Even though both the forecasted weather and closed rides were bad, I still decided to go to Kennywood on May 12, Laurel Highlands Day.
We arrived at the park around 10:15 and headed on in. After passing through the metal detectors on our way down towards the tunnel, guess who we passed? CEO of Kennywood himself, Henry Henninger. While I didn't force myself to speak to him, it was a cool event regardless. He always seems to have a grin on his face, whether it be on a show talking about Steel Phantom, a newscast about PR's construction, or just meandering around his park.
Phantom's Revenge, Thunderbolt, Turtle, and Pirate were all closed for the day, but that was much better than Preview Day (Apr. 14), which saw all of the aforementioned rides closed, as well as Flying Carpet, Bayern Kurve, Enterprise, and Log Jammer. Around 4:00 in the afternoon, though, Jack Rabbit went down and wouldn't operate for the rest of the day. I spotted a train stuck on the lift, but couldn't tell what the problem was. Didn't get to ride it all day. Bummer.
Still, though, the day ended up being one of the greatest I ever had at Kennywood. Being that it was our high school day, I ended up hanging out with many, many different people over the course of the day.
The park has undergone a
lot of improvements since Preview Day, most notably the gardens. All day, the gardeners were hard at work, and they changed the area between Old Mill and Gran Prix from boring to beautiful in literally a day. I love Kennywood.
I had seen the "Take a ride on us!" sign by Phantom's Revenge early in the day, but nobody was working the stand by the queue. Around 7:00, a friend of ours told us that they got their free general admission tickets at Phantom's Revenge's entrance, so we snatched ours as well. (For those of you who haven't heard, Kennywood is offering one free General Admission accompanied by two free coaster rides of your choice to the park guests who come during the PR/TBolt construction. Just go to the entrance of Phantom's Revenge [which is by the Musik Express this year] and see if the queue is open. If it is, walk down the path to the booth where they'll give you your free ticket. The tickets are good only on weekdays during the month of July.)
Notes:
- I went 1-3 on Racer today, which puts me at 1-6 for the year.
- Aero 360 is still one of the best flat rides you'll find. A must ride!
- PittFall was only running two sides later in the day, but I luckily got the side facing Phantom's Revenge. Good view from up there.
- I rode the Roll-o-Plane for the first time ever today. What a strange little ride that is! Freaky, yet extremely cool.
- It's amazing how weird the park feels, especially at night, without Phantom's Revenge and Thunderbolt running. That end of the park seems so empty, most notably when the sun has gone down and there are no lights on either coasters. Today, I really realized that I miss Thunderbolt... it'll be great to have it back!
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Matt Lynch, who apologizes for the choppy TR, as it's been a long (yet
great) day...
Co-Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
http://kennywood.coasterbuzz.com
