Phantom's Revenge is a steel terrain coaster, located at Kennywood, in Pennsylvania USA.
The ride broke two records upon debut; becoming the world's fastest roller coaster as a
result of featuring the world's longest roller coaster drop.
However, these impressive statistics were packaged in a roller coaster that is different
to the one we know today.
Phantom's Revenge originally opened to the public on the 10th of May 1991 as Steel Phantom,
an Arrow Dynamics hyper coaster.
The attraction was constructed at the park as a replacement to the former steel schwarzkopf
shuttle loop coaster, Laser Loop.
Kennywood were looking to install a large scale steel roller coaster that would compliment
its collection of vintage wooden rides.
As a result, Steel Phantom was constructed at the cost of 4.6 million USD, utilizing
Laser Loops station building.
The original attraction featured similar elements to the roller coaster of the present, taking
riders through the same first and second drops.
At this point however, while riders of Phantom's Revenge enjoy smooth turns and airtime hills,
guests on Steel Phantom would experience multiple back-to-back inversions.
After a brief turnaround at the bottom of the second drop, the trains would enter a
vertical loop, followed by a Batwing element, and a final corkscrew, before undergoing a
large turn into the final brake run.
Years of operation later saw ridership numbers decrease as guests found the ride had become
increasingly uncomfortable due to the multiple inversions.
As a result, in March of 2000, Kennywood announced that they would dismantle Steel Phantom.
At the time, a replacement for the ride had not yet been considered.
This announcement led to fans of the Arrow Dynamics coaster writing to the park, complaining
about the decision.
Several discussions later, Kennywood concluded that they would keep the ride, but make severe
modifications to it with the aim of drastically improving rider comfort.
After the attraction closed towards the end of the season, D.H Morgan Manufacturing were
brought in to make substantial changes to the coaster.
All four of the inversions were removed from the layout and replaced by a series of turns
and airtime hills, while the second drop was slightly lengthened.
The trains were also modified, resulting in the over the shoulder restraints being replaced
by more comfortable lap bar restraints.
For the 2001 season, Steel Phantom opened as the renovated Phantom's Revenge.
The attraction debuted to great reviews, with guests enjoying all parts of the experience,
which begins with riders boarding one of two trains.
The trains themselves consist of 7 cars, each of which seat riders in 2 row of 2.
This leads to a total of 28 guests per train.
Once visitors have boarded, the train is dispatched from the station building, undergoing a slight
turn into the lift hill.
At this point, riders climb 49m (160ft) high, and crest the top of the first drop.
The trains bank right and plummet down the curved descent.
A segment of straight track later, riders climb the first hill, traversing through a
small right hand turn.
This leads guests into the attractions largest drop, a 69.5m (228ft) descent down the side
of a hill, passing both above and below another of Kennywood's roller coasters, Thunderbolt.
Interestingly, because the rides' second drop is larger than its first, it's at this
point that the trains reach the top speed of 137kmh (85mph).
At the bottom of the hill, guests enter a large 270 degree sweeping turn, following
by an uphill ascent beneath Thunderbolt's structure.
The trains navigate a further turn, before entering a series of ejector airtime hills.
The ride comes to an with a final large sweeping turn, and a further two hills, leading guests
into the final brake run.
During the entire experience, the trains navigate a total of 975m (3200ft) of track.
This occurs within approximately 46 seconds of ride time, measured from the top of the
lift hill, to the final brake run.
The shorter length, and large trains, allows the coaster to have a good throughput of roughly
1400 riders per hour.
Despite the short ride time, many love Phantom's Revenge, due to it's interesting use of
the natural terrain, interaction with other rides, and moments of ejector airtime.
The success of the rides modification leads to the question: Should other Arrow Dynamics
roller coasters receive similar treatments?
What's your opinion?
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét