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| - I got to spend a few hours at Kennywood and for the most part I really enjoyed it. There was one thing that I was very disappointed in, which cost them a perfect score. But I will talk about that at the end in detail.
They have free parking and paid parking. I opted to park for free and it was a wise choice because the free lot is not far from the entrance at all. There is also a sky ride that will take people from the free lot to the entrance but it wasn't operating when I was there.
After entering the park I saw a sign for what they call a "vip coaster tour". For a fee you can get a wristband that allows you to skip the lines. They have different categories to choose from, for example they have one that's just for the roller coasters for $25, one just for water rides, and one just for thrill rides. But all it does is basically reserve a time when you can skip the lines to ride. If you want skip the lines on the roller coasters unlimited times you have to spend $80 for the "coasters and thrills plus" which is what I did since I knew I only had a few hours to spend in the park. What you do is enter each ride where everyone else exits, walk up to the ride platform and an employee will immediately let you get on the ride. It's definitely worth it if you don't like waiting in line or you only have a few hours to spend in the park.
The park appearance was great, and the employees were very nice and friendly. I love the different kinds of water fountains, it brought a certain elegance to the park that others I have been to lack.
The food was OK. I ate a slice of pizza and a hot dog while I was there. It was about as good as you would expect at an amusement park, not good, but not terrible.
Now for the rides, this is definitely more of a park for families than thrill seekers. Of the five main roller coasters (Jack Rabbit, Racer, Thunderbolt, Sky Rocket and Phantom's Revenge) really only Sky Rocket, Thunderbolt and Phantom's Revenge I would consider to be thrilling. I didn't ride Exterminator, which is a spinning dark ride that's technically consider a roller coaster. I didn't ride it because I normally don't find dark rides to be very fun, so I cannot comment on the experience.
Jack Rabbit has one thrilling element called a "double dip" where the train goes down a hill, levels out a little, and then drops down a steeper hill. That element definitely gets you out of your seat. Plus it's a seat belt only ride, so there is no lap bar holding you in, which I thought was very cool. But besides the double dip the Jack Rabbit is very tame but is great for families or someone who is riding a roller coaster for the first time.
The cool thing about the Racer is that two trains run side by side and race to the finish. There aren't any signature thrilling elements, but it's a very good family coaster.
Thunderbolt is cool because it really whips you around some tight banked turns. There are no seat dividers so the person on the right gets thrown into the person on the left. Because of this nobody is allowed to ride alone.
Sky Rocket starts off with a launch from zero to fifty MPH in 3 seconds over a top hat, and when you get to the top the train stops and hangs over for a second. Then it sends you upside down 3 or 4 times. What's really cool about this ride is that you go upside down without a shoulder harness so your upper body is allowed to move more freely.
The best ride in the park is Phantom's Revenge. It's a lot faster and higher than any of the other coasters, and throughout the whole ride you are being thrown out of your seat. The lap bar has some give to it which makes the ride experience very pleasant.
Now to talk about the one thing I was disappointed in, and it has to do with Phantom's Revenge and the vip coaster tour. As a vip coaster participant, when you arrive on the platform a ride operator will tell you to sit in row 7, which is the middle of the train, and they will tell you to sit there every time. On all the other coasters you are allowed to pick your row, but not Phantom's Revenge. This really rubbed me the wrong way because the last ting I want is to be told what row to sit in, especially after spending an extra $80. When I asked an employee if I could get in the back row the employee politely explained that the middle rows are roped off at the platform and are reserved for the VIP people. In my opinion that's just not right.
A suggestion would be to take a page out of Cedar Point's playbook and have the separate VIP line go to the main platform and then have the VIP riders mix in with everyone else when you choose your row. That way the VIP people can either choose to wait a little longer for the front or back, or wait less for the middle.
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