Wild Cat (Hersheypark)

Wild Cat (Hersheypark)

The Wild Cat (initially The Joy Ride) was the name of a wooden roller coaster located in Hersheypark, Hershey, Pennsylvania. Milton S. Hershey had the ride built at a cost of $50,000, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the town of Hershey. It was the first roller coaster built in Hersheypark. However, unlike all other roller coasters build at the park since, Wild Cat was owned by the Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) and the land the ride was built on was leased to PTC on an agreement that expired in 1945.

Wild Cat was Herbert Schmeck's first roller coaster design. When the ride opened on June 16, 1923, it was called The Joy Ride, but it was shortly after renamed Wildcat. The ride stood approximately where the Trailblazer and Storm Runner's double roll and snake dive are currently, and the ride went through a tunnel near the present-day Country Grill. The first woman to ride the roller coaster is Miss Marion Murrie, the daughter of Hershey baseball coach and Hershey Chocolate factory worker William Murrie.

The roller coaster operated through the 1945 season. It had been decided that Wild Cat would be torn down and replaced with a new wooden roller coaster. It had fallen in to significant disrepair as a result of the Second World War economy requiring most wood and supplies to go to the United States' war effort. Schmeck designed the replacement roller coaster, Comet, which was Milton Hershey's last purchased ride (he died before Comet's completion), and is still in operation as of the 2012 Hersheypark season.

In 1995, Hersheypark announced they were building a new wooden roller coaster for the 1996 season. They chose the name Wildcat in honor of the Wild Cat, and used the slogan, The Cat is back!