Kennywood (KW) Discussion Thread

[BitterOldHag]

Thanks KPFan.  Appreciate your input and info!  I don't do the indoor haunts, just the scare zones.  So I will probably be riding the coasters (and Kanagaroo!) a lot. 

[BitterOldHag]

Some thoughts from my visit to Kennywood this past Friday evening (10/28):

- Finally got my first rides on Steel Curtain.  I seem to recall mixed reviews on this ride, but I absolutely loved it.  Aside from the Steelers theme, Steel Curtain delivers just about everything I like about coasters these days.  The view from the top of the lift was incredible, the first inversion into the initial drop was very Drachen Fire-like, the airtime hills delivered every time and just being flung upside-down so many times was awesome.  The ride seemed smooth to me, the seats were comfortable (loved the fact that it was lap bar only), and it seemed to maintain its speed quite well.  If I have one negative thing to say about the ride, it would be the rather rude delivery of the "no loose items" policy by the ride op.  I understand that people these days need to be beaten over the head with things because they don't think rules apply to them, but it's rather excessive being threatened with park removal and how everyone is watching you on the ride including "people you can't see over in the End Zone building".  I'll let it slide since I was in a good mood and because I enjoyed the ride so much!   

- Exterminator was running in "Lights Out" mode.  Oh. My. God.  This was bonkers.  I had no idea where I was at any point during the ride and I had a hard time walking straight after the ride was over.  That was awesome!  

- Phantom's Revenge is still crazy after all these years.  I rode in the last row and it seems like the ride is trying its hardest to pitch you into the ravine.  And with as dark as the park is at night, night rides are truly outrageous.  With there only being about a 3 train wait, repeat rides were required!    

- Jack Rabbit may not be a great overall coaster, but the legendary double down still offers the most terrifying airtime moment of any coaster I have been on.  I also liked the fog and colored lights they had set up in the tunnel.  It's a small thing, but it adds tremendously to the ride experience when it is dark out.

- The two scare zones I went through (Hellbilly Hollow and Fear Fest) were awful.  The scare actors didn't seem motivated (with one exception of a clown literally chasing a terrified child around!) and the dude with the harmonica in Hellbilly Hollow was more annoying than scary.  Now to be fair, the park's entrance tunnel was so full of fog it was impossible to see in front of you, which was cool.  But again, the scare actors seemed more interested in talking to each other than scaring folks.  

- And finally, there's the "new" Kangaroo.  While the ride doesn't quite seem as intense as it used to be when you launch off the ramp, and the ride cycle time is painfully short, I haven't laughed this hard on a ride in ages.  I had no idea about the "boing" sound effect that goes off every time a car goes over the ramp.  That little addition made me literally lol the whole ride.  Well done Kennywood.  Well done!

Security was pretty much everywhere including on bikes and police were posted along the edge of the park as well, so I did feel safe.  I was surprised how dark the park was though.  Some of the walkways were scarier than the scare zones just because they were so dark!  I also enjoyed the new touches the park made for their 125th Anniversary.  Kennywood looked the best it has in years.  Looking forward to Holiday Lights in the coming weeks!   

[BitterOldHag]

Looks like Kennywood will be announcing their new ride on November 15th.  Not much here yet other than the continuing alien theme and the interesting statement of “first of its kind in the United States”.  I guess that rules out the Zamperla Endeavour as a replacement for Volcano.  Looking forward to seeing what they have planned.

Kennywood 2023 - “Battle for the Burgh”

[pryonisys]

19 hours ago, BitterOldHag said:

Looks like Kennywood will be announcing their new ride on November 15th.  Not much here yet other than the continuing alien theme and the interesting statement of “first of its kind in the United States”.  I guess that rules out the Zamperla Endeavour as a replacement for Volcano.  Looking forward to seeing what they have planned.

Kennywood 2023 - “Battle for the Burgh”

Whatever it's going to be it will most likely be in the old volcano plot.  Retheme the volcano rock work to some sort of crater and that could work with the alien theme.  I'm trying to think of what kind of flat is at Canada's Wonderland that it could be, otherwise I think they may have said North America

[KPfan]

2 hours ago, pryonisys said:

Whatever it's going to be it will most likely be in the old volcano plot.  Retheme the volcano rock work to some sort of crater and that could work with the alien theme.  I'm trying to think of what kind of flat is at Canada's Wonderland that it could be, otherwise I think they may have said North America

All of the Volcano remnants have been removed.  As far as unique flats, the general consensus in the rumor mill is possibly a Gerstlauer Sky Roller which is something CW has that is not in the US.  

[pryonisys]

On 11/12/2022 at 5:52 PM, KPfan said:

All of the Volcano remnants have been removed.  As far as unique flats, the general consensus in the rumor mill is possibly a Gerstlauer Sky Roller which is something CW has that is not in the US.  

I didn't realize that the volcano remnants were gone, thanks for the heads up.
A Sky Roller would seem to fit based on the tease

[BitterOldHag]

So Kennywood's new ride is a Zamperla Griffon called Spinvasion.  I'm looking forward to this as I am a big fan of the old Huss Swing Around (which Kennywood previously had twice in its ride lineup).  After the improvements made this year and this new addition for 2023, Kennywood seems to be on the upswing and I for one am happy for that! 

