slicknixon Posted June 18, 2010 Share Posted June 18, 2010 (edited) We took the family to Pittsburgh this week and hit Idlewild Monday on the way to West Mifflin. We stayed in West Mifflin Monday night and went to Kennywood on Tuesday. The weather was rainy early Mon and Tue which brought light crowds the whole trip. Wednesday we went to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. All in all, we had a ton of fun. The Pittsburgh area is a great place for a family vacation and we highly recommend this itinerary to anyone else with kids. This is our first photo TR so bear with us on the pictures. We had our two year old daughter with us so it wasn't easy getting pictures as she sometimes (usually) isn't very patient. We did get quite a few though, so enjoy. ********** DAY 1 ************ IDLEWILD If you have kids you must take them here. It's a beautiful and historic park located in a rural mountain town kind of like Knoebels. The Alleghenies are spectacular and the drive to the park is very relaxing. It's strange though, because until you are in the park it feels like you are in the middle of nowhere which is actually really nice. The park is much bigger than you would think and there are a lot of rides and a TON of stuff for kids. Kids could spend two or more days at this park and still not want to leave. Soakzone, the waterpark is also pretty big and could provide a day's worth of fun. Unfortunately, we had less than a full day to spend here so we did the most important stuff as a family and didn't ride many of the "big" rides. We did however get both credits but didn't have time to get pictures of Olde Idlewild so you get an almost complete tour of Story Book forest, some of Raccoon Lagoon and some not so good pictures of the new Royal Hanneford Circus. Enjoy. Ride Count: Rollo Coaster x 1 Wild Mouse x 1 Mr. Rogers Neighborhood of Make-Believe x 1 Caterpillar x 1 Merry Go Round x 1 Dizzy Lizzy's x 1 Windmills at the top of a mountain on the way to Ligonier. Gotta love the Alleghenies!! You owe it to your kid(s) to take them here. The first thing you will notice is that they don't constantly paint over the stuff here until it doesn't look like the original. Almost everything has cracking paint and looks weathered but that's a good thing really because sometimes they make these old statues look really bad (Dutch Wonderland) in an attempt to preserve them. I say keep them as-is until they are really ugly. Mother Goose greets you inside the storybook entrance. Inside the schoolhouse, a lone rebel sits all by himself. Little Boy Blue chillaxin'. STAY OFF THE GRASS!!!! Little Miss Muffet, what's wrong? HOLY $^@! There was a crooked man who had a crooked house.. ..he had a crooked cat (dog?) who chased a crooked mouse. The crooked man is battling osteoporosis due to not enough milk-drinking in his younger years. KEEP OFF THE GRASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was the baker's house. It was a Dippin' Dots stand.. hmm... The Good Ship Lollipop with "Yo-Ho A Pirate's Life for Me" playing. I wonder if they have the license for that... Plank For Walking. Ha! He looks nice and friendly here.. ..but like something out of a nightmare here!! Across the bridge, we see the Billy Goats Gruff. Guess it was easier to make this than a troll statue. Mama Bear says "Come visit my closet-sized Rubbermaid shed!" Goldilocks must've been pretty hungry to want to eat that slop. Is she up there, fast asleep? The detail of theming in some of these houses are pretty impressive. lol wut? Yeah, this one was probably the most elaborate. Trynn couldn't get it. She doesn't seem to be in that much distress.. LOL WUT!?!?!?!?!?!?! KEEP OFF THE... wait lol Our one kid is better behaved than her 50 combined. Seriously, look at this hellion playing on the roof. .. so what?? What did he do?? OH GOD!! I don't even want to know!! They must have really bad balance. There's a grandma in there.. somewhere... Snow White lookin' pretty fair. That's a lot of sandwiches to be made. I can just imagine Beavis & Butthead standing there looking at this one.. "huh-huh huh-huh" You'd be a merry old soul too if you had what he was smokin' The Great Oak wasn't working. Pass through this hole for the grand prize. A gift shop! Could it be that time?!? Oh yeah, hug 'n songs are abound. King Friday lookin' a little cock-eyed. I can't remember this guys name.. or what the heck he's supposed to be. Lady Elaine Fairchild, lookin' more like an ugly man than ever. This stop was surrounded by mosquitos!! Daniel tiger is afraid to come out. If you looked like Snuggle bear's crackhead cousin you'd be afraid to be seen too. It's such a good feeling to know you're alive. It's such a happy feeling -duh la la la duh hmm hmm hm yeah, don't remember. The Doodlebug is one of the more interesting old rides at the park. The little lagoon in the middle of Raccoon Lagoon makes this area of the park very beautiful. I'd say it's one of the best kiddie lands anywhere. Pollywog Regatta is the boat ride in the lagoon. Trynn loved it and all the other rides here. Ladies and Gentlemen... The Royal Hanneford Circus (sans horse and elephant acts) This guy knows how to get a woman's clothes off. The amazing hula-hoop lady. I don't think I've heard this much early 90's dance music since.. well the 90's!! These dogs are bad@$$ They jump through hoops and over stuff and doesn't afraid of anything. Just look at these amazing feats!! There was also an acrobat act but we didn't get any good pictures. Finally, on our way to West Mifflin we saw this epic mural of 90's pop culture painted behind some restaurant. Can't remember what restaurant it was.. (a little help?) We had a great time at Idlewild and we will be going back next year!! Edited June 21, 2010 by slicknixon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted June 18, 2010 Share Posted June 18, 2010 That mural is awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slicknixon Posted June 18, 2010 Author Share Posted June 18, 2010 ^ There was a lot more to it but we couldn't get the pictures in time. The other side was all Pittsburgh teams. I wonder if it's been there since the early 90's.