Kennywood - Steel Phantom -

Servo, I agree with you about the Tidal Wave. I miss that ride. Its the Viper down at Six Flags Georgia now. I was down there about 5 years ago and got to ride it. Felt like the old days. Oh well, if what you heard is true about Shockwave it is a shame. It was a great ride when it debuted but it has just deteriated over the years. I still hope they would do alot of maintenance on it to keep it. The other coaster thats been talked about being removed it the Whizzer. I would definitely miss that ride because it was my first coaster and its the last of its kind in the world.

Could Kennywood perhaps be adding *2* coasters next year? I'm not saying I know anything for sure, but consider:

CCI is building a coaster for Kennywood already (Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce), so a new wooden at Kennywood itself would not be surprising.

*BUT* removing the Steel Phantom leaves Kennywood without a steel coaster (well, The Exterminator, which is GREAT but not what most people would think of when you talk about steel coasters), and rumors of an inverted have been floating around for years.

Kennywood putting 2 new rides in would certainly be a surprise, no? :)

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Abandon all hope, all ye who...oops, too late. Bye!

Chitown, there is a "Save the Whizzer Society"..i found it accidentally while looking for info on the Demon incident 3 years back...there are people out there who are working to save and maintain that ride. it is one of three of its kind from what i am told. maybe contacting ACE or doing a search for "Great America" would lead you to it. it was an unofficial GM site run by someone from the Chicago area....

What are the chances of this coaster being relocated and/or sold to another park? Or is it simply being retired?

-Craig

Craig,

This question was asked of the park PR person at CoasterBash XI on Saturday March 4, 2000, actually the park CEO Mr. Carl Hughes was in attendence as well.

They said that no plans to sell the ride being considered. If you think about it, there is almost no way they could relocate this ride, any more than they would be able to relocate new Boulder Dash coaster being built on the side of a mountain in Kennywood's sister park Lake Compounce.

Yes servo, I have been on that site before. Actually it is now the only one left of its kind. The other 2 have been torn down. PGAm removed theres and I think a park called Americana or something like that have removed theres. Lets hope SFGAm will cherish this one of a kind coaster.

Americana never had a Schwarzkopf Speed Racer (Whizzer). Worlds of Fun had the Zambezi Zinger. That's the only other one I can think of.

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Scott W. Short
sshort@mediaone.net
http://welcome.to/midwestcoastercentral

ah, Tim...there was one that was sold to a park in South America somewheres...i don't think SFGAm would take it down, after they spent a year without it, doing EXTENSIVE maintenance about 5 or 6 years back. besides, the line is always long, people love it, and the older it gets, the LOUDER it gets and that's reallly cool in my book. plus, the trees have grown in just right all around it, especially in the run at the end. nothing else would even fit there. the Save the Whizzer folks will see to it that it stays standing and operating...it is, in my opinion, one of the most beloved rides there, next to Demon. although it doesn't even come close to Tidal Wave for a lot of folks. a Schwazkopf shuttle-looper...aaahhhh the memories...

Thats right Tim, it was at Worlds of Fun. I saw pictures of the Zambezi Zinger and it was an exact replica of the Whizzer except the Zinger had you riding through a tunnel on parts of the ride. Paramount removed there Whizzer at there park because of an accident on the ride. I think it was an excuse to get rid of it even though from what I heard it was the person riding that was at fault. For all of you that have ridden one of these you have to admit its a coaster that will be missed. Speaking of Schwarzkopf shuttle loopers did Paramount remove there version of the Tidal Wave?

I am still shocked at Kennywood's announcement.
For any GOCC members-I wrote an editorial on SP and Kennywood in their previous quarters newsletter-
SP was definitely ROUGH-especially after coming around "that" famous hill (AWESOME) and hitting an invert at 80+mph. I also stated in that editorial that there were barely any riders-they only ran 1 train ALL day and had to wait for people to fill the train before it would go.
Generally my thinking is that some people shy away from inverted coasters-I think that if SP didnt have any inverts the ridership would be much better (but its popularity none the less has always ranked quite high as another person already notated) Yes SP was rough-until I figured out how to ride it-then ADORED it. But it was NO more rough then PKIs OLFOF-and my personal opinion (remember-this is just MY opinion) is OLFOF could go and I dont think there would be as big an outrage as there seems to be here. Kennywood has never really tried to ranked themselves as a "major amusement park"=(I noticed this from the moment I saw the park and noticed 95% of the people there lived right there) but maybe with MF at CP and SFO they are trying to get a piece of the action??
This announcement confirmed my trip plans back to Kennywood this year-have to ride SP as a fond farewell!! SOB....
I smell big $$ on SP merchandise on EBay in a couple of years!!
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Welcome back Raptor riders-how was your flight?

I figured that I'd move this topic back up just so we can see what we were talking about a year ago before the big PR announcement. IMO, there's nothing more amusing than listening to people speculate on these things without any apparent knowledge of the parks.

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I refuse to add a signature. Damn, too late.

Let me get this right, your saying that the Phantom is coming down. I thought morgan was rebuilding this coaster into a hyper coaster by taking out the inversions and adding drops instead.? Or am I way off track

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Live your Life On the Edge
Or Live Life Over the Edge.
Either way make sure its on a coaster

The first two hills are staying, Morgan is taking over at the beginning of the second drop. Get the full scoop at my web site.

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Joe Cernelli
Head Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
http://kennywood.coasterbuzz.com/