ms13 Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Once upon a time, the end of the coaster year was approaching, and without a trip to kennywood, I would turn into a stick of butter. So I decided it was time to go, but there was only one problem, the regular season was closed, and the phantom had turned the park into a place of haunts! Well, I get scared easy, but I dont like butter that much, so I had to brave the haunts and try to..... Well, that was an interesting story, but in reality, I had never been to a Halloween event, so I decided to go to my home park's one, and see what the fuss was about....and I dont like butter... And holy crap as it the best time I've ever gad at a park! The atmosphere, the rides, the theming...and lets not forget the walkthrough! I'll rate them from favorite to least favorite, but as I had never done one before, this is most likely going to be off to what everyone else rates them: 1- Mortern Manor (I think thats the name...it was in the children's area) Wow was this one crazy...from the pitch black areas, to the crazy red for where you couldn't see an inch in front of you, to the craziest element ever, in which you push yourself through two balloonish things, or as chris said two moon bounces. You couldn't move anywhere but straight! 2- Villa of the Vampires - The last one of the night was quite good. I felt that I had walked into a vampire movie, and it had some really cool effects. 3- Haunted Ark - While I was dissapointed they couldn't have just left the classic ark the way it was, they added some cool scares to the ark. The part going through the mountain in pitch black had the whole group screaming! 4- Voo-Doo Bayuo - My most anticipated walkthrough of the night was slightly dissapointing, but still cool. The best thing as a geek was getting to walk through the rapids, but there was no real scares. There were two really cool effects with snakes, one big and one small, though. 5- Captain Skully's Curse in 3D - While the 3D effect on the walls were cool, that was about it. All it was pretty much was walls, and you could see the holes where they were hiding to scare you. No real special elements. But it was still fun! And being a dark ride/walkthrough fan more than coasters, I was in heaven, and thus there aren't any pictures of the walkthroughs, as I was to enthralled (whatever that means) by them. And while most people's adventures end, mine still went on, as I got lost In Pittsburgh at 2:30 in the morning...boy was that scarier than anything at the park! Thank god for verizon and their navigator! I know what I'm asking santa for this christmas! (I didn't see him for some reason) Oh, and THANKS very much for reading! Grrr...I'm an evil walkthrough!...Give me people! I feel bad for this guy. He had to stand there all night, without saying anything, They really need to make a union for these skeleton actors, as they are really mistreated! Holy crap!...They killed Dumbo!...Those bastards! Hey, do you have the time? I was suppose to catch a bus, but I missed it, so I had to call a cab. But I left my money with my other mask, so I had to call a friend over to bring some money, but I dont know the time as I said I'd meet him at midnight....Oh, and boo! This guy was awesome! The whole line stopped just so that we could watch him! But is it just me, or does she look a little like Shia Labouf? Crap, the whole reason I came here, and its closed! Gosh Darn!!! Holy crap, they are following me!!!!! Yeah, the fog was crazy in the park, but they could have gone all the way and just turned the lights off, that would have been crazy! I was hoping they would have a heaven themed area, so I could say I was "touched by an angel", but this sign ruined my hopes... Those of you afraid of clowns...HA! Its to late now! Score one for the clowns! ...as evidenced by these peoples heads! Its the original bouncy bounce! If you have never ridden this ride you need to! Its amazing... While everyone here comes for the fries, I come for the pepsi! Its amazing! Oh, is that what I think it is?....Hoop ear rings!!! Sue, this was cool, but it would have been much cooler if it was a horse operating a human skeleton!...think about it...I'll wait.... Haha...Death Valley...wait, its suppose to be scary...haha! What, theres a line to get to a WALKTHROUGH!?! I want my money back! You know, they really need to clean that fountain...it's looking like somebody put nickelodeon in there and it exploded! Excuse me, do you know where they have the actors walk around and theme the park for Halloween? Wow are some people messy with the toilet paper! Hmmm...this area is called graffiti city! Now this is normally an awesome ride, but they do something for phantom nights that makes it crazy! Its a surprise! Great, somebody call Mulder