Spinvasion New in 2023 at Kennywood

[coasterbill]

5 hours ago, BitterOldHag said:

on the upswing

I see what you did there

[Zand]

So is this basically an Air Race but it only swings 90 degrees instead of 360 degrees?

Just trying to figure it out.

[bert425]

26 minutes ago, Zand said:

So is this basically an Air Race but it only swings 90 degrees instead of 360 degrees?

Just trying to figure it out.

it's basically an updated Swing-around (as BOH said above). 

it's not the updated Enterprises - it doesn't lift, or tilt. . . but they can set it to swing in a wave or alternating rocking motion.

 

here it is in action from the Zamperla website:
 

 

 

 

[Nrthwnd]

^ So this is the ride that Playland(PNE) got and opened this past season.... SkyBender.

Nice to see other versions of it are coming to other parks. I really enjoyed the ride on it.

But ..... We got it first, HA! I notice Kennywood has already announced this as "The First in The U.S."

But ours doesn't "swing in a wave," darnit.  Just the alternate rocking cycle.

Maybe they're re-program it next season, to include this cycle. One can hope.

[DLDude]

Coasterdynamix released a model of Kangaroo!

https://www.coasterdynamix.com/products/the-kangaroo

[gardyloo!]

Anybody who knows why steel curtain is down?

[abovethesink]

Belated trip report:

My son (age 12) and I (36) visited Kennywood for the first time on 7/3. The forecast was extremely poor for the day to say the least, so we actually tried to swing by the night before when we got into town for the last few, unexpectedly blue skied hours of the 2nd, but we found the park had closed early due to the weather. We had already skipped Darien Lake due to the terrible weather that day too, but we were going to give Kennywood a go the next morning no matter what as it was a higher priority park for us. We made the right decision.

The clouds were ominous as we got in line to rope drop the park in the morning. The long, long line to initially get into the park gave the impression of a big crowd. This would prove to be an illusion very quickly. Sky Rocket was right there when we went in so we hopped on without a wait. That is a fun, if inconsequential coaster. We both enjoyed it. It has been ten days now, but if memory serves I thought it had a strong first half and then did nothing in the second half. 

After that, with storm clouds looming, my unnegotiable priority was Phantom's Revenge. I had heard about this ride all my life and we were not going to miss it due to weather. We didn't, but weather still interfered with the ride. After waiting only a few minutes for maybe two cycles with one train ops, we hopped on near the back and it immediately started to drizzle. I loved the powerful ride with its wild airtime in the second half, but the raindrops at that speed were painful and distracting. I had my fingers crossed that we would get another chance at a second ride without rain before we left. The dark gray sky said it was unlikely.

From Phantom's Revenge was saw one of the old woodies, so that is where we wandered next. On the way we walked by what I thought was a haunted house from its name but have since learned it was a shooting dark ride instead. Either way, it was raining and I was disappointed to see it closed. The woodie right after turned out to be Thunderbolt and we had a walk on. This isn't a ride that does a whole lot, but there is just something super charming to me about these sort of very much older woodies. I really enjoyed the ride even in the continuing drizzle. It was especially unique in how it used its terrain, I thought.

As we were exiting, the rain really began to start to come down hard. We cut right across to some covered restaurant/pavilion type area, grabbed some drinks, and used the bathroom. In that short time the rain stopped. The only coaster we could see from where we were was Steel Curtain. I had warned my son that it was often down by reputation and we hadn't seen it run, but it was a direction to walk towards in an unfamiliar park so we went that way. The paths we chose first brought us to Jack Rabbit.

That double down! For me the mark of a great rollercoaster is how stupid hard I am laughing by the end of it. By that metric Jack Rabbit is an undeniably great coaster thanks to that one moment. As my son would say, it tries to yeet you into space without a restraint. The rest of the ride is similar to Thunderbolt in how it just sort of meanders around in its up and down terrain, but that double down! What a legendary moment. I could hit that thing all day, again and again and again. There was much more to do though and the weather was not promising.

Racer was next. I can't remember the color of our train, but the coaster was still racing despite the lack of a crowd. There was was still enough to fill both trains and off we went. I could tell immediately we were in trouble by eyeing both trains. We had a ton of kids and they had all the weight. Predictably, we lost, though for some reason the station announced us as the winner. Do they ironically announce the obvious loser as the winner or was that just weird? Anyway, Racer wasn't nearly as good as either of the other two as a standalone coaster, but a proper race is always good fun. No complaints here.

From there we took the sad short walk over to Steel Curtain to confirm what we already knew. It wouldn't be opening. That left Exterminator to find so I pulled up a map. Our route led us back by Kangaroo and this time we had to ride. We basically just do coasters or heavily themed rides normally, maybe something like a drop tower, but I had heard so much about this thing that we decided to try it. It is fun and quite unique. I get why people like it. Its hops would be a great introduction to airtime for young riders.

