Kennywood (KW) Discussion Thread

[Hmrapp]

I wouldn't rule out RMC. They build steel coasters too...

 

I know, but taking this iteaser at face value, we know it won't be a steel RMC.

 

 

Where did that photo originate? Kings Island did the same thing with a giga.

[DaMarkSta]

Man if it's an Intamin multi launch this is going to be really good. I know at that same presentation a spokesperson from Ildewild said the Parques Renidos is starting to spend some significant cash in the parks due to a change in ownership and company philosophy.

[prozach626]

I don't have the complete history of coaster teasers, but I seem to remember several coaster hints throughout the years which focus on the elimination of certain coaster makes and models. There are always people who are skeptical of the parks eliminating certain roller coasters, but it seems parks usually hold true to their words. Unfortunately I can't think of any specific builds, because I don't care to keep a mental database about things that really don't matter to me. My memory bank is too small and roller coasters don't hold priority.

 

All hints are way more obvious and seem to be catered more toward roller coaster enthusiasts, because frankly not many people outside of the true hobbyists care. The hints are easy for the hardcore enthusiasts to interpret, but a little more challenging for the people who have only modest interests in roller coasters. We all know what was going to happen to Mean Streak very early in the game, but the people with lesser interest, boredom, and time on their hands had to do a little more research and critical thinking. I refer back to myself when I first took serious interest in this hobby.

Edited April 28, 2018 by prozach626

[KPfan]

That's definitely different from the leaked plans from last year. Those footers are actually in the lagoon area between the garden stage and the BBQ food stand. Nobody has mentioned development in that area. The rumored coaster was always believed to be closer to the ravine. Perhaps this is along the lines of stormrunner.

[Hmrapp]

Man if it's an Intamin multi launch this is going to be really good. I know at that same presentation a spokesperson from Ildewild said the Parques Renidos is starting to spend some significant cash in the parks due to a change in ownership and company philosophy.

 

The company has invested in two Mack launch coasters last year, both were customs (Star Trek: Operation Enterprise and Capitol Bullet Train). I'm really liking the way the company has shifted.

 

The market has become so competitive, that huge expenses are necessary to keep up with the pack.

[Philrad71]

An Intamin, RMC or Mack launcher that utilizes the ravine all sounds A-OK in my book.

 

Going to be watching this one closely.

[ThemeParkJunkie51290]

Never been to Kennywood, but I'm sure this is going to be the perfect excuse to make a first time visit!

[Aardvark Barber]

Here's an update from the same source in regards to what the footers in the lagoon are going to be used for:

 

"Top hat over the midway and lap around the Sky Coaster."

[KPfan]

Here's an update from the same source in regards to what the footers in the lagoon are going to be used for:

 

"Top hat over the midway and lap around the Sky Coaster."

Or the footers are for moving the paddle boat dock.

[kennywood_racer]

This should be fun to watch being built, though I wonder how low to the lagoon it would have to be for Skycoaster to clear over the track.

[KPfan]

This should be fun to watch being built, though I wonder how low to the lagoon it would have to be for Skycoaster to clear over the track.

Wonder if the sky coaster could be moved closer to the ravine. Swinging out over the ledge towards the river would be insane.

[Canobie Coaster]

Here's an update from the same source in regards to what the footers in the lagoon are going to be used for:

 

"Top hat over the midway and lap around the Sky Coaster."

 

I'll take rumors on the layout and manufacturer with a grain of salt, but Kennywood is already an awesome park, so another major coaster using that ravine is more than enough to get me to return.

[boldikus]

Off topic, but relavant to Kennywood. We always said XYZ around these parts, but this article is amusing.

 

‘Kennywood’s open’: Solving the mystery of this Pittsburghese double entendre

 

In Pittsburgh, if you tell somebody “Kennywood’s open,” they will immediately, with some embarrassment, check their pants zipper and zip it up.

 

For newcomers to Pittsburghese, the expression serves as a subtle heads up, less awkward than saying “your fly’s down.” Everybody around here, from kids to grandparents, seems to know this peculiar Pittsburgh phrase.

 

The terminology dates back to at least the 1950s, but nobody knows where it originated — not Pittsburgh Dad, not Rick Sebak, not Heinz History Center experts, not Kennywood officials.

 

“It’s a little bit of a mystery what the roots are, but there’s no denying its recognition and power,” Kennywood Park spokesman Nick Paradise said.

 

He’s consulted the West Mifflin amusement park’s most veteran staffers, including an in-park historian, and still nobody knows the backstory to what he calls “an absolutely critical piece of Pittsburghese.”

 

Brian Butko, director of publications at Heinz History Center, is the local expert on Kennywood. He wrote two books on the park, and he’s working on a third.

 

He grew up in West Mifflin in the shadow of rollercoasters and still lives in the neighborhood. Butko said all of his family members worked at Kennywood in roles from security to waitressing to dressing up as the Kenny Kangaroo mascot.

 

Even with all of those Kennywood connections, Butko said nobody he knows can figure out where “Kennywood’s open” originated.

 

“My memory of it would probably be like 1970, when I was hearing it and that embarrassing moment when they tell you that — the panic,” Butko said.

 

Akin to “XYZ: examine your zipper” or “your barn door’s open,” “Kennywood’s open,” is certainly a nicer way of telling somebody to fix their pants. Maybe that’s one of the reasons it stuck — that idea of Pittsburgh nice, a cousin to Midwest nice, if you will.

