Hutch's Roller Coaster Road Trip - Final Part: S**t Flags Great Adventure

[Hutch]

Let’s do this.

I had a few reasons of putting this trip together. Obviously there were a lot of big rides and parks I wanted to check and try again. Steel Vengeance was a big one. After hearing unanimous praise about it last year, I couldn’t wait another year to pass up on that puppy. I needed to ride my favorite coaster Skyrush again, after going four years without riding it. I also still needed El Toro, after being “closed for maintenance” on my visit four years ago. It was also time to dust off other “major” parks in the area, including Dorney Park and Kennywood.

But one of the main reasons why I put this trip together was to finally meet some other CFers. I went 5 years of being on CoasterForce without actually meeting up with anyone in person. Now, I’ve always wanted to meet others that share the same passion as I do, but it didn’t occur to me until about a year ago that CoasterForce is probably the best place to make that happen. So for the past year I’ve really been itching to meet more of “my people,” so to speak. I’ve been able to meet a couple of you so far, but never in big enthusiast group. So what better way to meet more people than a CF-Live?

With the resurgence of CF-Lives in the USA, I planned my big trip around Ed Hart Stole My Heart. I’m glad I did that one because it’s shaped up to be the most popular live of the year.

Well I better get one with this, I tend to do long reports so at this rate it’ll take a while for me to get through all of this.

Part 0 - Travel

I left Sunday morning (the 14th) from the east coast of Massachusetts and drove all the way out to Philadelphia. I originally wanted to hit the road by 9, but didn’t get out until closer to 10:30. I was in need of some more sleep so I slept in an extra hour.

I had tickets to the WWE pay per view show Extreme Rules that night, which was held in the Wells Fargo Center. Being a wrestling fan, this show lined up very well with the rest of my trip, with Dorney Park planned for the next day.

I ended up getting to my hotel at 5:30, which was enough time to settle in, shower, and take an Uber to the arena for the 7 PM start time. Had I left home at 9 AM, I originally thought I could spend a little time in the city before the show (really would’ve just gone to some cheesesteak spot). Obviously that didn’t happen, but I was fine with that. I’m not much of a culture guy anyway and I could still get a cheesesteak at the arena (which was disgusting and enjoyable at the same time).

Anyway.

The show was awesome. I’ve been to three others in the past but this was clearly the best one yet. Lots of fun matches. I sat up on the balcony, but the view was perfectly fine (the photo above doesn’t sell it too well).

Needless to say it was a great way to kick off the next couple of weeks.



Part 1 - Dorney Park

It was about time I checked off this park as I had actually driven past it multiple times on the way or coming from other parks. Due to my home’s location, this was either going to be the first or last park on the trip. I’m really glad I got this out of the way first because it was fairly average.

It was an easy drive up from my hotel, hour and a half. I parked my car right as the park opened. First thing to greet you is this nice looking B&M.

I got my Platinum Pass sorted out and made my way in. While stumbling around to find a bathroom I wound up next to Wild Mouse. Right, let’s just get that out of the way.

Felt like I could barely fit on this, my knees were almost up to my shoulders. Really tired of these things, I mean they’re kind of fun but they’re also a chore. Thankfully this was the only one I’d be riding on the trip (or so I thought).

Found the bathroom then made my way down the hill to Possessed. Place was like a wasteland. You can imagine my impressions of the park upon walking through this:

So Possessed. Walked onto the front row because the teenagers in front of me wanted the middle for some reason.

It was fun. Not the most comfortable of rides but intense nonetheless. The launch is very abrupt, there’s some force going up and down the spikes, and the verticle twist is funky.

Only other Intamin impulse I’d done was Wicked Twister, but never in the front row. So the view of the end of the track up top and facing the ground was great.

But didn’t this use to have a holding brake at the very end? It wasn’t doing that here so I have no idea what happened.

Definitely still prefer Wicked Twister for the double twisties. But Possessed is a good supporting ride nonetheless.

