ytterbiumanalyst

Day 6: Chasing Waterfalls and Fly Balls After a hard day at Kennywood, it was time to head off into the Pennsylvania countryside! What's that? DelGrosso's? Idlewild? Dude, have you even read one of my reports? Ain't nobody got time for credit whoring some children's park. Not when there's the coolest house in the whole country just an hour and a half from Pittsburgh. I'm headed for Fallingwater! The tour was incredible. It was a rainy day but they supplied free mandatory umbrellas. This is an old house, and stock parts don't work. Maintenance on this place is enormously labour-intensive and expensive too. Thus the tour isn't cheap; they start at $30. "What? That's as much as a theme park ticket! Why aren't you at a theme park?" Fine, you go credit whore something and come back in a couple days when I'm back at a theme park, ok? Phew, glad we got rid of Coasterboy. As I was saying, this is a kickass house and the tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic. There are no photos during the tour. None. They are very particular about that. They do let you take pictures on the grounds after the tour is done, and I have quite a few here. Enjoy! Back in Pittsburgh, it was time for some lunch at Primanti's and a walk around downtown. I also went to the Fort Pitt museum for some history lessons about this fair town. I kind of expected downtown to be bigger than it was, but it was very small and walkable. The topography of this area leaves very little space for skyscrapers, so they're all extremely tall and huddled together. I loved Point State Park, really beautiful. And now for the main event, the most beautiful ballpark in America, the legendary, the one and only PNC PARK!!!!! The game was delayed a bit for rain, and once it got started, it was pretty lopsided. I was cheering for the Pirates, mainly because they suck and the Atlanta Braves were a wild card rival for my St. Louis Cardinals. (since then, the Braves have gone on a tear while the Phillies have fallen off, so the Braves will win the NL East; but at the time they were only a couple games apart and it wasn't certain). But as usually happens, the team that's going to the playoffs just murdered the team that stands a decent chance of not losing more games that they win. Oh well, craft beer and a beautiful stadium, can't go wrong with that. This was a great, low key day in western PA. Next up, the legendary original Carnegie Library!

^ I hear you man. I also have never been able to figure out what times of the day I'm likely to be hungry. Man, if I knew that, I'd have this whole planning lunch thing DOWN. Sucks that's just not possible.

I've honestly never questioned the garden hose. It's so Six Flags it seems like the only appropriate way to approach the situation. Glad Emily's feeling a little better. I get it; Julie won't do Batman or Mr. Freeze either. I also have noticed more families among the roving hordes of teenagers. Six Flags is creeping back up into the "Well, I Didn't Hate It" category. If they keep adding more things like Mardi Gras, they may just reach the lofty heights of "Acceptable."

You know I actually saw Styx at Great Adventure back when they were semi interested in getting C list names and not Youtube personalities? They played with REO Speedwagon too. Anyway, I hope you're proud of yourself. lol Completely deserved. You should know by now that I cannot resist a really lame joke, especially a music-related one. Yeah' date=' that place is stunning. I think it's my favorite *modern* ballpark that doesn't have the advantage of some amazing, ridiculous view over the outfield wall (see San Francisco or Pittsburgh which aren't even fair). Well... aside from Camden Yards.[/quote'] Oh yeah, PNC is amazing, and Pittsburgh itself is really beautiful now that you can actually see it.

That was a weekday, a Monday to be specific. It was also the last non rainy day of daily operations. They did get 2 trains on Phantom, not that it helped with 5 minute dispatches. We were on the brake run before they even started checking restraints on the train in the station.

No, it will be Twisted Twister III: Built wilder the third time around because we were upstaged by some small little park in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania four years after we built it the second time and we're finally doing something about it.

I'm waiting for Elitch Gardens to get their RMC, Twisted Twister.

I'm pretty sure they're going to be rebuilding Big Bad Wolf.

For me, as long as I get to do everything on my must do list, it's a win. I got to all those things at Kennywood, so it was worth it to go, but yeah, looking at the timestamp on those pictures and realizing it was 30 minutes here, 40 there, my entire day was standing and shuffling forward. Fortunately that was the only day of the whole trip that was like that. I've found that Trip Advisor often has more reviews than Yelp, and while the percentage of crap opinions is equal, that gives me more total reviews to go on. And Zach, I'm glad you picked up on the joke.

