Powder Keg at Silver Dollar City opened in 2005. This was designed by Drew Schlie for S&S – Sansei Technologies. A steel Roller Coaster that has both a compressed air launch and a lift hill. Powder Keg like a lot of coasters at Silver Dollar City does things a little differently. Again doing things differently has paid off.
Powder Keg at Silver Dollar City History
In 1999 Silver Dollar City was looking to build their 3rd roller coaster. They got to work with Premiere rides and build the log flume coaster hybrid Buzzsaw Falls. But due to major complications, the ride only ran for four years. Looking to salvage some of their investment Silver Dollar City went to S&S – Sansei Technologies and again was asking for something a little different. Powder Keg has a Transfer track, a compressed air Launch, and a standard chain lift hill. Also, they kept portions of the track of Buzzsaw Falls in tact and are now apart of Powder Keg.
Powder Keg at Silver Dollar City has a great Launch
Once the train leaves the station it first to a transfer track. That leads you to the left and up a hill. From there you are forwarded into the launch waiting area. The launch itself doesn’t get up to eye-popping speed as Top Thrill Dragster does. Its launch speed is only 53 MPH. Yet, it is the rate at which you get there that helps Powder Keg feel so impactful. Going from 0 – 53 in only 2.8 seconds. The type of launch is from compressed air. So while we have ridden coasters that have faster launches this one packs a powerful punch. When they say “keep your hands down and head back”, I would listen to them.
Rides like a Hyper
After the intense launch, the coaster keeps throwing sharp turns and airtime hills at you. Don’t let the fact that it only has a max height of 98 feet fool you. This reminded us very much of riding a typical hyper. A Hyper is a coaster over 200 feet that tries to maximize airtime. Powder Keg may be unconventional but it just does everything right. If you are sitting in the back the amount of airtime you will get going over these hills is just awesome.
Then a lift Hill?
Just like another great coaster at the park, Thunderation, this coaster has a lift hill just before the finale. Something really cool about this lift hill is that it is the same exact one leftover from Buzzsaw Falls. I love when parks acknowledge and pay homage to their history. So while they may have produced a lemon with Buzzsaw Falls they continue to honor it.
The Finale
Once reaching the top of the lift hill the train curves to the right and you drop down another steep hill only to slam into a really intense Helix. What a great way to wow your audience in the end! I love it when coasters actually head to the final break run with something fun instead of puttering out of momentum.
Any Downsides?
The only issue I had with Powder Keg was before I got onto the ride. This line crawls painfully slow. The cars take a little while to load so that is part of it. The trains themselves are not that big. Each train can only hold a max of 16 riders. On my last visit, I waited for about 3 hours to ride this. This and Mystic River Falls were by far the worst and slow-moving lines we experienced at the park.
Final Verdict
Powder Keg at Silver Dollar City is a great addition to the park. They took something that wasn’t working in Buzzsaw Falls and turned it into this amazing Roller Coaster. A powerful launch, forceful airtime thrills, and some high positive G’s make this an outstanding roller coaster. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give Powder Keg an 8.5.
Pros: Great Launch, Ability to watch the launch from the side, Wonderful pops of airtime, and really forceful.
Cons: Slow operations baked in.
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