Kennywood- A Slice of Americana 8-13

Went to Kennywood for the first time ever today. Outside of being detoured through town and through the houses that lie on the hills above Kennywood it seemed everything was fine.

Wrong We were as we got there we heard announcements of a power outage because of a fire down the road, hence the redirection. Half the park was said to be operating. Me and my mom walked around inside for a good half hour, with nothing to go on.

Then like a beacon while by the Phantoms revenge, we heard the familiar grind of a lift hill that sounded very similar to my beloved maggie. So when the Queue opened we were within the first three trains to be dispatched for the day. Slowest lift ever possibly, but this ride didnt disappoint in one bit. Plus that hyper dive was just amazing and great use of the affects of getting your hands chopped off. One bad thing was the double down element they incorporated before the final helix it hits hard. Big plus this thing was running hard all day, and i did three rides, yes my new favorite coaster.

After a few back to back rides on PR, we hit up the thunderbolt, which was a solid few train wait. Good start and finish to this ride. Love the fact that we dropped first instead of hitting a lift. Nice Pops of air here and there. really not rough either which i can easily say of all the parks that at least i have been to, Kennywood had some well maintained wood.

Then we checked out the turtle. Not the greatest thrill in the world but its the fact that i have never been on one of these or a tumble bug so it was good to ride some older traditional type of rides.

Then i took a try of the famous potatoe patch fries since i was there. Only thing i can say is the fries are good but my stomach wasnt up for finishing them all. Cheese and Bacon for all who might ask.

Then i think we did the exterminator. Great theming for a mouse. Plus the ride wasnt actually all that bad first spinning mouse and it was a blast.

Then i did the whip just another classic type ride. I love these things, sadly there are none that i know of that operate in ohio.

sorry i had to split, but i have more to my report. We went to the front and asked the operator on the jackrabbit when it might open. "It's closed indefinately." That was the response i got. So nice of her and great tone, too. That was the only gripe i had all day.

Anyhow went on garfields nightmare. A reworked dark boat ride, that was something i didnt expect it to be. Actually relaxing and not to bad. The only bad thing was that they would roll over aduio clips when the boat didnt clear an area fast enough. Also another oldie, 1901 with preride spiel. I know the park has old rides but this one tops it.

Then to our surprise what do you know Jackrabbit and the Racer which had previously been down all day.

jackrabbit was a little short but once again the lift was in the middle with a nice little run before it. The Double down was rediculous i got shot outta my seat like i might have never gotten on any other coaster. nice element. Cant wait to see a triple on Voyage.

Racer was just alright to me. It wasnt all that of a competitive race and all that. just really never got the blood flowing and just seemed a bit short. I did however like the illusion that you crossed the track, when its all one and you end up on the other side, still wondering where it happened at?

Last few rides were the Aero 360, good ride, a different spin on upside down taking with being suspended and all. But since i have been on the meteor which is the same thing, i think meteor is slightly better to look at. the ride was about the same to me.

Oh and yes the king kahuna, first top spin with water effects that i actually rode. I got hammered on this ride, the program seemed to be like the old one on the texas twister, which was a major plus. Cause i used to love it when it had more rotation.

All in all what a great park nice and clean and people were nice sparing that one. Old time feel to it, but it makes me appreciate where parks have come from. I wish i could have heard some old time music, ie big band or something of the sort, cause that would really make the park feel like it captured the times to a great extent. But with or without truly a slice of americana!

Thanks for the great trip report.

The power outage was due to a bar/grill down the street catching on fire. It's very sad because alot of KW's team members often went there. Hope they rebuild.

It is true that only about half the rides were working in the morning and even the Thunderbolt got shut-down so that we can reset it along with all the other rides in the park. I dont understand why that girl would have told you that. No matter what the problem is on a ride we always try our hardest to fix it before saying it's closed for the day. The only ride I can think of that was closed all day was the Gold Rusher. Of course that nice thunderstorm we had later in the day shutdown the water attractions for the rest of the night.

Sorry about the mixed up sound in Garfield's Nightmare. I used to work on that crew and our boats often slow down in certain points throughout the ride depending on where people sit in the boats.

About what time did you ride the Thunderbolt? Maybe I was there when you rode. I was at the Raging Rapids until we closed that at about 8:00 I believe, then I went over there for the rest of the night.

Glad you had a great time and hope you visit again for Phantom Fright Nights!

Its always a good time and I already want to go back. It's to bad its 3 hours away in driving distance. I will return! :)

Unfortunately we only stayed until about five. I hit the thunderbolt about 1200 pm or so. But it was a great ride. I was out before the storms came through. But still had a great time nonetheless, also have to love those op uniforms instead of like the standard polo.

I can never get tired of all these KW trip reports. :-)

Thanks MagnumBarrel!

There is ONE Whip in Ohio and it's at LeSourdsville Lake/Americana. Unfortunatly, it's not operating nor is the park.

But you probally already know that, don't ya?

Yeah i knew Lesourdsville was not operating i found that out a few weeks ago, but i didnt know that they had a whip. There is just something very sentimental about these rides at parks. I have rode a few and i prefer the outdoor one right now. Just seemed like a better experience.