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myself Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 I wanna say that mural is on the wall behind the Pizza Hut in Irwin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slicknixon Posted June 19, 2010 Author Share Posted June 19, 2010 Yeah, that's it. It's on Lincoln Highway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger01 Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 Thats a real wierd park but good for little LITTLE children. Can't wait for kenneywood! A real Classic Park. I'm going to Blackpool which is like Kenneywood this year but they are both unique and traditional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dailey Enterprizes Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 I haven't been to Idlewild since I was little and the Storybook Forest still looks the same which is pretty cool. Ligonier is a pretty far drive for me (as is Kennywood because of traffic), so I rarely go out that way, but I think the water park might be worth looking into. Anyone else think that girl in the second to last picture is hot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slicknixon Posted June 19, 2010 Author Share Posted June 19, 2010 ^^ IMO Idlewild is a great park for the whole family. Even if you have somewhat older kids there are enough rides in Olde Idlewild to interest any age group. I really wish we would have taken more pictures but we were limited with time. The old Skooters building and the pavilions are especially beautiful and you don't see many pictures of those.. ^ For circus-folk the Royal Hanneford people aren't that bad looking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Across_the_Universe Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 Ligonier is definitely not a rural town. I mean, it's not a big city with a mall (or anything like it) but it's not rural. It's a very nice town with some nice stores in the Diamond. Not to mention Fort Ligonier! Anyway, Idlewild, being my home park, is A LOT more than shown here, whoever said it's for little kids only. I haven't been in StoryBook Forest or on the Trolley in a LONG time, and I have fun every time I go there. I'm going there on Tuesday for our Church Picnic and will probably be doing a PTR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 (edited) Definitely the most comprehensive coverage of Story Book Forest that I have ever seen. Edited June 20, 2010 by larrygator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slicknixon Posted June 20, 2010 Author Share Posted June 20, 2010 ^^ I was comparing Ligonier to Elysburg as rural towns. Given it's proximity to the nearest city, population etc. Ligonier could definitely be classified as a rural town. Rural towns aren't necessarily boring with nothing to do. Heck I'd live there, it's a great town! But you can't deny that it is somewhat in the boonies I'll get to the Kennywood update soon. Just a little warning though, there are no pictures of SR. While we were there we acted as though SR wasn't because we were a little disappointed that we planned our trip too early for SR to be open. But, we did cover more of Kennywood than we did Idlewild so there are plenty of pictures of the rest of the park. I'll post them when I get the chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Across_the_Universe Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 ^ I always personally defined a rural town as a town WITH nothing to do. I will admit it isn't really that close to anything (Latrobe is the closest town with major stores like Wal-Mart, at about 12 Miles away. I'm not really trying to get into an argument here, and I respect your opinion. I just define rural differently than you. How many rural town have their own website?: http://www.ligonier.com/ Haha. But I kinda understand what you mean, it lies in between rural and urban. But we are not here to discuss rural vs. urban, we're here to discuss Roller Coasters. I didn't mean to cause a debate among two people on Ligonier being rural or urban. