Kennywood 7-23-2022

Had an unexpected chance to go to Kennywood yesterday. My husband was supposed to go on a trip to a museum with his brother who couldn't get time off work. Instead of giving up Hubby pointed out that the museum wasn't far from Kennywood so I go to the museum with him, he takes me to Kennywood. Win-win as far as I'm concerned. We got there 1:30 ish...I think. missed the gate for free parking, then found out where the free parking was and said "nevermind, take my money." my old, fat butt is not making it up that hill after walking a park all day in 90 degree heat, Not happening. Knowing we wouldn't have a full day and it was a Saturday my main goal was to hit the three wood coasters and go from there. One of my boys was working that day so I'm going to have to go back when he isn't working I can worry about what I missed then. We started with Jack Jabbit. I really liked the camel back hill. That was some different air time than what I'm used to. It was a smoother ride than I expected. Rode Racer next, was not disappointed. Also smoother than I was anticipating. We headed towards Thunderbolt but a storm was rolling in and it had just been closed. We took cover in the line for Ghostwood Estate. Took about an hour or so for the storm to pass. Afterwards we rode Ghostwood Estate since we were already there and when we got off Thunderbolt had opened. My son and I rode that one without my husband. He didn't "have a partner" and thought it looked like it would kill his back anyway. He was right, it's a good thing he didn't ride. My son and I loved it though. I think it was my favorite of all we got to ride. Is the "must have a partner" thing to keep people from being able to contort themselves out of their seats while the ride is in motion? Since they said it's for safety that's best reason I can come up with after seeing the restraint style. We walked through Noah's Ark. It was neat. Had some fries and chicken, rode Phantom's Revenge which my son and I really liked. I loved how it weaves back and forth through Thunderbolt. I know we didn't get through the entire park but it had been a long day already and we had quite a ways to get home. My husband wanted to find his way out of Pittsburgh before dark. We have driven past Pittsburgh many times but this was our first time actually going through Pittsburgh. My son wanted to take a second walk through Noah's Ark so we did. We were going to try to get one more ride on Thunderbolt but it was closed when we passed it so we hit Jack Rabbit instead. While my son and I were on Jack Rabbit my husband and another park guest watched a couple go into the photo booth, spend a really long time inside, come out with the guy adjusting his fly and they bought no pictures. So on that note we purchased the last of our souvenirs and made our way back to the car and found our way to the gas station and back to the freeway. It was a hastily planned enjoyable trip and I'm looking forward to getting a chance to go back.

I noticed the other day on Facebook that Kennywood announced Speedy Pass. Naturally, the comments don't disappoint.

We noticed that when we were there. Didn't think much of it since I'm normally at Cedar Point and they've had Fastlane for so long.

This is new, but kind of not.
A newbie friend and I went to the park during the first season for Steel Curtain which was what, 3 seasons ago? And they had a booth near Old Mill that offered several pay-to-cut options. We chose the one where we only got 1 cut on each of the big rides, mainly the coasters. We did this with Steel Curtain in mind and it was a good thing. The riders were waiting 2+ hours on a really hot day. (And they were soooo grouchy about it). It was also during a breaking in period where operation was 1 train only.
I think the price was only 20 something dollars (sorry I don’t remember exactly, but it was relatively low) and I was shocked that we seemed to be the only ones who thought to spend the money. And overall it was well worth it- the park wasn’t all that busy but we breezed through every ride regardless and had plenty of time for flats and dark rides too.
Perhaps this new plan (which seems modeled after Six Flags) is designed to snag more takers, but if people are against it so, maybe it won’t make much of a difference.

We did the same last year on a stupid busy Saturday (1 skip each on big rides) and I think it was $50. We were there a half day so that was perfect. They also had an unlimited option for something like $120 and a skip one ride once for $15.

Steel Curtain queue was overflowing with a 2 hour posted wait. Sky Rush and Exterminator were 1 Hour, and the rest easily 30-45 min(lines snaking out of the racer and Jack Rabbit Queues with mediocre ops). Despite this we only saw a total of 1 other group have skip passes (they weren't even riding, I just noticed the wristbands) and on all the rides we were literally on next train. We ended up buying an extra skip for Curtain as you couldn't pay me to wait in that for only $15. It's not like Disney where they sell out of the 1 ride 1 skip either, the option was plenty available.

So people are getting upset about something that already existed in some form. If anything this makes it more "fair" because they are waiting virtually unless you want to dole out the big bucks.

Yeah, this looks exactly the same as the SF Flashpass /Qbot so guessing they are licensing the same tech. You can do it on the app now which as long as somewhat functions is pretty cool. (Cedar Fair will die on their low tech wristbands hill forever I'm sure))