On October 3, 2018, Hershey Entertainment and Resorts revealed their "biggest announcement ever": a new section of the park named Chocolatetown, as well as a new entrance plaza, both of which would open in 2020. The anchor attractions were scheduled to include a roller coaster, as well as a new shopping area and a fountain, built at a cost of $150 million. The new coaster was planned to be a hypercoaster, over tall, which required approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. According to the filing with the FAA, the coaster was to be, at most, above ground level. The approval was later granted. In July 2019, Hersheypark officials announced that the new roller coaster would be called Candymonium, marketed as the "world’s sweetest coaster". According to Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company CEO John Lawn, "the coaster was a key ingredient to the entire Hershey’s Chocolatetown". By that time, the first few track pieces and part of the station had been built. In an Instagram post in October 2019, Hersheypark posted an image showing that construction on the lift hill was partially complete. In November 2019, Candymonium topped out when its lift hill was installed. The final track piece was installed in February 2020, though a opening date had not been announced at that time. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Pennsylvania, construction on Chocolatetown was delayed in April 2020, though construction resumed the next month and the first test train on Candymonium ran on May 6, 2020. Candymonium officially opened on July 3, 2020.
Characteristics
Track
The ride is long with an initial drop of. The track is colored chocolate brown with milk-white supports and contains seven camelback hills. Trains reach a maximum speed of.
Trains
The three trains represent three Hershey’s candies: Reese’s, Kisses, and Twizzlers. Each car seats four riders in a single row for a total of 28 riders per train.
Ride experience
Layout
After leaving the station, the train immediately ascends the lift hill. After reaching the top, it enters a drop, in which the train reaches at a top speed of. Then, the train ascends and descends a airtime hill over Spring Creek. After the hill, the track reverses direction via a Hammerhead turn. Traveling over another camelback hill, there is a series of airtime hills as the track travels back above Spring Creek before making an upward helix to the right and a leftward bank. The train then travels over another airtime hill and down onto a 270-degree left turn. The train then dips slightly and then rises into trim brakes before curving to the right, downward and up into the final brake run.
