Phantom's Revenge - Kennywood (PA)

Date Ridden: Summer of 2007. Times Ridden - 1 in the second seat from the front.

Wow....it's been a while since I've posted an update. I have been out of town the past two weekends with a surprise trip to Dollywood (trip report and some great pics forthcoming) and a trek down to Miami to ride the Dania Beach Hurricane. It's been tough going online during the week with school and laundry to do, so I find myself without an update for well over a week. As punishment, I decided on a review that I have postponed for a long time.

To begin with, I really do not like to review coasters that I have only ridden one time. It is very difficult to get the feel for a good coaster without multiple rides. In this case, I feel that this is justified since I really was not all that excited over a coaster that receives raves through the enthusiast community. Phantom's Revenge was originally called the Steel Phantom and was the world's first hyper-looping coaster. With a drop of over 200 feet (its actually the 2nd drop and not the first) and a number of inversions, the ride itself was a landmark ride. However, the general public decided that speeds of over 80MPH and corkscrews should not go together so the inversions were scrapped and changed into airtime hills at the end of the course. The ride went from an ear-baning torture device to one of the top ten steel coasters in the world.

During the Top Ten Trek of 2007, this was actually the ride I was looking forward to the most. We arrived at Kennywood early on a Saturday in June to what we thought were sparse crowds. We went straight to the ride and had only a station wait. What I though would be less than 10 minutes turned into a 30 minute ordeal because only 1 train was being used and the ride ops were among the slowest I have ever seen, particularly the one sitting in a folding chair and eating popcorn. We were looking at multiple rides but with only a couple of hours to spend at the park and 4 other coasters to ride, one ride was we were able to get in. The ride itself was fun but did not offer the insane airtime I had been reading about. Again, that could be because we were close to the front since the 2nd seat had the shortest wait. Most reviews I have read state that the back of the train is preferable. However, I can only rate my experience and while it was good, it was not great either.

Positives include the bright green track, the large 2nd drop down through the structure of the wooden coaster, Thunderbolt (maybe this is where the popcorn lady was....I don;t remember) and the unique trains and restraints. As you can see form the picture, the sign itself is also very cool.

So anyway, one of the greatest coasters in the world gets only an 8 from me. I do hope to return to Kennywood this summer to put in some more laps on this well-respected ride. As a side note, a lot of the track is being replaced this winter by the park so Phantom's Revenge could offer a different ride next year.

Overall Rating - 8

Ride Phantom's Revenge below.