[Devin Olson]

I was originally planning on hitting Marineland and Martin's Fantasy Island on this trip, but while I did get to Marineland, I missed out on going to MFI, however, that was more than made up for on the trip back...

After all that I've heard and seen about Kennywood over the years, and I was finally seeing it with my own eyes. The Phantom's first and second hills and the tower of PitFall came into view in the distance like an oasis in the middle of a desert. Approaching on Kennywood Boulevard, the graceful layout of Phantom's Revenge dominated overhead as a train roared down the first plunge. Sometimes you just have to pinch youself and ask, am I really seeing this at last?

I picked up my yellow Ride All Day wristband and entered through security, heading underneath the road and into the park. After you emerge from the tunnel, you get your first real glimpse of the overwhelmingly beautiful park's midway ahead. Trees everywhere, gardens, old-fashioned architecture, all clean and well-maintained. The weather was hot, not too humid, blue sky with clouds. Great day for a great park.

I had an appointment with Phantom's Revenge, and made my way over there for my first ride of the day, and what a way to kick off the day. The wait was back to the crossunder of the lift hill, which turned out to be about 20 minutes, but you know, it didn't seem at all that long as I absorbed the fact that I was finally at Kennywood and tried to take in the awesomeness of this apparent steel masterpiece. But then, the moment of truth. I got on the front seat, pulled the seatbelt across, pushed the side lapbar down, and prepared to leave. The train rolled out of the station, and this is when I discovered that Kennywood has no policy against cameras on their coasters, so be prepared for a load of on-rides.

We dip, bend 45 degrees to the right, and then begin the long climb up to 16 stories above Lost Kennywood. It's a slow lift, but that's an advantage when you have such a great view to take in. My arms go up, the green track begins to dive, and the ride sweeps down within feet of the ground for a nice high-speed straightaway, and then we hit hill number two with a slight curve over the top, and man, what a view. The Monongahela River straight ahead, and a dive through Thunderbolt straight below, the Phantom just rips down that drop with awesome speed and pulls out with low clearance to the track overhead.

The fan curve, unlike past Morgan creations, is far from underbanked, at a good 85 degrees, and you really feel the power of the ride as you begin it at 85 miles an hour with the 3.5 g's pressing you down. We clear the top with good speed and then dive gracefully back through the Thunderbolt with another great handchopper effect. It really says a lot about the design and engineering behind a ride when you're being twisted and banked around at over 80 miles an hour and your body stays in perfect alignment with the seat, but that's exactly how it is on Phantom's Revenge while we tear through one relentless, high-speed turn after another, all glass smooth.

After completing the turn around the Turtle, this is where more of PR's magic is, when one great hop after another, after another ejects you out of your seat with intense airtime. The hills aren't jerky at all like other Morgan hypers, but perfectly designed. With a dip, the train enters the first rabbit hop under the second drop, dives under the brake run, over a hop, a double-dip to the ground, banked turnaround, another rabbit hop, and one more hop onto the brakes... Wow. Airtime heaven. After one ride, Phantom's Revenge became my number two steel coaster, just below Volcano, bumping Superman down a place. I've come to realize that the three main qualities that make up an amazing ride for me are power, smoothness, and good pacing, and Phantom's Revenge, without a doubt, has all three. What a great park to save the best of the former coaster and combine it with something that Arrow just never could have done, atleast not back in the early 90s.

I could have just ridden PR all day, but I had four other coasters to attend to. The next stop was the closest one to the exit, Exterminator. I was disappointed that PitFall hadn't operated at all yet that day, so I passed by the closed tower and headed over to the Exterminator entrance where I found a wait that didn't look too bad. However, as I went through the queue, I found one hidden area after another, and my wait ended up being about 40 minutes. Groups of about 20 at a time were let through into the building, where we walk down a concrete corridor and wind around to another area of switchbacks in a themed room. We get the whole story behind the ride and then are let into the actual boarding area to load onto the round, four-passenger rodent-themed vehicles.

I knew roughly how the layout would play out, however when you're riding for the first time and it's a dark ride, it's almost impossible to anticipate everything that's going to come your way. The theming throughout is well-done, and after the lift hill you get going at a good clip of speed that isn't hindered much at all by brakes. But the thing is, being in darkness, one of the main purposes of the traditional hairpin curves on a wild mouse is defeated since you don't get any sensation that you might fly over the edge. These are the quickest hairpins I've been on, but you get slammed against the side of the car quite a bit if you're sitting on a far side. The spinning added an extra quality to the experience, and Exterminator is now at the top on my mouse / family coaster list.

