Kennywood Offered a Unique Hyper Coaster in Steel Phantom
Phantom's Revenge was originally known as Steel Phantom. It was Kennywood's entry in the Coaster Arms Race of the 1990's. Theme parks around the world were trying to one-up each other in boasting the tallest roller coaster in the world. Coaster designer Arrow had a large part to play in the Race. In most cases they were brought in to build coasters with a tall first hill that broke the current world record. Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point, Desperado at Buffalo Bill's Resort, and Pepsi Max Big One at Pleasure Beach were some of the major players.
Steel Phantom was One of a Kind
Unlike those hypercoasters, Steel Phantom was not technically taller than 200 feet, but it did take riders down a breathtaking 225' drop down a ravine and through Thunderbolt's support structure. After the intense drop, Steel Phantom unleashed 4 loops including a boomerang (2), vertical loop, and a corkscrew. Unfortunately, I was never able to experience Steel Phantom before it was transformed into Phantom's Revenge. As Phantom's Revenge it was given a traditional hypercoaster make-over and the four inversions were replaced with airtime bunny hills. I really like terrain coasters and looping steel coasters. I think I would've loved Steel Phantom.
Check out this onride coaster video of Steel Phantom. It's from a news story in 1991.
Image & video courtesy of CoasterImage
Do you have any memories of Steel Phantom? Do you like Steel Phantom better or do you prefer Phantom's Revenge? Leave a comment below.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Steel Phantom @ Kennywood | Defunct Roller Coasters
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2 comments:
Yep, you would've loved it, but too many people complained about getting beaten up. When Kennywood announced that it was being changed, there was a letter-writing campaign to keep it as is, but not to be.
The thing I like about both Pahtoms is that it's the second hill, not the first, that has the longest drop. That's the one that goes down into the ravine, amidst the smell of POTATO PATCH FRIES! The bunny hills are wicked and there is a cool uphill tunnel under the T-Bolt, but I think I liked the original Phantom better.
I'm not surprised it was rough as Steel Phantom. Arrow is known for their heabanging looping coasters. As long as it wasn't excessively rough I still would've enjoyed those loops. They looked cool. I'm sure Kennywood had to consider those complaints and they probably realized that those bunny hills and the lapbar restraints would be less obusive.
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