As you first enter Kennywood park, one of the first attractions you pass is The Old Mill,
a historic dark boat ride taking guests through an old wooden building powered by a large waterwheel visible from the queue. The ride is one of the oldest dark rides in the world and has been rethemed twelve times over its more than 100 years of operation. The ride was popular from its opening in 1901, with many couples utilizing the slow-paced boat ride through the dark as a tunnel of love type of attraction.
During the ride’s early years, its theme was changed every few seasons to keep guests coming back for a new experience. Though the ride itself remained mostly the same, the sets were rethemed from the original somewhat scary theme many times over the years. In 1907, the Old Mill was rethemed for three years to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal. In 1911, it was cut short due to a fire and another retheme, this one referred to as Rapids Gorge, was installed.
The Old Mill also saw a Fairyland Floats retheme from 1917-1920, and Tour of the World theme from 1921-1925.
The ride experienced a handful of scene changes and new additions over the next few decades, but it wasn’t until 1974 that another large overhaul would be undertaken at the Mill.
The ninth retheme of Kennywood’s Old Mill was titled Hard Headed Harold’s Horrendously Humorous Haunted Hideaway (it just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?)
This update was a spooky western revamp to the Old Mill featuring skeletons, graveyards, saloons, and plenty of new sets to admire. This was one of the longest-lasting iterations with a run from 1974-1992.
When the original Old Mill theme returned in 1993, many of the sets and scenes utilized in Hard Headed Harold’s remained for the next almost-ten years.
In 2004, the Old Mill received its biggest and most evident overhaul, becoming a cartoonish attraction based around the Garfield comic strip. This iteration of the attraction became known as Garfield’s Nightmare, and remained in the park for fifteen years. Although it was extremely popular with kids and families with a regularly full queue during its early years, this neon-painted, 3D-featuring ride became notorious for longtime park-goers who felt this extreme renovation made it feel cheap and lose some of its historic value… along with that, it was hardly the setting for a romantic tunnel of love experience anymore.
This change came along with the introduction of other Garfield characters, rides, and merchandise to the park, including the Pounce Bounce (a small kiddie ride drop tower) and roaming Garfield and Odie costumed characters.
Although the ride enjoyed a lengthy sixteen years of operation, Kennywood’s Old Mill changed themes again most recently in 2020 with the return of the classic Old Mill name.
A video released in March of 2020 shows a crane removing Garfield’s Nightmare signage from the facade. Meanwhile Nick Paradise, Kennywood’s Director of Public Relations, announces the return of the historic Old Mill and states that after sixteen seasons of operation, “the nightmare has ended”. Part of the decision to pull the plug on Garfield’s Nightmare could be attributed to Nickelodeon’s 2019 purchase of PAWS (the company maintaining the legal rights for Garfield), the declining popularity of comic strips overall, and increased licensing fees.
The Garfield’s Nightmare era of this attraction is an interesting and unique story which is covered in great detail by Defunctland, a YouTube channel dedicated to the history of closed and abandoned theme park attractions.
Today, the Old Mill has returned to its original, retro-western style and the change has been overall well-received. Kennywood is always balancing between keeping up with modern trends while maintaining its historic integrity, and for the most part this change was positive in the eyes of the public.
Now if only we could get the Turnpike back…