Next our route led us back by Phantom's Revenge so we hopped back on for the dry ride that seemed so unlikely just a couple hours earlier. I cannot express how much I love this ride except to do it in the geekiest coaster nerd way possible. I now have 231 credits and I keep a top 50. Phantom's Revenge sits at #10 for me.  We grabbed two quick rides back to back, the first in the back and the second almost in the front. This is a rare one that seemed better up front with how it hit its airtime hills. Great ride.

I can't say the same for Exterminator. It was our longest wait by a longshot thanks to its low capacity and, for me, it wasn't worth it. My son loved it though and I don't think it is a bad ride for most people. I just don't care for a spinning wild mouse, theming or no. I don't like to spin and I don't like being jerked around. That is what Exterminator does. The effort the park put in to differentiate it from most others like it was nice at least.

From there we ate a mediocre meal from Johnny Rockets (not my choice), decided to hit up Jack Rabbit one more time for that double down, grabbed a t-shirt, and exited the park. We did all we wanted to, minus Steel Curtain of course, in less than four hours. We weren't even out of view of the park before the day's downpour began in full force. We wouldn't have timed it any differently if we ourselves were the weather gods planning on when it would storm that day. 

 

[bert425]

^ FYI. . Racer will always race (unless they have removed one train). . it's a Moebius coaster, so both trains are on the same track

[CaptainUnknown]

I have a day and a half planned for this park for 2 weeks from now, full day Thursday and half day Friday before going to the Pirates game. I expect Steel Curtain to be down for my trip, or by some miracle if it is running, it's on one train.

I heard one of the woodies bans single riders. Which is it if true?

My hotel is about 10 miles from PNC Park. Any parking recommendations for the stadium or should I just uber?

The only things that can't fit in a zippered pocket are a hat and water bottle. Any mandatory bunnies I need to worry about?

Food in park recommendations beyond Potato Patch fries?

[bert425]

16 minutes ago, CaptainUnknown said:

I heard one of the woodies bans single riders. Which is it if true?

 

Thunderbolt is no single riders allowed  (the laterals on the helixes are the reasons they usually give. . .but shouldn't be too hard to find someone to ride with - and worst case, ask an operator to ride with you, they typically are happy to do so if they can't get another single to pair with you)

[AmyUD06]

3 hours ago, CaptainUnknown said:

I have a day and a half planned for this park for 2 weeks from now, full day Thursday and half day Friday before going to the Pirates game. I expect Steel Curtain to be down for my trip, or by some miracle if it is running, it's on one train.

I heard one of the woodies bans single riders. Which is it if true?

My hotel is about 10 miles from PNC Park. Any parking recommendations for the stadium or should I just uber?

The only things that can't fit in a zippered pocket are a hat and water bottle. Any mandatory bunnies I need to worry about?

Food in park recommendations beyond Potato Patch fries?

There is no way in the world that you will ever need a day and a half at this park unless you want like 7 rides on Steel Curtain and don't have the skip-the-line-pass.

No mandatory lockers that I can remember.

And yeah, as Bert said, Thunderbolt is the "no single riders" allowed ride, but you shouldn't have issues finding a riding partner.

No food recs, but don't skip on some of the rides you think you might not like:

-Auto Race is a classic, and supposedly the last of its kind
-Old Mill is a decent dark ride that lots of people seem to love
-Ghostwood Estate is a decent trackless shooting dark ride
-Noah's Ark gets tons of praise but personally I wasn't a huge fan

[coastersandhockey]

Does Kennywood still do an "after 5" admission? I can't find anything on the website other than that it's available only at the gate. Nothing about price. I tried calling the park and couldn't get through. If they're still available does anybody know the price? Thanks! 

[tndank]

Steel Curtain down for 2024. 

https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/flagship-kennywood-roller-coaster-will-not-open-this-season/K7UHT6YEURB7RCKZ7AK5LNQ33U/

[Rai Fox]

Pretty amazing how they only figured out it would be down for the whole year 3 days before opening, after plenty of people had paid for their season passes.  Coincidences all around, I guess.

[prozach626]

Maybe an RMC launched lift hill will fix the reliability issues.

[abovethesink]

We don't see a lot of non-launched, steel coasters have these sort of extended issues these days. It makes me wonder if it isn't somehow the foundation or the ground under footers not being strong enough.

[TurnOfTheCentury]

there was a pretty-credible looking post on reddit late last summer from someone who claimed to know the issues and they essentially boiled down to issues with the structural supports/ excessive stress on certain segments of the ride.  Essentially the ride was engineered very close to the margins for cost savings (not unsafe), but that resulted in tons of maintenance and ongoing structural strain, especially since it's possible the forces on the serpent roll (for example) were slightly higher than anticipated.   Apparently one "temporary" fix was S&S recommending only one train operation.  the current plan is to extensively replace and shore up certain supports of the ride.

Looking at the structure and the $9M price tag for a coaster that size, it doesn't surprise me, if true.  

Sometimes, you do get what you pay for.

 

 

[ricklap77]

They will fix it up this year and it will be running good for many years after.  SC is such an awesome coaster and very unique. It was still an expansive coaster and it's a good thing they are addressing the issues.