Despite seeing it test from the parking lot, Steel Force remained suspiciously quiet. So I went to Thunderhawk instead.

The queue offered some of the better views of Steel Force. Unfortunately couldn’t get shots of it running!

It was another walk on to the front row. Again, everyone in front of me somehow avoided the front. Not that I’m complaining or anything.

It was okay. Don’t know if they did some recent work on it or it was because I was in the front, but it was a lot smoother than I expected, so I’ll give them that. But when your little airtime hills don’t give any airtime, that’s where you have an issue.

From there I struggled to try out other rides. Went to see what was going on with Steel Force. They sent out a few empty trains but not much was going on. Some camp kids had also started lining up outside the entrance, and I wanted nothing to do with that. So I moved onto other things.

Went to try out Demon Drop for the uniqueness, but a sign said “Ride Will Open at 11 AM.” Checked my watch. 10:56. Not worth the 4 minute wait so I moved on.

Assessed the scene of the kiddie cred. Bunch of families lined up in the queue. Wasn’t ready for the shame.

That led me to Hydra.

Remember those camp kids I mentioned? So they made up about 80% of the clientele, and a bunch of them had decided to ride Hydra. A queue had spilled out down the stairs. It probably would’ve been a 10 minute wait, but I’m spoiled and I want my walk on.

So the only other option was Talon.

I should’ve known this would’ve been a little packed, being towards the front of the park. Everywhere I went I couldn’t escape the camp kids. There was a slight queue coming out of the station but the station was packed. Not a great sight to see.

I still got on in about 10 - 20 minutes I think (can’t remember exactly). So you know, nothing terrible.

Fortunately the ride is great! This was easily the ride I was looking forward to most at the park and it did not disappoint. Very smooth, great inversions, really nice flow.

As an added bonus there’s a couple of airtime moments. Nothing crazy but it’s just cool to have some of that on an invert. There’s also some awesome low-to-ground turns and helices. Makes for some nice force and great interaction with the ground and foliage. And no MCBR is huge.

I did two rides back to back, both in the back row. Back row on the left side was my favorite, mainly for the snap exiting the zero go roll. Those are consistently my favorite inversions on the B&M inverts.

I’d probably rate it among the upper half of my ridden B&M inverts. I definitely prefer it over something like Afterburn or the Batman clones. But it definitely doesn't reach the incredible Montu or Nemesis.

Went to get the rest of the creds, so I headed to Hydra: The Revenge. This time it was a walk on to back row.

It was good but not great. I always thought this ride looked pretty interesting with its wacky shaping, but I remember this getting mixed reviews. I can understand why some people might not be fans of it. It had a noticeable vibration in some of the valleys, probably because I was in the back row.

Wasn’t a fan of the jojo roll. I don’t despise slow hangtime, but I don’t like it as much as I used to. It’s gimmicky, and I’d probably prefer to just get on with the ride.

The first drop was great. I got a lot more airtime than I thought, especially with the back row. Easily my favorite drop on any floorless I’ve done.

The rest of the ride was solid enough. The inversions are good, but nothing fancy. There’s one or two weak airtime moments toward the end. But again, the rattle sort of brought it down.

So it’s alright. It’s solid enough but I wasn’t particularly impressed. I wasn’t eager for a second ride.

After that it was time to try out this death trap.

I don’t know of any other ride like Demon Drop so this was definitely a must-try for me.

I’m not sure how the designer came up with this idea for a drop tower, but it was pretty gross. Just very uncomfortable. The drop itself was fine but leveling out on your back wasn’t pleasant. It gets pretty jerky at the brake run and coming back into the station as well.

The engineering is quite fascinating though.

Also... cred??? (I haven't counted it... not on RCDB but still who knows?)

But yeah, not a fan.

Steel Force was open at that point, so I went over to that and walked onto the back row.

