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Kennywood Park

Looks like I may have to make a Pennsylvania trip next year. This looks REALLY good. It’s pretty clear S&S was heavily inspired by RMC. That has got to be the most unusual first drop I’ve ever seen.

I recall back when people suggested Uni should have a football IP to their parks. Funny to see a park actually do that.
The Steelers are really protective of their brand, even more so than Rowling/Warner. I would imagine there's either a strong business partnership involved here or various guarantees and protections whereby the Steelers have control over what is occurring. This is kind of a landmark & unique amusement park/theme park arrangement. I have to give them credit for this. Pure genius marketing for this area of the country. There's no IP that could work better in this case....I'm definitely renewing my AP next year. I'm actually even more enthused for the Steeler Experience area than the coaster, and that coaster is definitely going to be something special....Damn, 9 Inversions. I'll have motion sickness for a week.
 
This and Steel Vengeance may pry my "Alien Saucer Swirl" out of Florida. Now only if I could team it up with Phish at Blossom Music Center in Akron and we're talkin' epic road trip.
 
In one way, having a Steelers themed coaster + Land is kinda out of left field. (No pun intended)
But on the other hand, I can agree it's actually a brilliant move. Having visited Pittsburgh four years straight before, Steelers are downright icons in the area, so it's a great move for Kennywood!

As for the Steel Curtain, it looks RMC-inspired and downright fun. However the only concern I have is this is from S&S. While they can make great coasters, it's hard for me not to look back on Gale Force which is quite possibly one of the biggest train wrecks coaster-wise in a while. I really hope Steel Curtain does not run into that kind of mess.
 
So time for my transplanted ass's thoughts.

The ride looks very fun, but visually appears like trash. I HATE the cheap "lets build towers for supports" look that the RMC Raptors and S&S El Locos have.

I am amazed no other park has really gotten an NFL team on board for a ride yet, or any professional sports team really. The new restaurant and guest experience sounds awesome. I think this will be a locals home run.
 
So time for my transplanted ass's thoughts.

The ride looks very fun, but visually appears like trash. I HATE the cheap "lets build towers for supports" look that the RMC Raptors and S&S El Locos have.

I am amazed no other park has really gotten an NFL team on board for a ride yet, or any professional sports team really. The new restaurant and guest experience sounds awesome. I think this will be a locals home run.
No different than a coaster in Charlotte themed to...
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We went to Kennywood yesterday to check out the new Thomas (the Train) Town expansion that they finally opened on Friday. We'll be taking the girls in a couple of weeks when the crowds die down. Heavy rains all year had delayed it's construction a bit. Kennywood paid $8.6 million for this and they sure got their money's worth. The area is absolutely beautiful, stunning, super colorful and perfect for families with young kids. And, short of the Kennywood RR, which they rethemed to Thomas with Thomas locomotives, music, themed station, and themed RR route, the area has a small footprint. Three Thomas themed flats accommodate children of all ages (under 36" has to have a parent ride with them). One themed mini drop tower has a 42" inch minimum. Adults can ride with their kids on all the rides. The flat the kids seemed to like the best was really cool, if you're a kid. They had firetrucks with vertical ladders. The ladders had a platform for the kids to stand on and spray water through hoses at a burning building that was in the middle of the ride. The ride went in a circle as the ladders moved up and down. That looked like a blast. They also had a train station show with four face animated full sized locomotives in front of a train barn, and two live actors. The kids went crazy with this show since they had them interacting in mass with many of the show scenes. They also had a really nice gift shop that reminded me of the Sponge Bob shop at USF. And housed adjacent to that, & air conditioned, was an indoor interactive playground with slide tubes, rope walks and all that kind of cool for the little ones stuff. The area and the entire park was packed with huge crowds. It felt like MK with all the zillion strollers around. My shins suffered though.....If they did something like this with TSL, and substituted these types of rides and interactive areas for Alien saucers, TSL could have been a better utilized area for young kids. And I bet Aliens alone cost Disney more than the $8.6 million this entire, really fantastic, IP kids land cost Kennywood....This is also the type of thing that Universal could set aside a couple of acres in KidZone with one of the IP's when they do the redo, whenever that happens.... Thomas Town was a really good use of space which is Disney like in it's presence. Color me greatly impressed how this turned out. Way above my expectations. And much better than the previous Sesame Street expansion at BGW.
 
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We went to Kennywood yesterday to check out the new Thomas (the Train) Town expansion that they finally opened on Friday. We'll being taking the girls in a couple of weeks when the crowds die down. Heavy rains all year had delayed it's construction a bit. Kennywood paid $8.6 million for this and they sure got their money's worth. The area is absolutely beautiful, stunning, super colorful and perfect for families with young kids. And, short of the Kennywood RR, which they rethemed to Thomas with Thomas locomotives, music, themed station, and themed RR route, the area has a small footprint. Three Thomas themed flats accommodate children of all ages (under 36" has to have a parent ride with them). One themed mini drop tower has a 42" inch minimum. Adults can ride with their kids on all the rides. The flat the kids seemed to like the best was really cool, if you're a kid. They had firetrucks with vertical ladders. The ladders had a platform for the kids to stand on and spray water through hoses at a burning building that was in the middle of the ride. The ride went in a circle as the ladders moved up and down. That looked like a blast. They also had a train station show with four face animated full sized locomotives in front of a train barn, and two live actors. The kids went crazy with this show since they had them interacting in mass with many of the show scenes. They also had a really nice gift shop that reminded me of the Sponge Bob shop at USF. And housed adjacent to that, & air conditioned, was an indoor interactive playground with slide tubes, rope walks and all that kind of cool for the little ones stuff. The area and the entire park was packed with huge crowds. It felt like MK with all the zillion strollers around. My shins suffered though.....If they did something like this with TSL, and substituted these types of rides and interactive areas for Alien saucers, TSL could have been a better utilized area for young kids. And I bet Aliens alone cost Disney more than the $8.6 million this entire, really fantastic, IP kids land cost Kennywood....This is also the type of thing that Universal could set aside a couple of acres in KidZone with one of the IP's when they do the redo, whenever that happens.... Thomas Town was a really good use of space which is Disney like in it's presence. Color me greatly impressed how this turned out. Way above my expectations. And much better than the previous Sesame Street expansion at BGW.
Sounds like they knocked this one out of the park.
 
Yesterday the Pirate Ship ride malfunctioned and wouldn't turn off. A normal 2 minute ride turned into an apx. 10 minute ride. 2 minutes is pure nauseous. Imagine the motion sickness after 10 minutes of that.
 
Yesterday the Pirate Ship ride malfunctioned and wouldn't turn off. A normal 2 minute ride turned into an apx. 10 minute ride. 2 minutes is pure nauseous. Imagine the motion sickness after 10 minutes of that.
Screamscape mentioned that this morning. And apparently the new Thomas the Tank train ride derailed day before yesterday.
 
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