This was my schools Kennywood picnic day er w/e they call it. Living 40 mins from here with traffic, the ride can be somewhat boring and lets be honest, you dont go through the best areas to get to the park. Anyways, we arrive at the park and pay a very reasonable $5 for parking. The new entrance they built last year is gorgeous. Now onto the park.

One of the things that I love about how you enter the park is, once past the entrance, you go down a very ghetto looking ramp/tunnel area and once you get past the tunnel you are in a whole new world. Onto the sudden negatives about today. One of my fav rides, Aero360, was closed today and looks to be like that for a while. Phantoms Revenge was only running one train so the usually short line doubles.

The first ride we hit is the Magic Carpet. This ride sure does surprise you with its sudden and fast drops. Great ride. Next comes King Kahuna aka the nut crusher "guys who have been on reg Huss topspins know what i'm talking about'. It was running a jet free but much more intense cycle in the morning with three more flips than the time I rode it later on. Still fun though. Next, we go over to volcano. Its nice to see that they put so much money into the theming of an enterprise because I absolutely love these rides but it seems as if parks are getting rid of them. Def one of my all time favs. We try to go over to Swinghot, the new S&S screamin swing, but its testing at the moment. We take a walk over to the Thunderbolt next.

The line was pretty long but moved surprisingly fast despite it having one train. The moment before we are about to board the train they throw on the second one, which later on putt he wait down to minutes. Its a semi fun semi rough classic that is so much better at night as the valley has no lights and you never know when you go down the hills.

As we leave the ride we see Swingshot working one arm with people on it. You know wat comes next....

As we get in line we notice how loud this thing is. That compressed air sure is loud! lol The wait was pretty long as there was only one arm working. The ride frequently shut down during the day. The first time we boareded on it I noticed what an awesome restraint system they have. Its a lapbar so you have more freedom obviously in the rest of your body to move around, but its positioned in a way such that your whole body comes off the seat. It has your legs only stapled down to the ride. This is what makes this ride amazing. going backwards and facing the ground, you feel your body comin off the seat and I even admit that I got worried. For this being the slightly smaller version next to CP'S, this was still an awesome ride. Following some world famous fries we head over to The Racer for a smooth, but boring ride due to the fact that my train was dispatched later than the other one. You lose the fun hand slapping. The new trains, though, are gorgeous that they got from last year and are very comfortable.

Pittfall is next on our list and is still my fav freefall ride for when you face the Mon. river, the heights are so much higher than the ride itsself. We decide to wait an hour in the line for Phantoms Revenge and get the very back seat at night. I dare someone to find me a ride with more airtime. Wow does this thing fly over those bunny hills! The ride is very fast, smooth, yet short though. Going down into the valley at 85 mph is full of g's and is very thrilling. We end our day with a much better night ride on the Thunderbolt.

All in all it was a great day with crowds being much smaller than expected due to the fact of a chance of rain, but there was nothing but sun the whole time.

Doesn't Kennywood still offer FREE parking?

I seem to remember the $5 is only for preferred parking...

well actually you are right.... its just at a ridiculously far distance from the gate so most ppl who go there spend the 5 for much less of a distance.

Ha!

The preferred parking last year at Six Flags Over Georiga was further from the gate than most of the free spaces at Kennywood are from its gate.

Actually, on busy days, riding the ski lift to the park from the free lot is half the fun! Well, not quite half!

O yes I agree....but due to the lack of crowds that lot wasn't open.

Ha!

The preferred parking last year at Six Flags Over Georiga was further from the gate than most of the free spaces at Kennywood are from its gate.

Actually, on busy days, riding the ski lift to the park from the free lot is half the fun! Well, not quite half!

Yeah, I've always ridden the Ski Lift over to the Park. That is half the fun. It starts the day right.

As far as Six Flags Over Georgia it never matters where ya park as there is always transportation to the gate.

Yah, in my case it is called....shoeleather!

I usually get there well before the trams start running, and leave long after they have stopped!

Yah, in my case it is called....shoeleather!

I usually get there well before the trams start running, and leave long after they have stopped!

I normally don't ride trams at the parks unless I'm parked well out from the main gate.

Kennywood's Great!

Phantom's Revenge is my favorite steel and Noah's Ark is my favorite dark ride!

Kennywood is such an absolutely beautiful park.

I would like to see some of the charm of Kennywood returned to KI. (Ahhhh, it's so good to just call it KI again.)

Yeah pretty weird how nice the park is, then you look at the surrounding areas of it . Its a shame that they took out the Garden stage and Swing Around that was on top of it for a cheesy diving show. If there is one thing that the park is lacking its good entertainment.

Yeah pretty weird how nice the park is, then you look at the surrounding areas of it . Its a shame that they took out the Garden stage and Swing Around that was on top of it for a cheesy diving show. If there is one thing that the park is lacking its good entertainment.

Well, this year Kings Island has suffered very much the same fate.

Hopefully that will change for both parks in the future.