This was my first Morgan hyper coaster, and I actually quite liked this! It’s not the most comfortable ride in the world, but it had some pretty fun moments and was pretty smooth. The first drop was a little awkward in the back, I think that came down to some weird profiling on the track. The big hill after that doesn’t really do anything, but the following helix along the hillside is awesome. It doesn’t look like the most interesting element when viewed from off ride, but the speed is great, there’s some laterals, and there’s an unexpected head chopper with one of the supports.

It gets even better after the MCBR. There’s more floater airtime than expected on the camelbacks. It’s held back a little by the awkward restraints, but it’s still really fun.

I went back for a second ride, this time in the 3rd row. It was just as good, if not better.

Steel Force doesn’t beat Talon for me as my favorite ride in the park, but it’s one of the better rides in the park. Made me more excited to Phantom’s Revenge the next day.

I had one last cred to get, the kiddy coaster Woodstock Express. I don’t know about you, but these kiddy creds are getting more and more shameful for me… still gotta get that +1 though. And sorry, no picture.

I’m pretty sure I got lunch after that. I settled with a burger from I believe the Coaster Diner, which you can’t go wrong with. I was being very leisurely at this point. It was only around 12:30 and at this point all I wanted were re rides on Talon and more pictures. I had Knoebels in the afternoon, but I’d already done that park so at this point I was in no rush.

As I mentioned earlier, I went back for some more Talon action.

The station was fairly empty at this point, so I waited a few extra cycles for a front row ride. Obviously that made the low turns even more exciting.

Really like the layout of this. Nice big inversions in the first half followed by some high speed turns low to the ground.

So naturally as I get off my front row ride, everyone else in the park had decided to join the queue. It wasn’t all the camp kids, but I think it was a bunch of people coming from the water park. I was pretty satisfied with my rides earlier anyway so I decided to hit the road.

So Dorney Park. About what I expected, and I didn’t go in with high expectations. Others have described it as a concrete park with a bunch of rides plopped down, and that’s more or less what it is. The rides are solid and the staff are great, as expected from Cedar Fair, but the whole place just lacks charm. Talon and Steel Force are great, but I don’t think those two are enough to bring me back. It lacks that one fantastic coaster that every major park has/needs. And there’s no way this park is getting a new coaster anytime soon.

Another weird thing I noticed is that the dispatch gates in each coasters’ station weren’t automatic. Peeps had to open them up manually, and it was always unclear whether they were open or not. This confused a lot of people.

It also didn’t help that you can get everything done very quickly. I got all the creds in two hours, but even then I was being very inefficient with my gameplan, what with having to walk back and forth around the park multiple times. Even if I really wanted to, I probably could’ve gotten everything in an hour.

I got out of there by around 1:30. Had a little drive up the road to Knoebels for the afternoon.

Hope you guys enjoy and stick around for this one. It’s gonna be a long one! I’m writing this from my cousin’s place outside of Columbus, so I probably won’t get to the next part until the trip is done.

 

[Antinos]

Dorney may lack charm, but at least it has quite a few trees and the park as a whole appears to be well maintained. That's better than what can be said about Michigan's Adventure.

 

[Snoo]

You're already in Columbus? AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!!?

 

[Hutch]

You're already in Columbus? AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!!?

I'm seeing family dude! And it's my cousin's birthday lol.

Don't worry, you'll get your time with me soon.

 

[Matt N]

Great report @Hutch! Where will your Roller Coaster Road Trip be taking you next?

 

[Snoo]

I'm seeing family dude! And it's my cousin's birthday lol.

Don't worry, you'll get your time with me soon.

I mean, birthdays.

 

[Hutch]

Great report @Hutch! Where will your Roller Coaster Road Trip be taking you next?

I hinted it at the end of the report, but easy to miss with the amount of text.

Had a little drive up the road to Knoebels for the afternoon.

 

[Matt N]

I hinted it at the end of the report, but easy to miss with the amount of text.

