Kennywood the sweetest place on earth. Sorry getting ahead of ourselves by one day.  I know that is Hersheyparks’ logo.  But to the PCW Junkies that is the way we feel about Kennywood. A quick recap of the KennyKon Park Adventure:

Saturday, July 14 – SFWoA – Aurora, Ohio (A huge success – X-Flight; Nolan’s 1^st B&M)

Sunday, July 15 –Kennywood – Pittsburgh, PA

Monday, July 16 – Hersheypark – Hershey, PA

Tuesday, July 17 – SFGrAdv – Jacksonville, NJ

Wednesday, July18 – Knoebels – Elysburg, PA

Thursday, July 19 – Back to Work – PCW (evening)

Friday, July 20 – Work – Scheme park plan for Saturday

Saturday, July 21 – Michigan’s Adventure – Muskegon, MI

Sunday, July 22 – Drive back – PCW (evening)

Kennywood is a nice easy drive from SFWoA and easily driven to in under three hours. Like in our past two visits we booked our stay at the Holiday Inn Parkway East exit 11 I-376. This can be a very different hotel experience depending on which side of hotel you stay on. We have learnt to request the back of the hotel in advance. The front of the hotel is very noisy with sounds of I-376 roaring in. Kennywood is only minutes from the hotel.

KennyKon event started at 10:00AM and we got there about 9:15AM for registration and in the absence of Tim Horton’s we settled for the Macdonald’s adjacent to the parking lot. I was able to get my favourite parking spot just to the right of the entrance. Our neighbours Glen and daughter Lynn also accompanied us to Kennywood. I would speak at length on how much we loved Kennywood to Glen. Glen confirmed he wanted to go to KennyKon and I did warn him that the coasters do have first drops. (Remember from SFWoA TR Glen is the guy who does not like first drops)

The gates opened a little early and by the time we made our way over to Phantom’s Revenge (PR) we were near the back of the line for the ERT session. Everybody in our group was going to ride. Adam and Donna had no problem because PR had no loops. I asked Glen if he was going to ride and he was thumbs up. Then I told him you see that first drop. "Yes" Glen replies. "Well that isn’t the longest drop on this ride" I added with a grin on my face. Just before 10:00AM the line begins to move and we are able to get two rides in before the ride is open to the general public.

Phantom’s Revenge observations…. From the drive along Kennywood Blvd. The Phantom looks pretty much the same. When you get closer you notice the absence of the loops. Standing on the bridge just before the platform you can notice where the first ever coaster transformation takes place. The Arrow track meets the new Morgan track. The familiar Phantom dive into the thunderbolt is still there but those head banging loops and restraints are gone for ever.

In our family only Nolan and I had previously ridden Steel Phantom. This would be Donna and Adam’s first trip into the Phantom’s world. I would have liked to have gotten a front ride seat but the line was too long. Nolan and I queued for seat 1.2. Which happens to be one of best places to ride Phantom. Morgan has done a very nice job in converting the old Arrow chassis into a 50ish style looking car. Gone are the OTRS and replaced with a seat belt and a lap bar. The Lap bar is also quite different because locks from the side. This may make it difficult for the bigger guests to enter and exit the cars but no problem for average size guests. The lift hill is the same noisy Phantom lift. The first drop and up the top of the second drop is unchanged. Seven feet has been added to the second drop for a total of 232 feet. At this point you are blasted into a highly banked turned where you swing around and run underneath the Thunderbolt for a second time. In the plan a tunnel was called for here and just like I suspected Kennywood confirmed that they would not complete the tunnel. I think that is a wise decision because it makes for a great view while waiting in queue from T-bolt. Coming up out of the T-bolt for the second time is where there is some serious airtime happening for the rest of the ride into the brake run. There is a double down which may take a few rides to get use to. When the trains screams into the brake run the reason is obvious why they can only safely run one train. The train slide nineteen feet into the station before it is stopped. Later in the day Andy Quinn, Kennywood PR, confirmed that the park would be installing magnetic brakes to enable the park to operate the two trains. Wow! What a difference from Steel Phantom! Kennywood definitely have a hit on their hands with Phantom’s Revenge. After our first ride the PCW Junkies were ready to get back in line for more but poor Glen was finished because the second drop was way more than what he expected. While we were in line for our second ride we saw Glen and Lynn riding the Turtles.

