As parks in the US continue to open back up in limited capacities, we recently spent a day at Kennywood to see what the park looks like in 2020.

Similar to other parks, guests now must pass a temperature-check prior to entry. We found this to be very quick, well-managed, and in the best way pretty uneventful. Once we were in, we went straight for their new attraction for 2020, The Old Mill!

The park’s classic boat dark ride has been transformed from its last incarnation as Garfield’s Nightmare and now features a silent movie style set in a ghostly western land! Created by The Scarehouse, a Pittsburgh-based haunted house company, the theme is unique and is decidedly an improvement on Garfield. The ride takes guests past UV-lit scenes with animatronics scattered throughout. The mix of dark lighting and eerie music is a welcome change to being able to hear the audio from both the scenes in front and behind your boat all at the same time. It is great to see the park stick to its roots and build an attraction that doesn’t look at all like it was put together in 2020 in the best possible way!

video property of The Scarehouse

The park staff truly were on top of their game to provide guests with as safe of an environment as is possible in a park that has so many narrow walkways and tight-winding queues. It was not at all uncommon to hear a member of staff reminding an entire line to socially distance themselves, or politely ask a guest to wear or adjust a face covering. Hand sanitizer was plentiful and a nice addition was the requirement for guests to use some to clean hands prior to riding certain attractions. This was done as a supplemental measure and did not replace regular cleaning of ride vehicles and surrounding areas. The only real negative that we experienced was that often despite all of the park’s efforts, many guests were simply not following the park’s protocols despite them being clearly displayed all over the park. On almost every ride we would be asked if we were in line just because we would distance ourselves using the markers on the ground. Certainly this was not the case with all the guests at the park, however it did occur enough times that it was occasionally uncomfortable to wait in a queue where the distancing markers were completely ignored and all you can do is leave space in front of you and hope those around you take notice.

For the rest of the trip, enjoy some photos from all around the park!

All that said, We highly recommend stopping by Kennywood this summer if you want a small bit a normalcy, thrills, and of course those famous Potato Patch Fries! Click here for ticket and park info! Thank you to Kennywood for a wonderful day!