Ah, must have missed that bit! I look forward to your thoughts on the park, especially rides like Phoenix! (Although having said that, I remember seeing your Phoenix thoughts in the Last Cred Review thread.)

 

[Hutch]

I’m back home now so I damn well better get on with this...


Part 2 - Knoebels

I had already done Knoebels a fews years back in between a college tour, so really the main reason to come back was for Phoenix and their flying scooters. I actually ended up spending a lot more time here than I initially thought, somewhere around 5 hours. I ended up trying some of the other rides, and it was nice to have a chill afternoon/evening in the park.

Much to my surprise, the place was packed. Last time I was here was on a Wednesday in August, and the place was dead. Despite the crowds on this visit, it was nice to actually get some real atmosphere, something that lacked on my last visit with nobody there. Plus, the lines weren’t all that bad, and it's not all about the rides at a park like this.

I had also forgotten how great this place really is. It’s just so charming and laid back as opposed to the more corporate feel you get from a Six Flags or a Cedar Fair.

Before buying any tickets I did a walk down to Phoenix and assessed the situation. There was a consistent queue that spilled out by the entrance, and one train operations (so about 20 min; better than it looked). Going in I considered getting the wristband for unlimited rides, but it didn’t seem worth the $45, especially when there was a good amount of peeps at the park. I settled for a $20 booklet of tickets and got another $10 booklet a couple hours later (although I think the total purchase was actually $27).

So I kicked things off with a ride on Phoenix of course.

And it only took one ride to remind myself just how amazing this ride is. It’s such a simple layout but the buzz bars and lack of seatbelt really give this ride its full potential. It also helps that the ride is really smooth and just focuses on drops and airtime hills. No helices, no twists, no bull****.

Even the turnarounds are really fun. Depending on where you sit, you can get some gentle floater going up or down them. In particular, the last turnaround before the finale has some pretty good laterals.

But obviously it’s the little bunny hills that are special. I think some people get a little carried away when they use the term “standing airtime,” but on Phoenix that statement is 100% true. Going over the little hills, other than your thighs hitting the buzz bar from the ejector, your feet are the only thing touching the train. The final four hills are the best ones, with the last one being the most intense of them all. Even the tunnel at the beginning is fun. It doesn’t exactly do anything but it adds character.

It’s so ****ing fun. And it definitely deserves to stay in my Top 10. I know some people have come off a little unimpressed with the ride… but how?? How can a ride this great and this fun leave people underwhelmed? What were they thinking?

At this point I just did one ride on Phoenix. I wanted to give it time for the queue to die down, but that never happened. In the meantime I decided to try out the Scenic Skyway.

Selfie of me struggling in the heat:

It was a pleasant ride, but honestly going up to the top wasn’t too interesting. I’m a lifelong skier so charlifts are far from unfamiliar territory. I think it was the most expensive ride at $4 a pop, which could’ve been used for an extra Phoenix ride (not that I wouldn’t be getting plenty of rides on that, but still).

It definitely became worth it on the way down though. Had a fantastic view of the park and surrounding hills.

So yeah, glad I did that. Worth it for the views on the way down.

Next I went and tried Whipper, which was a new ride type for me.

I kinda thought that these rides were pretty rare but I actually saw a couple more of these later on in my trip. So in hindsight I probably could’ve saved a couple bucks and tried the ride at another park.

It was alright. Obviously it’s all about the quick turns and laterals, but the engineering behind it is pretty cool as well. It actually has a pretty long ride cycle, so it started to get a little repetitive after a while. I can imagine how fun these would be riding with multiple people though.

At some point I got another ride on Phoenix before doing Flying Turns.

Unsurprisingly, this had the longest queue in the park. It would’ve been 30 min but after about 15 min the ride ops were in need of a single rider. So I was able to bypass half the queue.

