In March of 2020, Kennywood announce the conversion of Garfield's Nightmare back to The Old Mill. When Kennywood reopened in 2020, people started riding it, though, some people were underwhelmed. Today, I wanted to talk about this ride compared to Garfield's Nightmare.
When I rode Garfield's Nightmare in May of 2019, I HATED it. It was the worst ride at the park. This year, with the conversion to The Old Mill, it was much better.
Part 1: Previous Theme
The previous version of the ride was themed to Garfield. It was a dumb, cheesy theme. They gave you these glasses. These glasses were supposed to help see something, but they did literally nothing.
Garfield's Nightmare was run down when I rode it. Things just didn't look good. They had tons of bright, neon colors. Overall, the dark ride was horrible before.
Part 2: Current Theme
The current theme is based around a character named Harold. Before the ride was called Garfield's Nightmare, the last 2 versions were themed to Harold. It was called The Old Mill before the Garfield theme, but before that, it was Hardheaded Harold's Horrendously Humorous Haunted Hideaway. They kept the same theme until 2003.
The past Old Mill (before Garfield's Nightmare) had a horror theme. It was transformed before I was born, so I never got to experience it. I have, however, seen a POV recorded in 1993. It was a relatively scary theme. Now, it primarily focuses on a humor theme.
The current theme is fun. I enjoy the ride with its current theme. They used some of the neon lighting from Garfield's nightmare when they redesigned it, and that allows the scenes to catch your attention.
Throughout the ride, it tells the story of Harold. Harold is an outlaw in a wild west style town full of skeletons. Through the ride, he also runs into a Skunk and Possum. The Skunk and Possum are other criminals that work together. In the end, Harold works with the skunk and possum.
The layout shows many different things. It shows the hideaway that Harold is at. It shows him finding the skunk and working with it. It shows him cheating at a casino. In the end, it shows him robbing the bank, using the skunk as a weapon. He gets arrested, but we see him trying to get the key to get out. The skunk and possum are both outside of the cell.
Part 3: Which is Better?
One thing I feel that I should mention is that these are the same physical layout. All they did was change the scenes.
Now, when I rode Garfield's Nightmare in May of 2019, I thought it was the worst ride at Kennywood. Even now, I think it is worse than any of their current rides. On that day in 2019, we mainly stopped to get our Season Passes. We went in to ride a couple rides. I waited in a line for 20-30 minutes for Garfield's Nightmare. I was just bored in that line. I went on and had bad experience. I went to ride Kangaroo, and it started raining, so I had to leave.
When I rode The Old Mill for the first time, I didn't have to wait too long (maybe 10 minutes or so). It was Season Passholder Preview day, so lines weren't that long. I got on. There was a fun video right by the lift that starts ti tell the story. It was a nice, calm ride through many scenes.
From what I remember, the Garfield theme was more in-your-face. The new theme is more fun and is not in your face at all. Everything feels like it's at a distance, but the Garfield theme had things that you could practically touch.
Final Verdict: The Old Mill is much better than Garfield's Nightmare.