Kennywood Park Holiday Lights 2017

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If you’re new to reading my blog, allow me to introduce you to our family’s (mostly Derrick’s) love affair with all-things amusement parks and roller coasters. With Derrick’s coaster count on the brink of 200 (yes, he’s ridden almost 200 different roller coasters), he’s obviously passed the point of obsession. That’s okay though, there are obviously worse (and more expensive) passions!

Since moving home to the Pittsburgh area, that officially makes Kennywood our “home” park. It’s less than 30 minutes away & the most convenient place for Derrick to get his thrill “fix”. We love Kennywood – I love Kennywood. Growing up close by to this lovely old park meant we’d always go visit at least once a summer. My parents grew up going to this park as well, so to say that a lot of memories have been made there would be an understatement.

It’s December & all of the amusement parks within several hours of us are technically closed down for the season. I love that Kennywood has started a new tradition a few years ago called Holiday Lights that allows us into the park one more time before we are stuck waiting out the cold Pennsylvania winter months! We went last year & what a hit it was! It was freezing, but we left making plans to return this year.

The 2017 version of Holiday Lights did not disappoint, in fact we all agreed that it was bigger and better than the 2016 version! We felt like there were more lights, more food options, better placement of the indoor attractions, and more rides were open! And yes, Derrick made it onto a roller coaster – even if it was just the “Lil Phantom” in Kiddieland!

We kept trying to convince ourselves that it was warmer this year. That we were just being wimps with the cold & laughing that we should have put a few more layers on. But afterward, in looking back at last year’s Abby’s Saturday post, the temperature from last year to this year was a whopping 1 degree different!! BRR, no wonder we were freezing!

Freezing or not, we still spent almost the entire evening there. Holiday Lights is open from 5pm – 9pm, and we arrived shortly after 5pm and left just before 9pm. It seems crazy that we spent just shy of 4 hours in the park, but when you combine riding rides like the Kangeroo, Cosmic Chaos, Kiddieland rides, and the Carousel, with getting Potato Patch Fries, to watching the magic show & the Polar Express 4D show, to walking thru Noah’s Ark and the model train attraction set up in the arcade – we actually did quite a lot! Just about all that Holiday Lights has to offer!

So, our advice is: if you have a free evening this weekend or next, go experience the magic of Kennywood’s Holiday Lights! Bundle up (there are zero points given for good fashion), lots of layers, and get your last fix of Potato Patch Fries, Cowboy Joe, and the sounds of Kennywood, before it closes for the 2017 year!

Derrick took some video footage of the Park & shared it on his YouTube channel today! It’s a really fun highlight reel, but the part that gets me is at the end with Braelynn on the carousel – definitely check it out here: Kennywood Holiday Lights 2017 Park Footage.