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Kennywood (KW) Discussion Thread


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Shouldn't Lake Compounce buy that? It would allow them to have multi-log operations on their log flume.

 

Not being able to stuff 5 strangers into every log must be killing Lake Compounce this year

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Shouldn't Lake Compounce buy that? It would allow them to have multi-log operations on their log flume.

 

Lets all chip in and buy it for them.

 

No joke, they have 4 logs running right now. There was also one log that got stuck at the bottom of the drop on three separate occasions and obviously the ride had to be evacuated each time. They finally took the log out from service after, and now are left with a whopping 4 logs.

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I just saw the new schedule. We had already planned to go on September 7th. It will be odd to visit a park on it's last day of the season. I'm excited to be taking my wife on her first trip to KW. It's been about 5 years since I've been there, and sad Steel Curtain is closed. However, still looking forward to an exciting day.

 

If anyone else is there, I'll be the guy with a mask.

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We have visited Kennywood twice thus far this season, and I have to say I was extremely impressed with the park and everything they’ve done to help keep their guests and staff safe. They did a wonderful job implementing the measures in ways that make sense. And aside from the occasional random folks here and there that feel they’re “above” needing to follow simple rules, guests I’ve seen for the most part were very good with the social distancing and mask wearing. It’s been a unique summer there for sure, but I’m just thrilled (as was my oldest daughter who at last hit 42”!! ) they were able to open for a little while!

 

In other Kennywood news, the park is hosting one of the limited 4 Coasting For Kids events tomorrow, benefiting the fantastic Give Kids The World!! I am thrilled to be participating for the 6th year overall, and 2nd straight at KW! It really is a tremendous cause that this event supports! I’m hopeful next year the event will expand back to more parks, and maybe we can bring back Team TPR, as TPR has always been a great supporter/partner of GKTW.

 

I’m trying my best to finish my fundraising strong and possibly hit 4 digits raised! If anyone might be interested in supporting the cause and making a donation, I’d truly appreciate it!! There’s also more info about GKTW and their mission on my personal fundraising page: Nick’s 2020 Coasting for Kids Page

 

Thanks so much!!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Small trip report

My wife and I went to Kennywood on Labor Day, the last day of operations for their 2020 seasons. I had not gone to any parks this summer, but I could not pass up a free trip to the park. As a whole, it was a really good day. The park did a great job trying to comply and enforce the social distancing and mask guidelines. I want to share a little about what I saw, operations, guests, and general park atmosphere.

 

DISCLAIMER: My intention is to not mask shame. We wore ours, other guests kept pulling them down. The park staff was consistently reminding guests to wear them (yes) even above the nose. One even said, "We know it's the last day, but you still have to wear your mask."

 

My Brother and his family of 6 all have season passes. They had not activated them this year, so that was our first stop once through the temperature check. Gates opened at 10:30, and by the time we went through the temp check line, season pass line, and THEN finally into the front gate, the whole process took less time than a TSA full body search.... we were in the park by 10:50

 

As far as operations, things moved pretty well. There were social distancing signs and stickers throughout the queues, however as the day went on they were ignored more and more.

At every station they had a ride op assigning seats and this process was surprisingly smooth, efficient and well organized. Once you were told your seat, they would have you sanitize your hands with hand sanitizer and then proceed to your seat or wait at your gate. It has been a few years since I've been to Kennywood, but the station organization was very refreshing. As someone who likes efficiency a messy station just irks me sometimes. But not today (other than crying seeing half empty trains roll out).

 

All coasters were leaving space between riders but some did it differently.

Phantom's Revenge: 2 trains, alternating rows

Thunderbolt: 1 train in morning (2 later in the day), alternating rows

Sky Rocket: One Train, 8 out of 12 seats filled.

Jackrabbit: 2 trains, but they were sitting parties and then leaving a space between parties

Racer: 2 total trains (racing) alternating rows

Exterminator: Quite a few trains (hard to tell), and they were sitting parties in their own car. I saw a car of 1 and up to 4.

 

Other rides:

Cosmic Chaos (Zamperla Disk ride) usually sits 24 people. They would seat a party together and then leave 2 empty seats between parties. Not bad.

Volcano- they filled it all, no space left between cars.

On Bayern Kurve parties would sit in successive cars, and then an empty one before the next party.

The Old Mill- They would fill a boat with a party.

 

At the end of the day, the food lines were CRAZY long. The Potato Patch's lines were stretching nearly all the way to Noah's Ark! Everyone was craving their last chance at those delicious fries. The other food line that was huge was the fudge and cotton candy lines at the front of the park. They stretched all the way to the tunnel. Those lines would have been even longer had guests been leaving 6' between themselves. Again, as the day went on, people got less concerned about the distancing guidelines.

 

It was a good trip. Way to go Kennywood for pushing through in this summer of changes. Thank you to your team, even on the last day, sticking to the plan and enforcing the policies to keep everyone safe. I didn't feel like a last day, or an end to the summer. It just felt like any conclusion to a theme park trip. However it may have felt, let's just hope it was the end of the Summer of Theme Park Distancing

 

Below is a mini photo report.

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The Temperature Check Tent. This is where all the guests enter the park this year.

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Obligatory Sign Pic

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This is at about 10:20. By the time they started scanning guests, the tent was full and the line went way out into the parking lot. At 10:30 they started scanning and the lined moved quickly.

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First stop, Phantom!

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Looks like new this season is a new exit. The three lines allows for VIP and wheelchair guests to enter, with exiting guests a line to, well, exit.

 

With two trains running at half capacity, this line still moved quickly along. Great job to the ride ops.

