Park Review
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West Mifflin, Pennsylvania July 29, 2001
(-3 to +5 ratings) We opted to pay the four dollar "preferred parking" instead of the free and then made our way to the park. I told my parents and sister that we should go to the back of the park and ride those rides first. But since my mom is afraid of heights and wouldn�t be doing Pitfall or Phantom's Revenge, we decided to just stay as a family and follow the crowds. The first coaster I saw a sign for was the Jack Rabbit, but having never been to Kennywood before, I didn�t know where the entrance to the ride was. I saw a sign reading "Jack Rabbit pavilions 1,2, and 3 this way" (pointing to the right) so I thought this meant both the Jack Rabbit and the pavilions were over there. I was wrong and we walked the entire length of the ride before realizing how stupid I was. so we walked back and found the entrance to...
JACK RABBIT- Miller terrain double out and
back And boy there�s a lot of airtime.
The ride starts off right away with a curve next to
the queue and a nice dive into the ravine, which
provided a nice float in the whole train, but a little
added jolt in the back (even though the second to last
seat was as far back as I got). This is followed with
an enclosed turn at the other end into a shallow dive
where you meet the chain lift. At the top of the lift
the train does a 180-degree turn and then you go down
a little drop. Now your running almost parallel with
the first drop approach. This short flat piece of
track is the only thing to prepare you for the single
most explosive moment of airtime ever created. I rode
this ride five times throughout the day (this one, a three in
a row series, and then a front seat ride to cap it off
before we left) and every time in every seat there�s a
sharp moment of ejector air. You can tell that the
train is riding on its upstop wheels the whole way
down, as you can feel the train lift off the track for
a moment and enjoy the airtime, along with the people
it's carrying. Then the upstops kick in and
everybody says "hello" to the minimalist restraints
(whether it be their legs or their hands, it's always
something). After this extreme moment of air, there�s
another turnaround and and another floater drop and up
into the exit portion of the station, where the ride
ops say, "quickly undo the belt and exit to your
right." What a great ride. After this we moved on to its neighbor:
RACER- Miller single tracked, double out and
back racer. Next we hopped on the Aero 360, which I think is a Zamperla Hawk. This was a fun ride; I liked it more than the Vekoma one at Six Flags New England. After that we hopped on the Huss swing around/space ship thing, which was very dizzying, but fun. Next up was the Traver Auto Ride, which was much better than antique cars, but the absence of the gas pedal lost it some points. After this we hesitantly followed my mom on the train (which she hated because she's afraid of heights and it ran next to the drop into the river). It was on this ride that I had a slight revelation. I'm pretty sure that although I had read it numerous times, I had never heard the name Traver pronounced before so I have always pronounced it Travier, like Cavalier. But the announcer on the train pronounced it Traver, wow. I'm guessing I was wrong. Next was the Old Mill, which is a dark ride with a few good scenes, but nothing really scary. My dad had been smelling the Potato Patch fries for a while now, and we were right there so we stopped and got some of the best fries that I had ever had. After this brief stop we hopped on the Turtle-themed tumblebug. It was a fairly boring ride with a few small pops of air on the first hump after the station. I wasn�t expecting much, and I didn�t receive much. Just a fun little ride. After this ride I mentioned to my sister (who usually watches coaster specials with me so I thought she would know already) that I hoped mom and dad didn�t see the surprise on the Thunderbolt, as the Turtle gives you a nice view of it. She replies with "what surprise" and this convevsation kept up for a while. We were going to stay as a family for a little bit more (because my mom won't ride the Phantom or Pitfall) but she decided she wanted us to ride the Phantom now and she was going to watch a cheesy show that was going on. We said "okay" and headed over to:
PHANTOM'S REVENGE - Arrow/Morgan terrain hyper The ride starts with a very slow lift into a curved first drop that pulls many G's. After this is a long piece of ground-level flat track that actually lets you feel how fast your going, and your're going fast. Next up is a little raise into the big 230-foot drop through the Thunderbolt with standing air all the way down. Next is a high (G) turn by the Thunderbolt and then another trip up through the great woodie. Now there�s a turn over the Turtle with a weird little hop that gives tons of air. After this is a double down filled with air and then a turn and hop into the station. The train enters the station with tons of speed left (which is why I think they're still doing a one-train operation). What a good ride.
