Kennywood Park | It's Christmas 365

Kennywood Park is gearing up for the holidays and dropping some early Christmas gifts!

The park announced its list of rides that will be available (weather permitting) during the festive Holiday Lights event.

Jack Rabbit will be open! The park made the announcement with a fun video featuring the Phantom from Phantom’s Revenge.

Other rides include:

Auto Race
Gran Prix
Ghostwood Estate
Merry-Go-Round
Noah’s Ark
Pirate
Thomas Town (Up to 4 Rides)
Kiddieland (Up to 9 Rides)

While a full look at Holiday Lights isn’t out yet, Kennywood says Holiday Lights also will include, of course, Santa Claus (through Dec. 19)! Kids can write letters to Santa, dance with Parker and pals, watch Doc Dixon’s magic show and more. There will be a petting zoo near Kiddieland again, the model trains will set up in Penny Arcade again and the tree lighting ceremony takes place every night at 5:45 p.m.

The park boasts more than 1 million lights for Holiday Lights and the state’s largest artificial Christmas tree!

Kennywood features dancing lights displays synched to music around the lagoon. And, of course, season food!

This year marks 10 years since Holiday Lights began! The park began offering holiday fun in 2011. No event was held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Holiday Lights begins one week earlier on Nov. 20. (There’s a special season passholders night on Nov. 19.) It’s open Fridays through Sundays from Nov. 20 through Dec. 24 and then will offer a special holiday week Dec. 26 through Jan. 2! Most nights throughout Holiday Lights, the park will be open from 5 to 10 p.m. On Dec. 24, 31 and Jan. 1 and 2, the park will be open 5 to 9 p.m.

Kennywood says more details are coming soon!

Have a season pass and are unsure if it qualifies for entry? Kennywood made its list (and, hopefully, checked it twice). Here are the details for season passholders:

The park says the following season passes include unlimited admission to Holiday Lights in 2021:

2022 Gold (2021 + 2022 Admission)
2022 Platinum (2021 + 2022 Admission)
2021 Premium
2021 Platinum
2020 Silver
2020 Senior
2020 Ride and Slide
2020 Ride and Dine
2020 Premium
2020 PA Pass

The park says people with 2021 standard passes can receive discounted admission to Holiday Lights.

For the fourth time in as many years, Kennywood Park’s Holiday Lights was named among the nation’s Best Theme Park Holiday Events by USA Today.

Kennywood came in tenth place.

The 10Best.com site says a panel of experts chose the first 20 parks. The final votes came from people like you.

“We want to thank all those who took the time to vote for Holiday Lights,” Kennywood GM Jerome Gibas said in a statement. “Our team members put in many hours to bring Holiday Lights to life, and it’s rewarding to see our efforts recognized.”

Topping the list was An Old Time Christmas at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. Coming in at No. 2 was Smokey Mountain Christmas at Dollywood (Pigeon Forge, Tennessee), which was recently featured in a Hallmark Channel movie.

Also making the list were Kings Island (No. 3), SeaWorld Orlando (No. 5) and Busch Gardens (Tampa at 6, Williamsburg at 8).

Kennywood offers 2 million lights, photos with Santa, local choir group performances, two synced lights shows at the lagoon and, of course, Potato Patch fries! In addition, Thomas Town and Kiddieland rides are available, plus some other rides (all weather permitting, of course).

I’ve written before about how amazing Kennywood at Christmas is. Words can’t properly describe the feeling of strolling through the park seeing the magic of Christmas at one of the world’s best amusement parks.

So, go to Kennywood before it closes for the season!

It is held Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights through Dec. 22 and is open nightly from Dec. 26-30.

As of this posting, admission – if purchased online in most cases below – is as follows:

General admission: $19.49 (valid any night of Holiday Lights)
Friday or Sunday admission: $18.49
Holiday Lights season pass: $28 (valid for unlimited visits to Kennywood Park during the 2019 Holiday Lights season)
Select Passholder Nights: Free! Active season passholders receive free admission on select Holiday Lights dates. Kennywood’s site indicates that 2019/2020 Silver, Premium, Ride & Slide, and Senior passholders can show their pass at the main gate for complimentary admission on Dec. 13, 15, 20, 22, as well as 26-30.