PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Ready for some summer fun?

All three local amusement parks – Sandcastle, Idlewild and Kennywood – will be open this holiday weekend, and you’ll notice some changes at each this summer.

Kennywood’s open! And this year the park is featuring a new refreshment stand in Kiddie Land with healthy foods and a third Potato Patch in the main park.

Over at Sandcastle waterpark, which opens Memorial Day Weekend, the traditional water pools and rides haven’t changed, but guests will notice one big difference.

Crews have started a project to replace the boardwalk with a new material. Why? Well, because the old material is so much hotter on bare feet than concrete.

It’s a big improvement that many visitors will welcome.

“It’s a waterpark environment where they need to be barefoot to get into the pools as well as the slides, so this is a way to allow them to not burn up their feet,” said Damian Dondero, of Sandcastle.

It’s out at Idlewild where people will see the biggest change of all the three local amusement parks owned by the Spanish company, Parques Reunidos.

“We replaced the old pool built in 1931 with a new, exciting Wowabunga Family Wave Pool, and we’ve really excited about it for this summer,” said Jeff Croushore, of Idlewild & SoakZone.

The new pool which will alternate between a regular swimming pool and one with lots of waves for younger kids – perhaps not quite as high as the Mon Tsunami at Sandcastle.

That means all those traditional SoakZone attractions stay – along with the famous trolley in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood – and a twice-a-day firing of a human cannonball in part of the SoakZone.

While Idlewild also opens this holiday weekend, the new pool may take a bit longer to be ready. Idlewild hopes to have the waterpark open by June 8, but there’s a possibility it could be opened a lot sooner.

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Kennywood
Idlewild & SoakZone
Sandcastle
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