N'at Man Posted May 7, 2006 Posted May 7, 2006 PTR: Kennywood Opening Day 5/7/2006 Let me get this straight. I can pay $15 to park my car at a Six Flags park or I can park for free at Kennywood and get a full day's admission at the discount price of $19.00 courtesy of Giant Eagle. Then inside they have good, reasonably priced food I actually want to buy and eat. Kennywood really is an amazing value. Even their full price admission is $3 less than Knoebels in peak season. It was a little cool on Saturday but it was dry. I was joined by friends Dave, Janna and eventually Greg for the day and we ran into a few familiar faces along the way. The crowd at the park was very unusual for Kennywood. The parking lot looked rather sparse but all of the major rides had long lines. Pretty much the park was filled with teenagers with school tickets. Not the typical school picnic as there weren't families at the park picnicking. All of the family rides like the Turnpike, Garfield's Nightmare and the Carousel were near walk ons while the Phantom had a huge line all day even with two trains. It was a very atypical crowd distribution at Kennywood. Still, we managed to ride most of the attractions we wanted and we felt fairly satisfied with our opening day visit. Swing Shot is the new S&S screamin' swing ride at the park. Maybe I should just call it Sling Shot like *everyone* else at the park. I think it is a great addition to the park. It is a thrilling ride with a comfortable motion and good capacity. Even if the queue is full it is not a long wait to get through the line (20 minutes or so). The cycle is just about the right length. I only was able to ride on one side but when at 110 degrees you can get a wild view of the Phantom flying by on the track below you. The ride physically fits into the park better than I expected. Now Kennywood has a "swing corner" as I called it with the Swing Shot and the Wave Swinger sitting next to each other. As I mentioned the Phantom's Revenge had a long line all day. It never runs two trains to start so the line built up right away on Saturday. They did add the second train before 2 PM (about as early as they'll do it) but the damage was done to the line for the rest of the day. The wait wasn't too bad in general with two trains (30 minutes) but it's one of those oddities of Kennywood. Another strange thing was that the big Phantom's Revenge sign was missing. New to the Phantom are some brakes by Velocity Magnetics. The brake run now has the Slide Matic. The last full hill once again has a brake one it (Dyna Brake I would guess) so it's not quite as untamed as last year although front seat rides are affected less than the back. In general the ride still packs a punch as always. Unfortunately something caused a train on the lift hill to be evacuated just after sundown and the ride was closed the rest of the day. By the time we got around to the Exterminator it had an hour long wait. Since the wait can be excruciating even when it's only 30 or 40 minutes we skipped it entirely. Pitt Fall had a longer line than I usually wait in but I had a good ride on it. Later we came back to Lost Kennywood to catch a ride on the Whip, something I typically do after riding the Exterminator. The Thunderbolt was running with first brake barely on which allowed for a powerful bowl section. The second brake was hard most of the day but on our second ride they were adjusting things and we flew through it nicely into the ravine section. Don't expect favorable braking on T-Bolt for long as it is only an early season phenomenon. The Jack Rabbit has a new train color, green. It's a bright green and it replace the white train. At first I didn't like it thinking that a pastel shade would have been better. But after a while I decided that it looked good on the white track. It seems like more people go for the front rows first anymore as we easily scored back seat rides the first two times we rode JR. I guess they just don't know about it. The Racer had a great deal of track work done. I'd say it was running very nicely indeed. Racer is my favorite woodie at the park and our night ride was excellent. We rode the Turtle two times and had a blast on it. On the second ride we rode like rage dolls and let the ride toss us all around. The Kangaroo was also fun. Over the last few years I haven't had many rides on it so it was nice to enjoy it again. For lunch we ate at the Parkside Cafe. Last year the menu was pretty weak and I didn't even eat there. This year they have a nice, varied menu. We opted for stuffed chicken which essentially replaces the turkey dinner of years past. Later we had tacos at Pedro's and had some evening fries at the Potato Patch. Unfortunately, once again, cheese-on-a-stick is gone from the Lucky stand. As far as other park changes or improvements, the Lil' Phantom now has the same color schemes as the Phantom's Revenge along with a real station. It looks great. The Garden Theater (with the Swing Around on top) is now gone and replaced by a lame looking high dive show. I hear the show is popular but the setup looks like a used car dealership meets the county fair. It was a slightly odd day at Kennywood but we rode most of the rides we wanted. Best of all it was just nice to be back at the park after a long off season. This has to be considered Pittsburghese Did the Jack Rabbit break a leg? Thunderbolt braking was pretty light Lil' Phantom looks a lot more like Phantom's Revenge now Here's the new high dive theater. I hear it's a good show but it's not an attractive area. The green JR train Janna, Borg and Glutenfree of BACT (but without the 'B' today). Here's my TPR style self portrait. There's got to be an event here today. Look at that gravy. Kenny Kangaroo, Kennywood's REAL mascot. Forget that other character who ruined the Old Mill. Swing Shot coming right at ya Swing Shot in operation Swing Shot is the new ride from S&S Power Is there an enthusiast event today? Ahh, it always good to get back to Kennywood
shesaidboom Posted May 7, 2006 Posted May 7, 2006 New to the Phantom are some brakes by Velocity Magnetics. The brake run now has the Slide Matic. The last full hill once again has a brake one it (Dyna Brake I would guess) so it's not quite as untamed as last year although front seat rides are affected less than the back. In general the ride still packs a punch as always. Reading that makes me wish I visited Kennywood last year instead of saving it for next month. I'm sure it'll still be good, but I don't like the 'not quite as untamed' part. Great TR, thanks for sharing.
Dailey Enterprizes Posted May 7, 2006 Posted May 7, 2006 Nice to see another TPR member at Kennywood on opening day. Instead of doing another topic, Here are some pictures from my visit. I'm going to post some of my favorite pictures... Phantom breaking down! Lauren and I the loading area for the SwingShot SwingShot in action in the night the new green train on Jackrabbit
robbalvey Posted May 7, 2006 Posted May 7, 2006 Hey Tim! Thanks for posting the pics! I'm glad to see more parks getting the full sized Screamin' Swings. I rode the one at Thorpe and also thought they were really fun rides. Short, yes, but at least fairly high capacity and great fun. I really, really hope we end up making it back to KW next year. We haven't been since Phantom's re-opening and that's way too long! Until then we'll live vicariously through your TR's. --Robb
SharkTums Posted May 7, 2006 Posted May 7, 2006 I would also like to thank you for not riding the 'mean to rodents' themed coaster.
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