When parents bring their children to the park for the first time, they get to revisit their own childhood memories. They climb onto the same carts and boats they did decades ago, passing on the thrills they loved when they were the wide-eyed tots and experiencing them anew through the next generation’s eyes.
3 comments:
It is without a doubt that one of the things that makes Kennywood so appealing to so many people, is that fact that it focuses on creating classic experiences. Going to a Six Flags or even a Disney park, that isn't what you're expecting. You go to these places to see the new and improved rides that they have to offer. While Disney still operates a lot of their "classic rides," for example, Pirates of the Caribbean or The Matterhorn, for the most part, the rides they are building now are not recreations of old ones, but completely new ones. It is great that Kennywood is not only maintaining old rides, but building new versions of old rides. This allows park goers to experience these classics in a ride that is up to newer construction standards and still look as good as new. While I have never been to Kennywood, I can see why it is so attracting to most people.
It is so amazing to hear that even during a pandemic two competing companies are willing to work together to bring some joy and some “spooky” to everyone for Halloween. I love that Kennywood is committed to bringing rides and decorations from the past back to the park with a modern twist. Nostalgia and history are huge selling points, but also mean so much to the people that have been going to the park since they were kids themselves. While I have never heard of Kennywood before, it made me think to when I was growing up in New Jersey on the shore and my family would go to the boardwalk for nearly every holiday. The boardwalk had changed very little since it was built in the late 1940s, which is probably one of the reasons it was steeped in so many local family’s traditions. History with a modern twist is so exciting, and is certainly a fun way to honor the past while looking toward the future.
Honestly, it sounds like a financially advantageous system that Kennywood has with recycling or revamping old ride ideas. Since the Kennywood team does not need to redesign the machinery systems and go through the very long planning process for creating an entirely new automation system to fit into its layout, they can focus on effective redesign and restoration of old ideas and props and keeping their machinery up to date and safe. Like Sarah mentions, it creates a unique selling point or aesthetic for the park: a place of nostalgia. Plus they can continue to repeat that nostalgia cycle over time as parents returning for the nostalgia factor bring their children who are now generating their own memories of the park. A potential downside of the revamping or returning ride system that I can see is that it would require a lot of storage space for Kennywood to store props and parts from rides they one day planned to bring back. I wonder if there’s a warehouse of old Kennywood parts out there, or if the revamping process is more of a rebuild.
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