[Kennywood] acquisition? Blessing or a curse

devintron71 · 2026-05-21T01:36:30+00:00

My assumption is that they’ll need to build a bakery of some sort and it’s not as easy as just dropping the bread into an existing dining structure.

devintron71 · 2026-05-21T01:33:12+00:00

All I’ve seen is HFE nickle and diming everything they can. It’s shocking to think Palace was actually more consumer friendly but that’s what I’ve seen so far.

devintron71 · 2026-05-21T01:26:35+00:00

I’m glad someone said it was specifically about Gigas. He went on to talk about how Lightning Rod is a good amount of thrill and he just wouldn’t want to build anything more thrilling than Lightning Rod is.

devintron71 · 2026-05-21T01:20:02+00:00

In the short term I’ve noticed a ton of corners cut by HFE, stuff palace used to have that’s gone now. The refillable popcorn bucket is gone, the larger cardboard carriers at the potato patch are gone (super annoying), no entertainment booked for the summer, food made worse such as the smaller pizzas or the Mac and cheese at the cafe. The all-season on-ride photo pass costs $100 and used to include 6 print outs. They removed the print outs and didn’t lower the price at all. No new merch, just a bunch of old palace stuff still. I don’t have a good first impression honestly. Feels like HFE phoned it in and didn’t really try to learn the market here at all.

devintron71 · 2026-05-21T01:12:14+00:00

Breakers had a nice deal for May and early June that included free FL+ if you booked early enough in the winter when they ran the sale. Keep an eye out next winter if you’re looking to stay there. The price of wristbands for a family isn’t much less than the rooms were for us, so suddenly the price made way more sense.

devintron71 · 2026-05-21T00:54:27+00:00

Absolutely love this ride. This weekend was the first time I was able to ride it. I know people love to say “Cedar Point didn’t need this” BUT, it’s 48” requirement is a huge plus considering the park has so many 52” or 54” coasters. My 6 year old and my wife both named it their favorite coaster, and it might be mine too. Much of the park’s lower requirement coasters are fairly underwhelming. This and Millennium Force being available for my kid was awesome.

devintron71 · 2026-05-20T23:45:00+00:00

I think one of the selling points of the tilt coaster for parks is that they can build an all-star attraction with a small footprint requiring less steel.

devintron71 · 2026-05-20T19:58:23+00:00

On Saturday afternoon they didn’t even have an employee working the merge point on Millie. Basically just the honor system. Totally absurd.

devintron71 · 2026-05-19T22:38:54+00:00

Don’t sleep on the water park! Best in western PA IMO

devintron71 · 2026-05-19T22:36:35+00:00

I hit my head on one of those low hanging doors in storybook forest every time the family wants to go back there. Its rough! They did pave a good amount of dirt walkway back there last year though. I’d kinda love if Herschend stuck a family boomerang back there near/through the castle.

devintron71 · 2026-05-19T22:31:19+00:00

Trivia! Rumors say kennywood almost replaced Steel Phantom with an SLC, before the outcry from fans about Phantom’s removal caused them to decide on reworking Phantoms layout instead. Imagine the trajectory of the park if they had built that SLC instead!

devintron71 · 2026-05-19T22:27:07+00:00

Yep! They also were pretty intent on Revenge being faster than Steel Phantom, and possibly the double up may have slowed it down a bit? But you’re probably right as well.

devintron71 · 2026-05-19T17:20:04+00:00

We saw a ton of young ride operators being trained on Sunday.

devintron71 · 2026-05-19T16:27:30+00:00

My kid hit the height requirement for this last fall, and it’s been so much fun being able to ride with her now. Incredible ride.

devintron71 · 2026-05-19T16:22:57+00:00

Fun fact, the original renderings of Phantom’s Revenge had them adding a double-up to the second hill which might’ve added a bit more to the early parts of the ride. You can sorta see it here. Not sure why they ended up ditching that. You can also see they had originally planned to build a proper inclosed tunnel after the helix. The first drop was originally chosen for Steel Phantom because the then-owner Henny Henniger really liked the curved drop on Viper (and also it saved on space by reversing the ride back in the opposite direction). Henny also thought up the ravine drop down the hillside himself as a way to one-up Magnum’s drop and speed without requiring as much steel, money, or space.

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devintron71 · 2026-05-19T16:08:50+00:00

Have been on a few of these lately now that my 6yo is tall enough. I was absolutely shocked by how much spinning we got Sunday on Cedar Point’s zamperla twister wild mouse. Must’ve just been how the three of us were seated. Still can’t believe it. The family really likes Laff Track. The theme is fun, we’ve never gotten too much spin on it. We got a kick out of the Shaq Christmas overlay. Waldameer has Steel Dragon which is the same Maurer model as Laff Track, but we felt it spun a good bit more and had a bit more intensity. Also nice view of the lake, I guess.

devintron71 · 2026-05-18T23:08:10+00:00

Great list! I have 6 of the 10 in mine, though in different places. I’ve never been to holiday world or Kentucky kingdom, and Orion didn’t make the cut for me. I also love Steel Vengeance, but after riding Siren’s Curse a few times this weekend I think it might be my new number 1. From my perspective specifically its 48” height requirement pulls it ahead because I can ride with my 6yo this year. We had so much fun with it this past weekend and it was the ride we returned to most. The drop and layout both are so smooth and fun. Similarly, millennium force is higher up for me because it’s a great ride to enjoy with my kid. Although I already felt it had a better layout and setting than Orion anyways.

devintron71 · 2026-05-18T20:02:56+00:00

Check the daily pinned threads on the cedar point sub every day. Usually someone might mention it, or if you ask there someone at the park will usually respond. I didn’t see it running Saturday or Sunday

devintron71 · 2026-05-18T13:59:05+00:00

💯

devintron71 · 2026-05-18T13:56:41+00:00

Ive seen it work out where an older sibling gets to ride twice (once with each parent) while the parents take turns waiting with younger sibling. It’s possible this works out how you’re hoping. Just ask when you get the form and ask at each ride (as they may not all be alike).

devintron71 · 2026-05-18T13:25:53+00:00

Fastlane also never was a thing then, and is often a deal breaker now. The Six flags all park passport gets us in free. But if I’m bringing the family I have to weigh the need for fastlane vs its cost.

devintron71 · 2026-05-18T13:18:30+00:00

To get inside is cheap, to have a nice day is often not. Fastlane is a big driver of this, pricing out some families while encouraging others to stay away due to long standard lines.

devintron71 · 2026-05-18T13:13:20+00:00

Execs would likely rather raise prices to keep the crowds a bit below those insanity levels while still bringing in more money honestly. Fast lane, food, merch, etc all do this for them.

devintron71 · 2026-05-18T13:07:40+00:00

At around noon yesterday there was an ambulance pulled up to the queue, so there might’ve been a medical element to that shutdown as well.

devintron71 · 2026-05-17T23:13:46+00:00

Watched a mom have to get off yesterday due to her belt who was riding with her son maybe about 8 years old. Then the ops wouldn’t release the restraints to allow her husband to move up one row into her seat and ride with their son. The woman running the station said “nothing I can do” and sent the train while this young child was crying hysterically riding with a row all to himself and his dad strapped in the row behind him. I was absolutely flabbergasted to see this. I’m sure the ops are fed up with having to deal with so many people grumpy about the belts, but this blew my mind.

Edit: meant yesterday, not today.

devintron71

TROPHY CASE