Roller Coaster Road Trip 2017 - An Unplanned Stop in Pittsburgh and Kennywood

Road trips can be a lot of fun, and when you add amusement parks into the mix, then they can be super fun, especially for roller coaster nuts like me and my friends.  This year was my pal Rich and I's third Roller Coaster Road Trip and we had some new company this year, fellow coaster enthusiast Gary.  Now every time we do one of these things, I'm usually the one who comes up with the plan...it's kind of my thing, and this year all I knew was that I wanted to include a little bit of Canada.

Since Rich and I loved King's Island, near Cincinnati...and home to The Beast, and Gary had never been there, we made that our first stop.  Next it was on to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio.  Cedar Point is the Mecca for roller coaster enthusiasts and this one wasn't hard to decide upon since we all love the place.  Niagara Falls, Toronto and Canada's Wonderland would round out the trip.  So after much planning and preparation, on July 23rd we were on our way.

Now here's one of the reasons why I love these road trips...unplanned pit-stops.  Our first destination was an AirBnB place in Cincinnati and the route our GPS was taking us was through southern Pennsylvania, a route Rich and I had taken before, right past Pittsburgh.  Pittsburgh was one of our stops on the very first Roller Coaster Road Trip and we enjoyed the city and of course its nearby theme park, Kennywood.  We had a pit-stop to make!

We had discovered Primanti Brothers on that first trip and since we arrived in the Pittsburgh area a little early for the evening run at Kennywood, we decided to give it another go.  Primanti is a Pittsburgh staple.  All of the restaurants sandwiches come on sourdough bread, with some french fries and cole slaw inside...interesting and tasty!  

After a cheers to the beginning of our trip and a quick Primanti, it was off to Kennywood, one of America's oldest theme parks. The place has been providing entertainment to people since 1898 and it is quaint and beautiful. They've got six coasters, three classic woodies, a dark mouse ride, and two steel monsters: Skyrocket and Phantom's Revenge, and we got our first five coasters in the check column! (We skipped Exterminator, the indoor mouse coaster.)

Now, Skyrocket, Jack Rabbit, The Racer, and Thunderbolt are all nice rides, though I found the latter a bit rough.  Phantom's Revenge, formerly known as Steel Phantom before a renovation to remove some four rough loops back in 2000 (check out this video on the history of the coaster), is da bomb!  It's one of the reasons I love roller coasters so much.  This one is unique in that it's second drop is higher and steeper than the first.  That's only possible because of the hilly terrain of the area and the fact that this particular drop careens through a ravine, straight through the structure of Thunderbolt!  Wicked!  Oh did we ride this one a few times.  Check out a video I took of the coaster: 

Anyway, this was a great, unplanned start to our trip.  Kennywood is a great place to spend a few hours, especially to ride Phantom, and now we had King's Island to look forward to.  Stay tuned!  In the meantime, check out some pictures from our evening at Kennywood...

Skyrocket

Phantom's Revenge

                 Me n Gary

A-Z Blogging - Adventure Parks - K is for Kennywood

Kennywood is one of the oldest amusement parks in the country.  In fact, along with Playland Amusement Park in Rye, NY, it is one of only two amusement parks in the country registered as a National Historic Place.  This park was one I had long wanted to visit, and I did finally get the chance to go during that 2010 roller ocaster trip.  Though, I wouldn't recommend the long ride just for this place, I would recommend a visit there f you happen to be in the area.

Like many traditional amusement parks, Kennywood started out as a trolley park, a recreation area for weekend pleasure seekers located at the end of a trolley line.  The place opened up in 1898, operated by the Kenny family, and quickly began to grow in number of attractions and popularity.

Laffin' Sal

Over the years Kennywood has grown by leaps and bounds and today has a stable of rides and attractions to rival many a theme park, but like at Playland in Rye, this place still has the look and feel of a traditional amusement park, steeped in history.  Rides such as the classic woodies, Thunderbolt, Jackrabbit and The Racer hearken back to the early days of roller coaster riding, and attractions such as Laffin' Sal, The Victorian Watermill and Noah's Arc all bring back the folly of yesteryear for people to enjoy.

In order to compete with today's high thrill, high tech amusement market, Kennywood has also added rides and attractions more akin to what can be found in today's theme parks.  There's The Exterminator, a dark coaster experience, Skyrocket, the park's newest steel coaster, a rapids ride, The Pittsburgh Plunge, and my personal favorite, the Steel Phantom...

All in all, Kennywood is a great place to ride rides.  It's located just 8 miles outside of Pittsburgh in a beautiful, hilly setting in West Miffin, Pennsylvania.  All of the photos in this post were taken by me during that trip in 2010, and I hope you like them.  Stay tuned for more Adventure Parks blogging and in the meantime, check out my other entries below...

"K" Coaster of the Day - Kingda Ka

Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, NJ

Today was an easy choice for Coaster of the Day.  It's the one and only, terrifying Kingda Ka...Scary!!!

A is for Alton Towers

B is for Busch Gardens Pipe Dreams

C is for the Coasters of China

D is for The Derby Racer

E is for EPCOT Center

F is for Ferris Wheels

G is for Geauga Lake

H is for Holiday World

I is for Islands of Adventure

J is for Coasters that Begin with the Letter "J"

A-Z Blogging - Adventure Parks - Coasters that Begin with the Letter "J"

When I first decided to have a theme of Adventure Parks for this year's A-Z Blogger's Challenge, I brainstormed a list of A-Z topics I could do, and I had trouble with the letter "J."  I even enlisted the help of some fellow coaster enthusiasts like myself and they shot blanks, as well.  So, I thought that maybe I'd share some coasters that begin with the letter "J," and there aren't many of them either!

Judge Roy Scream
Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington, TX

joyrides

How's this for a name of a roller coaster?  The ride was the park's very first wooden roller coaster and it sits aside a lake near the entrance of the park.  The ride was named after an eccentric 19th Century Justice of the Peace named Judge Roy Bean.  I dunno....  Anyway, check out Judge Roy Scream...

Jungle Racing Coaster 
Happy Valley, Beijing, China

themeparkreview

This one is a type of runaway mine ride, so it looks pretty tame, but the structure and ride itself look hella cool!