1997 Trip Report index
Dave's Adventures
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"A lazy Sunday afternoon..."
Just after noon, I pulled into the Kennywood lower parking lot...but just barely. In fact, I got the same parking space I got last time back in July, about as far as you can get from the gate without parking at the top of the mountain. Ah, well...
It's amazing what the topography can do. From the parking lot, all of Kennywood is below you, including its highest structures, the Steel Phantom and Pitt Fall. In fact, the Steel Phantom lift appears to be almost the same height as Pitt Fall, even though the latter is about 100' taller. Interesting.
On this visit, I made it a point to notice mechanical details, even more than usual. I began with a back-seat ride on Jack Rabbit. A lot has been written here about the distinctive "B&M Roar". But I don't think I have seen any comments about the "Kennywood Rumble." The Kennywoodies make a very distinctive sound, not nearly so loud as the B&M coasters. It's a low rumble, accompanied by a little bit of clicking as the wheels skip over the rail joints. For the lack of a better term, I'd describe it as a very 'solid' sound. Well, it doesn't matter what it sounds like, Jack Rabbit delivers where it counts. To someone accustomed to the 2:42 monsters at Cedar Point, the ride is a bit short (1:38, to be precise). But its classic trains (did you know that the lap bar, such as it is, is not padded? I never noticed that before...) and incredible double-dip pretty well make up for the short ride. From Jack Rabbit, the by-this-time-disused Fall Fantasy Parade floats are visible, but I noticed that the disassembled Huss Tri-Star (which operated at Kennywood only in 1991) is gone. As long as they are not loading "special access" passengers, the two-train operation on Jack Rabbit is quite efficient...the 1:12 dispatch interval moves about 900 PPH.
Unfortunately, that was not true for the Racer. Because it has a very small boarding platform and only one set of trains, combined with a generally lazy way of doing things on the platform, Racer's dispatch interval is an abysmal 4:01 for a 1:51 ride, for an hourly capacity of only 717 pph...that's right, fewer than the Jack Rabbit, and that is with trains that seat 24, instead of 18. But there is very little else wrong with the Racer. Well, okay, it has seat dividers. But at least the ride profile is such that you don't end up landing on them, so they are "mostly harmless". I also noticed that Racer has that unusual track design with the angle-iron upstop rail. More about that later...I couldn't get a good look at the underside of the Racer train. It is also interesting to note the trusswork that holds up the Racer's station roof. There are pillars in the station which go right through the roof and support the front-end turnaround overhead. When the trains approach that point on the ride, the pillars shake violently, while the roof trusses don't move at all, making it obvious that the pillars do nothing to support the roof, in spite of appearances.
Well, the Racer is a fun ride, and for the first time in about five years, someone in the other train actually responded when I stuck my arm out. Racer runs smoothly, it tracks well, it is a really good design, especially after the station turnaround, where Miller used the ravine to keep the speed up for the station approach (on all three of the Kennywoodies, the track runs uphill to the station approach brakes). But I think I still like Gemini better.
From the Racer, I wandered the park, strolling leisurely, and noting all of the installed rides. Including the fact that the Wipeout was closed every time I went by. Funny, it was closed during my last visit, too. I even took a ride on Steel Phantom.
Well, this time around, I took a front-seat ride on Steel Phantom, and was suprised. I don't know if Kennywood has changed the bars again, or if I have gotten better at positioning myself for these Arrow multi-element trains. Or maybe it is just because I was in Seat #1 instead of Seat #13 this time. In any case, I didn't get battered as much as usual by the ride, though I did get a nasty sock in the jaw going through the 81-mph turnaround. So Steel Phantom retains its place of honor on my informal list of Rides that REALLY Need Lap Bars. I did notice that Kennywood was being particularly inflexible with their "no earrings on Phantom" policy. Never mind that, unlike the B&M shoulder bar, the Arrow bar leaves most riders' ears completely clear above the top of the bar.
