Kennywood Memories

Kennywood is my home park, and I visited once a month with the season pass I won this year. Since I recently visited the park's Holiday Lights event for the first time in six years, I thought it would be a good opportunity to also post a few pictures from my other visits this summer.

Kennywood's 1930 Auto Race is always fun, even if it does run a bit slow. Two of the best things about the ride are the animated neon sign and the hedges running all the way along its wooden track.

The cars were changed in the 1950s to be more streamlined.

Another 1930 addition was the art deco refreshment stand below, known as the "Lucky."

Turn around and you'll see Noah's Ark, all decked out for Christmas in this picture. The glowing light red on the left is the entrance to the Ark through a whale's mouth.

Kennywood is no stranger to eccentricity... where else can you find a mushroom water fountain?

I try to avoid the fence where the Bayern Kurve used to be as much as possible. :-( I'm excited for the return of the Kangaroo next year, but I'm guessing this was planned to make the loss of the other three rides hurt less. The Kangaroo always seemed like one of Kennywood's untouchable rides, but I can't think of another theme park corporation reversing its decision to remove a 60-year-old ride, so the Kangaroo's comeback is still a great success.

Kennywood was only open until 8:00 most days this summer, so Holiday Lights gives the park's neon a chance in the spotlight.

My favorite roller coaster at Kennywood is the dual-track Racer, built in 1927. These pictures were taken in the summer. The circle above the exit and the railing along the track are lit with flashing "chaser" lights. 

The Racer's long turnarounds gave me the opportunity to snap a few photos from the other train.

It's hard to explain it here, but the Racer is intertwined so that its track is one long loop, meaning you only cover half of the single continuous track with every ride. This puts each train on the opposite side relative to where it started when it returns to the station, always confusing first-timers.

I'm really excited that Kennywood is painting all three of its wooden coasters for next year. 

The Thunderbolt in particular desperately needed a coat of white paint. Here's a picture I took last summer of its wonderful 1958 trains. 

The Pagoda refreshment stand was constructed in 1987. It was a different era in Kennywood management, when the park was talking direct inspiration from Tivoli Gardens. On the left is the Parkside Cafe, one of the two original buildings that opened with the park in 1899.

I can never leave Kennywood without riding the carousel. For Christmas, they change the orange and green Halloween colors to red, green, and white.

In my opinion, the best seat on any carousel is on the inside row, right next to the band organ. And if there's no band organ, there's no point. ;-)

Until next year, Kennywood. It's going to be a wild ride!