and Skully, and make sure they are the ones from the first 6 seasons, nothing after that! There is no logical reason for this to be in my trip report, and yet some reason it is. Maybee I should hit the delete button....doing it now...I CANT! "Out into the fog thou goes, but thou does not come back" That would be really strange if that was really a quote. I just sorta made that off the top of my head. Perhaps I have ESP...N. "I hear the rides are closed" "I hear they are open" "I hear Santa is in there" wait...what did that last person say? The only place where a really old dude standing in a bunch of blood is cool...any other time and its just creepy. Wow, they even extend the theming to visitors cars...How Cool! You know, they really need to take care of these booths more, its looks like it's themed for....wait... "Umm, excuse me Mr. Phantom, but I'm gonna need you to move you're coaster, its in a no parking spot.......thank you." Screw kennywood, the concept art gallery is where its at! Artsy shot...showing how crappy the traffic was...thats the only way to show it...I could do a sketch, but that would just be a sketch of a bunch of squares...perhaps a dance might work... And I'm off and there is something wrong with that price of gas...It should $7.19, not $3.19...those duboisians, what are they thinking... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Looty Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Nice photos. Glad you had a good time. Kennywood is truly a gem in the Amusement industry and deserves more attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wood Dragon 1988 Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Hmmm, glad I made the update!! Nice photos. Glad you had a good time. Kennywood is truly a gem in the Amusement industry and deserves more attention. As far as more attention, I think anyone in the park that day would agree that Kennywood gets quite enough attention. The park was quite crowded. Oh yea, good pictures, Matt. I think even you have questioned your photo-taking ability in the past, but that 10 megapixel camera seemed to come through for you that night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajacy Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 I was there the same day.... I even appear in the second photo of the main gate crowd... it's like a where's waldo, pretty funny. Between my avatar and the photo, can you find me? lol! There's a clue later in my report -- First time I've been in someone elses photo report that i've seen, but a friend of mine caught himself randomly in someone elses trip report last year. Sounds like you did all the haunts and no rides? We didn't get to do everything we wanted since we wanted to do some rides (phantom x2 took a lot of time) and we had 1 newbie who has never been in our group. We ended up doing the haunted arc, the one through the rapids ride, and the one through the restaurant (or maybe arcade?). Yeah, getting out was a pain in the *** [plus a ride back to buffalo NY!], but I had an awesome time. ~~ Line for phantom was about 45 min all night even with 2 trains, the one haunt we waited for inside the water raft ride was 45 min, the one haunt we did right away and only waited for 15 min but later on the line had to be at LEAST an hour because we were in a TINY line [it was second, just after the no-line at the shooty/mansion ride, right as the park opened] and it took that long (they were taking tiny groups in at a time). Flat rides the lines went pretty quick. We also did the mansion / shooting dark ride at opening so we didn't wait for that. We had to skip over the other houses due to running out of time and we wanted to ride phantom twice vs 1 time. I thought they did an awful job with the one that was inside the raft ride / trough. It was very spread out, with just little set-ups throughout. You knew where the actors were gonna be, there was absolutely no crazy fog (unlike warewolf canyon @ CP i remember from a few years ago which was insane) and most of the actors were just standing there or talking to friends/guests. Lame, and not worth the time. The other haunt we went to was alright (in one of the resteraunts) but nothing to write home about. The haunted noahs ark which we went to instead of Exterminator at the end of the day took 45 minutes... and that line was tiny compared to earlier in the day, too. That was honestly the best of the haunted stuff we did, unfortunately. That was more "fun" than scary, though. All of the food lines were absolutely outrageous, it's like all these people have never had food before, lol. We ended up going to mcd's which is a tiny walk away. Exterminator had to be longer than an hour because we went to it an hour before closing and it was closed already (unless it was