Kennywood

[Aaron88stang]

I am planning my first trip to Kennywood next month. Any advice? It looks like an awesome little park.

[Browntggrr]

Enjoy the "old park atmosphere". KI had that atmosphere pre-Paramount. Hershey still has it. So does BGW.

All the woodies are classics. Pay closer attention to Thunderbolt & Racer. Both are extremely unique and have a "that's cool" factor.

[thedevariouseffect]

Bayern Kurve...do it

[gad198]

If you have any interest in riding Exterminator I would do that as either the first or second ride of the day. It's a slower moving line and gets long really fast so you'll want to get it out of the way quickly. I personally would do Sky Rocket first, check with the attendant at Phantom's to see how long the line is (if it's over 20 minutes I'd probably skip it and come back later) and go to Exterminator next.

The Potato Patch does have good fries and is worth a stop. I would strongly suggest that you hit that stand as early as possible to avoid the lines.

If you have any interest in breakfast outside the park there's a place called Jean-Marc Chatellier's French Bakery. It's a little north and east of the city of Pittsburgh. It does look like they're closed every Monday and every day from August 13 - Labor Day but if they're open I'd highly recommend it.

http://jeanmarcchatellier.com/

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

Make sure that you ride The Whip as much as possible. So much fun.

I agree, their wooden coasters are great. I enjoyed The Racer, Jack Rabbit and Thunderbolt a lot.

The Potato Patch fries are really good.

Ride the Whip.

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

Oh yeah, The Kangaroo and Turtle were really cool too. I love old rides.

[Aaron88stang]

Thanks all. I am really looking forward to the trip. It does look like they have an amazing collection of classic rides. I am planning to be at the park Sunday Aug 11, hopefully it is not too busy.

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

I believe when I went was on a Sunday a couple years ago and it wasn't that bad, especially early.

[TheBEASTunchained]

The only major advice I would give you is the same as Browntggrr said, Just try out the woodies because they are each very unique in many aspects.

Also....You could try their newest attraction, by Zamperla, Black Widow.

[Creed Bratton]

Black Widow is great! Check out Ghostly Manor. The park is really great. Phantom's Revenge is pretty great! I enjoyed Exterminator and the Whip as well. Try to do as much as you can. The Racer was very cool, do both sides if you can. Thunderbolt, you must ride with another person. But major advice, just enjoy the park as much as you can. There's something about the park that makes it so great!

[kblanken]

The Kennywood website just changed, and included on it is a page of park hours that actually lists what time the park closes for each day.

http://www.kennywood.com/hours-and-directions/calendar

The park will 'probably close sometime around ten', nevermore?

[bkroz]

Noah's Ark is one of two of its kind left in the world, and the only one in the Western Hemisphere. It's a classic walk-through dark ride, recently updated but still featuring a lot of really cool stuff. There used to be dozens and dozens and dozens of Noah's Ark attractions, so Kennywood's is a real gem to still have around.

Kennywood is renowned for their dark rides, so don't miss Ghostwood Estate (trackless!) and Garfield's Nightmare, the newest incarnation of The Old Mill boat ride that's been around for more than a century. The Garfield overlay is odd, but the ride itself is as classic as dark rides can get.

EDIT: Also catch Exterminator, a sort of Disaster-Transport-style coaster in the dark. It's just a good time, plain and simple.