Visiting Kennywood with Kids

Kennywood is a traditional amusement park that promotes itself as Pittsburgh’s top destination for family fun and excitement. While the record breaking Steel Curtain roller coaster is the big new addition for this year, there’s still tons for families to do to. Coaster101 writers Nick and Kyle both visited Kennywood in July 2019 with their families and we asked them to share some of their best tips for visiting Kennywood with kids.


How does Kennywood compare to other amusement parks as far as what there is for kids to do?

Nick: If you have young kids I highly recommend visiting Kennywood. While larger parks may have a greater volume of kiddie rides, Kennywood offers more thrilling rides the whole family can ride together. If we had visited one of the bigger corporate parks near us in Ohio, my wife and I would have just wound up watching our kids ride multiple versions of the exact same slow, spinning rides. At Kennywood, we were able to ride almost everything together. And not just kiddie rides but real, legit thrill rides that are really fun without being too intense.

Kyle: I think Kennywood’s kiddie ride selection is definitely underrated. Like Nick said, larger corporate parks may have a higher quantity of rides, but Kennywood has quality rides, and unique ones at that. I have a thrill-junkie 3 year old that is just barely over the 36 inch mark and Kennywood had plenty of larger rides he could ride, while the same ride at another park would probably have a taller height requirement.

What were some of your kids favorite rides or experiences?

Kyle: While my son was pumped to get on his first roller coaster, Lil’ Phantom, his favorite ride of the day was Pounce Bounce. Thomas Town was also a big hit since he is really into Thomas right now.

Nick: Yeah, the firefighting ride in Thomas Town was pretty unique! We loved riding the classic thrill rides: Turtle, Whip, and Kangaroo. Seeing the look on my kid’s faces as they screamed in delight is a memory we’ll never forget. The kids also loved jamming out with the live bands. Not sure if this is a daily thing or only because we were there on the 4th of July.

What roller coasters can children 42 inches or under go on?

Nick: My five-year-old son, who is just a hair over 42 inches, was able to grab two coaster credits (bringing his coaster count up to 17!): Lil’ Phantom and Jack Rabbit. My two year old daughter, maybe 34 inches tall, was able to ride her very first roller coaster: Lil’ Phantom.

See the complete list of Kennywood 2019 height requirements here.

How to keep the kids cool on a hot summer day?

Nick: It was around ninety-degrees on our visit so staying cool was a must. There’s an indoor playground/gift shop in Thomas Town that is great for both kids and adults to cool off in the air conditioning. We ate lunch at Johnny Rockets, which also has air conditioning. I also highly recommend letting the kids (and adults) get splashed by the massive wave of the Pittsburg Plunge shoot-the-chute ride.

 

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Kyle: There is a 4-D Theater that plays a Thomas show for the kids, but unfortunately we didn’t time it right and didn’t get to do it. We grabbed an ice flight from Rita’s Italian ice in the early afternoon and parked ourselves in the shade for a bit.

To nap or not to nap?

Nick: In order to make it completely through the long, hot day, my two year old absolutely needed a nap. If I had known about them ahead of time, I might have reserved a cabana available in the park. Instead, we went back to our hotel. I highly recommend staying at any of the hotels in the nearby Waterfront District. It’s a nice area and only about 10 minutes away down the street, very easy to get back to the park in a timely fashion. Despite leaving the park for 2-3 hours, each kid managed 12 and 13 total rides respectively.

The Stacks at the Waterfront

Kyle: We decided to take the long-morning, late-nap approach. We hit the park as soon as rides opened and then my wife headed back to the hotel with my son around 4 for a nap. Then we just hung out around Pittsburgh in the evening and got some dinner at Primanti Brothers. We were able to do all of the kiddie rides we wanted to do in the 4-5 hours.

Any tips for things to avoid or what not to do?

Nick: Not really. My only real complaint is I wish the park opened earlier. When my kids are used to waking up around 6:30am and the park doesn’t open until 10:30 (and really the rides don’t open until 11am), that’s a lot of time to kill!

Kyle: I second what Nick said, it would a huge help if rides opened at say, 10:00? By doing this, families with younger kids could get in and get out before the heat of the afternoon. The only other thing to avoid if you have toddlers, is the Noah’s Ark walkthrough. While at face value the attraction seems harmless, to children it is just a long, dark, and scary hallway with monkeys screeching around each corner. Partner that up with the fact that the Noah and his wife figures look like the undead zombies out of a horror film, just hold off on this until the kids are older or possibly even teenagers. We had to bail out the emergency exit halfway through…

Nick: Luckily, most waits were very short. The longest line was maybe 20 minutes for Garfield’s Nightmare, but we were prepared with snacks so it wasn’t that bad.

Final verdict: Do you recommend visiting Kennywood with young kids? Any last tips?

Who is having the most fun?

Nick: Sometimes mindset is everything. As a coaster enthusiast, I went into this visit knowing I wasn’t going to be riding a lot of coasters. Two out of the three steel coasters I would have wanted to ride were closed anyways (Steel Curtain and Sky Rocket [they’re both open now]). I lucked out with getting on Phantom’s Revenge quickly: it went down due to weather and I was able to be one of the first in line when it reopened after the storm passed. I was ok with only riding one coaster solo because the purpose of the visit was to have fun with my family, and that’s exactly what we did! I’ll never forget the way my kids smiled and screamed on the rides.

Kyle: I highly recommend visiting the park with kids. Kennywood is small enough where it is easy to get from one place to another and they have a great collection of kids rides. Their addition of Thomas Town ads another depth to their lineup. I also loved that the height restrictions were so low and my son was able to get on classic rides like The Whip, Kangaroo, and Turtle.

Nick: Yup. And kids three years old and under get in for free!


If you have any questions about visiting Kennywood with kids, or have any additional tips of your own, please let us know in the comments below.

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