Kennywood trip 9-2-05

[DeliriumDreamer]

Yesterday a close friend from Geagua Lake and myself went two hours out of our ways to go to Kennywood. He came, picked me up from my last English class, and left for Pittsburgh. (Sure enough, it was exactly a two hour drive.)

When we got there, we parked in one of the free parking areas, bought our tickets, and went through the underground tunnel into the park. The first ride was the Jackrabbit. Jackrabbit was a great oldie, not too shaky, and with one of it's double-down drops, it had some nice pop-up airtime. In fact, that ride was probably better than Blue Streak.

After Jackrabbit, my friend and I did The Racer. Much like the one at pki, it did race- but not as long. The ride was okay, but not the best. The only interesting part about this ride is that somewhere in the ride, the two tracks cross, and the riders end up on opposite sides of the station when they come in.

Next was one of the rides I requested to ride- the Aero 360. It was my first time riding a Zamperla Hawk model. The ride made good use of Kennywood's famous arrows, and was a blast to ride at night. You didn't know what to expect!

After a while of my friend nagging and begging, I finally agreed to ride the 180' Skycoaster. Unlike the one at pki, this one suspended you over water. The freefall was great, and the ride operators were just as friendly as most were all over the park- a bit fatigued, but still smiling.

And now for the highlight of the evening- the Phantom's Revenge. The line was long, bit well worth the wait. This steel coaster out-does MF on my list of favorite steel coasters. When I first got in, I noticed a few things: The cars had been modified since Kennywood took the loops out of this ride (so the cars were the same height as they were when they had OTSR's, but a lot more comfortable.), and the lap bars looked a lot different than any of the lap bars I've seen before. They were two separate bars that came in from the side of the car, and onto your lap. Aside from those bars that were quite loose, all you had to keep you inside the ride was a retractable seat-belt. When my friend and I rode, we rode in the back of the second car. I could barely see the track in front of us, so I had no idea what to expect while riding. It was a lot more than I had anticipated. This ride had a lot more ejector airtime than Raven, and every turn and drop were as smooth as glass! This ride has made my list of my top three favorite steel coasters. I was tearing by the end of the ride.

We tried waiting in line for Thunderbolt, but the line was too long, and they were only running one train, so we got out of line and decided to ride the Exterminator instead. The exterminator was an indoor coaster, hidden beneath a building covered by "Keep Out" signs. I had no idea what the theming of this ride was supposed to be, since the people in the que were so loud, you couldn't hear anything except for the Alarm siren. Even my friend (who had ridden this a few times before) had no clue what the theming was supposed to mean. I eventually figured it out while I was on the ride. I'm not one to really enjoy Wild Mouse kinds of rides- but this was fun. The only thing that I didn't enjoy about the ride (besides the line) was that some of the theming on the ride actually scared me. There were plastic men in orange exterminator suits turning to you and yelling something like, "Eat poison, rat!". The last part of the ride had to be the best. The car started spinning out of control, and it continued to spin until we were in the station. We went down hills and around turns, still spinning. If you liked Spinning Wild Mouse rides (with theming), this one's for you.

I popped into the gift shop really quickly to get myself a suvinier shirt and two teddy bears for my little sisters.

Our last roller coaster of the night was the Thunderbolt. That ride was painful, and felt more like a fairground scrambler than anything else. I just plainly didn't like this ride.

My friend and I tried running back to get back on the Phantom's Revenge, but they had already cut the line. So we hit one last flat- the King Kahuna. Another lovely HUSS ride. This was my first topspin with fountains- actual working fountains that could splash you in the face. Good thing the ride operator decided not to use them to do that- she only used them to give us a good scare while we were upside down. It was a good ride, but the restraints were not made for males to enjoy. My friend was in quite a bit of pain when the ride started.

A few notes about what I've noticed during the trip:

-While we were in line for Racer, the ride stopped operating because of the parade. (yes, Kennywood actually has a parade, too. It wasn't a very good one, either. PKI's definitely beat the heck out of this one.) I guess Kennywood has it's own reasons for stopping the operations of it's rides due to the parade...

-Almost all of the employees looked happy to serve us. Fatigued, but happy.

-The work uniforms were the most un-professional looking uniforms I have ever seen. T-shirts and gym shorts or sweat pants. At least they looked comfortable.

-The safety of the park itself was atrocious. This was worse than SFKK in some ways. None of their rides had que gates- they had just put some red and yellow lines down on the ground and told us not to cross them. I also noticed that before we rode Aero 360, one of the ride operators went under the moving platforms (the platforms go down when the ride starts) to get a flip flop. They did not turn the ride off or anything, he just hopped down there and hopped right back up. The only ride I saw operating by pki's safety standards was the Skycoaster.

-The employee entrance and exit are the same as the guest entrance and exit. Well, that must be inconvenient for those who work there. My friend and I walked out next to a Full-Timer while we were leaving.

Hope you enjoyed the trip report!

~DeliriumDreamer~

[AZ Kinda Guy]

The safety of the park itself was atrocious. The only ride I saw operating by pki's safety standards was the Skycoaster.

So if it's not the Kings Island way when it comes to Operating Procedures it's considered unsafe?? What a bunch of crap.

