Kennywood: My Bloated Coaster Con XXXVI Road Trip Report - Part I

Omg. Ok. So.......

Back in January, I got this crazy idea to perhaps drive from Nashville to Coaster Con XXXVI in New England. The drive would include stops in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Cincinnati so that no one day's worth of travel would be longer than 9 hours (in theory). After months of careful planning and tweaking with my faithful travel companion Christian Blick, we set off on June 12th in my mom's minivan for a 15-day, 14-park endeavor. We'd be re-visiting some parks I'd checked out in 2005 with my family, but most parks were new to me.

First stop: Kennywood! This park that really blew me away in 2005, and proceeded to step it up even more this time around. What a fabulous park! A forecast for monsoon-like weather that never materialized kept the park virtually crowdless all day.

Hooray!! Our first stop on our road trip! Christian and I got to the park so early that we beat many of Kennywood's employees. An employee was kind enough to take this picture of us.

*backflips*

ACE Rockstar Bill Linkenheimer met us at the park & got me in FOR FREE!  That coupled with the discount ticket provided to us by other ACE Rockstar Tina Sepcic, Christian and I essentially got into Kennywood for $12 apiece! 

Bill was kind enough to get me into Kennywood despite not actually going into the park with us. He did, however, meet up with us later that evening. 

PHANTOM IS OPEN. CHAAAAAARGE!!!!

Actually our first stop was Kennywood's oddball launch coaster, Sky Rocket!

We hitched a backseat ride on Sky Rocket & found it to be a nice little coaster. However, I own carry-on luggage with more space than Sky Rocket's trains. 

Credit #12 of my Year of 100 New Coasters is a go!

Ohhhhh yes. Hello, beautiful.

In 2003, I rode Millennium Force at Cedar Point. It immediately became my #1 steel coaster. Phantom's Revenge attained a respectable #2 position when I rode it in 2005. Fast forward to 2012 & ACE's Spring Conference at Cedar Point. Millennium Force, my #1 steel for 9 years, left me feeling disappointed. It seemed to be running sluggishly & was frankly outperformed by Magnum, Top Thrill Dragster, and Maverick on that trip. Like a Vice President taking oath after the death of a sitting president, Phantom's Revenge became my #1 steel coaster by default as Millie dropped out of my top 10. It would be on this trip that Phantom's Revenge would defend its #1 ranking.

Kennywood was kind enough to let us ride 3 times in the back seat without getting up!

Hello Thunderbolt! We'll get to you in a sec.

Sure enough, Phantom really delivered. The violent nature of its airtime & the quirkiness of its layout secured its #1 spot on my steel list. For now.

Up next: Thunderbolt! A ride that I enjoyed in 2005 but didn't think it was all that.

This time was a different story, though. Thunderbolt really kicks ass. I don't remember it leaving much of an impression before, but this time around it absolutely lived up to the hype.

As you can see, the crowds from Phantom followed us to Thunderbolt

At this point in the report I'd like to mention that Kennywood is probably one of the most visually-compelling amusement parks I've ever visited. I took over 1,000 photos of the park that day like it was nothing. There is just soooooo much to see. 

Both in terms of natural beauty and manicured aesthetic, Kennywood is really under-rated in my opinion. I'd say its one of the most beautiful parks around. 

On our way to the other woodies, I had to stop and take pictures of Kiddieland. Vintage kiddie rides make me convulse with cuteness-overload.  

Kennywood's 1930 Harry Traver Auto Ride is nothing short of a national treasure. 

Much to my overwhelming delight, this would be the first of many Kiddie Whips on the trip. :}

*dies*

I AM THE KENNYWOOD KANNIBAL KLOWN. GIMME CHILDREN.

Much to Christian's dismay, I simply had to ride the log flume. Christian doesn't like to get wet. Tough beans! I made him ride anyways.

I see you Phantom!

Racer was another one that surprised me. My recollection of it was that it merely played 3rd fiddle to the other woodies, but this time I had a BLAST on it. It definitely holds its own.

Kennywood was having issues with the ride's dispatch breaks on my last trip, so there wasn't any actual racing. That was not the case for Christian and me! Lots of high-five shenanigans were had!

And finally, Kennywood's sweetheart: Jack Rabbit! This was the favorite on my first trip to Kennywood & it continues to deliver! The double dip seems even more wild than before!

This was the new ride in 2005. One ride per every 10 years is probably enough, so Christian and I skipped it. (And for you Old Mill enthusiasts out there, don't fret! I've got something coming up just for y'all in about 6 updates from now.)

Having successfully nailed all of the major coasters in under two hours, it was time for us to perform the circuit once more!

Sky Rocket in the FRONT seat is a completely different experience than in the back.  There is some RIDICULOUS airtime to be had in the front seat of this one, folks. And because the restraint's shin bars come in contact with my shins well before the lap bar comes in contact with my lap, I have a good 3-4 inches of airtime room!

The people behind us on my first front-seat ride panicked because they thought I was a goner. I ended up buying the on-ride photo because it shows Christian reacting to me appearing to fly out of the train.

