Roller Coaster Guide to Kennywood: Every Coaster Ranked
Kennywood has been running rides beside the Monongahela since 1898, and its coaster lineup is a living museum with teeth: three pre-1930 woodies that still throw real airtime, a ravine racer from the 60s, and modern steel that hits 85 mph. Here is every coaster at the Pittsburgh classic, ranked, with the seat and the hour each one deserves.
1. Phantom's Revenge
- Ride experience: The signature. A modest first drop is a decoy for the second drop, around 230 feet, which plunges off the bluff, threads through Thunderbolt's wooden structure, and bottoms out in the ravine at 85 mph. The return run is a series of violent speed hills with some of the strongest sustained ejector airtime anywhere. It is a top-tier steel coaster hiding in a traditional park.
- Height requirement: 48 inches.
- Best seat: Back row. The ravine drop whips it over the edge.
- Best time to ride: Evening into night. Our wait tracking has it averaging only about 12 minutes, absurdly cheap for what it is, and night rides into the dark ravine are elite.
2. Steel Curtain
- Ride experience: The Steelers coaster: 220 feet, nine inversions, and one of the tallest inversions in the world. It is a skyline of yellow track that flips you in every conceivable direction without ever getting mean about it.
- Height requirement: 52 inches.
- Best seat: Front row for the full choreography of the inversions.
- Best time to ride: Rope drop or shortly after. It averages about 20 minutes, among the longest waits in the park, and afternoon lines outrun its capacity.
3. Thunderbolt
- Ride experience: The 1968 ravine woodie that starts with a drop straight out of the station, no lift hill first, and saves its biggest plunges for the finale double drop into the ravine. The laterals in the turnaround genuinely shove you across the bench, which is why the classic rule pairs riders up rather than seating singles alone.
- Height requirement: 52 inches.
- Best seat: The outside of the bench, if your seatmate allows, back half of the train.
- Best time to ride: Evening. It averages under 8 minutes in our data, the best thrill-per-wait ratio in the park.
4. Jack Rabbit
- Ride experience: Built in 1920 and still the airtime king of its century. The famous double-down drops you twice in a row with only a simple lap bar between you and physics, and the ravine layout makes 40 mph feel like an event.
- Height requirement: 42 inches.
- Best seat: Back row for the double-down float.
- Best time to ride: Morning; its nostalgic line runs longer than you would expect, averaging around 16 minutes.
5. Racer
- Ride experience: The 1927 racing woodie with a secret: it is one continuous track, a true Mobius layout, so you finish in the opposite station from where you started. Gentle, charming, and best raced against a train full of strangers you now hate.
- Height requirement: 46 inches.
- Best seat: Front row of either side.
- Best time to ride: Afternoon; the double station chews through lines.
6. Sky Rocket
- Ride experience: The modern one: a 0 to 50 mph launch up and over a top hat, inversions, and lap-bar-only freedom. Short but punchy.
- Height requirement: 48 inches.
- Best seat: Front row for the launch.
- Best time to ride: Late morning, before the midday wave.
7. Exterminator
- Ride experience: An indoor spinning wild mouse through a rat-infested Pittsburgh underground. Great fun, low capacity: it averages 27 minutes in our tracking, the longest wait in the park.
- Height requirement: 46 inches.
- Best seat: Any; the spin decides your fate.
- Best time to ride: Rope drop, first fifteen minutes, or accept the skip.
First-timers guide order
Jack Rabbit, Racer, Thunderbolt, Sky Rocket, Phantom's Revenge, Steel Curtain, and Exterminator only if the posted wait is under 20.
Enthusiast order
Exterminator at rope drop, Steel Curtain immediately after, Phantom's Revenge twice before lunch, the 1920s classics through the afternoon, Potato Patch fries as a formality, then Thunderbolt and Phantom's Revenge again after dark, which is when Kennywood becomes the best version of itself.
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