Kennywood Park
Monday, 16th May 2005 by Alex Turnbull
Kennywood Park is Southwest Pennsylvania's amusement park, and was known as the "Roller Coaster Capital of the World" in the 1970s for its collection of excellent wooden coasters. Scott Ventura (who seems to know quite a bit about this park!) gives us the guided tour:
Due to Pittsburgh's hilly terrain, two of the coasters are able to drop into valleys without first ascending a lift chain. When built in the early 1990s, the Steel Phantom had to longest drop in the world at 220 feet, topping out at 80 mph. The drop passed through the supports of another coaster in the same valley: the Thunderbolt. Phantom was reworked a few years ago to remove the inversions and make it a hypercoaster: The Phantom's Revenge. Phantom (green track) and the T-bolt (white track) are at the northwest end of the park. Notice the shadows for the Phantom's supports. At the other end of the park, the brownish-red track is the Racer, one of only a handful of "Moebius" racing coasters in the world. Leave the station in the car on the left, return to the station in the car on the right. Just south of it is the Jack Rabbit, featuring a double-dip. The track levels out halfway down the longest hill, providing tremendous airtime.
Our picture is of the Phantom, which looks very cool. Thanks Scott 🙂
About the author
Alex has decided that his title will be Senior Vice President of Stuff.
You might see the picture compare the Phantom going under Thunderbolt in past and present in http://www.dfulmer.com/daveynin/archives/000029.php.
Darn. I spent a long time looking for a barge going through a lock to submit for “boats” and there’s one in this entry! Very cool though.
Random fact: In the Pittsburgh area, the phrase “Kennywood’s open” is a euphamism for “your fly’s unzipped”.
what’s this cool building a few klicks down the Theme Park??
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optimus, could you provide more of a description than “cool”? The color? The shape? In the park? Out of the park? In which direction from one of th e roller coasters?
The map might help. Bear in mind that 180 degrees rotates from the Google Maps perspective.
I think that “cool” building, (the big blue one), is the West Mifflin Area High School.
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here is a link
Yes, that definately is West Mifflin Senior High. They have one of the best high school football stadiums in the area.