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I heard from somewhere that Kennywood isn't letting people take pictures of Ghostwood Estate, which could be bad news for when I go to Kennywood on Monday. (Don't worry, I'll post something)

 

Well, if they're using light-guns, it is very possible. If strobe-based, a flash would set the entire place off. And if infered based, night-shot could do the same. But from the exterior, they couldn't stop people.

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^That isn't what I meant at all. What I meant was that the park is still being hush-hush about the new ride and isn't letting anyone release pictures of the facade up close or anything. At least, that's what I heard.

 

69th post, lol.

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^Oh, I see what you mean now. Yea, I could see that too. When the initial announcement leaked, they SCRAMBLED to try to keep it hush hush. Too bad their designer had a big mouth.

 

What I don't understand is the secrecy. It's not like it's a breakthrough attraction that's going to revolutionize anything. I'm so surprised nobody has posted pictures from outside the park yet. I'm anxious to see where it is and what it looks like, since I won't be in PGH this year.

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All right everybody! I just got back from the Kennywood tour and have some things to tell you. First, you will be delighted to hear that I was allowed to take pictures of Ghostwood Estate (apparently the whole "no pictures" thing was just a rumor). Second, I have some news on the pending sale to Parques Reunidos. Andy Quinn (our tour guide) told me that we should expect some word on the sale sometime in the first half of May, I think he said something like the 14th or somewhere around there. At any rate, on to the mini photo TR.

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It's kinda weird to be in an amusement park without the noise of people all around you.

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The Goodnight heart in its new location above the entrance/exit tunnel.

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The Phantom's lift hill is silent, but only for a little while longer.

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Ghostwood Estate from Noah's Ark. Note how tall the facade is.

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Yep, it's Ghostwood Estate!

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The Aero 360's signage is in pieces.

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Why did they decide to move the heart? While it makes more sense to put it at the actual exit, but I liked it better where it used to be because of the historical aspect of that whole "Lost Kennywood" entrance/exit.

 

You pretty much answered your own question. Also, the back of the Lost Kennywood entrance is kind of an obscure location; I mean, I myself rarely look up at it as I leave. As a result, I guess park management decided to put it in a place that was both readily visible and made sense.

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^I see, thats pretty cool. I wonder how long it will be.

 

I believe they said the ride is going to have 8 different rooms, so it'll be pretty decently sized. However, that building that it currently sits in isn't the biggest out there so I can't imagine this being that long of a ride.

 

Hopefully this won't be the only tradition and/or "rule" changed (*cough* no inversion rule *cough*). Maybe Kennywood has been considering building a coaster with inversions, I'd rather prefer that than a B&M Hyper.

 

I think everyone getting their hopes up about Kennywood getting a new B&M coaster is going to cause a lot of disappointment whenever the park does indeed add a new attraction. I mean, I had the chance to talk to Jerome Gibas the park's general manager at Swing Shot's media day and he did say he would prefer a B&M if the park was to get a new ride, but then he brought up the fact that a lot of B&Ms out there have over a 52 inch height limit, I know some even have 54. We all know something like this is a problem for Kennywood as this would limit the audience greatly. Kennywoood is known for being a major family park, and if you limit the people who can ride the ride, it really gets rid of that image. Phantom's Revenge is a very family friendly ride, my little cousin rode it for the first time last summer and he's only 7 years old. That's a very good age for kids to start riding their first steel roller coaster, and for even littler kids, they have several other coasters to prepare themselves with.

 

Other than the height limit issue, when was the last time Kennywood spent over $10 million on a single attraction before? Each of the park's last few new attractions have cost the park very little. Since their last NEW coaster was built in 1999 when Exterminator was introduced, the park has installed Aero 360, King Kahuna, SwingShot, revamped the Old Mill and Enterprise to new themes, and replaced the Steel Phantom with Phantom's Revenge. Now if you think about it, none of those rides really cost a lot to build. Swingshot only cost the park around $2.3 million, King Kahuna was sent to them from Lake Compounce, which they own, and neither of the other rides broke the bank if you know what I mean. Their biggest investment was probably the building of Phantom's Revenge, but considering Morgan only had to redo a little more than half of the ride, I really can't see that it cost the park a lot to do, but since Kennywood didn't release the price of construction we can only assume this.

