Kennywood PFN: Darkness Looms...
Associated parks:
None
TR: Kennywood Phantom Fright Nights
Day: Saturday, October 15th
Weather: Spooky Moonm Cool Autumn Night, 40 Degrees
Hello Coaster Fans Who Are Running Around The Parks Scared Out of Their Pants (or in Ohio...Parkas),
First off, hello everyone! As many know I've been gone busy taking care of my first born, she was born right at the beginning of coaster season. She's almost 6 months old now and A LOT of fun. That being said, my wife hasn't been to an amusement park yet this year, when last year we went over 60 times to places.
We decided to make a trip to Kennywood... ACTIUALLY we tried last weekend and the park closed due to rain. So we called some people this weekend who had never been and one lady who hasn't been to Kennywood since they pretty much paved the parked. So we had, Shawna (my Wife), Sydney (my daughter), And old lady, and two other friends. We actually made it on the road with PLENTY of time to spare. It should take us around 2 hours from Cuyahoga Falls. I've been to PFN MANY times and never had any problems arriving a little before 7pm...until now.
We made it to 376 with pretty much no problems around the stadium. And then it happened. DEAD stop traffic. We thought it was because of the tunnel, but nope. It was CRAWLING (if that) ALL THE WAY TO THE PARK!!! I thought people would be going various ways or exists, but nope, EVERYONE was going to the park. I had NEVER seen this before! It took slightly over 4 hours to get there!! We arrived at 8:45...two hours past when we were suppose to get there. Needless to say some riders in the back seat were upset. I'm one who is a BIG fan of hitting the main things right at 7pm in order to enjoy the rest of the park later. We almost turned around. We should have.
We got handicap parking (because of the ederly with us) so we couldn't tell where the parking lot was up to. After putting Sydney into the stroller...
I'll interupt here to say, never take anyone under 12 to this place as stated by the park, but I talked to the GM about Syndey all ready, and he was happy to help us out in true Kennywood fasion!!...
We then went over to the new entrance..Very nice GREAT decorations! There "Main" monster at the front gate reminded me of SFWoA "Main" Gate Keeper. I went over to Customer Service to get a wheel chair and the ladies gave me one for free and were VERY friendly and nice...nice decorations inside their office.
Onto the park:
The tunnel was a little disappointing this year due to next to no fog? They had a little at the entrance to it but the rest of the tunnel had nothing :( Then we entered the park. Right off you could tell it was BAD NEWS!! Anyone remember CP two years ago during the warm Oct. night when it was 70 degrees and the park was SOOOOoo packed you couldn't walk? WeLlLllll it was the exact same thing! WALL to WALL people!! Kennywood during PFN has many paths closed and blocked off so your forced into smaller confined midways, and this got VERY bad in some parts! ALL the lines (I mean if you had to get ANYTHING it had a line, games, bathroom, ketchup, etc) were WAYYyyyyy maxed out! Jackrabbit, filled it's que, went around, back out and towards the racer...and almost got there.
We opted to get some Potato Patch Fries and acess the situation. On the fight towards the Patch we saw MANY never before seen lines. As many people know Kennywood has many scattered food stands which caused those lines to jet out into the already PACKED midways. Thunderbolts line was out around the bowl turns and all the way to the Turtles. I got in line while everyone else went and found a seat. I waited 45 MINUTES FOR FRIES!!! I was freakn' mad! The employees were VERY nice and busted their butts the actually guy who took my 6 fry order was awesome and told me how the parked called in everyone they knew exisetd for the night to help out.
We ate our fries. They were fabulous as always. While we were eating we actually had 3 different people come over and want to take out daughter's picture since she had her little Giraffe costume on and glow sticks out the WAzoo on her stroller. She laughed the whole time which made us laugh!
We now knew the WHOLE World was out because of the last 2 or 3 NE weekends when it rained, rained, and rained a little more around here. So what can you do? We headed through Gory Park (Lost Kennnywood.) Cool as usual...I liked the sewer that had things moaning down in it and glowed...and of course the now quickly becoming famous outhouse! Exterminator had a sign posting a 1 1/2 hour wait with about 300ft of people past that. So the problem was most rides/haunted houses were past 2 hours. If you do the math and it's a little after 10PM...yeah.
We walked around the park realizing why Kennywood raised their summer prices...because of this. Kennywood could eaisily raise their prices for PFN and not even blink an eye. I believe they WAY under sell what they have to offer. Though I still left feeling I got my money's worth and was happy I didn't pay more. But it is RARELY ever this packed!
Justin and I rode Wipeout, and bumper cars and we all decided to beat the crowd out and chalk it up as almost a lost. The park looked awesome, the employees were great, but it was just to packed to REALLY enjoy Kennywood like one should. This is a park were you come to when CP, GL, PKI are packed. During Phantom Fright Nights the rules are changed...
MWa HA HA HAHhhhhhhhh
"The Future of Roller Coasters"
-RollerCoasterGod
*** Edited 10/19/2005 5:30:35 AM UTC by RollerCoasterGod***
I believe that even at a park as hospitable as Kennywood, you'd be laughed out of the park. :)
"You are too crowded"....but hey, he was going to donate the proceeds to charity...
This Saturday was the culmination of excellent weather and lackluster attendance during the week beforehand. The park isn't kidding when they say go the first two Fridays to avoid the rush.
When the park advertises CHILDREN UNDER 13 SHOULD NOT BE ADMITTED, they mean CHILDREN UNDER 13 SHOULD NOT BE ADMITTED. This isn't Cedar Point's Halloweekends, as there are no safe zones for your youngsters. The park goes out of its way to give depth to the experience, and it affects the experiences of other guests when employees have to accommodate small children going through the haunted houses or walking down the midways. It's amazing how many young children are brought through the mazes every night--we perform for mature audiences, and it really throws both the actors and the other patrons off when small children are brought through the haunts. Parents, if your kid is under 13 or not mature enough to handle frights aimed at teenagers and adults, arrange for a baby sitter, as PFN is NOT for them! I say this out of the bottom of my heart, as it really hurts me when I see a young child, scared to death and crying, being dragged through haunted mazes and midways by their parents.
razore86 said:
It's funny... Saturday was the first time I ever had to open the last queue line for the Thunderbolt. I didn't even know where to put the chain! The Phantom filled both of it's queue sections as well as being out of the gate. The Exterminator was still running at 1:30am to finish all the people in line there. I hope were busy like this every weekend, it's fun!
yeah, your line Mike, was going all the way to the patch.;)
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