April First - a post in two parts

Happy April Fools Day! I have decided that I will indeed post every picture from our California trip, no matter how bad. ;-) (I also found some extra pictures that may be good candidates for a future post.) I'm going to end this post with some more Kennywood memories, so feel free to read what you want! 

Let's start out with this high-quality picture of the Timber Mountain Log Ride:Next is this slightly dark image of the Primeval World Diorama. If you squint, you may be able to make out the brontasauruses (seriously).

I have no clue how I skipped over this picture-perfect image on the Disneyland Railroad when I went through all my pictures the first time. But here it is in all its glory for you to enjoy:

While taking pictures of the Three Fences, I noticed a submarine on the prowl through the trees on the right, and I had to grab a picture. Compared to the other pictures, this one is only 95% bad!

Most of my Haunted Mansion pictures are feasts for the eyes. Take this example of Madame Leota:

I think I am the happiest person to ever get his picture taken with an Adventureland trash can.

I might just be the no. 1 Haunted Mansion photographer of all time.

Sometimes, you just want to get on Big Thunder Mountain so bad that you have to use your ninja skills to summon the train. Or something.

My dad took this picture because he was fascinated by this old tree, and it is pretty cool!

What did I take a picture of this pot of stew on the Columbia? Because it was rad.

My picture of Max, Buff, and Melvin in Winnie the Pooh didn't turn out too great, but at least I got the shot.

BLAM!

And to end, here's a picture that's not bad by itself, but since you may have seen a similar angle millions of times before, I'll just leave it here. The Mark Twain.

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Here are some more Kennywood memories to finish out this post because I didn't include everything in "part 1" two months ago, and I enjoy typing this stuff out!

The kiddie Ferris wheel is one ride that many people dread operating, but I didn't mind it on the couple of occasions I operated the ride. Even though you have to crouch to help kids buckle their seatbelts, the task of balancing the wheel keeps things interesting, and it's funny seeing kids whirl around in the cage-like cars.

For Kennywood's Halloween event, the park's midways are covered with a thick blanket of fog. This photo is looking across the lagoon for the Pittsburg Plunge with the Phantom's Revenge and SwingShot in the background.

In the summer, the lagoon is covered with fountains, and it's one of my favorite spots in the park. 

This picture shows a large reason why the Racer is my all-time favorite ride: I love the design of its station from 1927. They don't build coaster stations like this anymore!

My favorite spiel at this ride would be "When I say 'race,' you say 'er!'" So everyone would sound clueless saying "errrrrrr...." as the train dropped out of the station.

The ride in the foreground is the "Pittsburg Plunge," (old spelling of Pittsburgh), and it was one of the first rides I operated. Since it's a typical shoot-the-chute ride where you get drenched, the majority of riders were overly excited pre-teens, and there were a lot of shenanigans. Every time you told the riders to "exit to the right," they would without fail jump out to the left and look around like they were completely confused. 

At my orientation in early 2022, we had to sit through a three-hour-long PowerPoint presentation that relied heavily on 2000s-era clip art. One slide had a picture of a military tank representing no weapons, and the presenter told us, "Don't bring your tank to work." No one laughed. 

Here's a snow-covered Jack Rabbit, which is set in one of the park's ravines. Opened in 1920, the Jack Rabbit is the oldest ride operating at Kennywood. I hope you enjoyed this off-kilter post!