Last Tuesday was the school picnic for my little cousins, so I scheduled a trip to Pittsburgh to tag along with them and my aunt.
I hadn't been to Kennywood since I was in the 8th grade (I'm 28 now), so I was pretty excited. The park is just as beautiful as I remembered it, and quite an exceptional value compared to the other parks I've been to recently.
We started our day with the Phantom's Revenge. What a ride! I'm not a big steel fan, but this ride won me over. I couldn't believe how this ride delivered in every way (speed, airtime, headchoppers). The wait was about 45 minutes for the back seat, and 1 hour for the front all day (even though the sign said 1 1/2 hours).
While waiting for PR, I checked out the construction on the Thunderbolt which sadly wasn't running yet. Hopefully this ride will be going soon, as it is a classic which we shouldn't be deprived of!
After a quick reride of PR, we hit The Exterminator which had a 25 minute wait. Later I found out that we were very lucky to wait so little, as the line was huge the rest of the day. I really enjoyed this ride also. I liked the unexpected drops and turns, and thought the theming was very well done.
After The Exterminator we got our first Whip ride of the day. By this time it was lunch time, and we headed over to the Jack Rabbit to meet my grandparents for lunch. My grandparents hadn't arrived yet, so my cousin and I got a ride in on the Jack Rabbit in the meantime. The line was pretty long, as they were only running one train. About half way through our wait, another train started running, and we were on in no time (25 minute wait total). I had forgotten that you couldn't wait for a particular seat, but we lucked out and got the back seat. The double dip of course still delivers, and it was great to recapture some of my childhood.
Had Potatoes Patch fries and Funnel Cakes for lunch, and went on the Racer. The Racer was a lot better than I remembered, with some decent air and good laterals. I got in some hand slaps with my aunt who was in the train opposite.
At this point we had hit all the coasters, and got in rerides and went all the other rides. We skipped the Turnpike (for some reason the line was exceptionally long) and the Enterprise. My cousins rode the Aero 360, which I decided to pass on as it didn't look like my cup of tea.
Totals for the day:
PR - 5 Laps
Racer - 3 Laps (2-1)
JR - 2 Laps
Exterminator - 1 Lap
*** This post was edited by chris on 6/11/2001. ***
