Hersheypark Accessibility Guide

What Is the Attraction Accessibility Program?

The Attraction Accessibility Program is Hersheypark's accommodation for guests with disabilities. The park's website also calls it the Ride Accessibility Program, and both names describe the same process. The guide states the program "is designed to allow guests to participate in the enjoyment of our Park as much as possible," and that every attraction has been evaluated for the criteria a person needs in order to ride safely.

The program matches your individual abilities to those published criteria, ride by ride. It is not a diagnosis review and no doctor's note is requested. What you get out of it is a Boarding Pass listing the attractions you may be able to enjoy, plus a route to board them that does not require standing in the physical queue. The guide lists no fee for the program. Fast Track, the park's paid line-skip upgrade, is a separate commercial product and is not required.

You Enroll In Person, Not Online

Enrollment means completing and signing an Attraction Accessibility Questionnaire. You can download it from the park's accessibility page and bring it filled out, which is the single biggest time saver available here. A guest under 18, or any guest who needs help completing the questionnaire, must have a parent, legal guardian, or other responsible party present to sign it.

The park is direct about who is enrolled. In its words, "only those guests with mobility impairments (which generally require the use of assistive devices such as manual wheelchairs, powered wheelchairs, approved electronic convenience vehicles (EVCs), walkers, canes, or crutches) and other qualifying accommodation needs will be enrolled in the Program." If your need is not mobility-based, bring it to the interactive discussion at the desk rather than assuming the answer either way.

There is no third-party accessibility card, no IBCCES certification requirement, and no advance online application.

How the Boarding Pass Works

After the questionnaire and a conversation with an Accessibility Services Agent or Supervisor, guests whose disability or accommodation need prevents extended waits in the standard queue receive a Boarding Pass listing the attractions they may be able to enjoy. The alternative entrance for each attraction is decided at enrollment and printed on the pass. At the ride, you show the pass to the attendant, who checks that the attraction is listed and that you meet every rider requirement including height. If the attraction is not on the pass, or a requirement is not met, you will not be permitted to ride.

The pass is a boarding route, not a front-of-line pass. The guide says so plainly: the accommodation "is designed to provide access to our attractions and not to bypass others waiting in the standard entrance/queue," and it "does not provide or guarantee immediate access."

The Reverse Boarding Time System

This is the part that shapes your whole day, and it works differently from the return-time systems at most other parks. Hersheypark assigns your wait after you ride rather than before.

1. With your Boarding Pass in hand, go to any listed attraction and enter through the exit. You ride first, with little to no wait. That first ride starts the clock.
2. Before you board, the attendant writes a wait on your pass equal to the current standby wait at that attraction. The park's own example: arrive at Great Bear at 12:00 p.m. when standby is one hour, and your pass is stamped 1:00 p.m.
3. You may board your next attraction of choice at or after that assigned time. Between now and then, the park suggests shows, shops, games, dining, and ZooAmerica.
4. At or after the assigned time, go to the next attraction's designated accessible entrance, board, and receive a new assigned time by the same rule.

The practical consequence: the length of your break is set by whatever the busiest coaster's standby wait happened to be when you rode it. Ride Skyrush at 2:00 p.m. on a Saturday and you may be looking at a ninety minute window. Ride it at opening and the window is close to nothing. That is the argument for enrolling before the gates open and starting on the headline coasters immediately.

Who Can Come With You

The Boarding Pass covers the enrolled guest and up to three riding companions through the designated accessible entrance. Everyone else in the party uses the standard queue. The enrolled guest must ride in order for the companions to ride: if that guest sits one out, the rest of the group rides through the normal line. Requests for specific seating are subject to seat availability.

Ridership Criteria: What the Park Actually Evaluates

Your Boarding Pass is built from seven published criteria applied attraction by attraction. Knowing them ahead of the desk conversation tells you why a particular ride may not appear on your pass:

• Control of the upper torso, including the ability to hold the head and neck upright through the ride's motion.
• Ability to maintain the proper riding position for the full ride cycle without the aid of other people or devices.
• Weight distribution that does not interfere with the restraint devices as designed.
• Ability to hold on, using arms and hands to keep a grasp on an assist bar.
• Ability to brace, using the legs to steady the body through the ride cycle.
• Ability to enter and exit the attraction without endangering yourself or others, and to assist in your own evacuation if needed. Park personnel are not permitted to lift or transfer guests out of wheelchairs or mobility devices; that has to be a supervising companion or another member of your party.
• Appropriate observed behavior, meaning a demonstrated willingness and ability to follow rider requirements and safety instructions.

