Idlewild Park, Ligonier, PA

[TheFugitive]

This is a venerable old park located in Ligonier, PA about 50 miles east of Pittsburgh.  Nestled in the Laurel Highlands it is heavily wooded and beautiful. It is one of the oldest parks in the country, having begun as a picnic grove run by a railroad which served communities along Loyalhanna Creek in the 1870's.  The park has smaller-scale rides which even outside of it's official Kiddieland are geared towards younger children.  There is no Thunderbolt, Steel Phantom or other "wow" ride here.

Idlewild was next-door to another attraction called Story Book Forest which consisted of a number of buildings from storybook tales staffed by actors (The Old Woman in the Shoe, The Seven Dwarves, Cinderalla, etc.) You would walk through and meet them in scenes from those stories.  I remember our school bringing us here when I was in second grade. 

In 1983 both Idlewild and Story Book Forest were acquired by the owners of Kennywood.  They merged both attractions so that Story Book Forest no longer had a separate admission from Idlewild.  All of them, along with Pittsburgh's Sandcastle water park, were acquired by a Spanish concern in 2006.

One of their big attractions at Idlewild was launched with much fanfare in 1990.  It was the Mister Rogers Neighborhood ride.  Mr. Rogers grew-up in the nearby community of Latrobe, just a few miles up the road from Idlewild.  Passengers rode the Neighborhood Trolley through the Neighborhood of Make Believe where animatronic characters from the show spoke to them at various stops. 

In 2013 the Mister Rogers Neighborhood ride was remade into Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, reflecting on PBS's decision to replace the Mr. Rogers reruns with an animated Daniel Tiger show that would be more relatable to younger viewers.  The Daniel Tiger ride is pretty cheesy though compared to the original Mr. Rogers ride.  You can find YouTube videos of both of them and the quality of the effects on the earlier one were much better.

[Ames#1171]

I have many great memories of Idlewild and Kennywood! We are actually planning a trip to PA to visit both parks in late July.

[jconsolmagno]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDqTlCMVZws

The 90s were the highlight of Idlewild, IMO.

Went back recently and they were barely operating half the rides.