***CAUTION: SPOILERS***
Thunderbolt is among the best roller coasters of its kind, but its a kind that some may find difficult to understand. Unlike most of the wooden classics, Thunderbolt does not have an iconic profile that fits easily onto a patch or t-shirt. Many of its best features, in fact, are largely hidden from view. I believe this is intentional, and it is part of the genius of the ride. You can never relax or even adequately brace yourself on this coaster, because you never know whats coming next.
The train drops immediately out of the station, and the chain lift is preceded by an airtime-producing UPHILL section a third of the way through the ride. This is followed by a midcourse helix, if you can even call it that. The shallow banking on this section empahtically answers the questions of why you cant ride alone and why the smaller rider must board the car first. At the same time youre experiencing the heavy laterals of the double-spiral, the train is also climbing and plunging over harrowing speed hills. Then, after the final turnaround and with the station in sight, comes one of the greatest finales on any wooden coaster: the longest drop of the course, augmented by the speed youve picked up throughout the rest of the ride, followed by a headchopping ascent into the final break run. Those accustomed to traditional roller coasters are likely to appreciate Thunderbolts genre-bending layout the most, since weve been conditioned, by repetition, to a sort of ride-element protocol. You can bet that Andy Vettel does not eat his salad with the right fork, and thrill seekers are better off as a result.
Thunderbolt, as is the rule with Kennywoods coaster collection, uses the hilly terrain of Western Pennsylvania to masterful effect, and the equally-accomplished Phantoms Revenge winds in and out of its structure. If, God forbid, something should happen to Kennywood, these roller coasters could not exist anywhere else; they are part of and dependent upon the lanscape. Also existing almost nowhere else is Thunderbolts old-school ride operation. The locking gates that normally restrain waiting passengers like so many mutton-producing sheep are conspiculously absent, as are the ubiquitous lap belts. The only thing holding riders in their seats is their own common sense, the designers command of physics, and a single position lap bar. That is the proper order of the wood coaster universe, and as the sad example of Thunderbolts little brother Jack Rabbit demonstrates, it is going the way of free parking.
Thunderbolt also still runs its classic, comfortable NAD trains, although theyre beginning to look a little worn. My wife and I noticed that theyre now keeping spare parts in a rack full of little drawers in the station, and we saw a few adjustments going on between dispatches. Nevertheless, such rarities could not be in better hands. No one knows their classic wooden roller coasters like the fine folks at Kennywood and no diehard fan of the form should miss the Thunderbolt.
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