#sooperdooperlooper

Photo Sources: All photos are mine

SooperDooperLooper at Hersheypark!

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Opened: 1977 Manufacturer: Schwarzkopf Height: 70 ft (21 m) Speed: 45 mph (72 kph) Length: 2,614 ft (797 m) My most recent ride: 2023

SooperDooperLooper is another great sort of middle-of-the-road coaster for Hersheypark. It's not overly extreme but still offers a fun ride and has a few good, forceful moments. This makes it the ideal ride for a kid's first experience with going upside down. For a coaster enthusiast like myself, it's not anything to write home about but it's still a fun ride for what it is ^^

SooperDooperLooper is also an important coaster in history, as it was the first modern looping coaster on the east coast when it opened in 1977. Following the success of Revolution at Magic Mountain (the first modern coaster with a vertical loop), Hersheypark contacted Schwarzkopf to have them build a very similar ride for the Pennsylvania park. SooperDooperLooper has a similar terrain layout with the centerpiece loop right up along the path that makes for a great presentation of the ride's signature element.

That loop is also easily the best part of the ride. Like pretty much all other Schwarzkopf loops, it's much more circular than loops from other manufacturers, making it much more forceful. The track then swinging back around and going through the center of the loop is also a fun visual from both on and off the ride. Beyond the loop though, SooperDooperLooper is pretty tame. There's a fun little tunnel and a helix at the end that can pull some decent forces in the second half of the element, but beyond those, there's not a whole lot else going on here.

Personally, I don't think that's a huge deal, since the ride was more or less designed to be a scenic tour of the hillside above Spring Creek and you do get some cool views of the water and the trees, as well as Great Bear roaring past right next to the ride. The main thing I'm sort of torn on with SooperDooperLooper is the name lmao. I can't decide whether I don't like it because it sounds too goofy, or admiring Hersheypark for actually going for it and sticking to it for almost 50 years now lol.

Sooperdooperlooper Rollar Coaster

At Hersheypark Pennsylvania

The 1977 season of Hershey Park opened with the addition of a brand new thrill ride: the Sooperdooperlooper rollercoaster! However, the ride seemed cursed from the very beginning. On its opening day on July 4th, 1977, the ride experienced a mechanical failure, stranding passengers, including Hershey’s CEO and other VIPs, on the hill lift. No one was hurt, but passengers were forced to walk down the narrow catwalks to safety. Unfortunately, it would be only a month later when someone WOULD get hurt.