 2026 | 4 operating days |
| Mini Scrambler | October 16, 2026 | 4 operating days |
| Attraction | Was closed from | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Hershey Triple Tower - Reese's Tower | August 26, 2026 | 17 operating days |
| Shoreline Sprayground | August 26, 2026 | 16 operating days |
| Hershey Triple Tower - Hershey's Kisses Tower | August 28, 2026 | 15 operating days |
| Jolly Rancher Remix | August 27, 2026 | 11 operating days |
| Intercoastal Waterway | September 3, 2026 | 8 operating days |
| Coal Cracker | September 4, 2026 | 7 operating days |
Generated from wait-feed observations, not an operator announcement: a long closure usually means refurbishment, but we report what the feed shows rather than guessing why. Always check the operator's own page before travelling for one specific ride.
Every wait we have recorded here, grouped by how busy the day turned out to be. The bold figure is the middle half of what we saw — a quarter of the time it was shorter, a quarter of the time longer. Read it against today’s crowd level to know whether the number on the sign is good or bad.
| Ride | Lightlevel 1 | Moderatelevel 3 | Packedlevel 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Candymonium - Dark Coaster | 5–1510 typical | 15–2515 typical | 20–10545 typical |
| Laff Trakk - Dark Coaster | 15–4525 typical | 10–5040 typical | 45–10575 typical |
| Reese's Cupfusion | 15–4025 typical | 15–7530 typical | 55–9075 typical |
| Star-Spangled Laff Trakk | 5–3020 typical | — | 45–9060 typical |
| Storm Runner | 5–205 typical | 10–2010 typical | 20–9045 typical |
| Wildcat's Revenge - Dark Coaster | 5–1510 typical | 5–2510 typical | 15–9040 typical |
| Candymonium | 5–105 typical | — | 20–7545 typical |
| Great Bear | 5–205 typical | 10–4025 typical | 25–7545 typical |
| Fahrenheit | 5–105 typical | 10–3025 typical | 25–7545 typical |
| Jolly Rancher Remix - Featuring Halloween Overlay | 5–55 typical | — | 10–7550 typical |
| Skyrush - Opens at 6PM | 5–155 typical | 5–1510 typical | 15–7550 typical |
| Wildcat's Revenge | 5–105 typical | — | 15–6045 typical |
| Comet | 5–1510 typical | — | 20–6045 typical |
| Breakers Edge Water Coaster | 5–2510 typical | — | 10–6040 typical |
| Intercoastal Waterway | 5–55 typical | — | 5–6015 typical |
| Lightning Racer- Dark Coaster | 5–105 typical | 5–105 typical | 10–6040 typical |
| Comet - Dark Coaster | 5–2010 typical | 10–4020 typical | 20–6030 typical |
| Monorail | 5–155 typical | — | 30–5045 typical |
Minutes of posted standby wait, from our own recorded snapshots — up to 16 days per figure. Cells stay blank until a ride has enough observations at that crowd level to be worth printing. Posted waits are what the park displays, which is not always what you queue.
Aim to be at the gate 30–45 minutes before the posted opening time of 10 AM. The first hour consistently has the day's shortest waits, and arriving even 45 minutes late typically costs you two headliners.
10 AM–11 AM and 9 PM–10 PM — the opening hour and the final hour of the operating day. Waits peak 3 PM–5 PM, so plan meals, shows and indoor attractions for that window.
Skyrush, then Candymonium and Wildcat's Revenge. Skyrush has the smallest trains and the longest sustained line; Candymonium moves quickly despite its popularity.
May and September — May weekdays and September weekends once school returns. Avoid June, July, August and December, when the summer holiday and Christmas Candylane weekends.
Fast Track is a summer Saturday product. On most other days Hersheypark's capacity keeps up with its crowds.
With the Preview Plan, guests with any 2026 Hersheypark ticket can enter free the evening before their full-day visit, for roughly the last 1.5 hours before close. With a 2-Day Ticket it applies only before the first day. Preview start times vary by date and are listed on the park's calendar.
This page's live board shows current ride waits, and the crowd calendar scores each day so you can compare busy and quiet dates.
Fast Track is a paid add-on to admission. It lets you skip the regular line once per day on each participating attraction, or all day with Fast Track Unlimited, using the free HPGO wristband. It is most useful on busy days when the headline coasters have long waits. Prices and participating rides vary by date and season.
Yes. You can visit ZooAmerica free on the same day by entering through the bridge from inside Hersheypark, but tickets can't be scanned at ZooAmerica's main entrance.