Powder Keg: A Blast into the Wilderness is a steel launched roller coaster at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. Opened on April 8, 2005, it was built by S&S – Sansei Technologies at a cost of about $10 million, converting an earlier water coaster into one of the park’s signature thrill rides.
The coaster’s backstory sets it apart from a typical launch ride: it began life as Buzzsaw Falls, a Premier Rides water coaster that ran from 1999 to 2003. When S&S reworked the layout, they kept portions of the original lift structure and track, then added a compressed-air launch system, giving Powder Keg a hybrid identity as both a rebuilt ride and a new attraction.
Stats at a Glance
- Park: Silver Dollar City, Branson, Missouri
- Manufacturer: S&S – Sansei Technologies
- Opened: April 8, 2005
- Height: 98 feet
- Top speed: 64 mph
- Length: 3,506 feet
- Inversions: 0
- Drop: 110 feet
The Ride Experience
Powder Keg’s signature moment comes right out of the station: a compressed-air launch that rockets the train from 0 to about 53 mph in just 2.8 seconds. From there, the layout climbs and dives through a series of airtime hills and tight, banked turns carved into the Ozark hillside, with several remnants of the old Buzzsaw Falls structure still visible along the way.
Only after that launch sequence does the train reach the ride’s chain lift hill, a holdover from the coaster’s water-ride days, which carries it up for a 90-degree turn into the ride’s biggest moment: a steep 110-foot drop that pushes the train to its top speed of 64 mph. The layout then sweeps into a tilted helix before hitting the brake run. The full circuit runs about 2 minutes and 53 seconds, with trains pulling roughly 3.9 G at peak. Each of the three trains carries 16 riders, and the ride can move about 1,000 guests per hour, making it one of the park’s higher-capacity thrill attractions.
From Water Coaster to Launch Coaster
Powder Keg’s conversion from Buzzsaw Falls is part of what makes it notable among steel coasters. Rather than demolishing the earlier ride entirely, S&S retained key structural elements, including the lift hill that now serves as a mid-course climb, and rebuilt around them with a new compressed-air launch track. The result is a ride with a genuinely mixed engineering pedigree that most guests never notice while riding.
Explore more: Explore more roller coasters.
Powder Keg FAQs
How fast does Powder Keg go?
Powder Keg reaches a top speed of about 64 mph, hit during a steep 110-foot drop that follows the ride’s mid-course chain lift hill, after riders are first launched by compressed air from 0 to roughly 53 mph in 2.8 seconds.
Does Powder Keg launch before or after its lift hill?
It launches first. The compressed-air launch happens right out of the station, and the chain lift hill comes later in the layout, climbing riders up before the ride’s biggest drop.
Does Powder Keg have any loops or inversions?
No, Powder Keg has zero inversions. Its thrills come from the compressed-air launch, a 110-foot drop, a helix, and banked turns rather than inverting elements.
Get More from Powder Keg
Log the coasters, stadiums, and venues you’ve experienced, rate Powder Keg, and see what your friends thought. Get the ThrillZing app.
Photo: Fire72 at English Wikipedia / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.