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dailey Enterprizes Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 ^ Ha, well I went to the University of Pittsburgh - Titusville for my first two years of college and I believe we found enough stuff to do. Paintball, mailbox hunting, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 Come on, let's not hijack a good PTR to debate the definition of a rural town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dailey Enterprizes Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 ^ Apparently this is more of a side debate among some Pennsylvanians, but I am definitely interested in seeing some more great pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slicknixon Posted June 21, 2010 Author Share Posted June 21, 2010 The crowds at Kennywood were light-moderate. The park was filled with high school-age kids so I'm taking it there were one or more senior trips that day. We got on a good many rides and had a great time. Kennywood is one of my favorite parks so I took many park related pictures. Sorry there aren't more coaster shots but this TR is more park focused. The new laser show is excellent and they play the nighty night music a few minutes after the show. It wraps up the day very nicely and it's just another thing that makes spending a day at Kennywood a special kind of experience. Kennywood is Americana at it's finest. Like I said earlier, there aren't any shots of Sky Rocket. To be honest, it's not hard to ignore. It doesn't really stick out much once you're in the park so if you do visit the park before it opens it won't be constantly beckoning you. But if you're like me, it sucks to go to a park not long before it's new coaster is scheduled to open. Anyway, enjoy our pictures of Kennywood sans SR. ********** DAY 2 *********** KENNYWOOD RIDE COUNT: Phantom's Revenge x 2 Thunderbolt x 2 The Exterminator x 2 Racer x 1 Jackrabbit x 1 Auto Race x 1 Olde Kennywood Railroad x 1 Turtle x 1 Log Jammer x 1 Carousel x 1 Ghostwood Estate x 1 Noah's Ark x 1 Garfield's Nightmare x 1 Kennywood, one of the most beautiful parks in the country. It's quite the honor. Fountains EVERYWHERE The Turnpike might be gone for now, but who needs it when you've got the Auto Race? The documented history behind eveything here is astounding. They really go beyond a simple placard to show you. Cow crossing? Can someone explain this? You always see kids staring at Laffin' Sal. I wonder what they're thinking.. Moar like all over the Atlantic amirite? Lil Phantom shot from the train. Some people would say ugly view, I say awesome view! Sign after sign... bring back the steel-bender dude! There were more.. what about that Africa ride? And what about the Gold Rusher? The ark will live forever!! The only dandelion fountain I've ever seen. Kenny Kangaroo, Laffin' Sal, Cowboy Joe, Noah, George Washington, and Steel Bender Dude (does he have a name?) all rockin' the Thunderbolt. Epic station sign. Can you guess where this shot was taken? Ghostwood Estate aka Target Mania Lost Kennywood just ahead. It's gonna rule. And now for one of the most photographed spots in any park. Same shot, further away One of the most underrated indoors of all time. I love this ride! Oh yeah! Another common shot The rarely photographed other side of Noah's Ark. Noah doesn't look so much like a crackhead on this side. Volcano was STILL down!! Aero 360 was running though. We forgot the exterior shots, but here's what the inside of Parkside Cafe looks like. I LOVE eating here. It's such a beautiful building and Kennywood wouldn't be Kennywood without it. There are pictures on the walls of what the place looked like in it's heyday. It's hard to believe it's been there since 1898!! Screw Potato Patch. Each of those chicken baskets has almost two orders worth of fries. Going on a Tuesday? FOUR watermelon slices served on an old fashioned plate for $1!!!! THAT'S RIGHT $1 as in one item off the mcdonalds dollar menu one dollar. $22 total with 3 drinks!!!!! Is this the last year for Garfield? Is it even official? I think Garfield's Nightmare is underrated. Of course, I've never ridden it with it's original Old Mill theme. He's in there, alright. The Old Mill is gorgeous. It mocked me while I was in line for Garfield. This isn't as fun as Sky... I mean wow look at all the 3D stuff!! Oh yeah, mushroom drinking fountain love. All your Kennywood boxes are belong to us. Not if I have something to say about it! Drop the boxes ye scalliwags! "Everybody's got it" shot # eleventy The night time fountains can put you in a trance. Eat your heart out, (insert park who claims to be more beautiful here) Preparation for the laser show involves blasting fog machines into the lagoon area. We saw this family of ducks while waiting. Awww Good music, bad music, good music, bad music, bad music. This was the pattern. I'm freaking out man!!! Nighty night Kennywood!! Until we meet again!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hercules Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 Does that circus girl from Idlewile have underwear on or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slicknixon Posted June 21, 2010 Author Share Posted June 21, 2010 ^ A thong. Oh yeah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDB Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 I worked all day on Tuesday, so I was probably the one who served you the chicken fingers and fries… lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomNick Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 Just wanted to post that this trip report so far is AWESOME!! The coverage of Idlewild/Story Book Forest was fantastic, and as previously mentioned, probably the most in-depth we've seen on here. And your captions have generated a few good laughs as well! Glad to hear the new laser show at KW is pretty good. I've been to the park twice so far, but have yet to check it out. I'm hoping to remedy that really soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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