We went over to T-bolt to catch a ride before the crowd got to that area of the park. Adam and I took a front seat ride since there was hardly any wait. Starting to appreciate T-Bolt more and more after each ride. But I still prefer Racer and Jack Rabbit. On our way over to Exterminator we stopped for a group ACE photo.

First visit to Kennywood, 1999, Exterminator was new and we did not ride. Last year only Donna and I rode while the boys opted not to ride. With a little convincing the boys agreed to ride. Nolan just had to be convinced it was not too dark and for Adam I think it was the start of something even bigger. The best way to describe Exterminator is the PCW Fly with an attitude. A very fun ride and we especially liked the four across seating as compared to the stadium seating of the Macks. The ride only spins for the final half of the circuit. The boys, and Watson’s liked their first ride so much we instantly got in line for ride number two. But our second ride wait was a little longer because there was an ACE informal take over going on. After our Exterminator rides we caught two rides on Kennywood’s splendid Whip.

After the Whip it was time to meet up with Scott and Carol over at the Kangaroo. Glen thinks he has seen one of these before but can’t place it. What a funky little ride the Kangaroo is which is one of the few if not only one left standing today. The cars look like a Scrambler’s car but go around a circular path and over a ramp for some very nice airtime.

All the times Scott and Carol have been at Kennywood they have never rode the Auto Racer. So we rushed over to one of the neatest flat rides left on God’s earth. The first time we rode in 1999 we waited quite a while but today we only a had to wait a few minutes. The boys rode with Scott and Carol, Donna and I rode together while Glen and Lynn were together. When we would meet at different point along the track we would slap hands. Auto Racer is a very fun ride not just for small kids but for also the young at heart.

Here it is already past noon and we have not even made over to ride two off our favourite coasters. Jack Rabbit was calling us. Even when the line spills out onto the midway it is still only a few minutes to ride. We got at least five rides on Jack Rabbit through the day. But the best ride was with Glen in the very back. Glen had no idea what was in store for him on this classic ride. While boarding I was chatting up Glen and pointing different things out and casually mention that ride has a camel back. Glen was doing quite well with the drop into the ravine and climb up the lift hill. I ask "how is it so far ?" with a big grin on my face. When I go down the double dip I love to have my hands up but this trip I was holding on just to see the look on Glen’s face. No words can describe the expression that came from Glen face after being lifted up out of his seat. Just one of those special moments you can share with a friend for the first time.

We didn’t get near enough Racer or Jack Rabbits ride. I feel so good to have finally figured out the mystery of the Racer. I no longer look for the crossover because it is not there. If you want to know the secret also just take two different colour pens and trace the Racer circuit and you will see the pens coming back to the opposite sides. This is achieved by the way the trains come out the station. Pure genius when this ride was designed.

A trip to Kennywood would not be complete without (no particular order) a trip through Noah’s Ark, The Old Mill, and Potato Patch fries. We were able to get Glen to experience all three. After our Old Mill ride it was close to 5:00PM and time for ACE grub. It is always fun to sit down eat and share stories amongst fellow enthusiasts. After lunch Glen and Lynn left for their drive back to Newmarket. We thought it would be a good time to do Noah’s Ark. While we were in line for Noah’s Ark with Scott and Carol bathroom duties called Nolan away. So rather than line jump back in Nolan won a large Grinch at the ball toss. For the rest of the evening and during ERT Nolan was proudly carrying around his winnings.

We missed our Turtle humping lessons in lieu of a Racer ride. But after a T-bolt ride the boys gave us our own private lesson. Mom and Dad caught on quickly and we will never ride the old no humping way again.

We took a survey and everybody agreed that we should ride the Whip and Exterminator one more time before the final ERT of the evening at Phantom. We had just a little over a half hour of ERT on Phantom. During this time the crew were very good because they allowed us to get back into the flush gates without walking around. We got four more ride on Phantom during this ERT. Nolan and I took one ride in the back and even though it is fast it just does not deliver the air that the front does. For the rest of ride we took the front. We dragged our carcasses back to hotel around midnight and quickly off to sleep because tomorrow was another day and another park.

Summary: Kennywood is still our favourite traditional amusement park. During the winter I read the first Kennywood book and working my way through the second. I understand why Kennywood is called the Roller Coaster Capital of the World. This park is rich in history and character. Unlike some of the other older parks Kennywood still has their history and you are allowed to touch and ride that history and not just look at through pictures. If you have never been to Kennywood you don’t realize what you are missing.

Regards,
Kevin Reid