After exiting the Steel Phantom, I decided I hadn't taken enough ride-inflicted abuse, so I headed for the Roll-O-Plane. It is a neat ride, and unique, in that it was the first ride built by Oregon Rides...though it is identical to all those Eyerly Roll-O-Planes out there. Unlike many Roll-O-Planes, Kennywood's ride is fully functional, including the boom-tipping motion. I did notice an interesting point to the ride that I view as a design error. As the boom rotates, the tub rolls. What I noticed was that the tub rolls to the outside. This, in turn, dumped me up against the door, which is secured with a latch and a safety key through the belt-bar. What I don't like is that I am fairly heavy, and if the door fails, it is a long way to the ground. The door latch is redundant, but if the door opens, it means total failure of both the door and the belt-bar! It seems to me that if the tub rotation were reversed, the ride action would dump the rider against the inside tub wall, away from the door. Hmmmmmm...
Well, the Roll-O-Plane wasn't the only ride that had a feature like this. I moved on to the Thunderbolt. Like the Roll-O-Plane, Thunderbolt features strong lateral forces which, in this case, toss the rider to the left-hand-side of the train in the infamous helix. Interesting...that is the open side of the train. My first Thunderbolt ride required a very short wait, and was pretty good in the back of the train. I went back around and proceeded to take a front-seat ride. Indeed, Thunderbolt is slightly better up front. But d'ya know something suprising? Thunderbolt, though it is a fun coaster, with lots of action and some extreme forces, does not have any notable airtime. And while waiting to ride, I noticed something else interesting. Those Century Flyer trains do not have up-stops. Thunderbolt has that square track with the T-rail on the inside, and the guide wheels ride under the T-rail. So the guide wheels serve the purpose of an up-stop, much like the flat bar used on Prior & Church or Arrow trains. But there is no undertrack roller.
This leaves a bunch of questions. For instance, where the Thunderbolt has its final ravine drop (coming out of the helix), Pippin allegedly had a double-down. If that double-down was anything even close to the one on Jack Rabbit, and if Pippin was running the same track and train configuration that Thunderbolt has now, then I'll bet that double-down was a maintenance nightmare. By the same token, I wonder if the brake at the top of that drop is to make sure that Thunderbolt doesn't lift a wheel on that drop...since if it did, it would tear up the track.
I visited a few more coasters, then had to wait interminably for another Thunderbolt ride. Enough of this nonsense. I went off to ride flat rides for a while. Then, as I was waiting for the carousel, Joe Riznar appeared (Hi, Joe!). Joe was one of the first ACEers I ever met, and he really is a cool guy. We talked coasters for a while, then at his suggestion I took my first hike through Noah's Ark. I won't spoil it here, partcularly since I've already rambled on long enough. Suffice to say that it was well-done. The first room, in particular, is fantastic; the last room, is a variation on the "Gamorrah the Gorilla Girl concept, and feels a bit out of place on the Ark. But it is well done anyway. Joe went his way and I went mine, but we arranged to meet for a couple of Thunderbolt rides. I visited the Bayern Kurve (I want one of those horns for my car...) and I had one of those fantastic Belgian waffles. Kennywood serves about a 9" waffle with a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream (NOT soft-serve!) and a glazed-strawberry topping. Yum! I finished up the waffle just as Joe arrived at the T-bolt, and we took a couple of rides before he left. I then recapped the other Kennywoodies before heading out myself. One last ride on the carousel, then off to Cedar Point.
All in all, Kennywood is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I did notice that many of the employees were distracted, irritable, and acting as though they would rather be almost anywhere else. But none were rude or surly, and it was the next-to-last day of the season, when I would expect the enthusiasm to wane a bit. There are things that Kennywood does that are very officious and inflexible, such as their no-single-rider policies (and their lets-overload-and-sink-the-flume boats policy) that can be very annoying. But even at that, it is hard to not like Kennywood. I'm looking forward to their 100th season, and wishing they weren't so far away.
Next trip: Cedar Point (#4)
1997 Trip Report index
Dave's Adventures
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--Dave Althoff, Jr.