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"Don't I know you from somewhere?"
Okay, so it is Sunday morning. Sunday is typically my "go to the park" day, so the question remained, "Which one?" I had just been to Cedar Point and Wyandot Lake. I had been at Kings Island, Fun Spot, and Michigan's Adventure the week before. I had already missed the Zombies at Michigan's Adventure [Footnote 1]. I was planning to do Kings Island, Kentucky Kingdom, and Americana the following weekend, in connection with Stark Raven Mad. I could go to Geauga Lake, but I recalled something Bill Linkenheimer (III) said at CoasterMania and headed to Kennywood instead.
You see, this was the day of KennyCon, a Western PA ACE regional event. Now there was no way that I could make it to the park in time for registration, and no way I could stay for late night ERT. So I decided not to attend the event. But I knew the park would be positively polluted with particular park patrons. What I didn't plan for was the park being PACKED with people.
Getting there is half the fun... [Footnote 2]
Well, i managed to get to Pittsburgh okay, then I ran into trouble. IR-279 was backed up to a standstill at IR-79. I ended up exiting at West Pittsburgh and cruising around. Ultimately I ended up following PA-837...part of which is known as Kennywood Blvd...all the way from Downtown. It's an interesting drive, but I don't particularly recommend it [Footnote 3].
When I got to the park, the lower parking lot was completely full. So was the hated mid-level parking lot. I was pleased to be sent to the upper parking lot, since, with the chairlift, those are actually the closest parking spaces to the gate. I drove up the hill to the upper lot. I was taken completely by surprise, however, when I was directed through that lot...which was also completely full...to park in a FOURTH lot, hidden away at the top of the hill. So getting from my car to the park was something of an expedition, even though I only drive a Taurus. During my hike up (yes, up) to the chairlift, I noticed heavy earth-moving machinery working just below the lot where I parked...perhaps a fifth parking lot is now under construction.
So I've had quite an adventure, and I've not even made it into the park yet! Between the coaster nuts and the picnickers, the park was gonna be CROWDED. I was a little surprised to find that there was no sign indicating that the Skycoaster was already sold out.
It turned out that would be a sign of things to come once I was inside the park. The line for the Jack Rabbit, for instance, was wrapped around to the midway...but on closer inspection it turned out that the gate was open halfway down the hill. In case you're not familiar, the Jack Rabbit's narrow end faces the midway, with the station on the left side. The queue runs around the perimeter of the ride and down the hill on the right, in a space between the coaster and an arcade. At the bottom of the hill, the queue makes a U-turn and comes back up to the midway. Except that on this terribly crowded day, the gate was open halfway down the hill, so the line was only half as long as it appeared to be. With two-train operation, ten minutes later, I'm barrelling down the double-dip. More coasters should run like this one!
The Racer, located adjacent to the Jack Rabbit, also had a short wait. Only one pair of trains, as usual, and the line of would-be riders extended out past the shooting gallery, for about a fifteen minute wait. What is happening with this coaster? Every time I ride it, it seems it gets a little bit better, especially on that final drop leading up to the brake run. Hmmm...Apparently the other train wasn't full of coaster nuts, though...when I extended my hand I got a bunch of dumb looks from the other train.
I was heading down the path past the carousel when I spotted a whole posse of coaster nuts coming the other way, including Dave Sandborg, Tim Melago, Bill Linkenheimer, Larry Scott, and a couple other people I don't remember at this moment (sorry...!). Anyway, they were headed for the Log Jammer, and I was carrying my computer...so we exchanged greetings and I headed on over to the Bayern Kurve, the Musik Express, the Pirat, the Gran Prix (bumper cars), the Flying Carpet, and...what's this? The Enterprise is actually operating! Again, it is strange...the park is absolutely packed with people, the midways are jammed, the benches are full, the restaurant is full, but nothing has a long wait. Well, that isn't quite true. Both the rapids ride and the Exterminator have long lines, but other than that, the lines are remarkably short. Could I be witnessing a phenomenon we see in RCT, where people will not enter a line percieved to be too long? All of Kennywood's rides had lines which extended only to the end of the queue. An interesting phenomenon.
Hungry, I opted for a hamburger. Would you believe that in two visits to Kennywood this season, I have not yet had one of their wonderful waffles? The burger was good, though. I wasn't wild about the fries, though. These were not the famous Potato Patch fries, but rather basic fast-food fries, with the usual problem...they started okay, but quickly became cold.
I got a ride on the Steel Phantom. What has Kennywood done to this thing? Never before this season was I able to get a ride on this coaster that didn't involve hard blows to the head, neck, and shoulders. The 80-mph turnaround is significantly smoother than in the past, and the inversion elements seem to flow better. Maybe it just seems that way because my head didn't hurt before I got to the vertical loop.
In a quick fit of stupidity, I erased most of my notes from this particular trip, but I did try an experiment. I only got to spend about half a day at Kennywood this time around, but I kept track of the ticket value of all the rides I took. Some time ago, John Cline suggested that amusement park POP offers are not necessarily such a good deal. So I checked it out. I paid $22.95 to get into the park and buy a POP handstamp, but in the end managed to take $24 worth of rides...this in a short day. Furthermore, had I bought tickets, I would also have needed the $5.95 (or was it $6.95...) General Admission. So my conclusion was that on this particular trip, I received a measurable benefit from my POP ticket.
I continued to enjoy the attractions of the park, and rejoined some of the KennyCon attendees for the informal take-overs of the Turtle and the Thunderbolt. Additional rides on all three of the Kennywoodies rounded out the day. Night approached and the KennyCon folks headed for the Thunderbolt for their night ERT. I headed for the exit. I had a long trip to my car, plus a four-hour drive, ahead of me.
When I got up to the remote parking lot, I was a bit suprised to find Kennywood and West Mifflin police officers engaged in some kind of activity presumably involving the two white males sitting cross-legged on the ground with their hands cuffed behind their backs. Duly noting that an altercation was in progress I double-checked my car before driving away. I mention this incident only to note that in spite of the remote position of this parking lot, it was illuminated, clearly had been patrolled, and the various law-enforcement agents had done a nice job of doing their work without disrupting the passage of those of us who needed to leave.
Getting home was considerably easier than the trip out. Which was a good thing, as I had to be at work early the next day. I had just spent three days in three different amusement parks, and I really didn't want to go back to work. But I have to pay for these park visits somehow, and besides, I only had four days to work before Stark Raven Mad.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Footnote 1: In other words, "they're not there..." If you are old enough (and at 29, I really am not), you'll catch the joke there... [Return to text]
Footnote 2: Whoever said that has never tried to get to and through Pittsburgh. [Return to text]
Footnote 3: Yes, 'interesting' is a good word for parts of that route... [Return to text]
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