"And we've been here...what...two minutes?"
I knew I wanted to go somewhere this weekend, and I've spent more than enough time at Kings Island and Cedar Point this early season; it's time for something different. I read Adam Sandy's reports, so I was thinking about Kennywood, when John emailed me and told me he was "in a Kennywood mood." It was a harmonic convergence of sorts. Sunday morning, we went to Kennywood.
Getting to Kennywood is always an adventure, if only because there isn't a highway ramp anywhere near the place. These days it's even trickier because the inbound side of the Fort Pitt tunnel is closed and they're runing inbound traffic through the outbound tube and across the bottom level of the bridge. It really spoils one of the most dramatic approaches to a downtown that I have ever seen...to come out of the tunnel onto the bridge and to see Downtown Pittsburgh from across the river(s). What makes up for it is the narrow slalom (did I ever mention I drive a Crown Victoria, which is close to 7' wide and 18' long?) that provides more than enough excitement for Eastbound traffic on IR-376. We also had another bit of excitement because of a serious accident on US-22; we followed a local over a detour consisting mostly of dirt and gravel roads to bypass the trouble. Eastern Ohio can be a beautiful place to drive, but it lacks the "crossroad every quarter mile" simplicity of the North Central region.
At Kennywood, the park is responding to demand, and almost all of the ground level parking lot is now $4 preferred parking. I prefer not to pay for parking, so for $0 I parked about as close as the people who paid $4 at the time we arrived. Later in the day, once the second parking level was full, I moved the car up to the third level where, for $0, I parked 30' from the chairlift which dumps riders off right next to the park gates. Let me see if I understand this: I pay $4, I get to park a quarter-mile from the gate, with no tram service. Or I pay $0 and park a really long way from the gate, but I get to ride a chairlift down the hill, literally from door to door. Which option is "preferred" parking again? I know which one I prefer!
Kennywood is slowly but surely converting over to the all-P-O-P model. General admission is now available only to the old (over-21) and the infirm. The weekday ride pass discount has been abolished in favor of a pop-can discount good weekdays, and new this season is a discounted P-O-P admission for people arriving after 6:00pm. I wish they had that a couple of years ago!
We entered and made our way through the tunnel and down past the candy shop to the windmill, when Kathy "Aunt Rose" Lyons spotted me and informed us that there were several coaster nuts in the park, mostly on their way home from Coaster Con. We didn't join up with any of these groups, but spotted various groups throughout the day.
John and I are both familiar with Kennywood, while it was Carrie's first visit. So we started in typical Kennywood fashion with rides on the Jack Rabbit and Racer, the two most classic Kennywoodies. Neither is a high-intensity butt-kicking wild thrill machine. In short, CCI did not design these coasters. Indeed, it was John Miller who designed these rides, and in spite of what they aren't, they still prove...Jack Rabbit in particular...that Miller was the master of his craft in his day. With 158 years of operation between them, both rides are still a lot of fun, still the kind of coaster you can easily ride all day long, and they both still prove that Kennywood can maintain wood coasters for the long term as well as or better than anybody else in the business. None of the trains has any articulation whatsoever and yet they all track well, there isn't a hint of shuffle, the boards don't bounce, and the trains run smooth as glass. If you think wood coasters are supposed to run rough, you need to visit Kennywood and see how the Kennywoodies run. Of course, Jack Rabbit deserves special mention not only for its classic trains, its fun ride, and its unobtrusive application of 21st century amusement ride technology, but also for one particular moment on the second pass around the circuit. I think Jack Rabbit is the only coaster I've seen where there is a spot on the ride where the train is totally silent. Partly it's a cultural thing...Pittsburghers don't slap hands on the Racer, and they don't scream on the Jack Rabbit. But mostly it's mechanical. Jack Rabbit's double dip is constructed so that as the train starts down the second half of the dip, all three cars, all twelve road wheels, simultaneously lift off of the track for a moment of silent freefall. I just think it's kind of neat.
We worked our way around the park. We rode Thunderbolt, which I noticed has a couple of rough spots now. That one was a little difficult because we had a group of three, and the ride has a strict "NO SINGLE RIDERS!!!" policy. The park tries to be accommodating; I ended up riding with one of the operators. I noticed that Thunderbolt has gained a couple of rough spots, particularly the bottom of the first drop. But even so, it's nothing serious. It is interesting that Kennywood is able to make those long NAD cars run at all on Thunderbolt, but again, Kennywood's maintenance makes sure it remains a great ride.
The
Kennywoodies, even the Thunderbolt, are classic-style, elegant coasters.
They have a certain aura about them that says, "I've been here for [82|79|76]
years, and while I'm not the biggest or the best, I'm still fun to ride, and
100 years from now, I'll still be a fun ride." The rides have a
certain subtlety to them that way.
