Kennywood is currently a landlocked park. They can't expand because of the ravine being there, some houses being built there, and because a highway was built on some of their land. This means that it will be very hard for Kennywood to expand at this point. Today, I want to look at 5 places that Kennywood can realistically build a new coaster. Furthermore, I am going to talk about what coasters may fit here.
Now, something that you should know is that I am only going to look at major coasters, not Kiddie coasters. This may include Family coasters, but not any coasters the size of something like Cocoa Cruiser at Hersheypark. Now, let's go through some spots.
First, let's talk about 5 open or soon-to-be open plots, then we can talk about things that they can remove to add a new coaster.
The first plot of land that I want to bring up is the former plot of Volcano. They just announced the removal of it, and I think that they might want to replace it. When Lake Compounce removed their enterprise, they replaced it with a Premier Rides Skyrocket II. I don't think that this will come here, though, because they already have Skyrocket, the prototype model. I do, though, see a new cloned coaster coming here. An S&S Free Spin that may be called Eruption. Here is a picture of the plot it can take up. This is slightly larger than needed, so it doesn't have to go over Parkside Cafe.
The next plot of land I want to talk about is the now former plot of Kangaroo and Paratrooper. This plot of land isn't that big, but it can fit a compact coaster. Rides like Rewind Racers at Adventure City, the RMC Raptor Clones, and the Vekoma Boomerang Models. If I were to pick, I think an RMC Raptor would come next. I think that they would order a new model with Lap Bars. The raptor takes a plot of land of 100 by 260 feet. The combined Kangaroo/Paratrooper plot takes up a plot of 170 feet by 55 feet. Most of the Raptor, though, can fit on this land and some parts can be put over the midway, similar to this:
The third plot of land I want to talk about is the land between the lift hill and straight section on Phantom's Revenge. This plot of land may not seem that large, but it actually has a pretty good plot of land. After looking into it, I think that a Gravity Group Family Wooden Coaster can fit here. For this, I'll take a look at a few different Gravity Group Family Coasters.
-Roar-o-Saurus has a plot of 275 feet by 100 feet
-Oscar's Wacky Taxi has a plot of 325 feet by 45 feet
-Twister at Grona Lund has a plot of 235 Feet by 95 Feet
-Wood Express ar Parc Saint Paul has a plot of 463 feet by 70 feet
-Switchback at ZDT's Amusement Park has an L-shaped layout with one area being 350 feet by 20 feet and the other part being 175 by 50 feet
This ride would probably have a similar layout to Twister at Grona Lund. Here is an idea of where this ride might fit:
The 4th place I want to talk about is behind Jackrabbit, Racer, and Steel Curtain. Back there is a former Storage area, but most things have been moved to some buildings in the ravine that Kennywood bought. If they sell the old Raging Rapids Rafts, then I think that they could fit most of the things into the Ravine Storage building.
Some of a new coaster could even be put over Steel Curtain. It took me a while to think of what may be put there, but I think I know what could come here: An S&S Air Launch Coaster. This could be a sit-down or Axis model. There is a lot of space there, and I think that they should take advantage of that. This coaster would involve redoing some restricted areas, but I think that they will find it to be worth it. In case you don't know anything about what I am talking about, here's a screenshot of the land:
The 5th place I can see them building a coaster is in the ravine by Phantom's Revenge. I think that this would be some sort of an Inverted coaster. We know that B&M can fit their Inverts in areas with basically no room. I also, though, do think that this will be from S&S or Vekoma. I don't know what a custom Vekoma invert would look like, though, so I'm going to try keeping it on a known plot of land. Some of the land would be the area between Phantom's Revenge and Turtle along with some land behind Turtle. Some parts may also extend between Phantom's Revenge and Black Widow or between Phantom's Revenge and Pedros. Here is the plot of land I am talking about:
Next, I want to talk about 3 coasters that may replace existing attractions.
The first attraction I want to talk about is Raging Rapids. This is an Intamin River Rapids ride. It takes a lot of water to operate and it rarely operates nowadays. I think that they could try replacing it with a Ground Up RMC. If they make it compact and twisty enough, they could fit it. I would expect a wave turn, outward banked turn, and a set of large ejector hills. This would use the newer train design like Steel Vengeance, Iron Gwazi, Untamed, Zadra, and Twisted Timbers.
The removal of Raging Rapids may also lead to a new family coaster in a Thomas Town expansion. This would be a small coaster themed to Percy.
Finally, I think that Kennywood may remove the main stage. This couldn't be replaced by much, though. I think they'd keep the seating and add a new coaster to replace the stage. The replacement would be a RES Roller Ball. This would be identical to Wilde Hilde at Schwaben Park or Roller Ball at Wiener Prater. These are basically sideways, tilting Wild Mouse coasters. They look very interesting, and they look affordable. Hersheypark tried adding something similar, and it would basically be a huge slap-in-the-face to Hershey to add one.
I think that these 7 coasters can fit in the park, and it will likely improve the park by a lot.
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