Re: TR:USofA Now with actual "R" - KINGS DOMINION, WILLIAMSB
Wednesday 29/5: Zombies?
So today was really just a travel day ; had a rather boring ~6 hour car trip to negotiate
in order to get me somewhere near the next park (Kennywood). Wasn't really sure whether
I would stop somewhere random en-route or just in Pittsburgh at the end of the trip so I
had not booked a hotel.
Having stopped for a spot of lunch 1/2 way through my drive I picked up one of those
Hotel-Coupon books that are common on the US interstates and spotted a few hotels in
Monroeville which I knew was a suburb of Pittsburgh and I knew had a geeky zombie movie
related connection (the original
Dawn of the Dead being shot here) - right, decision made!
Made it to Monroeville by the end of the afternoon and checked into a coupon-hotel (was OK
actually and much cheaper on the coupon than even internet rates) and headed off to
the Monroeville Mall for a looksee. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroeville_Mall )
The entrance bit is obviously post-zombie and gives a really false impression of the
place since this bit looks OK and relatively nice.... this is the only bit though.
The mall itself was actually awful, horrible, dated, ugly, no redeeming features
whatsoever (now the zombies have gone).
Rather disappointingly* there used to be a zombie/movie related store here, but in a fit
of perfect mis-timing it appeared to have closed down about a month earlier;
http://www.monroevillezombies.com/
* - As I said earlier in the thread, I didn't know that there was such a thing, but now I do,
I feel sad.
I think this is where it was;
And here is an attraction for Tom/Joey who seem to like this sort of thing.
--
OK clearly all that has no relevance to theme-parks and can hardly be argued as adding
to any local-culture discussions so we'll move on now....
Thursday 30/5: Kennywood
It had been 10 years since my only previous visit here. The last time I remember having
an OK time and being a little "charmed" by this somewhat idiosyncratic place.
Did the same trick of riding all the rides then picking up the camera later, so the pics
are not really in any order of what I did all day, but nevermind...
NEW for me was their 'Sky Rocket' (rubbish name) which turned out to be quite a fun little
launched ride. Not as good as the Gerstlauer launches I felt, but still nice enough
and a cool little twisty layout.
I had ridden the 'Old Mill' on my earlier visit so I was actually a little interested
in how it had been made-over into an IP-themed attraction (kinda like Blackpool and their
WallaceGromit thing). However I was not to find out, since it was "Sorry, Closed" all
day - a theme I will return to.
Jack Rabbit is good old fun though ; for a ride from 1920 you can't knock it.
And the other ancient woody nearby is good too ; famously one of the few Mobious coasters
(not that that really makes any difference to the experience, maybe you have to ride it
twice to get the "cred" but you would do that anyway on any recing ride?)
I also picked up this which I didn't lower myself to ride last time (first ride of the
day and there was no Q to share my shame with!)
Everyone takes a picture of the pretty fountain here;
Their other old woody (not really as old as the other 2, but older than me still and
there aren't that many rides that are!)
The laterals on this are so strong (and the seats small an undivided) so they don't ever
let people ride alone, so I have to endure the ignominy of the ride-op announcement
that I have no friends and would someone like to ride with me*... the kid who volunteered
was happy enough that he got 2 rides while his mate only got one.
* - OK, they were not that explicit, but thats what they meant.
For some reason I managed to not have a go on this dark ride - I think I thought I had
been on it before, but it turns out that this was a replacement for the one I'd been
on so I should have made the effort. Fail.
I did of course walkthrough this (are you watching Blackpool?)
Returning to the "Sorry, Closed" theme - a lot of this section of the park was not running,
I think they had a power failure but most of the stuff around here was shut.
Ridden this before, but was actually looking forward to having another go (even though its
"just" a spinning mouse in the dark, the fact that its a bit different to "just" a spinning
mouse is to its credit) - but no ; "Sorry, Closed".
The best coaster was running though, so that made me happy. Its a bit unsubtle but packs
a lot of speed as it dives down the hillside.
Nice sign for the nice coaster too
"Sorry, Closed"
See, I told you.
Disko was new to me too, they used to have a top spin that I recall watching where its
ride cycle did not even spin (so the vehicle went around on the arms, but remained level
all the time - something I didn't really understand at the time)
The new-ish ride that they were promoting was this Giant Frisbee (which I did not realise
until just now is a Zamperla ride rather than the similar Mondial ones) - I didn't ride
this out of apathy (and a big Q) - I've ridden a few of the big Mondial ones and they
are OK but don't do a lot for me (they are better than the smalled sized ones though!)
And everyone's trip to Kennywood has to end with this shot - its the rules!
The park was pretty busy for a random Thursday - lots of school trips it seemed which
was annoying (and making several rides closed compounded that) so I actually had a bit
of an irritating time - there were long slow moving Qs to get a drink for example and
that winds me up more than a big coaster Q ; slow service when all you want is a Coke
should not happen!
So rather than being "charmed" by this place, I looked on its its faults - its in a
horrible location on the side of a hill, the car park is awful and on the other side of
a main road, the whole place is borderline seedy and definitely rundown in lots of areas,
the staff were uninterested, bored and slow (on a busy day) and to be honest I was happy
to get out of there.
Shame, the place does look very nice in night time photos; perhaps the darkness hides a lot?
