Ever since I watched the Kennywood memories DVD ive wanted to visit this park, im a great fan of traditional parks and my favourite park in the UK is as traditional as they get Pleasure Beach Blackpool.The Pleasure beach and Kennywood management have had a relationship going back many years and when I was researching some materials at the pleasure beach the correspondance between the two parks backed this up.Another reason for me visiting Kennywood was to see the only other Noahs Ark attraction in the world which is based at Kennywood.

Kennywood is located in Pittsburgh.

Before this trip I got in touch with a few people on the KP connection website and the PR people at the park to try and arrange a tour of the Ark, needless to say they were as helpful as can be and a tour was arranged with Gary Baker a ACE’r and Kennywood employee.First Day at Kennywood.

We arrived at the park just after opening, the weather was a bit overcast and was welcome after spending 5 days at Cedar Point in scorching heat previously.

The first couple of hours we spent riding the Jack Rabbit, Log jammer and just really taking in the parks atmosphere, the park has a lovely fun and friendly atmosphere.

Jack Rabbbit coaster.

Ive included a few videos in this post as they can give you a far better understanding of the rides than I can with words. I would advise any coaster fans to try the back seat - its amazing.

Log Jammer.

After riding these we spent some time sitting around the Lake waiting for Gary who was due to meet up with us at 2:45pm.

We met up with [Gary had a good chat and made our way over to the Ark.Gary has the most amazing knowledge about Kennywood and is a true ambassador for the park, the ideal person for giving some out of towners some much needed park information.

Noahs Ark

Before doing a tour of the Ark we went through the attraction with a group of other visitors, its completely different to the blackpool one.

You start off in a lift and Gary told us Pittsburgh has had 2 floods and each time its coincided with the ark been built and then later rebuilt, this gets a few nervous laughs from visitors.

While this is going on and you feel the lift is rising the lift actually turns around and you face the opposite direction.A Tannoy annoucement comes over to say they are having some electrical problems and suddenly the lift stops and you enter the attraction.

I wont spoil this for anyone who hasnt been in the ark but I would like to say its completely different and was a welcome change from what I have been used to at Blackpool.

After the walkthrough of the ark we were given a tour of the machine room and components that go into all the strunts the attraction employs, its a very large machine room compared to the small relatively cramped one at blackpool.

The rocking mechanism is almost identical to the blackpool one.

After the Ark we are given front seat access to all the coasters so we spend the new few hours walking around to all the coasters with Gary, bypassing the queues and choosing the seats we wanted, I was introduced to a number of staff during this half of which I cant remember sorry, but they were all very friendly.

We finished the day with a nice evening meal on the park and split up with Gary about 9pm and made our way back to the hotel.

Kennywood Day 2

Just outside the entrance is this little fountain with a carousel horse in it, in the background Phantoms revenge.

Back at the park for our second day, we arrived at park opening and went straight into the park. Garfields nightmare was first, this is a very old attraction and similar to the river caves (or old mill) that we have at blackpool, the ride is painted in very eloborate colours to create the 3d effect as you travel round.

Its not a bad ride for children and some of the humour is quite funny.Next up Turtles, I was dissapointed when the Blackpool one stopped operating a few years ago, At Kennywood it shows how much care they put into these vintage rides as this is a great example.

Its a great ride and for its age its ride very well.Next up we rode the thunderbolt, Ive seen this on some programs been voted the worlds top coaster, I wouldnt go that far personally but its a fantastic coaster, full of thrills and airtime.

Like the Jack Rabbit we rode the day before these coasters are maintained so well the ride quality is superb. Its a brilliant ride, full of suprises. Because of its location on the side of a hill its quite difficult to describe, I have included a youtube video showing the full ride from start to finish as video can speak a thousand words.

Phantoms revenge

Phantoms revenge is an arrow coaster that was redesigned by Morgan during the off season in 2000-2001 when the 4 loops we removed, the track made longer, height increased to 228ft and the cars were modified to remove the over shoulder restraints. Its a very smooth coaster and again because of the park location as a first time rider you can never guess whats going to happen next, the 2nd drop through the thunderbolt supports is fantastic

Kennywood Racer.

Kennywood racer is a racing coaster similar to the grand national in Blackpool, 2 trains come out of the station at the same time and race around the track, i didnt find this as thrilling as the grand national but its still a great coaster.

I dont have any pictures of this ride as its quite difficult to shoot so i have included another video showing the full ride.

The exterminator

The last of the coaster we rode at Kennywood the exterminator is an indoor spinning coaster in a completely dark building, I enjoyed this the thrill of not knowing whats coming next adds to this.

Once we got all the coasters out of the way we decided to ride the whip. I forgot how much fun these really are and the one at Kennywood is maintained to a very high level, it looks and rides great.

After riding the whip we took a walk over to the high dive show, this was performed by 4 stunt performers and very fun, lots of crowd shouting and everyone seemed to enjoy this.

At this time of the day we started to feel hungry and headed over to the potato patch for chips or fries (for the americans). I have never thought that having chips with cheese sauce and bacon would be nice, but let me tell you this is amazing - i have never tasted chips like this and probably never will again.

I had to take a picture.

We spent the rest of the day walking around soaking up the atmosphere taking in a few rides here and there. Heres some more photographs taken during this trip.

The Boating Lake.

Beautiful Carousel.

Lost Kennywood

Conclusion.If you have never visited Kennywood and would like to get a feel for a traditional amusement park then this is the place to go, its a fantastic park, not the easiest park to get to in the world but none the less a fantastic park with some great traditional rides, very friendly ride operators and staff. One thing about Kennywood that for me made it so much better than Cedar Point was the relaxing aura that seems to involve the park, everyone is in a good mood and happy, I could quite literally visit Kennywood just to take in the atmosphere its so relaxing.

If you are travelling from the UK and like Pleasure Beach, Blackpool you have to visit this park.

Id like to thank Gary Baker, Rob Henninger and Mary Lou Rosemeyer for helping to organize this tour, it was very much appreciated by the two of us. You have a fantastic park. Thanks

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.