Comet is a wooden roller coaster located at Waldameer & Water World in Erie, Pennsylvania. It was designed by Herbert Schmeck and built by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) in 1951. It is similar to other Schmeck-designed PTC junior wooden coasters which feature a layered figure-eight oval layout. However, Comet is taller than those of its type which came before it.
Comet was designated an ACE Coaster Classic by American Coaster Enthusiasts for maintaining its classic standards of operation.
History The park began planning the coaster in 1946, and several smaller rides at the park were sold to finance its addition. The ride's construction was overseen by James Martz. It was built from Pacific coast timber. The ride's name was coined by Bobby Benson, a radio show host, at an event in the park on June 27, 1951. The ride was also nicknamed the "Bobby Benson Stratocruiser" for the day.
For the 2012 season, Comet received an updated braking system and a new control system from Velocity Magnetics. The new system uses a combination of magnetic and friction brakes, which allows for two-train operation.
The ride received a significant amount of retracking following the 2026 season. Some of the replaced wood was original to the ride's 1951 debut year.
Ride experience
The ride begins with a right turn out of the station into a lift hill. It descends a first drop before immediately ascending up into a left turn. It drops again, into two airtime hills, and curves through a righthand turn over the station. Then it drops into a series of two bunny-hops and traverses a right curve directly underneath the first left curve. It then drops into two final bunny-hops before entering the brake run and turning right to return to the station. In its minute and 24 second-long ride time, it reaches a top speed of . It has of track.
Trains Comet has two Junior PTC trains of four cars, all of which utilize flanged wheels. Each car has two seats that can hold two riders, for a maximum of 16 riders per train. Riders are restrained by a single buzz bar. Although the park owns two trains, for several years, only one was placed into daily operation, as park management was not comfortable running two trains with manually operated skid brakes.
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