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Exterminator! Ran great, and again the lined moved quick. They were filling the 4 seater cars with a party, just no combined parties. It was funny, there was a single rider right in front of us and he said, "You can join if you want" as the ride op closed the lap bars. No thanks stranger wearing a mask on a blacked out roller coaster.

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Thunderbolt! This was the only ride that irritated me. From 10:30 until sometime after 2:00 they were running one train! This was the slowest line we experienced. It hurt standing there, seeing two empty trains sitting on the side tracks, as a half empty train rolled into the valley out of the station. As you can also see in the queue, I'm glad COVID can't spread left or right, only forwards and back...

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Later in the day, the green train joined the cycle, effectively cutting the wait time in half. The ride ops did a great job keeping things moving and making sure guests wore their masks and sanitized their hands.

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In case you forgot. They ever had the 6' sticker above the men's urinals. We don't need a sticker there... we always leave an empty stall, am I right?

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Sad this was closed. On my to-do list, as I have not gotten a chance to ride this one yet. I keep hearing mixed reviews of such a great looking coaster.

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The New Old Mill. It's line was.... cozy.

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Hi Harold! Where is your mask? And why do none of the other skeletons on this ride look like you? Seems like a missed opportunity. Other than that, cute dark ride.

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Good Job Kennywood!

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I was perplexed why this major coaster, currently the only looping one running, was only running one train! And then I got to the station and saw it was not even fully assembled. With one train of 8 people, and a dispatch every 3 minutes that comes to about 160 PPH. I'm glad we caught this right after a break down, and only waiting maybe 15 minutes. Fun ride, but this would have been painfully slow to wait for this one.

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CURVE! This one is fun to people watch!

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Evening shot of Racer. The lighting was great, add a little filter and BOOM! It's also quite a juxtaposition of classic and modern with Steel Curtain right beside this classic woodie.

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Bye Kennywood. I hope we can come back soon and experience more of your classic charm.

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  • 1 month later...

I’m so torn between not wanting to go to this park because Parques Reunidos owns it but also wanting to go to this park before Parques Reunidos fucks it completely up to the point where it’s just a bunch of generic flats and coasters that are either running one train or closed for a year at a time because... reasons.

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that's a huge blow to the park (and not just saying this as someone who loves flats, and listed Kangaroo and Bayern Kurve as two of my favorites in the park).

booo :(

 

makes me worry about Noah's Ark and Turtle now. . .

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I was supposed to have my first ever visit to Kennywood this year. This is really a bummer. We've got two of those flats here at Lagoon (although our Paratrooper arm never comes down) but I've never seen a Kangaroo in person.

Ironically, as I read my own message I realized Lagoon has a few live kangaroos, but that's a story for another day.

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I mean, Kenny the Kangaroo is like... a mascot for the park?

I totally understand Volcano being removed. Kangaroo and Paratrooper are directly adjacent. Bayern Kurve is on the perimeter and just sort of plopped down on the asphalt, so it will certainly be an eye sore but not going to require much in the way of extra work after removal.

Clearly they're flailing from a financial standpoint, because to remove four rides in one year with no immediate replacements for any seems awfully stupid. Four empty parcels in the park? I am so very sad to see my home park continue down this path. It is remarkably sad to see the balance of old and new permanently shift for the worse.

I am understanding of the need for change. If they had said they were closing the Volcano and Bayern Kurve, I would've totally understood and just crossed my fingers that Knoebels would pick up the latter. But to remove Kangaroo and the Paratrooper seems like a really heavy blow to the family lineup. They were both very popular. I wish there was a wealthy Pittsburgher who could just swipe the place up and press pause on the radical changes we're seeing to this park. Truly tragic.

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This would probably make too much sense for Parques Reunidos, but if they wanted to maintain the feel of these rides, they could replace Kangaroo with one of those compressed air Techno Bounce rides, replace Enterprise/Volcano with a Zamperla Endeavor, swap the Paratrooper for one of those lay down Cliff Hanger models that show up at all the fairs, and while it is not even close to being a good replacement, maybe a Matterhorn/Flying Bobs type ride to take the place of Bayern Kurve.  
 

But knowing PR, they will leave the ride pads empty like the old Top Spin they had.  
 

 

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I totally get the maintenance nightmare aspect of many of these rides, but especially with a ride that is so historic and helps you claim to be a national historic landmark, figure something out!  Ask for donations, make it an upcharge, have a display that explains why it's special, etc.  There are solutions.  This isn't just some crappy old boomerang or something. People actually care!  Where are the Geauga Lake fanboys with their pick up trucks to save this!?!? =)

 

Oh and I'm also jumping on the "Knoebels come grab these" bandwagon!

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They slipped it in on election day, but Pittsburgh Facebook pages are blowing up. Did Parques really lose so much money that they need to do something this drastic? Maybe, just maybe, next season will be better and they will eventually recover costs. But in all honesty, these rides formed the heart and soul of Kennywood. I have a free season pass for next year and have no plans to use it if Conneaut opens.

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I'm hoping someone picks up Kangaroo.  It is one of my favorite flats.  It isn't all that mechanically complicated so I imagine it can't be too awfully expensive to keep it going.  This is just lazy budget cuts.  

Fingers crossed Knoebels swoops in and buys it.  It would be perfect there.  But in general if any park buys it and keeps it going I would be happy.  

Kennywood has nosedived in the last few years.  It's a shame really.  My first visit was in 2001 and I fell in love with the park.  I went a few times a summer from Cleveland.  I went last season for the first time since about 2013 and it was just so different.  I was really disappointed in every aspect of the park.  Operations, food quality, Potato Patch.. 

With this news I really don't see myself going back anytime soon.  Maybe to credit whore a new coaster whenever another one is installed but that's about it.  

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