 

Maybe the new ownership may help change this, but I really don't see the park breaking the bank on a B&M or any coaster with a cost as much as one. I mean if you think about it, at that price, the park could most likely get a new wooden coaster and a eurofighter instead of one B&M, which is something I think the park would do before they spent $15-20 million on a new coaster. You have to keep in mind this is a small park and is operated by two families, not a bunch of multi-millionaires. But if I had to take a guess at what the parks next coaster would be, it would most likely be something along the lines of a new wooden coaster (GCI or GG) or eurofighters considering their high popularity right now. I think the chances of the park getting a B&M or Intamin coaster is pretty slim, not only due to the high cost but also the height requirement issues. I can guarantee you that if and when the park decides to go with a new coaster, they will go with something they feel is a ride the whole family can enjoy together, not just teenagers. If you remember the year they built SwingShot, their original plan was to build a Vekoma SLC and Jerome said one of the biggest reasons they changed their mind was the fact that they didn't feel it was that big of a family oriented ride. So I don't see the situation being any different for their next coaster. But hey, you never know, the park could surprise us, so we'll just have to wait and see.

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^ Me too. The beauty of the ETF Mystic movers that Ghostwood Estate will be using is that due to their wireless, trackless nature it's possible to have multiple routes for them to take depending on your score or other factors. If Kennywood takes advantage of this capability and incorporates it into Ghostwood, I can almost guarantee that Ghostwood will be a longer ride than the Goldrusher by a considerable margin. Regardless, this should be quite an awesome dark ride and a nice addition to Kennywood's ride line-up.

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Hopefully this won't be the only tradition and/or "rule" changed (*cough* no inversion rule *cough*). Maybe Kennywood has been considering building a coaster with inversions, I'd rather prefer that than a B&M Hyper.
I think everyone...

 

I see, thanks for clearing everything up! Very interesting read! I always thought a GCI, or a wooden coaster similar to Ravine Flyer II (either GG or any other company that makes similar coasters), would fit Kennywood perfectly. They could use a modern wooden coaster.

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Hopefully this won't be the only tradition and/or "rule" changed (*cough* no inversion rule *cough*). Maybe Kennywood has been considering building a coaster with inversions, I'd rather prefer that than a B&M Hyper.
I think everyone...

 

I see, thanks for clearing everything up! Very interesting read! I always thought a GCI, or a wooden coaster similar to Ravine Flyer II (either GG or any other company that makes similar coasters), would fit Kennywood perfectly. They could use a modern wooden coaster.

 

I completely agree...If the park was willing to spend $15 million on a new B&M or Intamin, sure I'd be all for it. But the fact that the chances of that happening aren't very big considering this is a small amusement park, I'd be all for a new GCI woody or even a Gerstlauer eurofighter. I was skeptical at first about those things and thought they looked pretty cheap, but from what I've heard about Mystery Mine and several of the other models out there, I think something like a eurofighter would be great for Kennywood. They have fairly compact layouts and the possibilities with the things seem endless. They're forceful, they have inversions, and the height limits are reasonable for a park like Kennywood (Mystery Mine has a height limit of 48' and Spongebob's Rock Bottom Plunge a height limit of 32'). And I think if it ends up being a wooden coaster, I think regardless of the company (GCI or GG), it would be a excellent ride because some of the things those two companies are coming out with are just amazing. Quite frankly, I'd be happy with either of these two possibilities, but if the park wants to spend the money and build a B&M or Intamin, I'm all for it. However, I'm not going to get my hopes up. lol

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What about a ride similar to Maverick and Fahrenheit from IntaRide, but with no inversions? I have been thinking about that recently, and if it would work. I know Maverick was $21 million, way too expensive for KW, but that was mainly because of the LSMs, I'm guessing. Fahrenheit was only $12.1 million. With no inversions and nothing fancy, it might actually be possible. It could actually be a really fun coaster if they put lap bars on Maverick-style trains, and utilized the terrain. Wouldn't take up too much space, and would probably be packed full of airtime and quick transitions!

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