Kennywood - June 13th, 2024

 On June 13th, we drove to the last park of our trip, the historical Kennywood of West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburg! Kennywood opened in 1898 and is home to many historical roller coasters and rides, with some dating back to the early 1900s! I had heard a lot about Kennywood, so it was finally great to visit and see what it is has to offer! 🙂

We arrived to Kennywood just before its gates opened for the day. We were able to take in this view of the park from the parking lot located across the street.

The view was quite impressive and something amusement parks in Pennsylvania can only usually produce as many amusement parks there are built in ravines.

Once we navigated down the large hill that the parking lot sits atop, we were greeted by this charming yet traditional entrance plaza.

The entrance plaza at Kennywood is home to this massive carousel horse statue. The carousel horse was close in size to a real horse!

Here is the map of Kennywood. Luckily for us, Kennywood was very flat compared to some of the other parks we visited on this road trip!

Once through the gate and down a path, you go through this tunnel to get into the park.

At the other end of the tunnel Kennywood's mascots Kenny Kangaroo and the Kennywood Arrow were there to greet you! Of interest, Kenny Kangaroo appeared at the park in 1974 while the iconic Kennywood arrow signs dates back to the 1920s. They were used to direct motorists to the thriving amusement park.

My first ride of the day at Kennywood was the Sky Rocket. This Premier Rides Sky Rocket launch coaster opened at the park in 2010. It features an LSM launch of 50mph (80 km/h) sending the train up a 95 foot tall, 90 degree hill which then takes you through a series 3 inversions!

While not the most thrilling roller coaster due to the brake just after the launch before the train descends the first drop, the Sky Rocket is still very fun and quite smooth!

Up next for me was a ride on the Kangaroo! The Kangraoo opened at Kennywood in 1962 and is a Flying Coaster ride manufactured by John Norman Bartlett. The leaping action of the ride is how it was named. At the end of the 2020 season, the park announced that it would be removing this classic ride. Luckily park guests voiced their outrage and the Kangaroo bounced back for the 2022 season after a major refurbishment, ready to give rides to future generations! The Kangaroo's leaping action is quite fun and a ride you should not miss when visiting Kennywood!

The oldest ride at Kennywood is the Old Mill indoor boat dark ride, dating back to 1901! The historic ride was refurbished in 2020 and now features ghoulish characters along its water chute. It was a really neat experience!

Up next was a ride on the 1920 Jack Rabbit, Kennywood's oldest roller coaster! 

The Jack Rabbit was designed by John A. Miller and built by Charlie Mach at a cost of $50,000 USD. The trains currently used of the Jack Rabbit were built by Edward Vettel Sr. in 1951. They feature a fixed lap/grab bar and only a seatbelt to keep passenger restrained. If you sit in the back seat of the train (like I did), you experience a great amount of airtime when navigating along the double-dip hill!

While waiting in line for the Jack Rabbit, I noticed the wall that features many historical photos from over the decades showing current and past rides of Kennywood!

It was quite interesting to look at as I am one who enjoys amusement park history!

Here is a closer look at one of the trains on the Jack Rabbit.

After a ride on the historical Jack Rabbit, I went over the Racer, a wooden racing coaster that has been operating at Kennywood since 1927. Racer is the last Möbius loop wooden roller coaster in North America meaning that you start on one side of the station and return on the other side.

Here's a plaque explaining the Racer's history!

Before I planned my trip to Kennywood, I was aware that Steel Curtain would be closed during 2024 to undergo refurbishments.

When it reopens, it will give me a reason to return as I would love to experience those inversions that are 197 feet above the ground! Steel Curtain was built by S&S and opened at Kennywood in 2019.

For lunch I had some extremely delicious crispy fries an dry-rubbed chicken wings! These were some of the best fries I've experienced as they were very crispy and flaky, in a good way! 😋

Thunderbolt at Kennywood is the park's third wooden roller coaster that dates back to 1924 as the Pippin and 1967 as Thunderbolt! Due to the nature of the National Amusement Device (NAD) trains used on Thunderbolt, the ride has a strict no single-rider policy. I was aware of this policy, so I had to patiently wait for another single rider to show up.

Since I couldn't ride Thunderbolt right away, I decided to capture some photos of it. From the midway you can see its two iconic banked curves.

Before and after the banked turns are drops that go well into the nearby ravines! 

Since I couldn't find a single rider right away, I decided to check out the last remaining Noah's Ark attraction. Noah's Ark is a funhouse that opened at Kennywood in 1936. It features many quirky gags playing off of the story of the great-flood with an ark that rocks back and forth as you navigate through its many rooms! It was a ride I really enjoyed and greatly recommend! 

Here is the historic plaque for Noah's Ark. 

Another classic ride at Kennywood is the Turtle, a "Tumble Bug" ride dating back to 1927. it is currently undergoing a refurbishment, so I was unfortunately unable to ride it during my visit. 

During my visit crews were actively working on it. Hopefully I'll be able to experience the Turtle on a future visit! 