The guide defines a supervising companion as the accompanying person who meets all the attraction requirements and assists the guest with loading, unloading, maintaining posture during the ride, and getting down stairs, catwalks, or inclined ramps if the ride stops.

Height Categories and Test Seats

Hersheypark sorts every rider into a candy-brand height category, and the categories, not individual signs, are how families plan here. The park's own breakdown runs Hershey's Miniatures under 36 inches, Hershey's Kisses 36 to 42 inches, Reese's 42 to 48 inches, Hershey's 48 to 54 inches, Twizzlers 54 to 60 inches, and Jolly Rancher over 60 inches. Stop at any Guest Services location to be officially measured and assigned a category. Height requirements are posted at each attraction, and every guest in the accessibility program still has to meet them.

Test seats sit at the entrances to Candymonium, Fahrenheit, Great Bear, Hershey Triple Tower, Laff Trakk, Skyrush, Storm Runner, Twizzlers Twisted Gravity, and Wildcat's Revenge. Use them before you spend a boarding-time window, not after. The guide states plainly that guests of exceptional height or weight may not be accommodated on a long list of rides, Candymonium, Comet, Fahrenheit, Jolly Rancher Remix, Laff Trakk, Lightning Racer, Skyrush, sooperdooperlooper, Storm Runner, Trailblazer, Twizzlers Twisted Gravity, Wild Mouse, and Wildcat's Revenge among them.

Prosthetics, Casts, and Braces

Hersheypark's rules here are more specific than most parks publish, and they vary ride by ride. The headline points from the 2026 guide:

• Prosthetic devices must be removed before riding Candymonium, Skyrush, Great Bear, and The Claw.
• Wildcat's Revenge permits no prosthetic devices of any kind, and requires two natural legs including feet plus one natural arm with a functional hand.
• On Fahrenheit, Storm Runner, Hershey Triple Tower, and Laff Trakk, a guest wearing one prosthetic leg must remove it or carry written documentation from the limb manufacturer that it withstands forces up to 5 Gs. Every guest riding with a prosthetic needs that documentation.
• Upper prostheses are not permitted on Jolly Rancher Remix.
• Guests with casts or hard braces cannot ride Candymonium, Great Bear, Hershey Triple Tower, Skyrush, sooperdooperLooper, or Twizzlers Twisted Gravity. Comet excludes hard casts or braces that block full mobility of the shoulder, elbow, knees, or hips.
• Hershey Triple Tower, Jolly Rancher Remix, and Twizzlers Twisted Gravity require one naturally occurring arm with at least three fingers. Laff Trakk requires two naturally occurring arms and hands.

Guests with certain amputations who would otherwise be unable to ride Candymonium may be permitted to ride using a full body harness if they meet the physical requirements. Ask at Accessibility Services rather than at the ride entrance.

Riding With a Mobility Device

Every coaster requires a transfer out of your wheelchair or ECV. Where you enter varies by ride and is printed on your Boarding Pass: Candymonium, Skyrush, Fahrenheit, Storm Runner, sooperdooperLooper, Trailblazer, and Wildcat's Revenge route non-ambulatory guests to a ride elevator, while Great Bear, Comet, Lightning Racer, Jolly Rancher Remix, Wild Mouse, and Cocoa Cruiser route them through the ride exit. Ambulatory guests in the program generally enter through the Fast Track entrance at the front of the attraction.

Manual wheelchairs rent for $35 and ECVs for $70, first come first served, renter must be 18 or older, with a 450 pound weight limit listed in the guide. Aquatic wheelchairs are available at certain Boardwalk attractions; ask a lifeguard. Segways and golf carts are not permitted in Hersheypark or ZooAmerica.

If a Ride Stops Mid-Cycle

The guide is candid that a mechanical problem, power failure, or sudden weather can stop an attraction, and that riders "may be required to maneuver across catwalks or travel down steeply inclined ramps or steps." That evacuation is the supervising companion's job to assist with, not the ride operator's. Factor it into which coasters are worth it for your group.

Oxygen Tanks

Portable oxygen tanks are permitted on six attractions only: Carrousel in the chariots, Dry Gulch Railroad, the Ferris Wheel, Kissing Tower, the Monorail, and Twin Turnpike Classic Cars. The tank has to fit safely in the ride unit without interfering with operation or the restraint.