Phantom's Revenge, on the other hand, is about as subtle as a two-by-four to the head. It is unusual in just about every possible sense of the word, as it carries on the tradition Kennywood started in 1967 with the reconstruction of the Pippin into the Thunderbolt. We took our places at the back of the train for a short wait, as two trains were running all day long. The train rolled in, people got out, we got in. I sat in the back seat, where there is plenty of leg room, a far cry from the situation in the old Arrow train. Well, this is the old Arrow train, even running genuine Arrow wheels, but of course the shells are different. It's the only coaster I've ever seen where the lap bar drops down from the outside. We started up the noisy lift hill, and about halfway up I noticed that the lift got suddenly faster. Wait a minute...a variable speed motor controller on Phantom? That's unheard of! At the top we swooped down the Steel Phantom's twisting first drop (probably the only mechanical reason for keeping the old Arrow train chassis) and back up to the top of the second hill. From there, the ride is downright cartoonish. It goes down that impossibly long second drop, squeezing through the Thunderbolt, coming back up behind Thunderbolt through a not-quite-overbanked turnaround, then the third drop isn't quite as deep as the tutrnaround at the bottom of the Steel Phantom was, but it looks to be in about the same place. It can't be as deep because it crosses over Phantom's Revenge's second drop track, then threads up through the tunnel under Thunderbolt right alongside the station. It's at the top of this fourth hill where things really start to go wild. It's a high-speed turn over the Turtle, ending in a double-down, followed by another double-down before circling a little mound of dirt, then bouncing over two ridiculously steep camel-hump hills and into the magnetic trim brakes and into the station. Kennywood is the double-dip capital of the world, I think, and Phantom's Revenge cements that title firmly. Phantom's Revenge is a terrain hypercoaster more in the style of Magnum XL-200 than in the style of anything else Morgan has ever built. It's based on impossibly long drops, really tight clearances, and explosive airtime. Can there possibly be anybody out there who doesn't love this coaster?
Phantom's Revenge's exit still leads into Lost Kennywood, where we took a ride on Pitt Fall (be aware that not all of the safety belts are the same length!!) but skipped the Exterminator for the moment, then failed to ride the Whip. We tried to ride the Whip, but the group ahead of us boarded, the thing went around once very slowly, then the operator unloaded it and refunded tickets to those who had used them and shut the ride down. The Whip was built in 1918 and is mechanically a very simple ride...what could possibly go wrong? Perhaps something is not taking well to the direct exposure to the sun brought about by the tragic loss of the roof structure last Spring. Whatever, it can't be TOO serious...!
We proceeded to ride the flat rides. Is it really necessary to put a sign on the Musik Express indicating that it is "SORRY, CLOSED" when there are no seats installed, the center canvas is gone, the cars are mostly dismantled, and in general, the ride is clearly in no condition to operate? We rode the Kangaroo and the Paratrooper and the Flying Carpet, where we met up with Chris Trotter and Phillip Reuss briefly. We rode the Bayern Kurve, where I first of all wished the lateral padding on the left side of the car were a little more useful, and second where I noticed the airhorn was not being used. A Bayern Kurve without a horn? That's ridiculous!
I perviously noted that Kennywood is the double-dip capital of the world, and accordingly, for lunch I had one of their Belgian waffles with a double-dip of vanilla ice cream and strawberry topping. Yum. $3.50 and worth every nickel! I still recommend this delicasy, and I warn you to either share it or make it a meal!
For the evening it was more rides, and after another ride on Phantom's Revenge we decided to wait in line for the Exterminator. As we were waiting I saw a couple of bubbles go by, which prompted me to pop out of line for a moment as I knew the Westlands had to be nearby. Indeed they were, along with...er...sorry, but there were about a half dozen notable coaster nuts and now, almost a week later, I don't remember who all was there. I exchanged greetings and returned to the ride. We only got minimal spinning on our ride; I suspect I should have sat on the other side. When we came out, the Whip was back in operation, so we took a ride. More rides, including the Old Mill and the Log Jammer (Three adult riders is comfortable. Thank you, Kennywood, for changing the rule!).
New for this year in the park is Volcano Valley. That's the space between the Cafeteria building, the Pirate, Noah's Ark, and the Musik Express. As nearly as I can tell, the idea here is "Hawaii", so the Pirat and its adjacent fish and chips stand fit. So does Mt. Ararat, if you ignore the fact that it is supposedly in Turkey. At least the rock work matches up. Speaking of rock work, the Enterprise has been painted orange, and now erupts from a conical gunite mountain, a mountain that now makes bubbling noises and belches puffs of steam from time to time. Accordingly, it's now named "Volcano." Crammed in between the Enterprise and Noah's Ark is King Kahuna, the new-to-Kennywood-for-2003 Huss Top Spin. Except that this one doesn't. The Top Spin is generically described as a "loop on top" ride, but this one doesn't. Apparently the tub brakes have been frozen in place, so the tub doesn't move relative to the ends of the sweeps, resulting in a ride that makes the one at Kings Island look exciting. As with virtually every Top Spin ride installed since that one in England, King Kahuna has a set of powerful fountains in front of it. Hmmm...I forgot to check across from the Flying Carpet and make sure the Dancing Waters fountain hasn't been re-purposed. Kennywood is good at that kind of thing, you know...for instance, along side of King Kahuna are the queue railings that were removed from the Phantom's Revenge queue for this season. You know, with that block of queue gone and that open section of closed-off midway between Phantom's lift hill and first drop, they ought to be able to slip something in there.....! Anyway, Volcano Valley looks good, but King Kahuna is looking pretty sad. Hopefully they'll get it fixed soon.
Our longest line of the day came at the end when we waited to go through Noah's Ark. I do believe every available stunt was working when we went through, including the shaking floors, and that cobra that I don't believe has ever spat on me before. Fortunately this time I noticed the wet floor. I do think the bathyscape ending is more than a little weak, though. The effect is well done so far as it goes, but it just isn't *effective*.
It was the end of the evening. The sun was going down and while we would have loved to stay longer, we had done everything we really wanted to do, and an early departure might get us all home before it was time to go to work in the morning. Kennywood is a long, hard trip sometimes, but it's worth it. It's one of those parks where I can always have a good time, with a fabulous collection of rides and coasters. I just wish it wasn't 200 miles away!
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
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