The Record-Setting History of Kennywood’s Steel Phantom, The Phantom’s Revenge

The Phantom’s Revenge Experience

Riders got in line for the redesigned coaster beneath its 160-foot teal lift hill, stretched high above the relatively new Lost Kennywood section. A dark, hooded Phantom figure marked the entrance. The long elevated queue led to a decorative Phantom portal, which was the entrance to the station.

Trains

The trains were tailor-made for The Phantom’s Revenge; they were completely unlike those on other Morgan hypers, which made this coaster experience unique for several reasons. Morgan built the new trains using the repurposed Arrow chassis from Steel Phantom, modifying them with custom-fabricated bodies—almost like a stylish classic car—and newly designed harnesses.

Because the framework was originally built for over-the-shoulder restraints, traditional front-mounted lap bars were physically not an option; instead, Morgan’s solution was to install side-mounted lap bars, giving riders more space while still being safe and secure. Kennywood was proud the ride finally had comfortable restraints, even advertising “no shoulder harness” as a key feature.

The Phantom’s Revenge only had one train for its first season until the second was ready the following year.

The trains had seven cars, each seating four passengers for a total of 28 per cycle, giving the coaster a theoretical capacity of 1,400 riders per hour.

The Layout

Once riders pulled down their side-mounted lap bars, the train rolled into a layout familiar to anyone who rode Steel Phantom: a turn out of the station, up the lift, down a 157-foot banked drop, across some straight track, and up the second hill.

The rest of the layout from here was re-tracked and redesigned by Morgan.

The train coasted over the 110-foot hill and rolled into its once-record-breaking plunge down the ravine, which was slightly extended to 228 feet. Anyone with their hands up down the drop probably held on tight as the train narrowly zipped through Thunderbolt.

At this point, the upgraded Phantom’s Revenge raced to its new top speed of 85 mph, pulling into a widened 82-degree left-hand turn.

The layout banked to the other direction, passing through a tunnel under Thunderbolt, and curving around the historic Turtle tumble bug attraction. In place of the old inversions, The Phantom’s Revenge rushed into a cluster of tight turns, snappy dips, and powerful airtime hills, which a review in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette compared to riding a bucking bronco.

After a rapidly paced second half, the coaster hit the brakes and returned to the station.