Kennywood is our home park & we LOVE it there.
It doesn’t just have good roller coasters & delicious food, but a fun atmosphere. I have strong memories of going to Kennywood as a kid – we went every summer with family & friends, and it was always a highlight of my summer.
For all the times we’ve been to Kennywood though (& we’ve had season passes for the last few years, so we’ve literally been there hundreds of times) we have NEVER been there for a Fright Night.
I hate scary things & haunt events, so we have simply always avoided Kennywood in October.
However, new for 2021, Kennywood has introduced Phantom Fall Fest (which has taken the place of Fright Nights). This now includes the park being open for a few hours during the day. There are no scare-actors & none of the haunts are open – but kiddieland & most of the family rides are open. Starting at 6pm, the park then converts over to the more traditional “Fright Night” format – giving the crowds who love the scary stuff a chance to go thru the mazes & be scared by the scare-actors – but the families (who want to avoid the scary stuff) the chance to head out before all of that starts.
If you ask me: this is perfect!
We went to Kennywood on Saturday (October 16, 2021) and since it was “Kid’s Weekend”, they invited kids to come dressed in their Halloween costumes – they had characters scattered around, trick-or-treating in one of the haunts (with the lights on), and different activities around the park. It was chilly & threatening rain, but we still had the BEST time.
The crowds were light & we were able to ride a ton of rides, eat some delicious food, and participate in some of the kid’s activities.
As we were heading out – the parking lot was definitely beginning to fill up as more and more people were pouring into the park, in anticipation of that 6pm turn-over time when all the scary stuff begins.
If you love Kennywood & want to get a few last rides in before the park closes for the year – we highly recommend checking Phantom Fall Fest out!! If you want to avoid the scary stuff, simply go early in the day – or, stay until after dark to take advantage of all the scary stuff the park has to offer!
(I know I’m biased, but this video has some of my favorite footage of my kids EVER – they are just so darn cute!)
And because, what’s a blog post without photos – here are just a few (these are all iPhone snaps – with the threat of rain, I did not bring my “big” camera into the park).
