After two weekends of beer sales at Kennywood, nothing happened

Ignorance is fun!

“Because there’s plenty of places you can buy beer all around this place,” said park-goer Ted Nowicki. “Never had it, and I think you’re just asking for problems.”

only two beers per day are allowed for each person.

I don't mind them selling beer, I just wish they DIDN'T have the "not when there's a school picnic" policy. On any given day, how am I supposed to know if the beer garden will be open or not until I get there? Is that info published somewhere? It probably won't affect my decision to go or not, but it MIGHT affect my decision on what to eat or drink before I get over to that area of the park.

Are you saying you can only enjoy Kennywood if you've have been or are currently drinking? ;-)

It seems from the article that Kennywood is at least being careful about beer sales at the park. They must have some reason for it. They will not sell it on days with school picnics and are limiting the sales to two beers per person per day. Interesting.

Is that just PR because it has mixed reception from the public or do they have legitimate concerns they are trying to address?

One and a half weekends of sales isn't really enough time to gauge the impact, I would say. I imagine they are trying to work out any kinks that might exist with the process (wrist bands, hole punching, id checking, etc) with smaller crowds. It will be interesting to see this system in full once the season begins next year.

(NOT that I'm suggesting that there will be any issues. Just looking at it from an implementation stand point. They've imposed so many regulations on themselves for distribution, that it will be interesting to see it play out with larger crowds.)

If KW can implement this without any serious issues, I think we can predict that Disney will be a piece of cake (Alice in Wonderland cake, no doubt).

I've seen people carrying beer around Cedar Point for years, but haven't seen anyone yak because of it. Or get into fights. Or harm families. On Friday, I carried around a beer while pushing my two-year-old in his stroller. Nothing happened. We're still a family.

Apparently they got a good indication on how it will work with big crowds this weekend. I heard the ski lift was open yesterday it was so busy.

Hell, when I was two my parents let me drink beer...at a bar...from strangers' glasses.* And look how I turned out!

On second thought, don't look. ;-)

*true story.

Carrie J. said:
Is that just PR because it has mixed reception from the public or do they have legitimate concerns they are trying to address?

It's Pennsylvania. This is the same state where they attempted to open up wine sales in grocery stores and you had to blow into a breathalyzer attached to a vending machine so that a real person in Harrisburg could confirm that you weren't drunk rather than just have the real person in the store make that decision.

I liked this comment, ignorance is bliss.

Janeka Johnson said:
Sounds really dangerous! What's to keep someone from sending a friend in to pick up a beer for them? This is dangerous stuff! Just left Kennywood a few hours ago!

Maybe if you would have read the article or watched the video you would have learned.

GregLeg said:

I don't mind them selling beer, I just wish they DIDN'T have the "not when there's a school picnic" policy. On any given day, how am I supposed to know if the beer garden will be open or not until I get there? Is that info published somewhere? It probably won't affect my decision to go or not, but it MIGHT affect my decision on what to eat or drink before I get over to that area of the park.

School picnics run opening day through the end of June.

eightdotthree said:

It's Pennsylvania. This is the same state where they attempted to open up wine sales in grocery stores and you had to blow into a breathalyzer attached to a vending machine so that a real person in Harrisburg could confirm that you weren't drunk rather than just have the real person in the store make that decision.

No doubt that Pennsylvania is bizarre when it comes to alcohol sales. But does that mean that the state imposed the limitations that Kennywood is observing? I don't recall if Hershey has the same kinds of limitations. I'm guessing that many guests don't even know you can buy beer at Hershey.

It's only an issue because the local media caught wind of it, and they largely prefer ongoing controversy to common sense. Fire up a local newspaper website and search Kennywood beer. What's that... 8 or more unique articles about the same issue on the first page of search results alone?

If you pursue this story in a logical environment you get one, maybe two stories about it, and they're probably positive stories at that.

Pursue the story in a logic-free environment, fed by comments from the locals that you haven't bothered to actually inform about the issue, and you can get months of terrible journalism out of it.

My favorite part about Penna liquor laws: Back when I lived there, you could not buy beer at a grocery store. That was to keep people from getting drunk, I guess. Where do you buy beer? From a distributor, but there you *must* buy by the case. If you don't want a case, but just a six pack, where do you go? To a bar, which can sell you to-go six packs.

Honestly, it made South Carolina with their airplane bottles look positively sane in comparison.

Carrie J. said:

I'm guessing that many guests don't even know you can buy beer at Hershey.

I didn't notice any alcohol at Hershey...but to be fair, I was drunk on chocolate liquor! ;~P

kpjb said:

School picnics run opening day through the end of June.

Which is shoulder season when most parks wouldn't have the staffing to open beer stands anyway. :)

All these alcohol regulations seem to be put in place by people that don't actually drink. I've heard of people getting loaded in the parking lot at a park but never heard of anyone actually getting drunk inside the park. Guestimating that a beer inside would cost around $7 to $10 and the average drunk can't afford to stack up beers at that rate.

Sounds like class war, I tell ya!

$7. No employee discount. :(

never heard of anyone actually getting drunk inside the park. Guestimating that a beer inside would cost around $7 to $10 and the average drunk can't afford to stack up beers at that rate.

You've never started a World Showcase afternoon in La Cava del Tequila. Epcot is a lot more fun when you are staying at Beach Club or Boardwalk, a.k.a "stumbling distance." We've got a week booked at Beach Club Villas for Food & Wine this year, and the kids are staying with the grandparents.

It's not necessarily cheap, but then again, depending on your day job, it's not exactly a deal-breaker.

Heck, you go to a bar in the city and 7-10 is average.