PennStater

The beer garden and BBQ area are pretty much the same area. I believe the way it is supposed to work is that the BBQ and tables for eating are on the right side of the BBQ stand while the beer garden is on the left side of the stand (at least that's how it appears currently). I think the idea is that you'll be able to order barbecue from either side. You're right... I was in fact working at Phantom on Sunday! I always do my best to get restraints checked as quickly as I can while still being safe, of course. I should be there or at Black Widow if/when it reopens every weekend until the end of Fright Nights! Speaking of Black Widow, I can't really say for certain since I only just started working and haven't even been trained on it yet. I do know what's wrong with it currently... but am not really allowed to say. I do know it's listed as one of the rides that will be open for Phantom Fright Nights, so I'm sure they will be doing their best to get it back open as soon as they can. Let's hope that it's working 100% and all the bugs will be worked out for next season. Holiday Lights has an expanded schedule this year, as well as a couple additional rides and more area of the park open. The entire park will be accessible, other than Lost Kennywood and Volcano Valley. Dates are Friday, Saturday and Sunday Nights, November 23 through December 30 plus December 26 & 27 from 5 to 9pm. At least one additional ride that will be open is Ghostwood Estate, which will receive a special holiday makeover!

Read four posts up?

I was under the impression they simply hadn't been able to acquire the liquer license yet.

Pitt Fall was sold to a ride broker. From there, we have no knowledge of what they did with it or if they resold it (unlikely). Kennywood just knows that they got rid of it, which was the primary goal.

^^ Wow, awesome post. Thanks for all the info! It's good to hear that the cashless system has ended up working out well. I'm also glad to hear about possible re-tracking on RFII. As you said it's still a great ride, but seems to be a bit of a headache inducer lately, at least for me (still nowhere near as bad as some other wooden coasters out there!). When I was there for an ACE event earlier in the season, I sadly had to bail out a little early on ERT and spectate.

Correct, there is no unlimited option. However, just compare the prices to say the Cedar Fair Fast Lane passes. On my recent visit to Canada's Wonderland, I paid about an additional $59 on top of the $65 for admission to get Fast Lane. Kennywood's "VIP Tour" options are a lot more affordable, and they've actually added some additional options this year such as "Thrill" and "Water" tours. Day Coaster Tour: $15 for all adult coasters (Sky Rocket, Exterminator, Jack Rabbit, Phantom’s Revenge, Racer, & Thunderbolt) Evening Coaster Tour: $10 for Sky Rocket, Exterminator, Phantom’s Revenge, & Thunderbolt If you must have the front seat, there is the Front Seat Gold Tour for $18 which gets you front seat rides on Sky Rocket, Exterminator, Jack Rabbit, Phantom’s Revenge, Racer, & Thunderbolt You can also purchase $5 passes for rides individually including all adult coasters and Black Widow (Prices and options subject to change ) Yes, I'd agree with that... it can be a lot longer than that too on busier days. I'd also suggest at least paying $5 for the Black Widow pass if you have limited time to spare.

^ Yes, Auto Race opened on July 5th. Volcano has been closed since mid-way through opening day. They seem to have problems with it every year. There is speculation that this may be the last season for it at the park, but we don't really know anything for sure.

Yup... and check out the latest post I just made on the Kennywood Connection page a few moments ago. It's official! Black Widow opens tomorrow afternoon.

^ Well, I believe this is the first Giant Discovery ever where guests can actually walk under at least one support leg and get quite so close to the ride, plus the first built in this country, so I'm guessing there's going to be a bit of a learning experience involved in general. Just like the prototype trains on Sky Rocket where the link between the two cars had to eventually be lengthened since the seats got so close to the riders in the first row of the second car.

There were some little last minute changes that had to be made, and as of Monday team members had not yet begun training on the ride. That's supposedly going to happen any day now... If they were to start training today, I'd say it might be able to open Saturday... but I wouldn't really count on it.

If the kids/seniors can handle a short escalator ride, then parking on the second/middle level for free isn't very bad either, as long as you get a spot close to the escalators. Once you go down the escalator and cross the street, you're in the preferred parking lot and it's a short walk from there. There's also a paved path down from the second level if you have strollers and can't use the escalator. If you park on the third level, that's when you're getting pretty far away. From there, you have the option of taking Kenny's Parkway (the ski lift) if it's open (it has to be REALLY busy for them to open it), or you can catch a free shuttle bus that makes runs up the hill every so often.

Rainy days have always been some of my favorite days to visit Kennywood. There's usually no lines for anything! As long as it's not too cold and you're dressed properly, you can have an amazing amount of fun at Kennywood in the rain. Do you know if the tickets they were giving out were night-rider tickets? I think that's what they've typically given out in the past.

^ At Kennywood they have the "VIP Coaster Tour". You basically pay the fee and get one scheduled time to visit each coaster and skip the line via the exit ramp. Depending on how many guests have passes for a certain time, we may end up reserving an entire train for VIP riders, but most of the time we just hold a few rows for however many VIPs are waiting. It definitely gets crazy for us trying to keep track of checking everyone's passes, reserving rows, hoping the guests who you told not to board the train actually don't board the train, etc. I can tell you one thing, Phantom's Revenge's front row wait is excessively long due to the front row being held basically every other train during busier times. It's not the greatest system...

So, where did Comet's queue end up at? It is sort of in the same area is was previously?

Did we ever figure out where the Comet queue is going? Can't wait to see some test runs! I'm guessing it will still be a while, though. They haven't even installed the lift cable yet, have they?

^ Ohhh, those darn seatbelts. If it weren't for seatbelts on Phantom's Revenge, we could have such better dispatch times. It would also help if 1/4 of every train didn't say they "didn't know" about the seatbelts when there are multiple large signs and a spiel indicating such. Anyways, end of my rant.... back to BGW / Verbolten.

^ Makes sense, thanks for confirming.

If only we could ride I305 in the snow!

Is it common for the regular track to end and the trains just ride on those center wheels while in the station? I never noticed this on other B&Ms, but it's possible I just missed it. EDIT: Or, maybe that's the maintenance bay now that I look again... I'm hopefully making my first visit to CW this summer... looking forward to it!

Awesome!

They're probably pulling it for the same reasons Kennywood removed their top spin... the same reasons mentioned above. I sure don't miss ours.

^ Sky Rocket at Kennywood (by Premiere) has lap / shin restraints and goes upside-down. In fact, there's inverted airtime... which is awesome! You're not going anywhere in those restraints. There are also similar restraints on the Flight of Fear coasters. Maybe this could be something similar from Zierer.

Return of Turnpike!

It will swing toward Phantom's Revenge's station one way, and toward the restrooms the other way. No such luck on out over the hillside / Phantom's track, unfortunately. One of the stakes for Black Widow is out in the middle of the current midway, so there will definitely be some changes happening in that area to accommodate the ride. Time will tell exactly what will happen, I guess. Hopefully we'll (Kennywood Connection) be able to follow construction progress once it starts!

Well, can parks choose their own height requirement which may differ from the manufacturer's? Maybe the manufacturer's is just a recommended/suggested minimum? I forget how that works in general.