originally posted on 10/28/2024
Photo: Stacey Singer. View full-sized image.
The Pittsburgh metropolitan area is home to three parks owned by Palace Entertainment: Kennywood in West Mifflin, Idlewild and SoakZone in Ligonier and Sandcastle, a waterpark in Homestead. Over the years, ACE Western Pennsylvania has held many events at Kennywood and Idlewild but none at Sandcastle. It was time! A first-ever waterpark event for the region, SplashBash! on the Mon was scheduled for August 4 at Sandcastle, the day after KennyKon XXXV at Kennywood. It was to be an informal event with no preregistration required, but Sandcastle offered attendees without a season pass a generous discount on a daily pass.
The Monongahela River was the perfect backdrop for the appropriately named (and first-ever) SplashBash! on the Mon event.
Photo: Stacey Singer. View full-sized image.
Fifteen ACE members took advantage of the offer to meet on a sunny, hot day at this beautiful waterpark along the shores of the Monongahela River. Sandcastle’s location used to be a portion of the site of a sprawling steel mill, and the railroad bridge and tracks that transported supplies to the mill can be seen from the park. Attendees met in at the entrance, along with season passholders, for early admission to the park (Sunday was also passholder appreciation day). EST (exclusive slide time) was offered from 10 to 11 a.m. on the giant waterslides Blue Tubaluba and Bombs Away, plus shared time with the season passholders on Dragon’s Den and the Mon Tsunami Wave Pool. Beach chairs are first-come, first-served and are free, so attendees could stash their towels for the day.
The cool waters and fun waterslides of Sandcastle were welcomed by those who had attended KennyKon XXXV the previous day.
Photos: Stacey Singer. View full-sized image.
One of the interesting things about Sandcastle is the way it has accommodated to its hilly location. Coaster enthusiasts are familiar with terrain coasters, but there are also terrain parks, and Sandcastle is one of them. Because the waterslides are built on hills, riders not only climb steps to get to the top to start, but sometimes also climb steps after landing to return to the ride’s entrance on the boardwalk. EST was especially welcome, because after the park opened at 11, the lines were long.
Attendees escape the heat of the sun during lunch break.
Photo: Lee Ann Draud. View full-sized image.
At noon, an informal lunch meetup was scheduled at Crab Apple Jack's, where attendees could sit in the shade after buying food from any of the stands in the park. ACE Western Pennsylvania Assistant Regional Representative Brett Weissbart, who planned the schedule for this event, clearly knew that an ideal activity after lunch would be an informal takeover time on the Lazy River. For this popular activity, attendees floated not once, not twice, but three times around the course, trying to stay together without causing a traffic jam in the river.
It was a fun day for all and perhaps served as an inspiration for more “SplashBash” events in the region in the future. Attendees were grateful to the regional rep team and to Sandcastle for their efforts during this first-ever-but-not-last regional waterpark event.
— Lee Ann Draud, ACE News Managing Editor
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