PennStater

Maybe this is just me, but that doesn't sound at all appealing... lol.

I'll be there (which is probably not surprising)! I was there on 3/20 as well for the media tour, so it should be interesting to see the progress in person!

On my fan site in the revision history, the furthest back I can pull a price for is 2014 when gate prices were $40.99. $41.99 for 2015, $43.99 for 2016, $44.99 for 2017, and $48.99 for 2018. I really think they're just trying to push everyone to get season passes. Edit: I updated my site with this year's pricing... I think it's a little easier to compare all of the prices than on kennywood.com https://www.kpconnection.com/park-information/

Keep in mind too that Kennywood offers free parking (in addition to the paid section) which is very rare for an amusement park of its size.

It's on the third level of the parking lot, which rarely opens. It has to be pretty insanely busy before they open it, to the point where I've been to the park on occasions when I literally can't find a single free parking spot but it's still not open. I guess that's their way to try and force people into paid parking? With Steelers Country opening, I wouldn't be surprised to see in in use much more this year.

Very nice pictures! I see myself in a few of them [emoji1787] Can't wait to ride in a couple months! Sent from my Galaxy S10+ using Tapatalk

It's really that tall!

That July info is "fake news" which originated from an inaccurate newscast. We should get more accurate details from Nick Paradise at CoasterBash tomorrow, although I'm sure they still don't have an exact date. Sent from my Samsung Note 8 using Tapatalk

Here is a comparison of last year's rates and this year's rates. I think they probably had to do something after all of the issues with being short staffed last year and to be competitive with other businesses in the area. (Lifeguards and bartenders are in reference to Sandcastle Waterpark and Idlewild). 2018 Pay Rates 2019 Pay Rates

^ That sounds accurate to me, at least from my experience. When I go on those two, I usually just hide my phone while entering the line and I'm good to go. Of course, they want you to use lockers but if it looks like you don't have anything on you they don't stop you.

Correct. Dragon Challenge also used to have metal detectors, but... yeah.

^ That's what they had originally hoped for, but it now sounds like that's not going to happen. The latest rumor floating around is Memorial Day weekend. Time will tell.

I would call the supports gold... the Steelers' colors are black and gold, after all. That Instagram pic from today definitely makes it look more orange than it actually is. Sent from my Samsung Note 8 using Tapatalk

Yes, IML manufactured the track for both. http://www.intermountainlift.com

^^ I can tell you that the park wants to have it all ready for opening day. Will it actually happen? Probably not, but that's still what their ultimate goal is. I don't think even they know for sure yet with uncertainty around weather and who knows how many other factors. P.S. I am speaking unofficially and have no real knowledge beyond what our operations manager told the ACE group that toured the construction site in December.

I would concur with crw16... stay at the Waterfront!

Phantom's Revenge at Kennywood. What it looked like before IOE redid it for the 2017 season. Auto-spiel buttons can be seen to the left. Shiny, new, and very simplified for the 2017 season after IOE came and made it much better! Daily Dispatches Train times, from leaving the lift to the brakes in the "Course" column. 46-47 seconds is normal for a warm, full train. Those ones in the 50s are empty test runs.

Best advice for right now is probably to wait until 2019 The park is soooo short staffed right now, that's why many attractions are opening late or not at all. It's so bad, the park set up this page to show the status of rides for each day. Phantom Fright Nights will be missing Sky Rocket due to not having that replacement part from overseas yet, and Thunderbolt will be closed for extended maintenance and track work like Racer was last year during PFN. Just be aware of these things before making the trip!

I wouldn't count on Sky Rocket opening until 2019.

I wanted to reply regarding the "reserved" car on Phantom's Revenge. We started experimenting with that during Phantom Fright Nights in 2016 (I believe it was) and for the most part it worked out well, so it was implemented full-time for 2017 forward. Prior to that, we did not have a reserved car and any time we had passes we would need to ask the guests in row x, y, z to wait an extra train. This worked okay most of the time, other than your occasional guest angry that they were getting bumped and why did it have to be their row. No air gates at Phantom, so all reserved rows have to be manually held by ride ops. However, with the exponentially growing number of ADA and VIP passes, it was decided to try using a reserved car. This way, we didn't have to ask guests on the other side of the platform to wait for what seemed like almost every train, and we could direct people coming up the exit straight to a seat. It really does work well when you have a team member manning the ADA/VIP passes who is good at the job (*cough*me*cough*). Ideally, they check their restraints and go directly to the next people waiting with passes, check them off, and as soon as the train parks in the station lead them to the reserved rows so that they end up seated at about the same time the riders from the regular line are. If there are no passes, the pass checker immediately notifies the team members on the other side of the platform to fill the seats with riders from the regular line. If there's a line of ADA/VIP passes, it certainly keeps the person in that position very busy between checking passes, leading guests to the proper seats, and checking restraints. It takes a properly motivated team member, most of which I'm sad to say are not. Ideally, there would be a position strictly to deal with passes and not worry about restraint checking too, but we're lucky if we have enough staff to open all of our rides and get two trains on coasters, let alone fill "luxury" positions like a pass-checker. I have found that how the passes are handled has a direct and very large impact on the dispatch time between trains, and I'm not sure what the answer is (other than building a dedicated VIP entrance that merges into the load side of the station, which would be freakin' fantastic).

August 21st is the last day of daily operation, and then we go to weekends-only. I am fairly certain the calendar hasn't changed from the beginning of the season. Sorry your trip got messed up... https://www.kennywood.com/calendar

Last I checked, 5 minutes is not "all day".

^ Yes, and just to confirm that the web site is not lying, I was at the park yesterday and it is in fact still closed.

Not much at all... Maybe 15-20 minutes off of I-79. Sent from my Samsung Note 8 using Tapatalk

^^ Nice!! Hopefully the seats will be as slippery as ever!