KENNYWOOD
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Abbreviation: KW)
Parques Reunidos
 Park News - (4/20/2024) This week has been a bit of an odd one for Kennywood. While we’ve already covered how Steel Curtain is going to be closed for all of 2024 to try and fix everything long term, the park was struck by lightning on Wednesday night sparking a fire. Early pictures seen from afar made it look like the Thuderbolt wooden roller coaster had caught fire, but it was quickly updates that it was actually the sign on top of a nearby ice cream stand that caught on fire, and not the coaster at all. Fire crews were brought on site and put out the fire very quickly, preventing it from spreading to any other nearby structures.
(4/17/2024) Kennywood dropped a bit of a bomb this afternoon when the park confirmed the worst fears for this summer’s guests… Steel Curtain will not be operating at all for the 2024 season. According to the video posted to FB (follow this link) the park confirms that they have worked with the manufacturer (S&S) and 3rd party engineers to come up with a plan to essentially “fix” the problems with Steel Curtain. This “extensive modification project” is supposed to be a “long term solution to increase its reliability and longevity.”
So as disappointing as this may be to many who were planning this summer with the hopes of finally getting to ride this monster roller coaster, we can only hope that this finally solves the issues and will let it run reliably for the park at last in 2025.
(4/4/2024) A new statement from Kennywood goes into details about changes and additions made to the park for the 2024 season. We already know about the Potato Smash bumper cars (see below), but Kennywood has also confirmed that the Turtle will return this season, freshly back from a complete restoration. The park’s Aero 360 ride has also been repaired and ‘refreshed’ and will return to action with newly painted seats and an updated control system, and look for a refurbished Wacky Wheel for the little ones as well. Jeeter’s Pub will also return, featuring 8 draft beers from Penn Brewery, and a new restaurant will open called the Carousel Burger Co.
(2/4/2024) The wave of attractions cutbacks from Palace Entertainment have finally reached Kennywood, as I’m told that the park has now cut the Elephant Parade (a Dumbo style kids spinner ride) as well as the S.S. Kenny (Zamperla Rockin’ Tug) from the list of attractions on the park’s website.
There is one more odd possibility… while the Crazy Trolley is still listed on the page of attractions, and still has a dedicated page listed, the clickable icon for the attraction has been removed from the interactive map along with the S.S. Kenny and Elephant Parade icons. So perhaps it was almost removed, or perhaps they are still making a final decision.
(1/21/2024) Lawsuits from those claiming to be injured because hot food and beverages were ‘too hot’ is always interesting. You may remember the famous lawsuit from 1994 where a customer successfully sued McDonald’s for almost $3 million after she spilled her own coffee on her lap, causing severe burns. I’m not just talking a burn blister, apparently she ended up in a hospital for days and underwent skin grafting.
You may think that after all… isn’t all coffee “hot” and McDonald’s wasn’t even responsible for spilling the coffee. In this case the argument was that the coffee was way too hot, served at somewhere between 180-190º and potentially a huge risk to anyone who might have purchased it. The case however set the stage for similar lawsuits to follow, which brings me to Kennywood.
According to the local news a woman is now suing Kennywood after the hot cheese from an order of Potato Patch fries spilled onto her hand, causing second degree burns in July 2022. Much like the McDonald’s coffee case, the argument here is that Kennywood is negligent for serving food in a state “too hot for human consumption”.
(8/17/2023) Kennywood has announced that they are shutting down the park’s Turtle ride on Sunday to perform a major refurbishment. The Turtle (also originally known as Tumble Bug) is now 96-years old and believed to be the very last ride of it’s kind running in the entire world. According to the local news report the Turtle’s central foundation needs to be replaced, so they will have to remove the ride and dig down about 15 feet, breaking up the old foundation in order to replace it. The goal is to start the project now to make sure they get the needed ground work done before everything freezes up for the winter.
2024 - Potato Patch Bumper Cars - (3/16/2024) Kennywood has confirmed that the contest to name their new Potato Patch themed bumper cars attraction is “Potato Smash”.
(2/14/2024) Kennywood is asking for everyone to vote on the final name for their new Potato Patch themed bumper car ride. The three choices are: Deep Fried Derby, Potato Smash and Speedy Spuds. Follow the link to vote for the name that sounds the most a-peel-ing. You can vote once a day for your favorite now through Feb. 19th.
(11/26/2023) I missed this announcement while IAAPA was going on, but apparently Kennywood is going to revamp the park’s bumper cars ride next season to add a new fleet of 20 cars that will be themed as Potato Patch fries. Both the bumper cars and Potato Patch will be celebrating their 50th anniversary next season.
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