Later in the day
(right before we left) we (sans my dad) grabbed a ride
in the front seat. After a very long wait we finally
got on. I liked the front a lot more than the back.
The front really showed you how fast this thing goes.
It had almost the same amount of air that the back
had, but the air seemed more violent in the front
(except on the big drop.) We came off it with tears
from our eyes to our ears and a smile of the same size.
What I liked most about this coaster was how
non-melodic it was. I'll compare it to Superman: Ride Of Steel at Six Flags New England. S:ROS has a first half of airtime, then a second half
of G's with some bunny hops to cap it off. Everything
is very smooth flowing and it seems to go together
very well. Phantom's Revenge starts off with high G's then
it's airtime, more G's and lats, more air, more G's,
more air, and then it�s done. It seems to know where it�s
going, but it wants to take a few detours to get
there. I really enjoyed this aspect of the ride. It
wants you to not know what�s going on, but it wants you
to like it. Great ride, the best steelie of the trip. After the first ride on Phantom's Revenge we headed over to find Mom but she wasn�t there yet (she had hopped on the swinger) so I headed over to the Pitfall, which was my first Intamin drop ride. I was riding next to two people who had never been on a drop ride before, so at the top I told them to put their hands and feet out straight, and they did. But once the drop started the lady held on for dear life and screamed loudly. I liked the ride, but I think I prefer S&S towers. Also, both times I went on (the second was with my dad) I sat on the side that faces the river, which was a nice added effect to see how high we were. The line for this stayed short all day. After the initial ride I headed back and found my family and we went together to:
THUNDERBOLT- Miller/Vettel terrain double out
and back with a twister section.
My mom hated this ride because of the location of
the ravine drops (there�s that river again) which made
me, Dad, and Angie (sister) laugh the whole ride. The
second ride I accidentally sat on the wrong side, which was good
because of the headchopper through Phantom's Revenge, but made me
hang on to the side the whole turn section. The funny
thing about the Phantom's Revenge head chopper is that there is a red
padded mat added to that part which makes it seem like
there is a possibility of you touching it (you can if
you lean to the right a bit). Next we walked over to the Noah's Ark fun house which was a really fun ride. Everything was fun: the shaking boards, the tilting staircases, the rotating walkthrough, even the cheesy elevator ride and the corny water finale. Angie even fell on the rocking staircase with rope handrails when the people in front of her let go and the tension was lost. She didn�t get hurt, but it was funny. Next we walked over to the lost Kenny wood section and rode:
EXTERMINATOR- Reverchon spinning enclosed wild
mouse After this we split up and got lunch, with plans to meet up again before we left around seven. Lunch was really good (and cheap). After this, we took another Thunderbolt ride and then hopped on the Flying Carpet (which, along with the Roll-O-Plane, was supposed to be closed all day). It was a fun Huss rainbow (what�s the stock name of these?). Next we hit the Enterprise and the pirate ship and then hopped on my old favorite, the Bayern Curve. I remember loving this ride when it was at Six Flags New England, but I forgot how intense it was. This is a truly great ride, run at a good speed. Then we hit up the Musik Express, Pirate, and the small arcade. We then made our way over to the best flat ride in the park - The Kangaroo. The Kangaroo is nothing more than a group of cars in a circle with a large ramp at a random spot on it. The cars go pretty fast and there�s some nice airtime on the ramp. I thought this was going to be a mellow kid's ride, but it was a lot of fun. We then jumped on the fun paratrooper. After this, we took three rides in a row on the Jack Rabbit, which was running two trains, and then headed to the Racer, where we met with our parents again and I rode the other side with my dad. After this they were going on the Jack Rabbit again so we went on that again and got a front seat ride (and they got the back seat of the following train - DAMN). We then (altogether) walked back across the park to see if the Exterminator line was shorter. It was longer, so we hopped on the Whip, which was a lot better than the one at Knoebles. We then went to the Chance Wipeout, which was a very good new version of the old Trabant, but is on a slanted platform. It spun very fast and the sides weren�t padded ,so it was pretty painful (but fun). We were going to top off the day with a few rides on the Thunderbolt and Jack Rabbit, but seeing the shortened line for Phantom's Revenge, we instead got on that and waited for the front.
KENNYWOOD OVERALL - +5 That took me a long time to write, so you better enjoy it. If you made it this far, you must really love roller coasters (like Mark D.). Thanks for reading, -Mike
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