 

“For people decades ago, I think it was just a matter of, it was a politer way of saying things,” Butko said. “There’s just that change that came in the ’60s and ’70s where people were a lot more comfortable saying things.”

 

The 2011 book “Wicked Good Words,” lists the phrase “Kennywood’s open” and writes “In South Carolina, you could hear a comparable expression in the 1960s: the hot dog stand is open.”

 

But it pre-dates even the 1960s. Butko runs a Facebook group called Kennywood: Behind the Screams, where he posed the question about the origin of “Kennywood’s open.” Memories poured in, and several people remember the phrase back into the ’50s.

 

“Everyone remembers it in the ’50s as children, and they tend to remember their parents saying it to them. Was it a parent thing back in the ’30s or ’40s?” Butko said. “It was definitely in the ’50s, but was it there before then?”

 

Well, that’s the question nobody can answer.

 

“This is one of those really cool mysteries that it was just a people thing, not a newspaper thing, not a written thing,” Butko said, meaning it somehow spread organically.

 

In the ’90s, though, newspapers started jumping on the bandwagon, embracing the double entendre in headlines announcing Kennywood’s actual opening in the spring. Before that, newspapers had always announced the park’s opening day in print every year, referring literally to the amusement park.

 

“Typically every year whether it’s 1905 or 1935 there would be an article that said Kennywood’s open,” Butko said. “In a way, that was sort of in the lexicon, people would say it.”

 

The phrase gets a mention in Rick Sebak’s “Kennywood Memories,” released in 1988, but even that program doesn’t mention the origin of of the phrase.

 

You can also spot the expression at some Eat ‘n’ Park restaurants, where a sign on the back of the bathroom door says “Is Kennywood open?” with an arrow pointing down — “kind of looking out for you,” Paradise said.

 

So basically, sometime between the park’s opening in 1899 and the ’50s, somebody coined this Pittsburghese term. Maybe a class clown? Maybe an overly polite Pittsburgher?

 

As he works on his third book about Kennywood and reviews 142 boxes of Kennywood archives housed at the History Center, perhaps Butko will stumble on the answer to what he calls “a pretty cool western Pa. mystery.”

 

“I still hold out hope that there’s some little old lady somewhere that can give us the first or earliest use of the phrase in like 1927 or something like that,” Paradise said, “but I have no idea.”

 

By the way: As of this weekend, Kennywood’s open. For real.

[djcoastermark]

^ Cool find ! A light and breezy article, that should remind one if it's breezy, "Kennywood's Open"

[DoinItForTheFame]

^^

 

"Kennywood's Open" will forever have a new meaning to me now.

[KPfan]

You can find these from time to time at local Pittsburgh restaurants near the restrooms.

[joelwee]

^^^^ That's hilarious. I'll have to remember that when I visit Kennywood this June.

 

[cal1br3tto]

^Nice.

 

Cool to see the name Rick Sebak in the article. I like his work a lot.

[KPfan]

Rick is a great guy!

[KPfan]

The pictures posted yesterday show that the footers in the lagoon area are done for now. Still some exposed rebar on them leaving me wondering if they will refill the lagoon as is, cut off the rebar once cured, or possibly pour more concrete on top to cover them.

 

Looks like 15 total with two markers near the Racer and shooting gallery still remaining. Plus lots of work being done on the former site of Log Jammer with a sign of some clearing near the ravine.

[Hmrapp]

The pictures posted yesterday show that the footers in the lagoon area are done for now. Still some exposed rebar on them leaving me wondering if they will refill the lagoon as is, cut off the rebar once cured, or possibly pour more concrete on top to cover them.

 

Looks like 15 total with two markers near the Racer and shooting gallery still remaining. Plus lots of work being done on the former site of Log Jammer with a sign of some clearing near the ravine.

 

Based on your statements, the photos that have been released, and Parque Reunidos' new management strategies, my intuition is yelling coaster in my mind (Intamin multi-lunch?). Only time will tell.

[aueft]

Hey guys. I was planning to visit Kennywood on the last weekend of August, and I had a question about crowds for anyone who was familiar with the park / area.

 

I read somewhere that Kennywood is typically ridiculously busy that weekend due to the start of school being that week. Do you find that that to be the case?

[KPfan]

Hey guys. I was planning to visit Kennywood on the last weekend of August, and I had a question about crowds for anyone who was familiar with the park / area.

 

I read somewhere that Kennywood is typically ridiculously busy that weekend due to the start of school being that week. Do you find that that to be the case?

Check their events schedule to see if the fall fantasy parades are scheduled for then. They usually bring schools to the park and it can be busy. Sunday is usually the better of the weekend days if you do go. Depending on how much time you have it may be a non issue even if it's busy. Their lines move fairly well and are nothing like the bigger parks.

[Rollercoaster Rider]

The pictures posted yesterday show that the footers in the lagoon area are done for now. Still some exposed rebar on them leaving me wondering if they will refill the lagoon as is, cut off the rebar once cured, or possibly pour more concrete on top to cover them.

 

Looks like 15 total with two markers near the Racer and shooting gallery still remaining. Plus lots of work being done on the former site of Log Jammer with a sign of some clearing near the ravine.

 

Based on your statements, the photos that have been released, and Parque Reunidos' new management strategies, my intuition is yelling coaster in my mind (Intamin multi-lunch?). Only time will tell.

 

 

I'd bet on a Gerstlauer or Mack cause they've worked with Parques Recently... Course you have no idea what Parques will add as they don't tend to copycat much.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

(Intamin multi-lunch?)

Hobbit coaster confirmed!