Day 5: Kennywood’s Open! Pittsburghers are really friendly. Ever since I arrived, people have been telling me “Kennywood’s open,” even though they didn’t know that’s why I’m here. And they were right, Kennywood was open all day long! I arrived at opening and made my way over to rope drop Phantom’s Revenge. Now, for those of you who don’t know, this park has what they call a “soft open” and “soft close.” The rides don’t necessarily open when the park opens, and closing time is announced on the PA in the afternoon. This “play it by ear” style can catch some off guard, so go prepared! On this occasion, it meant that my rope dropping Phantom was actually a 45 minute wait for it. This is a fantastic coaster. I’ve been on the three CF Morgans, and while except for Steel Force they’re fun, decently forceful in places, but nothing to get worked up about, Phantom is on a whole other level. The turning first drop is fun, but then as you go up the second hill, it laughs evilly and says, “Nah man, just kidding. THIS is what I can do” and you plunge into the abyss, narrowly miss Thunderbolt, and laugh your ass off the entire rest of the ride. So good, so worth the trip out here just for that. See/ Kennywood's open! It's historical. No Skyride today. No log flume today. No Sky Rocket today. They have one of these 4D theatres And an Enterprise. If only all revenge were this great. I next went to the Screamin’ Swing, the Whip, and Black Widow…and I then noticed just how slowly the dispatches on Phantom were. Hmm, I’m not going to get very many rides with operations like that. No worries, I had set aside money for VIP Unlimited, so I just made my way back to the front of the park. It was then that I realized the worst. I hadn’t seen this back in Lost Kennywood, but every single person in Pittsburgh was at Kennywood today. Apparently word got out about Kennywood being open. Again, no big deal, I’m getting a VIP pass. I went up to the desk by Garfield’s Nightmare, asked for my wristband, and was told due to staffing they couldn’t sell it. Oh sh*t. They were willing to sell me up to two of the single use wristbands, and discounted them due to Exterminator and Sky Rocket not operating that day, so on the plus side it was half what I would have paid for Unlimited. On the minus side, I’d rather have paid twice as much for unlimited. The strategy for the day changed. Now I was going to spend all day in hot sweaty lines, but there was enough time to ride everything once, and of course I was going to get on the four coasters that were open twice. What's that big hairy spider hiding behind a fountain? When you're at Kennywood, you must whip it. Well, let’s start with Garfield, I guess. Now when I was a kid Garfield was everywhere, and for some reason we loved it. My brother and I watched the Saturday morning show in between Shari Lewis’ “Lamb Chop’s Play Along” and “Looney Tunes.” Yes, kids, I’m old. Deal with it. Let’s face it, I’m not really riding Garfield. I’m riding the Old Mill and Garfield just happens to be in it. It’s a cool old ride, the 3D stuff was wonky, the jokes weren’t funny, but that’s Garfield for you. Like most things, it’d be far better if he were removed. This is pretty much what the rest of my day looked like. Next up some coasters! Jack Rabbit is fantastic. It actually gets more intense as the ride goes on, building up to the finish. And the double down in the back row. Racer is also great, longer but a bit less intense than Jack Rabbit. And you end up on the opposite side of the station from where you began, it’s kinda weird. Loved it. Construction time again! I think they're doing more than just laying a pipeline though. I love how this park's mascot is an arrow. I thought that was weird until I drove there and made a million turns on city streets. I now appreciate the arrow. They had sausages and fries at this pagoda, but I'll pass. There's better awaiting me. Okay, time for lunch. There is only one place I want to eat lunch here, and that’s at Potato Patch. I seriously stood in line for about 40 minutes to get the best fries ever. Fortunately the sausage cart right next to it had a very short line for me to complete my lunch. Yes! Absolutely fantastic. Lost Kennywood is so cool. Love the architecture here. While I’m right here, I went over to Noah’s Ark. This is so cool! I love old walkthroughs like this. The scale is much bigger than I expected. It must have been built by Timelords. Hahahaha A lift hill used for two coasters? That sounds like it qualifies to go in the Ark. Let’s get started on flats. The one I most wanted to ride here was Turtle, so I got in line for that, and about an hour later, got to ride the best Turtle ever. It was really fun, but holy crap that line. Thunderbolt is also great. 3 for 3! But you didn’t expect otherwise, right? People don’t keep old coasters around if they suck. Another ride on Phantom’s Revenge and first wristband complete. Turtle power! Now for some more flats, preferably ones with shorter lines. Bayurn Kurve was really great, also a must do for me here. And now that I was sufficiently dizzy, gift shopping time! Seriously had to walk off that ride. It was fun though. Bayern has some sweet, sweet kurves. Up around the bend! Phantom has some sweet, sweet curves too. Here comes the General! Rise up! One more must do flat, the Kangaroo. This is incredible! Probably my favourite flat there. It’s basically the same as a frog hopper, but there’s a seven foot high ramp that you drop off to start bouncing. Not an exaggeration, that’s its actual height. Again I waited about half an hour, because there’s no way to skip it, but it was still great to go on once. Look at that ramp, it's over that guy's head! They announced a closing time of 9:00, so let’s kick this into gear. Another round on Jack Rabbit and Racer, again fantastic, then over to Thunderbolt…only wait, what’s this? Ghostwood Estate had been closed all day, but it was open now! Loved this, it’s a cool trackless dark ride with some great hidden targets and a fun, slightly creepy but not too creepy but not too not creepy, story. Thunderbolt and Phantom’s Revenge finished off my day. It was fun, but I was tired and hungry, so I headed over to the local mall for a much more pleasant kind of hell than standing in lines of 30-60 minutes for every single ride. Goodnight, Kennywood. Not as good as I had hoped, not as bad as I had feared. Time for some good eats. You can never go wrong with a Troeg's. They're big on safety here. They stab the demon burger before they serve it to you. Overall, I enjoyed the day. I want to love this place so much, and there are aspects to it that are awesome, but the huge crowds and understaffing really put a damper on it. I will be back to give it another chance; there will be 3 new coasters if nothing else. I didn’t dislike any rides there--Garfield’s Nightmare was the one I liked least, but it was still cool—but with shorter lines and better operations, it would really be fantastic. I’m not at a place of “I drove all this way for this?” and my experience with the park was certainly far, far better than Prozach’s, but even with expectations that I think were well informed and reasonable, it didn’t quite live up. I think it’s fair to say that had they allowed me to throw money at the problem like I had prepared to do, I would have a different opinion.