I already had the cred, and as a ride it’s actually pretty mediocre, but the novelty alone is worth a re ride. The turns themselves are kinda fun actually, the train banks pretty high up there. It’s a shame that it’s just so short though.

Honestly if this was any other old steel coaster with the same layout, I would’ve skipped it.

So at this point the only other rides I cared about doing were the Flyers and more Phoenix. I was still kinda holding off on Phoenix re rides as I was trying to see if the queue would die down, and I wanted to save the Flyers to be my last ride before departure.

So I wandered around for a bit, grabbed some photos, grabbed some water from my car, and eventually got some food as well.

Skipped Twister because it’s crap.

I also ended up skipping Impulse, partly because it was down for some time, but also because it’s not that exciting. I’d much spend those $3 on another Phoenix ride. Had I had the unlimited wristband I probably would’ve ridden this and even Twister, but only because they were there.

After I some cheap dinner I got a few more rides on Phoenix.

On almost all my rides I sat in the third row. That’s supposedly the magic seat and it delivered every time. It works out because the front row is always popular and the back (from what I remember when I tried it a few years ago) isn’t as smooth.

Satisfied with Phoenix, it was time for the Flyers. The reason why I saved this for last was in case they’d yell at me for snapping too much. They didn’t care when I did this a few years ago, nor did they seem to care this time, but you can never be too sure.

Ok, here’s a hot take: if I did a combined ranking for coasters and other rides, this would be in the running for Top 10. The snapping is so easy it’s insane! I don’t get scared on rides anymore (maybe I get a little nervous at the top of a drop tower sometimes), but this ride is absolutely terrifying when you snap them. I must’ve snapped them close to a dozen times, and I was smiling the entire time while simulatneously fearing for my life. You get so high up and close the trees, you feel like you might just go crashing into Flying Turns. I know it’s safe, but I definitely had my doubts during the ride.

I love it so much. Easily my favorite flat ride I've ever done.

And with that it was time to head out. I had a hotel 30 min up the road to my next, and I had an early drive out the next morning.

Knoebels is great. I already went over this, but the charm and atmosphere really hit the spot. I’m grateful for the free entry/pay per ride system, because other than Phoenix and the Flyers there’s really not much else to draw me back. That’s fine, all you need to do is pop in for an hour, ride those two rides on the cheap and you’re good (unless you need the creds of course). And with its relative location to Dorney and Hershey, it’s super easy.

Up next, another new park for me.

 

[Matt N]

Great report @Hutch! Knoebels looks like such a lovely amusement park with charm around every corner; I'm so glad you liked it, and I'd love to visit some day!

Phoenix in particular is a huge bucket list ride for me; it looks like the sort of coaster that literally exists for the sole purpose of ejecting you from your seat, and your review makes it sound nothing short of incredible!

 

[Howie]

Good work Hutch. I'm looking forward to going to Knoebels one day, looks lovely. I'm guessing you quite liked Phoenix then?

 

[Hutch]

Good work Hutch. I'm looking forward to going to Knoebels one day, looks lovely. I'm guessing you quite liked Phoenix then?

If it's not already obvious, Knoebels is great for everyone. If you're with a non-enthusiast, this is the park to go to in the area.

And yes, you could say I quite liked Phoenix.

 

[GuyWithAStick]

Knoebels is such a phenomenal park! I was there a few weeks ago and agree with you on a lot of fronts(including the Flyers being Top 10 worthy!) I really hope I can get back out there some time.

 

[Antinos]

Man, I gotta get back to Knoebels! Such a lovely little place <3

 

[X: Uknown]

Great report @Hutch! Knoebels looks like such a lovely amusement park with charm around every corner; I'm so glad you liked it, and I'd love to visit some day!

Phoenix in particular is a huge bucket list ride for me; it looks like the sort of coaster that literally exists for the sole purpose of ejecting you from your seat, and your review makes it sound nothing short of incredible!

I'd be glad to show you around Knoebels Matt N. Best family park in America!