The Lost Kennywood section of the park was quite nice with its early references to Kennywood's early years and of its early former short-lived rival, Luna Park. 

The Lost Kennywood section is home to an assortment of rides including the Black Widow, Swing Shot, Exterminator, Pittsburg Plunge, and the Phantom's Revenge just to name a few! 

Speaking of Phantom's Revenge, here is a look at the coaster's 160 foot tall lift hill, followed by a second 228 foot drop into the ravine below! From there, the train passes under the Thunderbolt twice during its run! It is quite the hyper coaster! The Phantom's Revenge originally opened in 1991 as Steel Phantom, an Arrow Dynamic looping coaster featuring four inversions. Due to roughness, the Steel Phantom was converted into a wild hyper coaster by DH Morgan Manufacturing for the 2001 season! In late 2021, Phantom's Revenge was repainted its current dark purple and black colour scheme as it had previously featured a teal and black colour scheme.

Here's Pittsburg Plunge, the park's splash boat ride that opened in 1995.

After an exhilarating ride on Phantom's Revenge, I lined up for The Exterminator. This indoor spinning wild mouse coaster manufactured by Reverchon opened at the park in 1999. While it is a fun coaster, you need a ton of patience as it took almost 1 hour and 30 minutes to get on as you wait outside for almost 30 minutes before being let into an indoor queue where you wait for an additional hour before finally being able to ride! What hurts the capacity of The Exterminator even more is what is usually a four-passenger per car ride is reduced to a two person-per car ride! If you really want to ride The Exterminator, I would suggest going to it first thing when Kennywood opens for the day!

Kennywood has an out-in-the-open Whip ride. I was wondering why the Whip didn't have a pavilion like most, only to find out about an incident 2002 during a storm. Unfortunately it was too hot outside for my liking, so I didn't get a chance to ride this Whip.

The curved drop on Phantom's Revenge builds up a lot of momentum!

The aggressive airtime on Phantom's Revenge is extremely fun and insane!

Speaking of airtime, I took a ride on Swing Shot, the park' S&S Screamin' Swing that opened in 2006! There's nothing like going sky high with just a lap bar!

Here's another shot of the bottom of the first drop on Phantom's Revenge. It is one of the most visible sections of the ride!

The sign for Phantom's Revenge is really cool!

Here is the Spinvasion, a Zamperla Gryphon ride that opened at Kennywood in 2023. I would take a ride on it once the sun began to go down. 

Here is another carousel horse that is located nearby the Merry-Go-Round at Kennywood. 

The Merry-Go-Round opened at Kennywood in 1927 and is a carousel manufactured by William H. Dentzel featuring a Wurlitzer Band Organ. 

It is a beautiful carousel with many hand-carved horses and a tiger and lion, too! 

In the centre of Kennywood is a lagoon, home to peddle boats. 

I really like the colour and façade used on the Racer! 

While I didn't ride it during our visit to Kennywood, here is a look at Aero 360, a ride that is themed to the iconic Kennywood arrows! This Zamperla Hawk 48 unit has been operating at the park since 2000. 

Here is a look at the historical Auto Race, a car ride built by Traver Engineering in 1930. It is the last of its kind in the World. 

After waiting almost all day for another single rider to ride Thunderbolt, I finally got lucky! I noticed this guy taking photos of the Thunderbolt while looking around. I approached him and asked him if he was a single rider. He replied yes and offered to ride with me after he learned it was my first visit to Kennywood! Turned out he was an amusement park enthusiast from Toledo, Ohio! I was so happy to finally ride Thunderbolt! 😄 Here is a look at the NAD trains that are used on Thunderbolt. They feature buzz-bar restraint and no seat divider, which is why no-single riders are allowed as they may slide out of their seat while going around the banked curves!

Thunderbolt's banked curves were quite forceful and the rest of the ride was filled with a significant amount of airtime! me and the other amusement park enthusiast sat in the back seat! I am grateful that I got to go on the Thunderbolt!

The Phantom's Revenge circles around the Turtle.

Even the smallest on hills on the Phantom's Revenge are filled with an insane amount of airtime!

Here's one final look at the Thunderbolt. Before the park closed for the night, I took another ride on the classic Racer wooden roller coaster before the park closed for the day.

Another iconic feature at Kennywood is the heart-shaped Goodnight sign, one of the last things guests see heading into the tunnel when leaving the park.

Here's my Mom and I after a fun-filled day at Kennywood!

That wrapped up our six day road trip in New Jersey and Pennsylvania! During our travels, we visited four amusement parks, two of those new to me (HersheyPark and Kennywood), and rode 22 new-to-me roller coasters, making my roller coaster count up to 167 roller coasters!

Thanks for following along! In a few weeks I'll be going on another amusement park road trip, so stay tuned! 🙂

Trip Recap:

Six Flags Great Adventure - June 8th and 9th

Dorney Park - June 10th

HersheyPark - June 11th and 12th

Kennywood - June 13th