Little known fact, but they are literally the same employees. They have this cool program where if you're going to the one in Stuckeyville, for instance, they'll send Judy down to that store so you always have the same great service from the same great people.

Yeah that 90 Minute is great. You just have to keep in mind that it's basically two beers.

Sounds like you made it a good day anyway. Hershey's great about that, a lot to do and see that aren't rides. And that shake...WAY too much sugar for me. Glad you enjoyed it though!

Hey, it's always 5pm somewhere.

Sorry you had a bad experience with Renegade. Glad it didn't put an end to your running when you're so far from your home. I agree with you on Wild Thing, only I had a mirror image of your experience. I had already ridden Mamba and Wild Thing when I went to Dorney. I don't know how a ride that's so similar to these two sucks so hard, but it does. I feel like a lot of coastal enthusiasts have been on Steel Force and let that colour their experience of Wild Thing and Mamba. Good for going to Target Field. It really is beautiful. Perfectly said about ballparks being destinations. I would have loved to have been in Connecticut when that meeting was going down. "All right guys, you know what would make our team AWESOME? We need to have a kickass team name. And you know what loves to kick ass? Yard goats." At the risk of playing into a stereotype, here in the Ozarks we have a bunch of goat farms (What? Goats love hills. We got hills here), and outside the city you can have a yard goat. They're sentient lawn mowers.

That's exciting. They're kicking into high gear for the final few months. Did you get any photos?

I think y'all are confusing this for the Darien Lake thread. Different DL. How's that Star Wars construction going?

Looks like a great time. Hahaha, Exclusive Big Ass Fan Time!

I feel partially responsible for this wrong opinion since I had to cut myself off (as I was like 15-20 drinks in) and leave the bar before we rode Flitzer. Had we ensured that you were sufficiently intoxicated first then you would have appreciated it’s brilliance. No. Doubt.

^ Just going to chime in to say that any time you see "Your Secret Price" on hotels.com, those are targeted promotional prices that may not be available to all customers.

Dentist

^ Yeah, I agree with you. Nor'Easter and Great White are the only legitimately good coasters at Moreys. Flitzer was more of a "better than expected" coaster. It was fun, but it benefitted from looking like a piece of crap and failing to be as bad as I thought it would be.

I didn't know they sold them online tbh. Just past the ticket booths, on your right across from the stroller rental is the Show Lover's Pass desk.

^ Trying to remember but I don't think they have cider at Christmas. I know there's hot chocolate and wassail. ^^ SDC is just the best in the Midwest at theming. I never realized how good they are until I started going to other parks and could see the difference. I hate to be "that guy" who thinks his local park is the best, but I think you could objectively make a case for it.