Kennywood

Being from western Pennsylvania, I've gone to Kennywood multiple times. For those of you who don't know what Kennywood is, it is a amusement park located in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh.

Kennywood is so close to me that my school district would have a designated day off of school for us to go to Kennywood if we wanted. As well as the special Kennywood day, a majority my friends worked there - side note: the movie Adventureland was filmed in Kennywood.

The park itself is relatively small compared to other well-known amusement parks like Disney World or Cedar Point. Which allows the public to actually make it through the whole park if they please.

The park itself has six roller coasters three of which are wooden:

• Thunderbolt is known quite well for starting off with a drop instead of an uphill carry.

• Jack Rabbit was made in 1920 and is one of the oldest running roller coasters in the world. It contains the "double dip" which causes the riders to lift out of their seat. Experience the double dip yourself!

• Racer is a two car roller coaster where the cars "race" each other side by side.

The other three are newer, metal coasters:

• Exterminator is an indoor spinning mouse roller coaster. The whole building is filled with scenery adding to the "story" involved with the ride.

• Phantom's Revenge is a replacement to the old coaster "The Steel Phantom" due to neck pain from the series of three loops. This coaster is special because the second hill drops further than the first, this is possible because the second hill falls past a cliff, allowing it to drop longer. Watch the ride here!

• Sky Rocket is the newest of the six coasters, being added in 2010. This coaster features a "zero gravity hill."

Aero 360 whirling everyone about.

There are many other unique rides to Kennywood - like the Aero 360, the Swing Shot,  Garfield's Nightmare, Noah's Ark, and the Pittsburgh Plunge.



The park also contains a child section, named "Kiddieland," which contains cute, child versions of some of the major rides in Kennywood. The Lil' Phantom is a child favorite in all of Kiddieland.

Holiday Lights with the Carousel in the background.

After Kennywood closes for the summer, the public is treated to two extra events before the end of the year. The Phantom Fright Nights is a spin on haunted houses, the whole park is decorated to accommodate the Halloween spirit.

Secondly, Holiday Lights brings in the Christmas spirit by doing exactly as it says - lighting up the park with over 1,000,000 holiday lights.

Kennywood is a great amusement park that has been open since 1898; I hope the park will remain to be open when I have kids of my own.