 

[Matt N]

I'd be glad to show you around Knoebels Matt N. Best family park in America!

Thanks very much for the offer; it's definitely on the list for when I eventually visit that part of America! (not for quite a few years yet, I'm afraid!)

 

[Hutch]

Part 3 - Kennywood (Tuesday, July 16th)

I had an early start to the day, on the road by 6:30. Between the 3.5 hour drive to Kennywood, Kennywood being the biggest new park for me on the trip, Steel Curtain madness, and another 3 hour drive toward Columbus in the evening, I anticipated this to be the busiest day for me. Additionally, since I’d be staying at my cousin’s house that evening, I wanted to be on the road by the afternoon, limiting my time at the park. That made for an exciting and anxious cred run, but it was fine in the end.

After hearing about the underwhelming Stealing Kenny’s Curtain live, I lowered my expectations for the park. Fortunately the stars had aligned leading up to the trip: Steel Curtain had its grand opening just three days before my visit, and Sky Rocket had just reopened after being SBNO for several months. So you can imagine my excitement and relief upon hearing that. As for the park, I actually quite enjoyed the place, and that includes the rides and overall feel.

I got to the park entrance at around 10:15. A crowd had already started brewing.

You know where most of these people would be heading. And that was the same plan for me. It was either hit Steel Curtain immediately, or wait 2 hours in the afternoon.

Once they opened up, I made a brisk walk to the back of the park for the new ride, passing by anyone I can. First impressions of the ride? It’s ****ing huge.

Seriously, pictures do not do this thing justice. While driving up towards the park, I was shocked when I first saw the thing up on the hillside.

So naturally the thing isn’t open yet. Well apparently none of the rides in the park open until 11:00 AM, which is total bull****. It’s stupid because the people who show up early hoping for some quick rides end up having to wait another 30 minutes anyway. It takes away any incentive to show up at 10:30. If they can’t afford to open their rides at 10:30, they might as well not open the whole park until 11:00 anyway.

So the line forming only started outside the main queue area, and extended all the way outside by the turnaround.

I wound up waiting with a local season passholder and his son. This helped the waiting go by a bit as he knew a lot about the park and a little bit of the industry (he dropped the name S&S, so he seemed to be well informed of the theme park scene). He said they were there the day prior trying to get the ride, but apparently it didn't open until 2:30. That scared me for a minute, and it was still unclear of when they’d get around to opening it today.

Luckily they got around to testing it at around 11:00. This unfolded lots of excitement among the crowd.

At around 11:10, they finally started letting people in the main queue.

They sent us through all the cattlepens. It took about 5 minutes to walk through all of them, without stopping.

This is about where I stopped, just at the bottom of the stairs up to the station. You can clearly see they had no issue filling in the cattle pens.

After they started letting everyone in the main queue, in only took me around 30 minutes to get on the ride. One train operations, but apparently they had been having trouble running two at the same time (so I heard). So a total hour of waiting, but since I got there pretty early I was in a good position.

General consensus was that the front was the better and smoother ride. Obviously there was already a huge queue for the front row, so I settled for the third row.

Steel Curtain is great! Going in, I (and I think many others) had concerns about how it would ride, whether it would have a rattle, etc. All those concerns completely went away. I didn’t get a chance to try a second ride in the back, but it ran perfectly fine where I sat. Comfortable seats too.

One thing that wasn’t expecting was how great the positive forces were. I’m not a huge fan of sustained positive forces, especially if they’re rattly, but here they were just right. You get some good ones in the first half in the valleys, without being too intense.

The big inversions at the beginning are about what you’d expect. They’re fun, floaty, and definitely feel huge. The speed at the bottom is great as well.

I didn’t ride it enough to settle on a single favorite element, but collectively, the airtime hill, dive loop, and stall combo were my favorite. Visually it’s also the most interesting, especially with the hill and stall on top of each other.