Back into daylight again, it was through Lost Kennywood and over to Thunderbolt, my second-most anticipated ride at Kennywood after Phantom's Revenge, from all of the top rankings I've seen this classic coaster get placed in. About fifteen minutes and I was in the front seat of the green train, then we left the station. What a way to begin the ride. Starting out with a decent-sized drop into a ravine is a classic start to a classic ride, then we round the first U-turn and drop again into the ravine, over a double-up complete with airtime and then up the lift hill. As we descended, I knew exactly what we were in for, and I had a guy sitting on my left, so I was bracing myself against the side of the car during all of those lateral g's.

I can't really say that I'm a fan of laterals, and these have got to be some of the fastest barely-banked curves on any coaster, but an interesting element nonetheless. Circling around and then under itself, another left turn brings us to a second great plunge underneath Phantom's Revenge and into a quicker far turnaround, then a final plunge and climb with a single handchopper flying overhead and we enter the brakes. A great ride, I wouldn't say that it's the best wooden coaster in the world, but just below Georgia Cyclone in my number three spot on my wooden coaster list now.

One wooden coaster down, two more to hit. A nice walk under the trees, past the Skycoaster and to the closest side of its lake brought me to Jack Rabbit, another woodie at Kennywood I was looking forward to after hearing so many positive reviews. The wait over here was more like twenty-five minutes, with both the light blue and pink trains operating. Due to the narrowness of the station, riders are just let in from the queue to fill the train, so I didn't get my usual front seat. Instead, I headed to the very back while most riders were filling it from the front back. The restraints on Jack Rabbit are about as old school as you get, just a single lap bar, no seat dividers, and thin little strap with two settings. And on top of that, the lap bar is set so far forward that it only reaches half your thigh if that. More on the restraints later.

We round the first of four left-hand U-turns in the double out and back terrain layout, then make our first plunge into the gully with the first little dose of airtime. Climbing the other side, Jack Rabbit enters the tunnel, and the track shuffles a little to the right and left before beginning the next turnaround, heading farther back than I expected. Out of the tunnel, it's more airtime down the next drop, and onto the lift hill. At the top, we round the next curve and then start down, and I was never expecting just how much airtime you get in the back seat of this coaster. As we hit the double-down, all sound of the train ceased and I was ejected into the air with the true sensation of flight as all that kept me in was the bar pushing on my knees and the loose little strap. Some of the most extreme airtime I've ever felt, but I can see this ride almost bordering on hazardous for a small kid or anyone playing around with the restraints. Anyway, one more time around and then a final dip into the brakes, and Jack Rabbit making its mark on my top ten wooden coasters list at number four just below Thunderbolt.

I headed next door to Racer and got on after a wait that seemed about as long, and although only one train per side was operating, that's still up to 48 passengers per cycle. The attendant let the next load of riders onto the platform, and I grabbed a spot in the second row on the right train. While the train rolled from the platform, there was a loud creaking of the wood in the first turnaround and we made our way over to the lift hill. Both trains meet at the top, then it's over, down a small first drop, and in the first turnaround with the other train on the right now. I enjoyed all of the 45-degree hop / curves during the layout, and we had the other side beaten the entire ride until that last turnaround, which killed our lead by about the length of two cars.

After seeing the racing aspect of PKD's Rebel Yell not taken advantage of much at all for years, it's great to see a racer where the trains are actually raced every time. A smaller wooden coaster, not that much airtime or at all intense, but a fun ride, well-maintained like all of Kennywood's other woodies to make for a smooth ride, and of course the racing aspect really adds to the experience, especially when you're nearly close enough to reach out and touch the opposite train. Kennywood's Racer comes in at number eight on my woodies list.

Now it was getting close to the time I had to leave, and I had accomplished all of the coasters, so I took a nice break to try some of Kennywood's food I've heard so much about. I headed back to the Thunderbolt area, to the famous Potato Patch to try Kennywood's fries, and got a good-sized helping of steaming hot fries piled with cheese, and a Sierra Mist. Heading over to Lost Kennywood, I sat down right in front of the Pittsburgh Plunge lagoon and took in the beauty of the park while I ate my lunch. Now that's some good stuff. Next I did some shopping and got a Kennywood T-shirt, but I couldn't find one for Phantom's Revenge. The girl at the shop said that there was a black glow-in-the-dark T-shirt for PR, but I couldn't locate it at any of the shops.

