Kennywood acquires more land, reveals plans

What is the definition of signature attraction, more importantly what does Kennywood consider to be a signature attraction? Aside from a roller coaster, and a state of the art dark ride, what are other big ticket items Kennywood would define as a "signature" attraction?

Anything they do is a 'signature attraction'. They do it well.

When I hear "signature attraction" I think coaster. I know that terrain woodie has been rumored for forever.

Jack Rabbit was a great surpirse and a awesome ride, which imho could be considered a signature attraction.
Of course everyone may have a different definition of what a signature attraction is.

When I was at KennyKon last summer Peter J. McAneny said that they were buying that land and possibly putting a coaster that goes thru the old steel mill down there. He also said that the park had made plans to buy an SLC but decided not to and that made everyone cheer. I can't wait to see what this "signature" ride turns out to be.

So part of the land they are talking about is the neighborhood to the north west right?

Are the railyards the ones down by the river or are they talking about what looks to be an abandoned rail yard at the bottom of the Jackrabbit ravine?

The Jackrabbit ravine. That's the old Union RR shop

That would make sense with the tracks being removed and all. :)

Union RR is the interplant line of US Steel. They used to have a lot of trackage between the various plants on the Allegheny, Monongehela and Ohio rivers that was independent of the class I roads. With only a mere fraction of the plants they once had the Union shrank as well.Thus a lot of surplus land that has had a century of ashes, oil and grease saturating the soil

Remember that a LOT of these plans hinge upon the development of the new Expressway.

I hope this isn't the case, but this being PA we could be waiting a while.

HAHA. You got that one right Gregleg. I moved to Altoona in 1993 and they had just opened the first half of I-99 between Altoona and State College. They are still working on the second half and Penndot just stated recently that it wouldn't be open until 2009 at the earliest. That makes me wonder how long the new expressway to KW is going to take to build.

Some people believe that KW is going to have a hard time compeating with GL, but I'm not so sure. The new road wil help a lot. Whatever KW builds as a signature attraction will be icing, imho.

PennDOT funding formula:

If it's an odd year, Philadelphia/SEPTA gets most of the transportation money. If it's an even year, Pittsburgh/yet another expressway gets most of the transportation money.

Every five years, they rip up whatever pavement they put down within the past five years along Route 22 between Monroeville and Altoona and rebuild it. Every leap year evenly divisble by 15, they'll do a feasbility study and draw up some plans in pretty colored pencil for a few other projects somewhere else in the state.

You're in luck, it's an even year, and Rendell needs to beat Swann out west.

Actually, it would be nice to see the park continue to expand, and see some brownfields put to good use.

Rendell, who is a crooked bum, will be defeated by Lynn Swann. You know why? Two reasons. One, the casino project in downtown Pittsburgh is contested between Isle of Capris and Harrahs.

As everyone knows, IoC will pay for a new arean, no tax dollars needed. Harrahs is spending one penny for a new arena. Harrahs will get the casino, and then Rendell will be under investigation, and may even get a visit from a few union bosses.

Second, Lynn Swann hold FOUR Super Bowl rings, he was an MVP of Super Bowl X, and the Steelers are current World Champions. The eastern side of the state....losers.

Easy there, Johnson. I'm from the eastern part of the state and I think Rendell's a bum too. Although I don't think possessing Super Bowl rings necessarily makes one qualified to run a state.

Swann needs a crash course in state government and public administration. Unfortunately, he's already misspoken a few times about what a governor or the legislature actually can or cannot do. And he may need a running mate from the part of the state you apparently don't like.

Forgive me for revisiting an old thread but, since we were discussing Kennywood in the other thread and the lack of a new woodie in decades, I thought it might be valid to look at this again.

Whatever happened with this proposed expansion? Did the deal for this property go through?

The reason I ask is, if you go to the Allegheny County website, the land in question is still listed as being owned by the railroad that KW supposedly bought it from.

While the website sometimes lags behind, it's not typically 6 years behind.

I had heard rumors a few years back that KW would only do the expansion of the expressway went through (which, of course, it didn't).

Any news from those who work there?

I remember reading that the expansion plans were only going to come about if the expressway went through as well. It was implied that the expressway would bring more business to the park.

I kind of don't get that either. If people want to go to Kennywood, I don't see the kind of road keeping anyone from going. No one says, "I'm not going to Kennywood anymore because the road to get there is only one lane each way with stoplights".

I read this and was super excited. And then I read the date. *Shrugs* Oh well.

If the street cars were still running they wouldnt have to worry about a new road. :)

I have to admit,if your arent from the Pittsburgh area it is hard to find.

And if you are from Pittsburgh its a pain in the butt to get to.

My applogies for getting anybody's hopes up with the revived thread, lol.

I can sort of see where both Krause and Ex are coming from on this. When I mentioned in the other thread that, leaving from about 10 miles north of Pittsburgh I can get to Waldameer and ride the RFII in less time than it takes to get to KW and ride the Exterminator, a good part of that has to do with the fact that there's no quick way to get there.

From any place north of, say, Sewickley, you're looking at a good hour to get there with parkway traffic and winding through Swissvale.

Would I let that stop me from expanding? Not sure. Depends on whether or not I thought doing so would bring in a lot of business from outside the region. I'm not sure that Kennywood has been a "destination park" for quite some time. I doubt Sky Rocket was enough to bring in a whole lot of people other than the most die-hard coaster enthusiasts wanting to carve another notch on their belts.

So, to do any major expansion one would have to believe that it would dramatically increase business. I can see why they might think that a new expressway would be a necessary part of that.

At any rate, I was just curious as to whether or not the deal to buy the land ever actually went through. Like I said, the railroad company is still listed as owning the property. So, I thought it might have fallen though.

Maybe it was never completed before KW was bought out?