You get a nice pop of air going over the hill, and the stall is taken at a fast speed so there’s more emphasis on the whip rather than the hangtime.

There’s a couple other pops of airtime, but nothing crazy. There’s one going into that corkscrew after the stall and a lower but gentler pop earlier in between some of the big inversions.

I will also say I had mixed feelings on the aesthetic when looking at construction photos, but after seeing it in person, I’m all for it. Football theme aside, I like the color scheme, the trains look nice, but more importantly the whole scale and structure just look great.

But yeah, it’s not a next level, amazing ride or anything (doesn’t crack my Top 30), but it’s a great addition. It’s clearly gonna be the park’s flagship ride from now on.

While everyone else was still busy with Steel Curtain, it was time for more creds. Thunderbolt was up next. Because of the crazy laterals, they have a strict no single rider policy, but luckily they were able to pair me up with someone else.

This was actually pretty fun! I really like how it uses the terrain and does some big drops right off the bat (and this isn’t the only woodie in the park that does this), and it has some great interaction with Phanny; there’s even a good headchopper or two.

The laterals are ridiculous. You go down the first drop straight into a turn that’s practically unbanked. I love how the designers were probably just like “**** it” and barely made an effort with the banking. Thankfully the ride wasn’t that rough so the turns were enjoyable. Solid stuff.

More importantly, it was time for the other big boy in the park.

I was a little confused of where the entrance of was, but I finally found it… all the way up underneath the first drop?!

Phantom’s Revenge was only running one train, but barely anyone was in the queue so I waited a few extra minutes for front row. These trains are weird... I was actually kind of expecting some lap bar akin to Lightning Run or even the RMCs, but it’s actually a Timberliner style bar that comes down from the side. Interesting choice.

First drop, nothing special. Obviously it’s the second drop which is the kicker.

There’s some really nice floater air going up this hill. Wasn’t expecting that.

Second drop… and ok, wow. The rest of the ride gets so much more intense than expected! The drop itself doesn’t have much airtime, but it’s all about the speed you gain and the view going down. The Thunderbolt head chopper is insane.

Then it just pins you in your seat for a big powerful turn. Yeah, definitely greyed out there.

Going back through Thunderbolt and then the ejector kicks in. Holy **** it’s out of control. There first one is wild: going up and underneath Thunderbolt again, there’s a change in pitch and you’re ejected out of your seat while simultaneous getting another headchopper.

Even this little dip coming out of this turn is intense:

It just gets crazier after that, almost a little too crazy.

I went back around for a second ride, this time walking onto the back. It was still amazing, but I think prefer the front for the floater going up the big hill and view going down the second drop. The ejector in the second half is great no matter where you sit.

I loved it. The only drawback I have is that the ejector isn’t the most comfortable, probably down to the restraints. It wasn’t painful, and the ride overall is smooth, but it’s pretty reckless when it throws you around. Maybe with some better restraints it could be Top 10.

And if anything, it’s really cool to see an old(ish) steel coaster still kicking ass today.

Station for Phanny, while everyone else was waiting 2 hours for Curtain:

I only did two rides for now and needed to move on with the rest of my cred run. I came back later for more, but in hindsight I probably should’ve stayed and cycled through a few more rides while it was still a walk on.

I went over to check off Exterminator. Thankfully this was also a walk on despite the low capacity.

As you can see they have a very well-themed queue. Really immersive stuff:

So remember in my Dorney report where I thought I rode my one and only wild mouse on the trip? Well turns out this was a Reverchon spinner, so somewhat of a wild mouse considering the brutal hairpin turns. Themed to wild mice of course.

I had actually never done a spinner like this, so that combined with the fact that it was indoors made it a little more interesting. It was okay. There was some theming sprinkled around but very forgettable. The spinning itself was good. I imagine it can get pretty absurd with multiple friends together.

Stopped by their Johnny Rockets for lunch. Went to Sky Rocket after that.

