Theme Park Discussion / [TR] Kennywood - July 20, 2022
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25-July 22
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saxman1089
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So I’m back with another trip report! I was at a conference for work for a few days in Pittsburgh, and I decided to hit Kennywood up on the way back home. This time, I was on my own, so I pretty much focused on getting all the coasters.I parked at about 12:45pm and got in the front gate at around 1pm. My first ride of the day was right next to the gate, Sky Rocket. I only waited about 15 minutes, and had a fun little ride. First half of the ride is much better than the second imo.Next up, I walked down the Main Street and checked out the queues for Jack Rabbit and Racer. They both looked a bit long to me (they weren’t in actuality) and headed over to Steel Curtain. I had heard that it gave a better ride in the front than the back, but I was able to skip ahead a train because I was on my own and they were looking for someone to fill a spot in the back. After a queue of about 15 minutes, I ended up in the very last row. Pretty fun ride overall, but there was a really bad vibration/rattle in the back row that detracted from the overall experience. I later rode it again nearer to the front (see later in the post) and it was a much better overall experience.After Steel Curtain, I headed back to Racer and got in line. To my surprise, it was a very fast queue, and I only spent about 10 minutes waiting. Racer is just a classic wooden racing coaster, with the unique mobius aspect. I won my first race! Overall it’s just a really fun and well-maintained classic ride. To get the full credit (yeah it’s a mobius, so only 1 credit in my mind), I rode the other side, and won again! I must be lucky I guess.I was at 59 credits. It was time to make my most anticipated, Phantom’s Revenge, number 60! What a ride! I rode twice in the back row, and if my first ride was incredible, I don’t know how I’d describe the second. The first drop is nothing too special, but the second drop into the valley under Thunderbolt’s lift structure is downright incredible. After some turns, there are some awesome airtime hills to close out the ride. On my second ride, I was nearly thrown from the seat on one of those hills.Now, it was time to get the rest, so I headed over to the Reverchon spinner, Exterminator. Honestly, I thought the best thing about this ride was that the vehicles resembled the spinning wild mouse cars in RCT. Other than that, I waited about 50 minutes for a mildly entertaining, half-themed ride that was over too soon for how long I waited.Next up was Thunderbolt. I was a little nervous about this one seeing as it was required to ride with someone and I was by myself, but it worked out in the end. The ride ops were able to find someone to ride with me, and were really friendly in doing so. This coaster felt like something I built in RCT when I was 10 years old, with the drop right out of the station and the lift hill a third of the way through the ride. I also found out why they require a partner to ride, because the laterals are insane! Again, another classic woodie, albeit a bit unorthodox.Next, I rode Lil’ Phantom with a bunch of three year olds (I’m a dirty coaster credit whore). We even got to go around a second time!My final new credit of the day was Jack Rabbit, which is another classic woodie with a cool pre lift and distinct layout. Got to ride by myself in the back row, and the second drop on the double down was pretty great airtime.After about 3 hours and 15 minutes in the park, I had completed the credits and was ready for some food and rerides. I grabbed a reride on Steel Curtain, making sure I sat a bit closer to the front of the the train. The ride was much better, but there was still a bit of a rattle. While they may have intended this new ride to be the park’s marquee coaster, I think it falls short compared to Phantom’s Revenge because of this.On the way back over to Phantom’s Revenge, I grabbed some bacon cheese fries from the Potato Patch. They were pretty decent, but a bit overhyped. Afterwards, I got my second ride on Phantom’s Revenge (see above).While I could’ve stayed and ridden things a bunch more given the time I had, I was pretty tired at this point due to having been traveling for the previous 14 days. It was also 90 degrees F (32 C). I was happy to have ridden everything I wanted to ride, so I headed back to the car around 5:45pm for the 3.5 hour drive home.Kennywood is a great little park with a ton of character. With the exception of Exterminator, all the coasters are decent and fun to ride, and I’d highly recommend visiting if you have the chance. I’m pretty sure I’ll be back with the saxman family at some point in the future.I’d rate the park’s major coasters like this:Phantom’s RevengeSteel CurtainThunderboltRacerSky RocketJack RabbitExterminator
Stay tuned for two more trip reports in the next few weeks from our NE North American meetup! -
FredD
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Thanks for your reports! I love to read them, sadly they are becoming a thing of the past. I'll try to write them more often
I agree, Kennywood is such a charming park with love and respect for their history. Jack Rabbit is pretty fun and rides so decent for its age. Thunderbolt was crazy fun, our group had ERT on it after park closing and I have to say it's maybe the best ERT I ever got. I'm glad you got to ride it despite being alone, but now you've ridden it you know there's a good reason they don't let you ride it single
Honestly all their coasters were so much fun. Steel Phantom however is something else, world class coaster! That second drop into the ravine is amazing. It's really crazy how much airtime this thing has... I wish Morgan built more of their hypercoasters... They are pretty good at it!
Steel Curtain wasn't a thing yet when I was there, it looks like a great thrill. Have to say I find the massive support structure kinda ugly and not fitting the charm of the park.
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