Tina i take it you must love kennywood. It has been the biggest surprise to me all year. This was the first year i went out of state, meaning ohio of course, and this park puts the other ones to shame. So you have another person who absolutely loves it here.

From what I was told, the power outage was totally unrelated to the fire at the Karrousel; apparently the construction crew working on the Sreamin' Swing hit one of the power lines in the park, which would explain why only some rides were affected. (Fire nearby, power outage, and severe storm... talk about a bad set of circumstances for one of the busiest days of the year!) While the girl's attitude at the Jack Rabbit might have been poor, her response was to be expected, as we really didn't know when power would be restored until it came back online.

Phantom no disrespect here, but the girl was a bit snotty in my opinion, and she went back to talking right after she said it like it didnt matter. That was what angered me. Plus most of the park was running by then, but i can see them weening rides back in to not overload.

The crew was by the screaming swing site all day. So that also could have been a possibility.

well i know the girl at the jack rabbit because i work at the racer and jack rabbit and it is very annoying to keep answering the same question over and over and over again. I was at the racer when we were closed down and i stoped answering people because i hate repeating myself. I would let the other team members do it. I mean if a ride is closed it's closed. When i go to parks and a ride is closed, I never ask anyone if a ride will open up i just walk right past it. And the annoying thing is, once one person asked us, 2 seconds later someone else would ask the same question. It's very annoying after a while. And yall said after she answered she went back to talking, well what else is she to do? Stare at you? To be honest, we were hoping that we would never open. It's fun getting paid to do nothing all day. Thats my dream job. I'm just saying this cause everyone isn't always happy go lucky all the time. *** Edited 8/18/2005 3:26:47 PM UTC by PGH_Steeler***

PGH - it's our job to answer guest's questions no matter how stupid or how many times we are asked it. How would you feel if you paid $28.95 to enter the park and 2 of the 3 classic woodies were down. Wouldn't you like to know why? Even if it is annoying to hear the same question over and over it is our job to do that. If your dream job is to sit around and get paid all day for doing nothing then maybe you shouldn't work at Kennywood. To be honest with you I would rather work than to just sit around all day. It makes the day go by faster.

That is part of your job to handle requests like that. I worked at a supermarket stocking shelves during the day/weekends and had to help each and every person that asked where they could find something, I could never imagine being an ass to someone. I will get off my horse now...

A lot of Kennywood's employees leave a lot to be desired in the friendly department. God forbid someone not have a partner to ride on the Thunderbolt.

yeah it's our job but when the people were walking in the park they were telling them there that a few rides would be closed for a while. it doesn't matter why they are closed, they just are. Thats just the type of personality i have. I hate repeating myself over and over and over and over again. i think KW should have just made an announcement over the loud speaker about it so we wouldn't have to keep saying it one hundred times. i hate repeating myself so much that i hardly even say the ride spiels anymore. People know what to do. *** Edited 8/18/2005 3:34:32 PM UTC by PGH_Steeler***

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Dominator56 said:
Its always a good time and I already want to go back. It's to bad its 3 hours away in driving distance. I will return!

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I wish KW was a 3hr ride for me but its 8hrs. Its my favorite park and I also like PR its #3 on my fav steel coaster list. I also think Exterminator is the best spinning mouse I've ridden. IMO all the best woodies are in PA. Nice TR MagnumBarrel

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eightdotthree said: God forbid someone not have a partner to ride on the Thunderbolt.

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Even if they didn't have a partner we would find one for them to ride with. I work on that crew now and we always pair up single riders. Most of the time we even hop in for a ride if there is no one else willing to ride with the single rider.

I'm just a little confused, was the comment geared toward the policy or the way some team members handle it?

I was at KW on the 14th Razor were you running the board(on the t-bolt) in the evening, getting everyone to yell? It was great fun!

I understand working in the hot sun all day gets tiring and burnt out. You guys work long and hard. But when you work with the public you have to be able to handle just about anyone. I work with the public, yeah somedays suck, but it's what you are paid to do.

If you have a huge attitude you ruin a guests experience. Every person pays good money to walk into the park to have a good day, after a rain, it is always customary for people to ask if your ride is open. If you don't like it don't work there. If you can't handle people like you are trained to do, then obviously you should find a place that you don't have to.

Most ride-ops are pretty nice and friendly that I have experienced at KW, but there are some that slowly move, and aren't friendly. Everyone has a bad day, but come on to ignore guests completely is plain rude.

Katie

^Lol, yeah that was me! I always do that when I'm driving the Thunderbolt. It just makes it more exciting for me and for the guests than the regular spiels. It's also fun because my girlfriend works on the Phantom's Revenge crew and we always tell people to yell "Thunderbolt Rulz" as there going past the phantom. Lol!

LOL you were doing a great job. You prolly won't remember me, my friend and I were waiting for the back seat and he kept yelling Cedar Point Rules, LOL He is a nut job. But thank you for all of your hard work.

Katie

^I do remember you. I was talking bout you guys to my supervisors later that night! Lol.

I do hope you guys come back for Phantom Fright Nights in October. Have you even been to one of our PFN's? There a blast. One of the best in the world.