Kennywood....worth stopping?

Yes, make it a must to stop. You can't go wrong with many of the PA parks, for that matter. Staff bias aside from working there the past two years, it really is a great park.

l. Kennywood is to amusement parks what Notre Dame is to football and Kentucky is to basketball. This is the park that kept the vision of amusement parks alive during the war years when two thirds of all the parks in the country were closing. KW and its stable of gifted mechanical engineers and farsighted Western Pennsylvania companies invented, evolved or perfected more ride ideas than the rest of the nation combined. it is absolutely amazing when you start looking at "bloodlines" in the amusement park world; the guys designing rides today either started out with some connection to Kennywood, were mentored by a KW connection, or came to KW for ideas. People say, well, CP has a ride which is taller or faster. But those rides you'll get on at KW were built before Pearl Harbor and the Nazis, for God's Sake, and they still have long lines.

2. Seriously consider staying at the Sheraton at Station Square. Yes, it's a few miles further down the river. But it's right near the interstate connection out to I-75 and the Pa/Ohio Turnpike next morning. And it's in the middle of railroads, trolleys, inclines, and riverboats. Definitely ride the Duquesne Incline up to Mt. Washington, walk along the top, then ride the Monongahela Incline back down to the hotel. And consider riding the Castle Shannon trolley out through the tunnel, through the woods and over the ravines. These are 150 year old modes of real world transportation which are unique to Pittsburgh and just as important to ride as roller coasters.

The worst neighborhood in Pittsburgh is nothing compared to most big cities. And Homewood and those areas aren't the worst part of town. I often drive through it to get to the park since i will stop on the South Side on my way in for a visit.

On another note, i definately think the professionalism isn't there at Kennywood. But that is, to me part of the laid back atmosphere. Yes they could push all lines faster and make the food stands run more efficiently; but the product is fantastic. Good food great rides and crowds you can handle even on the busiest day of the year. So even if the employees at a little dumb from time to time and aren't as speedy as some i've never had a problem with it.

If you stop on the South Side on the way to Kennywood, chances are you're driving through Homestead, not Homewood, to get to Kennywood. Homewood is a rougher area than Homestead, but still not what I personally consider REALLY bad. I know a lot of the Pittsburgh-area suburbanites would disagree with that, but they're spoiled cowards ;)

The area around K-wood is a little bit shady, but nothing that I would consider absolutely horrable. It's not exactly Beverly Hills, but it's not the worst place I've ever seen.

Might I suggest a third option?

PKI/Kennywood

It seems so obvious :)

And perhaps I'm oblivious or just haven't been a suburban white boy my whole life, but I wouldn't consider any of the neighborhoods around KW to be 'bad'.

Somewhere I'd want to live? No. But 'bad'? Hardly. I think of a bad neighborhood as somewhere I'd be afraid to drive through. I'm not sure there is a neighborhood like that in Pittsburgh. Most of the neighborhoods I'm afraid of in the area are out of the city, feature trailers with cars on blocks in the front yard and have the subtle sound of banjos playing in the distance.

That, my friends, is scary.

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Lord Gonchar said:

...Most of the neighborhoods I'm afraid of in the area are out of the city, feature trailers with cars on blocks in the front yard and have the subtle sound of banjos playing in the distance.

That, my friends, is scary.

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Hey, quit talking about my county like that :) In Fayette County, Pa, people buy beater cars and drive them for a week, then they die, them they're put on blocks until the are reclaimed by Mother Earth.

Back on topic,

Definately Kennywood. I've been going there since I was 3. I love the place, I love it so much that I am doing my Senior Class Project on The History of Kennywood.

Rentzy17, Kennywood is open on Sundays. They been open on Sundays even when it was illegal back at the turn of the 20th century and still are today.

The only weekend we can go is May 1st and 2nd.

Kennywood is closed on Sunday, May 2nd but open on Saturday. http://www.kennywood.com/dp.cfm

Ahhh, preview weekend. Cool.

I can see how that presents a problem for your planning, though.

It may not really be "preview weekend" this time around, but in years past, that single Saturday thing was a warmup day.

Usually crowds that day are light, but not everything may be operational yet.

kpjp can probably fill us in (unless he's having fun driving one of the armada of cherry pickers I saw lined up by the park yesterday :) )
*** Edited 2/29/2004 9:02:22 PM UTC by GregLeg***

Oops, mistype there. Yes it is definatley Homestead not Homewood, and eys Homewood is definately shadier. Those little cities along the Monogihelia(so?) are just run down old steel neighborhoods. I would imagine that most people in that part of town have been living there for a long time.

As everyone else stated above...Kennywood is worth stopping for! Kennywood might not be a big park, or have world class coasters, but ALL the coasters are special and unique..(which Jeff stated before), and most of there other rides are unique and historical that you won't find anywhere else but Kennywood:)

If you can't spend a whole day at Kennywood, then at least try to ride ALL the Coasters, Turtle, Whip, Auto Race, Kangaroo, Bayern Kurve, (Garfield's Nightmare, orginally the Old Mill), and Noah's Ark.

Hope you enjoy your day at Kennywood when you go!

P.S. EAT PATCH FRIES!:)

Swim92688 - if you're still reading let me just add my .02 cents: DO NOT pass up a ride on the Kangaroo. Yeah, it may look like a kiddie ride but trust me, it has airtime galore!

mOOSH

enough ..... close

ApolloAndy
Resident Crack Whore.
From 0 to drunk in $20.
Coaster Loser

Umm...huh?

thanx GregLeg