Service Animals

Service animals are welcome at Hersheypark and ZooAmerica, defined as dogs or miniature horses individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability. Comfort and emotional support animals do not qualify and are not permitted. Animals must stay on a leash or harness under the handler's control and be housebroken. Any green space in the park or the zoo may be used for relief, and the handler's party cleans up.

Service animals may ride the Monorail, the Carrousel in the chariots only, the Kissing Tower, the Dry Gulch Railroad, the Ferris Wheel, and Sunoco Classic Cars, and may go up to the water's edge at The Boardwalk without entering the water. On every other attraction, someone in the handler's party stays with the animal while the handler rides. Employees are not permitted to take control of a service animal, so plan a rider swap.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Guests

Tell park personnel before boarding if you cannot hear the loading and unloading instructions. Show scripts and written attraction safety speeches are available on request, and riders can scan the QR code posted at an attraction entrance or alternative entrance to read the safety speech instead of hearing it. For shows, accessible seating at the Aquatheatre is reached from the upper or lower level entrances and at the Chevrolet Music Box Theatre through the main entrance; arrive 20 minutes before showtime if you need help from a host, because accessible seating is limited.

Autism and Sensory Needs

The guide publishes a sensory symbol key covering low light and dark spaces, bright light, flashing and strobe effects, theatrical smoke or fog, noise levels, possible sudden sounds, strong smells, and the potential to swallow water, and it applies those symbols attraction by attraction. Reading that section before you go is the fastest way to screen rides for a sensory-sensitive rider.

Two designated quiet locations exist: Guest Services inside the Family Health & Services Center in the Pioneer Frontier area, and the Kissing Tower Hill area. The park describes them as places that provide "privacy and relief from sensory stimulation." Mark both on your map before you need them.

The park also flags magnetic fields, which matters for pacemakers and hearing aids: Breakers Edge Water Coaster, Candymonium, Fahrenheit, Laff Trakk, Skyrush, sooperdooperlooper, Storm Runner, Trailblazer, and Wildcat's Revenge all use them.

For low-stimulation ways to cover ground, the Monorail, the Kissing Tower, and ZooAmerica are seated, quiet, and included in admission.

Restrooms and Changing Facilities

All restrooms marked on the interactive park map are accessible. For a lateral transfer, the guide names five: next to Trailblazer Catering, inside the Tidal Force changing rooms, in The Boardwalk At Hersheypark, in Kissing Tower Hill, and in ZooAmerica. All-gender restrooms are in Midway America, The Hollow, The Boardwalk, at Chick-fil-A, and in the Hershey's Chocolatetown entrance plaza. Every restroom has a basic changing table, and an adult-accessible changing table is available at the Chocolatetown First Aid restroom behind Main Gate Guest Services.

Food Allergies

Every food and beverage location publishes menu items, ingredients, and allergen information on the website and in the mobile app, and the interactive park map marks where allergen-friendly options are. Staff keep an ingredient list at each location. Epi-Pens are allowed in the park. Outside food and drink is otherwise limited to one sealed water bottle per person, with exceptions for allergies and dietary restrictions.

First Aid and Personal Care Attendants

Main First Aid is inside the Family Health & Services Center in Pioneer Frontier next to the Play Dome Arcade, staffed by registered nurses and certified EMTs. Two more stations operate in The Boardwalk from Memorial Day to Labor Day and in Hershey's Chocolatetown. Any park employee can call for help. For a visit with a personal care attendant, ask at Ticketing Services for Hersheypark or at the Zoo Admissions desk for ZooAmerica.

What This Program Does Well, and Where It Bites

The strengths: three enrollment desks including one that opens before the park does, a questionnaire you can complete at home, no card and no online application, a published set of criteria you can read in advance, an assigned time that never expires during the day, and an accessibility guide that is unusually specific about prosthetics, casts, and sensory content.

The friction: the party allowance is three riding companions, smaller than several peer parks; the program enrolls mobility impairments and other qualifying needs rather than everyone who asks; the reverse boarding time means a midday ride on a busy coaster can cost you a long window; and the hillside terrain does more to shape the day than any policy on this page. Enroll early, ride the headline coasters early, and use ZooAmerica and the Monorail for the gaps.

Policies change. Always verify current requirements directly with the park before your visit.

Official Resources

For the most current accessibility information directly from the source:

Hersheypark Accessibility Information →
2026 Rider Safety & Accessibility Guide (PDF) →
FAQ: Assistance for Guests with Disabilities →