The Roller Coaster Capital of the World!
One of the oldest, and still one of the best!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennywood
Owned by the Henninger family for many years, until being sold to a Spanish-owned concern
about a decade ago.
A "trolley park" from the days when mill workers lived in squalid row housing, and would take the streetcar out to a clean, pleasant park for Sunday R&R.
Beloved by Pittsburghers. "Kennywood's Open" is local slang for "Dude, check your fly!"
My last retail assignment was a Hills store directly across the road from this park.
I could see the coasters and hear the screams from the parking lot during the summer months.
Unfortunately it is NOT a good neighborhood. Some scary criminal incidents at this store
drove me out of the business. (that and I did not want to be a candidate for a knee replacement
at age 40).
I love the "Phantom's Revenge", it's my favorite roller coaster at Kennywood, but I wish that I could go back in time and ride the original "Steel Phantom" roller coaster. I wanted to ride Steel Phantom when I was 7, but I was too short at the time to ride it.
Excuse me for double posting, but here's a POV video of the "Phantom's Revenge" roller coaster!
Link: https://youtu.be/oRNK8T7ya_g (https://youtu.be/oRNK8T7ya_g)
The documentary Kennywood Memories is available on YouTube (in several parts).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb_kCgdKTl8
This was the first in a continuing series of Pittsburgh History specials that were
produced by Rick Sebak at WQED-TV. This was made in 1988, so it is a bit dated
(some of the rides and attractions shown are no longer around). But it does give
a very good history of the park, and does a nice job of capturing why it is so
beloved amongst Pittsburghers.
Kennywood is about to open for it's 2018 season.
The major change is that the Log Jammer ride has been removed.
This was a popular water ride that was installed in the mid-1970's.
No word yet on what will be replacing it.
Kennywood has announced plans for a new roller coaster to be called the Steel Curtain.
https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/new-coaster-steel-curtain-steelers-experience-coming-to-kennywood-in-2019/792266308
Apparently they have entered into some kind of agreement with the Pittsburgh Steelers to build a Steeler-themed area of the park. It will include this roller coaster, which will set several records for loop height and number of inversions. The article says they will require 3 million pounds of steel on 78 flatbed trucks to build this thing.
It had better be American steel, or the locals are going to be very upset.
The coaster will be built on the site of the old Log Jammer, which was dismantled over the winter.
Sorry to see that as it was one of my favorites.
Went to Kennywood on Monday with some family in from out of town.
Highly disappointed. Aside from the fact that the new owners have made so many changes I hardly recognize the place anymore (nostalgia was one of Kennywood's charms) the place was incredibly crowded and understaffed. We were there all day, and the kids could only get on seven rides because the lines were so ridiculously long. The line for French Fries alone was 45 minutes long.
Apparently this was the final week that certain passes can be used before the park's Fall Fantasy season begins. The weather forecast for Tuesday was not encouraging, and the park is apparently closed the rest of the week. So all of those customers showed up Monday. And many of the high-schools and colleges have already started class, meaning a lot of the park's labor pool was no longer available. Many of the rides were just closed. The combination of closed rides, long lines on the others, and lack of staff, it made for a long and not terribly pleasant day.
If I were park management I'd lobby for a state law to prevent any public college or high-school from starting class before Labor Day.
In 1988 Rick Sebak of WQED-TV in Pittsburgh produced a film called Kennywood Memories.
It has run on PBS stations may times over the years, and has been a popular home video title.
He is doing a new series called Nebby (a colloquial Pittsburgh term for being overly curious). It includes a new 30 min. special made up of outtakes from the original 1988 Kennywood special.
https://www.wqed.org/nebby
Flipping around the dial the other day and came across the 2009 film Adventureland.
It was filmed largely at Kennywood (though the park is called "Adventureland" and nothing
is clearly identified as being Kennywood. Probably because the script involved midway games
that were being rigged).
Other scenes were shot in the Pittsburgh suburbs of Coraopolis and Carnegie,
which are not particularly close to Kennywood.
Kennywood opened for the season, and a change had been made to their
famous Potato Patch fries.
The park has apparently changed the cheese sauce that can be served on the fries,
and the change is NOT going down well amongst park patrons. It is pretty much all
anybody around here is talking about on social media.
Only open a number of weeks, and Kennywood's vaunted Steel Curtain coaster
is again shut down.
https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/kennywoods-new-steel-curtain-coaster-staying-closed-for-now/973800387
As heavily as it was advertised this has to be a very bad thing for the park.
Every since Kennywood was acquired by a Spanish firm a decade ago it seems that they
are slow to react to things in August. Supposedly this is due in part to the fact that
Europeans typically all go on vacation in August, so everything at the home office
slows way down.
Quote from: TheFugitive on August 07, 2019, 01:39:03 PM
Only open a number of weeks, and Kennywood's vaunted Steel Curtain coaster
is again shut down.
https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/kennywoods-new-steel-curtain-coaster-staying-closed-for-now/973800387
As heavily as it was advertised this has to be a very bad thing for the park.
Every since Kennywood was acquired by a Spanish firm a decade ago it seems that they
are slow to react to things in August. Supposedly this is due in part to the fact that
Europeans typically all go on vacation in August, so everything at the home office
slows way down.
Then the Europeans need to have Non-Europeans (People from outside Europe) that can run everything at their Home Office in August when they do go on Vacation.