By now more people had gotten their ride on Steel Curtain which meant they’ve moved onto other rides. Queues had built up for pretty much all the other coasters. Nothing bad, but you know, annoying when your trying to tick off creds.

I got on in about 20 minutes, snagging a seat in the front. It was solid. The launch, top hat, and inversions are all great, but the rest of the ride is pretty forgettable. Sometimes I’m not really sure what it’s trying to do? It does some random turns here and there and some okay bunny hills but nothing really special.

The first half is pretty good but the MCBR kills the pace, before doing **** all after that.

I did enjoy the ride though, at least the good portions. I would’ve re ridden it had it been a walk on. It’s still a good supporting ride for the park. Back when it opened it was probably something the park really needed.

Moving on the the other woodies, it was time for Racer. Being a Möbius coaster, obviously you gotta ride each side to get the single cred. That was annoying here considering it wasn’t exactly a walk on, but thankfully the queue moved pretty quickly due to the dual loading.

It’s definitely the tamer of the three woodies in the park, but it’s still pretty fun. There’s some fun little drops and nice racing interaction. I rode it once in the front, and once in the back, and enjoyed it each time.

Going in, I didn’t know too much about the layouts of the three woodies. However, Jack Rabbit had me the most excited, mainly because it’s (probably) the most iconic one in the park.

It’s definitely a strange ride. I had a bit of confusion stepping into the train before realizing the buzz bar was stuck in a horizontal position. Has it always been like this? Alright, let’s just squeeze in there. Guess the seat belt is the real restraint.

Like Thunderbolt, you start out with a drop right off the bat. Unfortunately the ride doesn’t do a whole lot after the lift hill. Just a couple of drops but it goes immediately back to the station after that turnaround. However it has the best element of the three woodies: the double down. And it’s awesome! With the loose restraint you get some sweet airtime going down. There isn’t much else the ride has to offer, it’s just all about that double down.

But yeah, another fun woodie. For the most part I was pretty impressed with all three of them. I think my favorite is Thunderbolt for the intense turns, interaction, and length, but Jack Rabbit had the best element in the double down. And I gotta say, all three of them were running great, especially when they’re all approaching 100 years old!

Another thing about Jack Rabbit: had some good views of Steel Curtain.

Have some more photos of the Curtain.

I had one more cred to obtain and I saved the best for last:

Gotta love Lil’ Phanny. Pretty sure I got some parents staring at me while riding.

With all the creds checked off, it was time for more Phantom’s Revenge. As I hinted earlier, it had gained a bit of a queue since I left… and still on 1 train ops.

So naturally, right when I was only a few cycles away from riding, they finally go and add the second train.

So I ended up waiting around 45-60 minutes, which is still worth it anyway. It’s just annoying as I would’ve liked a few more rides, but at that point it was 4 PM and I needed to hit the road.

So despite going in with low expectations, I actually liked Kennywood. I only did the coasters, but they have a pretty good lineup. Phanny is amazing, Curtain is great, and Skyrocket and the woodies are all solid (oh and I guess there’s Exterminator but who cares about that.).

And besides the one train ops on Phanny and Curtain, operations on everything were fine.

Only other complaint is the rides not opening until 11, but other than that, I was fairly satisfied with the place. I don’t think I like it as much as say, Knoebels, but it was a nice park and definitely charming. I’ll try to return here next time I’m coming through the area.

 

[Antinos]

Glad to hear another member singing praise for Phanny. It's a seriously underrated ride.

 

[Hutch]

Glad to hear another member singing praise for Phanny. It's a seriously underrated ride.

I wouldn't say it's underrated, but more so just not talked about as much? It seems to get positive opinions whenever someone does talk about it.

 

[Hixee]

Yeah, I think that's it. It's generally reasonably overlooked, which is a shame as it is pretty nuts.

I still hate how Steel Curtain looks, but maybe you're right, maybe it looks better in reality. God I hope so.