closed the whole night?) Had a great time though. Phantoms revenge is still awesome, the fog around the park is great, it's everywhere. The other stuff around the park was well done as well. There were random guys juggling (fire & knives!) on the midways, the scare zones were OK, but they did a good job decorating, changing all the lights, etc. They "trashed" up many areas (toilet paper in the trees, newspapers laying everywhere, etc.) but it all added to the atmosphere. Fog was spewing out of ever nook and cranny of the park.. the bushes, the fences, the queues, etc. Almost all the lights on the rides were either turned off, or Halloween colored. Thunderbolt was a full queue, and after we got in line it went past the entrance and onto the midway. Didn't seem like it took *too* long, though. The screamin' swing ride was about 15 min. Was my first, and enjoyed it, just wish it had more than 3 swings at the "top" The disk-o was a 10 min wait all day it seemed. Another first for me, and I enjoyed it. Not the best flat ride by any means, but enjoyable. Racer was closed when we went by it for whatever reason. It was running earlier with empty trains? A for atmosphere / ride alterations / decorations C- for the actual haunted attractions C- for the lines (we got lucky for most of them, though) A+ for the overall experience [good times with good friends, good rides, and was the only park I went to w/ friends the entire year as opposed to the 8+ I usually get other summers] and nothing really pissed me off other than the fact some of the houses could have been a LOT better and instead were very lackluster Wish the park was open longer than it was. Missed out on a lot of rides/attractions. Traffic SUCKS. We came from Buffalo but luckily gave ourselves a ton of extra time. If you are going for the haunts only, you can probably do all the haunts, but don't expect to get on ANY rides. And vice-versa, if you want to do ALL the rides, don't expect to get on any or most of the haunted houses. 6 hours seems like a long time, but getting through the gate with the metal detectors sucks [they didn't open early at all to get people at LEAST past the metal detectors, which is silly as all the staff was shooing people away from the gates]. And if you go to the houses right away I suppose you would free up a lot of time, too. We just did 2 haunted things before we ended up riding phantom and some other things, but perhaps if we knew exactly where the other haunts were, and went to them right away, we could have fit more in. I think that's all I have to say! Thanks for the report and the pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ms13 Posted October 15, 2008 Author Share Posted October 15, 2008 Surprisingly we did all the mazes except one (the one in the restaurant), ALL the coasters (except racer, as it was closed), and several flat fides, and even a potato patch in there! Final ride count: Phantom (walk on)1 Exterminator (walk on) 1 Swingshot (walk on)1 Kangaroo (No one was riding this!)1 Thunderbolt (about 25 minute wait)1 Jackrabbit (about 30 minute wait)1 Ghostwood estate (10 minute wait)1 Volcano (15 minute wait)1 Crazy amount of fog (priceless!) Here's the entrance video I took: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NJI8gTk0mk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wood Dragon 1988 Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 ^^As bad as the lines were, I went to this event on a Saturday last year and they were that much worse! I only got to ride six rides I believe. I was there the same day too, and I got to ride, like eleven or something. I never understood why the park isn't open in the day time too, but it kind of makes since because they don't have to focus on any day time themeing or employment. If/when I go next year I may be even less concerned about the rides, because I've been on most of them (but Exterminator in the dark was just so good), and should be able to enjoy the haunts even more. Regardless, the haunts were still by far the best I've seen, and I've now been to PKDs, SFAs, CPs, and Kennywoods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KPfreak519 Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Cool, I was there the day after you. Unfortunately, it was REALLY crowded for me, in 6 hours we only did 1 haunted attraction(Voodoo Bayou), 2 rides on Phantom, 1 ride on Thunderbolt, and 1 on Racer. Still really fun though!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyweird Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 I was there the 10th as well. Seems like all enthusiasts think alike. I was going to do a Photo TR, but I think I'll forgo it, since this one's a heck of a lot better than mine would've been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts