Photo TR: Chris goes to Kennywood for the first time.

[Ccron10]

Well, my plans were at first to visit Cedar Point this year, but because of the college process, my family and me decided to visit one of the colleges on my list in Pittsburgh and visit the local attractions.

 

Day 1: Sunday 8/2

I never have been as far west as Harrisburg, so I didn't know what to expect getting out to Pittsburgh except that it was going to be a LONG car ride on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and factoring pulling an RV behind you, that's a little over 5 hours. I will never complain again abut the drive to Hershey (it would seem like it take 35 minutes if we went there).

 

The campground is just outside of New Stanton along I-70 and seemed to be the closest to Pittsburgh and featured Wi-fi (even though it was a tad slow), cable TV, and a rotten treestump with tons of mushrooms growing out of it which smelled like dead fish. But other than that, the place was nice.

 

That night we ate at Cracker Barrel down the street and took a ton of back roads home which without our GPS, we would've wound up in hillbilly hell. lol

 

Mon. 8/3

The next morning we had to prep ourselves for a decent drive into Pittsburgh to visit Robert Morris University. Out of all the colleges and universities I've visited like Elizabethtown College, York College, and Penn State Berks, it had to be the most welcoming place and nicest I've visited. When we arrived they had a big eletronic display board at the entrance that showed your name and welcomed you. The whole place was beautiful and the staff was friendly. It might rank up there very high for me.

Following Robert Morris, we headed down the street to the legendary Primanti Brothers Restaurant for one of their famous sandwiches. I had the ALOMST Legendary Steak Berger which did something completely different with their sandwiches. Instead of having the fries and coleslaw next to your berger, they had then ON your berger which was awesome! The only downside was that I made the mistake of keeping the coleslaw on which was very spicey and took away the flavor of the berger. Now I know why it was ALMOST famous! lol I wonder which is the most famous?

 

The rest of the day included a lot of lounging around and dinner back at the RV.

 

Tues 8/4

This was the day we went to Kennywood which started out with a breakfast at Bob Evans, my great discovery and love for apple butter, and a lot of bridge construction. See the photos for this experience.

 

Wed 8/5

On this day we visited Wal-Mart. That's right, we visited a Wal-Mart while we were on vacation! lol That's pretty much all we did that day.

 

Thurs. 8/6

We ate breakfast at Bob Evans, had more awesome apple butter and drove home.

Story Time!

My mom and me got onto the ride with her in the backseat and me in the front. The shooters were cool and we entered the first room which was laid out nicely. The targets were hard to shoot at and when we entered the portrait room, we stopped! At first I though it was the block system setting in (just like RECC), but after sitting still and shooting at the same target for awhile it started getting warm. The scoring system can only go up to 10,000 after 10 minutes of waiting I reached that point and switched over to the other laser. Eventually the lights came on and a ride op released out restraints. From here we walked through the rest of the ride to the exit. It was really interesting how it was laid out. The reason why we were evacuated? Someone got hurt! This was the 2nd ride of the day where Kennywood's rides we KO-ing riders! lol

Part 2 of photos soon.

Being a fan of RECC at Hershey, I was looking forward to riding Ghostwood estate. The ride had a 15 minute wait and I thought the queue was laid out weird. The pre-show was cool as well as how the ride worked.

After KO-ing a rider and causing it to stop operating for a few minutes, it only had a 5 to 10 minute wait.

9/10

To dry off I got my first ride on the Thunderbolt. I have always kept wondering why this coaster is always highly raved about? Personally I found it to be a decent ride, long, and thrilling. You get some good ejector airtime before the lift and you get slammed around the two turns. While it's not the best wooden coaster I've been on, it still ranks up there.

I rode it twice and after looking at the design I can believe why Hershey removed theirs. It uses a lot of water, some of the motors are submerged, but it still is an enjoyable ride. I rode it twice with a 10 minute wait and got soaked afterward. 9/10

It certainly ain't Dan approved! There is one evil waterfall that I got hit by and went under twice!

If you all remember, last year that Hershey removed theirs. So what happened to their rafts? Here's is your answer. Some boats have a label on them covering up the old decals. The seats are also different on several of them as well.

It has been awhile since I rode a river rapids ride so I went on this evil device. lol

It is kind of hard to miss Laughing Sal.

There goes my dad. lol We next rode the train which gave a nice history lesson.

The great thing about Kennywood are the classics such as the Auto Race. The cars were extremely small and reminded me of clown cars. I wish they had gas pedals.

7/10

My next ride was Log Jammer which seemed to be a great Flume ride. I loved the speed drop, but they only operated one station side.

8/10

I also rode the Aero 360 which was pretty intense. 8/10

The overall coaster was great and the ability to hand-slap as well. I still don't like the seatbelts for PTC cars, but if you ride single and use the other seat's, it sort of fixes the problem. 8/10

It was a 2 train operation all day. The 3rd train was in the station, but I didn't see the 4th. The wait was around 15 minutes.

Next up was my 2nd Kennywood coaster, the Racer. The line was decent, but the queue set-up could've been better with allowing you to pick your row.

The SkyCoaster looked interesting and would absolutely experience it.... IF it wasn't $20!

For a 2 train operation, the line moved swiftly and it was full to the entrance. I only had to wait under 10 minutes.

Following Garfield was my first Kennywood coaster: The Jack Rabbit. I have heard a lot about this coaster over the years and how great it is. Personally I found it enjoying, but I thought there would be much more airtime. The double dip was insane and it had a bunch of floater air before hitting the brakes. It could be longer though.

8/10

After driving though a lot of bridge construction we arrived at Kennywood. The first ride of the day was the "horrible" Garfield's Nightmare. Personally I find the Chocolate Tour ride at Hershey more annoying than this. I am an old fan of Garfield and found the 15 minute wait almost decent. I also rode it for the historical aspects of it. 6/10

[TheRapidsNerd]

Good report and good to see what happened to the CRR boats. Raging Rapids looks like a fun ride and sounds like a fun day overall. Thanks for putting this up.

[Ccron10]

Part 2. Feel free to use this in the Photo Index!

 

Some quick trip notes:

-Phantom's Revenge is awesome and is the best coaster I've been on so far.

-Kennywood is now my #1 park and I believe Hershey could learn from it. The staff were friendly, it seemed more orderly, the atmosphere was awesome and I didn't feel overpriced. The coasters were also better as well with the rides having something for everyone.

-Parking is free on the second and thrid levels, but you also get the perk of a free ride on either the escalator or ski lift. It is also about the same amount of walking if you pay $6 and park on the first level.

 

-Finally, I found the food to be rather good and also cheap. For $8 you get 5 or 6 chicken strips, a lot of fries, coleslaw, and a big piece of roll and butter.

 

-In conclusion I would like to say that I now hate Polka music. lol They were playing it CONSTANTLY! lol

 

My next park probably won't be until October when I head back to Hershey. I don't plan on taking many if any pictures on that trip. It depends on if they are building anything for 2010.

 

Comment.

From here I rode Cosmic Chaos which was a great flat ride then ate at the Parkside Cafe. 8/10

Next I rode the carousel, all the coasters once with my last ride on Phantom's Revenge in the front seat at night.

Here's a random pic of Volcano.

I love detailed shots like these about how rides work.

To finish my new credit run I got Exterminator in. The ride was nicely themed and was cool. It did have close to a 1/2 wait, but it was worth it. 9/10

I next rode Swingshot which could've been a tad longer, but was still a decent ride. 7/10

Next was Bayern Kurve, but since it was closed, I guess not.

My next ride was the Pit Fall. Thi was my first freefall ride and was quite nervous about it since it was 251 feet tall. i found that if you have a partner with you and have a casual conversation with them, the ride is more relaxing. The drop was awesome though. 9/10

The whole Lost Kennywood area is nicely themed.

The lifthill starts out slow, but eventually it picks up speed. It jerks you over the top and down the first drop and into the straightaway. Then you rocket up and get thrown into the awesome 2nd drop. The rest of the coaster was OMFG amazing! The hills were incredible and produced tons of air! If Phoenix wanted to be a steel coaster and have a 230+ drop this is what it would be! 11/10 lol. This is now my #1 coaster and I now think this ride is underated.

I did at first thought that this coaster wouldn't be very great reguarding it's size, but boy was I proven wrong!

Trying to find it's entrance is really tough and I almost went searching all over Lost Kennywood to find it! lol But once I did it had close to a 1/2 hour and was running 1 train. They did add the 2nd one. I headed to the backseat.

The Turtle was going to be my next ride, but I thought I might ride Phantom's Revenge instead.

[Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess]

Is the airtme on Jack Rabbit comparable to say Giant Dipper, Phoenix or the Playland Coaster? Like "I feel like I'm going to get thrown out any second" airtime?

 

The overall coaster was great and the ability to hand-slap as well. I still don't like the seatbelts for PTC cars, but if you ride single and use the other seat's, it sort of fixes the problem. 8/10

 

I hate them too, personally I think they're unnecessary and slow down loading efficiency.

 

And by the way those "Detailed shots on how the rides work" are called Nerd Shots.

[Ccron10]

Is the airtme on Jack Rabbit comparable to say Giant Dipper, Phoenix or the Playland Coaster? Like "I feel like I'm going to get thrown out any second" airtime?

The overall coaster was great and the ability to hand-slap as well. I still don't like the seatbelts for PTC cars, but if you ride single and use the other seat's, it sort of fixes the problem. 8/10

 

I hate them too, personally I think they're unnecessary and slow down loading efficiency.

 

And by the way those "Detailed shots on how the rides work" are called Nerd Shots.

Only on the double dip. The rest of the hills are just floater air.

 

I know. I just thought I'd throw something different in wording in there.

[CorkscrewFoley]

Nice little TR, I'm glad you enjoyed Kennywood, and of course Phantom.

[itnotfair]

Cool TR! I've heard great things about Phantom's Revenge, and your report just enforced my desire to hit Kennywood in the future.

[Homeboy23]

Great report. So how did someone get hurt on Ghostwood?

[Myself]

It must not have been serious. I didn't hear anything about it when I came in at 6 to work. Ghostwood has only one blocking point; if you did end up riding it later on, it comes right before the room where the car stops and turns around. If there is no car in the room, approaching cars proceed as normal.

 

BTW, Kennywood has nationality picnics and the day you went was Polish Day so that's why you heard all of the polka music.

 

The Racer only has three trains. It's odd, IDK why they never bought a fourth one.

[Ccron10]

Great report. So how did someone get hurt on Ghostwood?

That's the same thing I'm wondering. When we walked through the ride and got to the exit, I saw a few people standing and sitting around the control panel and outside the ride saw some employees carrying a first aid kit ant wheelchair.

 

^I did see that point in the ride and I kind of figured that's what happened there. It did look like an interesting ride theme-wise, but if they made the targets a bit easier to shoot at and increased the point rewards it would be a better shooting dark ride.

So when they run Racer they only operate with 2 trains and sometimes switch one of the trains out fofor the blue one? Or do they operate with 3 trains some time?

 

By the way I like the pre-recorded dispatches on the coasters. They seem better than the ones at Hershey.

[xChris125x]

From what I've seen they rotate the trains every season, so each train runs for two seasons and then spends a season on the transfer track.

[Myself]

The trains actually rotate much more often, about every two weeks or so.