Afterwards, I got back in line for Phantom's Revenge, I just had to get another ride on my new number two coaster. The wait had grown to over a half hour, but the front still wasn't too much worse than any other row. While in line, I recognized one of the ride ops, Gary, from various Discovery shows I've seen over the years, but I didn't get to talk to him since he was opping the back of the train. Well it was front row again, and into those comfortable backless seats for another perfect ride on Phantom's Revenge. What a ride. Without a doubt, Kennywood is one of the airtime capitals of the world. Although PitFall had started running again, I had to leave, but I'm not complaining.

The park has done an incredible job of blending the old with the new and introducing something just about every year, improving on what Kennywood has to offer. I noticed a few areas where things could be moved around to fit something new, and some small pockets of room left. One thing that I could see Kennywood doing to one of their more recent rides would be to convert PittFall to an Intamin Gyro-Drop, just an idea. And then there's land across Kennywood Boulevard and I'm sure that they own land farther down the hillside towards the river. Just some ideas.

A few other notes about the park... Kennywood is without a doubt the best-staffed park I've ever seen - there were plenty of staffers everywhere, up to five or six ride ops per coaster, and also I noticed maintenance milling around underneath the rides as they ran, inspecting the structure and underside of trains. Since I was allowed to bring my camera on everything, I have as many on-rides as you could ever want and plenty of park pics to get up. Kennywood completely met my expectations, and I'm definitely going to try to be back as soon as I can.

After my trip, here's how my top ten lists look:
Steel-
1. Volcano: the Blast Coaster, Paramount's Kings Dominion
2. Phantom's Revenge, Kennywood
3. Superman: Ride of Steel, Six Flags America
4. Batwing, Six Flags America
5. HyperSonic XLC: Xtreme Launch Coaster, Paramount's Kings Dominion
6. Laser, Dorney Park
7. Flight of Fear, Paramount's Kings Dominion
8. MindBender, Six Flags over Georgia
9. Dragon Mountain, Marineland
10. Loch Ness Monster, Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Wooden-
1. Roar, Six Flags America
2. Georgia Cyclone, Six Flags over Georgia
3. Thunderbolt, Kennywood
4. Jack Rabbit, Kennywood
5. Great American Scream Machine, Six Flags over Georgia
6. Hercules [Defunct], Dorney Park
7. Wild One, Six Flags America
8. Racer, Kennywood
9. Grizzly, Paramount's Kings Dominion
10. Thunderhawk, Dorney Park

[nitro_ownz_u]

Nice TR!! I sgree, Kennywood is a great park for airtime!! I found Thunderbolt a little rough, but I mighta just been where I was sitting. Jack Rabbit is absolutely amazing, and Phantom's Revenge.. well, words can't describe it.

[mrh520]

Im very glad you had fun at my homepark. Its a shame that you couldn't stay longer and soak up the park a little bit more. Its really such a beautiful park.

Phantoms revenge is such an amazing ride and isnt it amazing how smooth the arrow part of the ride is just because of the new trains. The ride is definitely the best in the back. My only gripe is that they would take one of the many operators and stick them at the turnstyle in the station to keep everyone from crowding in there.

Exterminator is a little deceiving. They have the inside and outside queue. Usually the outside one never opens but occasionally it does and the waits are usually the longest in the park.

Thunderbolt seems better in the back although rougher. It does matter where you sit on this ride to determin the roughness. Totally more intense at night. Its a lot more fun when you are comfortable with the person you sit with that you can just let urself go and not have to hold on. Its also better with a gorgeous girl being forced into you

Pitfall hasnt been operating as well as it used to. It opened at 4 or later the past few times i have been there (just got back from 2 days there). I think changing it to a gyro drop would be too difficult but it would be nice. It seems to have a lot of problems that kill capacity.

Hopefully the next time you are in the area you can spend more time at kennywood and really soak up the atmosphere and little parts of the park that are great but hidden.

[nitro_ownz_u]

Also, one thing I was meaning to mention was that the wait times I had for Phantom were a lot less then yours. The first two times, we walked on, because it was the begining of the day, and the third time, it was seven minutes, tops. Racer was about ten, Jack Rabbit was fifteen, and Thunderbolt was a walk-on. Pittsburgh Plunge was five, too.