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Kennywood’s Sky Rocket looks to be about ready to open. As you can see from the video below the coaster has had test runs:

As I said in my previous posts, I think Sky Rocket will be a strong addition to Kennywood’s loopless lineup. It will boast all of the ingredients of a solid modern looper. Elements include a launch, two vertical drops, a corkscrew and a barrell roll. The twisting banked section and the repeating camel back hills towards the end look like a lot of fun too.

I ranked Sky Rocket at 5th in my Top New Roller Coasters for 2010. More on Sky Rocket at Kennywood.
Also, check out an official Sky Rocket POV video on Kennywood’s Facebook page. Sky Rocket is set to open tomorrow on June 29th.

What’s Your Take?
How do you think Sky Rocket looks? Are you planning on heading to Kennywood this summer? Leave a comment below.

About The Author

Joel

Founder of CoasterCritic.com. My favorite coasters are B&M hypers and gigas. I'm also a huge fan of terrain roller coasters.

26 Responses

  1. Mike

    This coaster looks extremely small to be called "sky" rocket. Looks like Fahrenheit mixed w/a dive coaster on that 2nd drop. What is the height on this. I just can't get over the fact it looks so small.

    Reply
    • Quil

      Height isn't as Important in modern coasters, now they try to make coasters whith a better overall ride, not drop.

      Reply
      • Mike

        After the past 3 months I've been on Strata's, Giga's and hypers. So for me personally these smaller coasters aren't that much of a thrill. Don't get me wrong I haven't been on this ride and I'm not saying it's not fun or I wouldn't like it. Just saying it looks like a wild mouse!! lol.

      • Mike

        Before this post I really didn't know anything about the ride except that there was a new ride called Sky Rocket. With that name I thought it was going to be a massive new coaster. At least 200 plus feet. So I was just caught off guard at the size of it 😉

      • The Coaster Critic

        I agree there. I'm not that crazy about the name. And compared to a giga or strata it does look small, but it also looks like it packs a punch. There are a lot of fun elements and no wasted track from the looks of it.

  2. Judy P in Pgh

    I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Kennywood trip to tomorrow! The coaster does appear to be small. I was surprised that Kennywood built a coaster that doesn't use the hilly terrain like it's other coasters all do.

    Reply
  3. Merle

    Like judy and Mike said it is small and nothing recorde braking, but it does look like a fun coaster we cannot expect every coaster to be gargantous and in alot of cases smaller is better. overall it will be a fun ride and fill a hole that needed filling at kennywood

    Reply
    • Quil

      Great way to say it, kennywood had no loopers whatsoever, on was needed, and this looks like a darn good one, even if a little small. Bigger isn't always better.

      Reply
  4. adavis

    I think it looks like an absolute riot. Neither Fahrenheit nor Maverick need to be big to be fun.

    Reply
  5. Nessie

    That looks pretty crazy. Being in the back seat on the vertical drops may just be a Sky Rocket…

    Even if they trim it to oblivion, then they can say it was better than the NoLimits coaster in the promo!

    Reply
  6. CFC

    Man, that MCBR is extremely long, slows it down so much it takes out all the energy of the ride.

    Reply
    • Quil

      Errr… I know that M=Mid & B=Brake, and i think i know what your talking about, but can you explain what the letters in MCBR mean?

      Reply
      • CFC

        MCBR=Mid-Course Brake Run. I got the term from CC's Voyage review.

    • The Coaster Critic

      I noticed that too. I wonder if it'll really slow you down that much when it's running with people. As with a lot of coasters, the second half has some tighter elements and you just can't traverse them safely if you're still going to fast from the momentum generated from the first drop.

      Reply
  8. Merle

    the top hat resembles that cutback element on drachen fore and space mountin mission 2. well kind of

    Reply
  12. mike

    I rode it last week and I didn't think I was going to have to much fun. I was pleasantly suprised. It's a rolling launch which I really liked, and the launch track is really not very long. The top hat actually breaks before it drops you down the other side which was pretty cool. Suprisingly after the break in the middle it didn't seem to miss a beat. The twists at the end were a lot of fun. Nice inversions. Not an extremely fast or super intense coaster, but hands down the smoothest thing i've ever riden. It felt like a coaster running on butter the entire time. A great addition to the park.

    Reply
  13. Maunee. George II

    Well, I live 5 feet from Kennywood, so I'm there quite often in my free time even if only for an hour or so (season pass).

    The coaster itself is the smoothest ride I have ever experienced-no jerking- just bold fluid movements.

    The speed isn't anything spectacular, but the pushoff from 0-50 brings a smile even to the grumpiest person alive. Couple loops and some stop-drops make it a rather joyous 48 seconds-official time on my watch. The best parts of the ride are in the first 15-and then you are left with half a minute to discuss how awesome those first 15 seconds were. I would definitely recommend, but the Steel Phantom is still the bread winner.

    Reply

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