I've never been much for bumper cars. I did, however, reach bumper car salvation towards the end of my trip. I bet some of you can guess where. :}

Recently back from the dead at Kennywood is the Bayern Kurve! In 2005, this spot was occupied by a Chance Wipeout that has since taken up residence at Lake Compounce.

This ride hauls some serious ass. Oh, Schwarzkopf. <3

"Music makes everything better!"

Here's the Phantom & the steel plants for which it is named. 

Christian is overcome with excitement and joy.

As Christian and I putzed around Lost Kennywood, it rained on & off briefly. I took that as a sign to go shopping! 

Here's that shot that everyone in Pburgh has on an SD card somewhere.

I feel like someone could make a killing if they opened up one of those chiropractors specializing in spinal decompression around here.

Black Widow is loads of fun! Sister parks of Kennywood, Tusen Fryd in Norway and BonBon-Land in Denmark both also have one of these Zamperla Giant Discovery rides. 

Spin Spider in Norway has a longer ride cycle and a knock-out location, but Black Widow's location is also quite spectacular.

And now, a moment of silence for Pitfall. 

.................

Hopefully we'll see it resurface at another park soon.

Now it's time for the best off-the-shelf wild mouse ever! My mother has extremely fond memories of nearly tossing her cookies after this ride. 

Christian and I piled into one side of the car so that we could spin extra fast. The ride operator, who was cool as f***, kicked our car's spin lever as we were leaving the station, which sent us spinning as soon as we came off the lift hill! Best wild mouse ride ever. 

It's worth noting just how high the standard is for Kennywood's coasters. Even fabulous parks can often have a dud or two, but Kennywood's seven roller coasters are all exceptional rides. There's something to be said for building 'em slow but doing it right. 

I love Kennywood's Whip. The cars look like giant, gay-pride tuna cans!

Excessive amounts of Whip-type shenanigans ensued. 

And now for a Funhouse of Biblical proportions. :}

Christian is a good sport. Even right in the middle of a ride, I yell "Smile Christian!" and he turns around and poses for a picture. I have him trained, just like Michael Morris!

The heart of Kennywood is mostly trees & gardens. Christian and I had been hitting the perimeter for the larger rides, but we then cut through park's center to enjoy the scenery.

Mmmm Dole Whip! Just like the Tiki Room at Disneyland.

Kennywood isn't historically significant just because of its rides.

Kangaroo time!! We were lucky. The ride had been down for maintenance the day before.

As we were riding this, Christian and I casually discussed the incident at Pigeon Forge's Rockin' Raceway involving a ride of the same make/model. No one in the general public seemed to take notice of our chat, which was disappointing.

Jack Rabbit is just not an easy ride to take pictures of. This is basically all you get.

Racer is a little less camera shy.

I AM THE KENNYWOOD KARNIVOROUS KITTY. DRINK FROM MY SALIVATING GUMS.

We found out there's a trick to getting grown-ass adults to fit in the Auto Race cars. The solution is sitting in the back seat & leaning over the driver's seat to steer. We looked totally rational & not stupid doing this. 

I had made an attempt earlier of photographing Li'l Phantom in action. That attempt was a miserable failure because after waiting for 10 minutes for children to ride it, the ride threw its chain & subsequently closed. They did get it back up and running, as you can see, but this is the only good picture of it I got. 

XTREME AUTO RACE POV!!!!

Now for a relaxing train ride! The locomotive is something else I failed at getting a decent picture of.

I did, however, get more shots of Auto Race in action.

Caution: Cow crossing!

Kennywood's shoot-em-up dark ride, Ghostwood Estates, is one of the best shooting dark rides I've ever ridden. It really makes all of the Scooby Doo & Boo Blaster dark rides look like total crap. The ride's pre-show was also a nice touch.

When we finished blasting ghosts, we saw that the sun had come out! 

We decided that a ride on Thunderbolt was in order.

The ride operator was probably like "That guy leaning over the track to take that picture is about to fall on his face and die."

I took quite a few Thunderbolt pictures. It's probably the most picturesque of Kennywood's coasters.

Name that ride!! 

That's right! It's time for a ride on Kennywood's famous Turtle! (And yes, I got permission from the ride operator to take pictures during the ride. It's about as mellow as a car ride, so I can see why they don't have a loose article policy for this one.)

So much activity!! 

You couldn't ask for a better pair of coasters!

At this point Bill showed up & we all rode Phantom and Thunderbolt together! Bill made for a good seat divider on the 'bolt. :}

It's getting to be that time of night now.

Kennywood is definitely a good place to be at night. Aero 360's lights are in rough shape, though. I couldn't bear to take a picture of it in its condition!

Star-spangled Jack Rabbit!

I was really pleased to seen how nice the lighting package looked on Bayern Kurve. A lot of parks nix the excess lights over time, but it looks like all of Kennywood's BK lights are in tact.

Kennywood's Musik Express is also probably the nicest one you'll see.

Here's Christian trying to give Bill a kiss goodnight.

Goodnight, Kennywood!! You certainly set the bar high for the rest of this trip. Join us next time for part two: Christian and I stop at a couple of tiny, family-owned parks in central PA en route to Connecticut. Stay tuned! :}