[DeliriumDreamer]

I considered pki a lot safer than Kennywood for a lot of reasons. Mainly because someone could jump in front of a moving coaster train if they wanted to- and at any time.

[Avalanche Sam]

Well, I am the close friend that went, and it was one hell of a trip. $30 worth of gas very well spent!

And about the safety, I don't think she means things not being done the PKI way are unsafe, though I shouldn't be putting words into people's mouths. The operation of the park just seems sloppy. The atmosphere is much more laid back then at a corporate park (Like PKI, CP or GL), and that makes things seem unsafe. One thing I was tought as a Ride Op at Geauga Lake was that if you looked sloppy, you looked unsafe. Well, that was true for Kennywood. The operation of the park is much more laid back, and that makes it seem less safe!

Overall, the park was great, and it is definitely worth a visit! I agree that Phantom's Revenge is in my top 3 steel list, along with Magnum XL-200 and SFNE's Superman: Ride of Steel! That ride is simply amazing, and I think it doesn't get the attention it deserves. The big surprise of the day though, as DeliriumDreamer said, was Exterminator. We really need a ride like that at Geauga Lake. Very intense near the end, yet a ride the family can ride together. Definitely a keeper!

-Sam

[BoddaH1994]

When I went to Kennywood, I didn't feel unsafe at all. Granted we are fortunate to have the satety system that we do at PKI, but a watchful eye from the employees is really all KP can afford.

I agree that KP's staff is tops in my book. On par with PKI's. I remember asking for directions to the Exterminator from one of their eco girls and as it turned out, she didn't speak much English. Despite that, she didn't just try to pass me off onto somebody else, she gladly mixed her broken English with a "hand map" and got me there. Seemed like she was just glad to help.

DD, PLEASE tell me that you didn't neglect Noah's Ark. It's seriously one of the best ride experiences I've ever had.

I think we can all agree that Phantom's Revenge was one of the best steels ever built. It's always in everyone's top 3. No inversions, no spinning cars, no Blue Angel fly by... just a very well-thought out ride. That Morgan kid must have learned a lot from his daddy.

Exterminator is a nutty ride! My sister and I rode it, and due to our uneven weight distribution (sitting 2 in the car instead of 4 must have screwed things up) we spun out of control until we ended up in the station like you guys did. I had seen other cars enter the station spinning, but just a little.. it took 2 ride ops grabbing our car to be able to stop that thing. (by the way, the themeing is that you're a rat who's going through te basement of a building! )

Their little topspin there wasn't bad. It, like many other topspins, spends a lot of time just rocking, which doesn't really tickle your fancy after riding TR:TR. At least you can ride that and know what a top spin was *designed* to do. lol

Did you ride magic carpet? The ride looks dumb, but we rode it because a friend suggested it to me. Once that thing gets going in full circle, it's the oddest sensation. It's kind of a mix of airtime and lateral Gs. It's almost like disembodyment. I guess the best way to describe it is, it's kind of like the sensation you get from air time, except without the airtime. It's like you feel your soul is lifted from you and quickly returned. Spooky.

The look and feel of the park is excellent. Imagine a several acre park that looks similar to the Paramount Story.

Did you also have trouble following those darn arrows? They point in kind of the direction of a fork in the road leaving you to guess where you are going in the mean streets of West Miffin. (And yes, I bought a shot glass with a yellow arrow on it!)

Glad you had a good time!

Ryan

[gburn07]

I think the park doesn't really give you a feeling as being as safe as PKI by the people that go there. The park is in a run down area. I do see many uhh 'gangs' if u will inside and out of the park there. Although chances are high you will leave the park all in one piece are pretty high, the overall g.p of Kennywood is nothing like PKI's, which I like PKI's more. As for their staff, idk I go there at least twice a year and they pretty much seem like they dont like their jobs and, with the exception of Phantoms Revenge, they are all very slow. It seems that no matter the crowd at the park, I can get on P.R in the back back no longer than 20 mins.

[Avalanche Sam]

Unfortunately, we barely hit any flats. Aero 360 and the Top Spin were it. I went on the Flying Carpet when I went last year, and wow, it was great!

This was a quick trip, since we left Akron after 5. I wish it could have been longer, but we still got about 2-1/2 hours at the park, and it only cost us about $10 a person, not counting Skycoaster.

-Sam

[BoddaH1994]

Unfortunately, we barely hit any flats. Aero 360 and the Top Spin were it. I went on the Flying Carpet when I went last year, and wow, it was great!

This was a quick trip, since we left Akron after 5. I wish it could have been longer, but we still got about 2-1/2 hours at the park, and it only cost us about $10 a person, not counting Skycoaster.

-Sam

I did Kennywood in about 3 hours myself. It was even the day that they have their big parade with all of the radio stations there. On their forums, they told me it would be about as crowded as it gets, which was kind of a joke. The longest thing we waited for was Jack Rabbit, which wasn't even a half hour. PR was a walk on and their Racer was maybe 10 mins. The only other longer wait we had was for Noah's Ark, which was about 20 mins, but it would have been worth a wait of several hours in my opinion.

[TheKlockster]

Kennywood looks good. Did you ride Pit Fall?

[Vortex]

I sent the hole day at Kennywood and they have some of the best flats. Where did you sit on The Thunderbolt? The wooden coasters are alot older than any coaster you will find at PKI.