| Waldameer Park | |
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Location |
Erie, Pennsylvania, USA |
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Opened |
1896 |
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Owner |
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General manager |
Steve Gorman |
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Slogan |
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Operating season |
Early May to Labor Day |
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Area |
34 acres |
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Attractions |
36 |
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Website |
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Waldameer & Water World is an amusement park and water park located in Erie, Pennsylvania at the base of Presque Isle State Park. It is most notable for its Gravity Group-designed Ravine Flyer II and ACE Coaster Classic Comet.
Waldameer is a small, traditional amusement park. It stands as the fourth oldest park in Pennsylvania and the tenth oldest in the United States. It is also one of only 11 trolley parks left in existence. Like Knoebels and other traditional parks, entry to the park is free, with rides and attractions being covered through wristband or in-park "point" purchases on a cashless system.
History[]
The park’s name is German and can be roughly translated to “woods by the sea”, an accurate description of the park. Starting as a picnic area known as Hoffman’s Grove, the Erie Electric Motor Company leased it in 1896 and renamed it “Waldameer” to appeal to the area's large German heritage. Like many trolley parks of the day, a terminal was added at the park itself to increase attendance and interest in the park. In its early days, the trolley company began building up the park by adding in a dance hall, a carousel, restaurants, and a beer garden featuring singing waiters.
Over a period of two decades between 1902 and 1922, the young park would add three classic wooden coasters of greatly varying styles. The first of these, Figure Eight, was a side-friction coaster built by T. M. Harton in 1902. In 1907, Figure Eight would undergo renovations which deepened several of its drops and was subsequently renamed Dip the Dips. In 1915, Scenic Railway, designed by Frederick Ingersoll, was added to the park's arsenal. Perhaps because the Scenic Railway only survived until 1919, the park decided to move forward with its next coaster, its largest so far, Ravine Flyer. Built in 1922 by Harry Baker and designed by John Miller, the coaster was most famous for its drop spanning overtop nearby roadway Peninsula Drive. The park changed ownership several times throughout this time period, falling into the hands of a local bank from the Erie Electric Motor Company, and eventually being purchased by park employee Alex Moeller.
With the addition of the Old Mill water ride and other smaller attractions through the 1920s, the park flourished, but tough years were ahead. The Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II both limited the amount of visitors the park saw, and a chestnut blight killed off many of the trees which gave Waldameer its name. Additionally, in the evening of August 8, 1938, a train on Ravine Flyer failed to clear the hill following the Peninsula Drive bridge crossing. As it valleyed back and forth in the dip between two hills, a woman on the ride became hysterical. In an attempt to calm her, her brother rose out of his seat, lost his balance, and fell to his death. Ravine Flyer was closed following this event, and was eventually torn down. Some sources claim that an issue was discovered with the train's wheel assemblies, while others claim that the coaster was cleared of any wrongdoings but park owner Alex Moeller's wife was so distraught over the incident that she asked Moeller to tear it down. Regardless, this, only one year after the removal of Dip the Dips, would leave the park without a roller coaster for over a decade.
After the original dance hall burned down in 1937, a new dance hall was built, called Rainbow Gardens. Following World War II, several smaller attractions were added to the park throughout the 1940s and 1950s, including the addition of a Kiddieland section. In 1951, the park added its first coaster since Ravine Flyer’s addition nearly 30 years earlier, Comet. Comet is a small family wooden coaster designed by Herbert Paul Schmeck and built by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters. The ride continues to operate to this day as an ACE Coaster Classic—curved station, buzz bars, and all (though it has since seen the removal of its manual brakes in favor of a magnetic braking system).
In 1965, park owner Alex Moeller died, and was succeeded by Paul Nelson, a family friend who had been working for the park since the age of 11. Over the next fifteen years, Nelson upgraded the park’s infrastructure and added numerous attractions. In 1970, the Whacky Shack, a two-story haunted dark ride by Bill Tracy was added. Two years later, another Bill Tracy attraction, Pirate’s Cove, a walk-through funhouse, was added. Several flat rides including a Scrambler, a Tilt-A-Whirl, a Flying Coaster, a Paratrooper, a Spider (Octopus), and a Sky Ride opened in the 1960s and 1970s, and most of these rides still operate today.
In 1986, the park underwent its largest expansion to date, opening its Water World water park. The park sold off its antique carousel in 1988, along with the Blue Goose kiddie carousel, for $1 million. The money was used to purchase a new replacement carousel from Chance Rides with sixty operating horses, and to expand the water park with four additional waterslides. As a result, the park closed out the decade with record attendance.
In 1992, the park added the Sea Dragon swinging ship, followed by the 100-foot-tall Chance Rides Ferris Wheel in 1994, the Wipeout spinning ride in 1995, and the Ali Baba flying carpet ride in 1996. It was also during the early 1990s that the park began planning to rebuild a modern version of its long-gone Ravine Flyer roller coaster, but opposition from the park's neighboring residential and campground areas as well as government zoning would prevent this for quite some time. To celebrate its 100th anniversary in 1996, the park replaced its aging Old Mill log flume with Thunder River, a Hopkins Rides log flume. Steve Gorman, Paul Nelson’s son-in-law, became the park's general manager, and the park closed out the 1990s with major renovations to its midway games and concessions.
To celebrate the new millennium, the park added Ravine Flyer 3, an E&F Miler Industries steel kiddie roller coaster, constructed over a pond at the base of the Ferris Wheel. Because the park had already been in talks with Custom Coasters International (CCI) about building their long-awaited Ravine Flyer re-creation, the name "Ravine Flyer II" had already been reserved in anticipation, therefore Ravine Flyer 3 would open first. In 2004, the park added another roller coaster, this time in the form of a steel Maurer AG spinning coaster, Steel Dragon. In 2007, the park opened the 140-foot-tall tall X-Scream drop tower, the tallest ride in the park.
In 2008, after nearly 20 years of planning, delays, legal issues, and opposition, Waldameer was finally able to add Ravine Flyer II to its list of attractions. Built by The Gravity Group (made up of several former employees of the dissolved CCI), at a cost of $6 million, the coaster stands at 85 feet tall with a 120-foot drop, reaching speeds of up to 60 mph along its 3,061-foot course. Most importantly, and perhaps the cause of the most headaches in the approval process, the coaster retained the most famous element of its predecessor, the out-and-back bridge over the now four-lane highway Peninsula Drive. Featuring a 165-foot-long arched bridge over the highway, the coaster also boasts three tunnels, a 60-degree drop angle, and a 90-degree banked turn. It is the fastest and steepest wooden coaster in Pennsylvania, and also has the longest drop on any wooden coaster in the state. It was awarded the Best New Ride of 2008 in Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Awards. Ranking at #11 in its debut year, the coaster was later ranked as the sixth best wooden coaster in the world in the 2009 Golden Ticket Awards. It has remained in the top ten best wooden coasters since, peaking at number five in 2016.
Following a record year thanks to the opening of the Ravine Flyer II, the park added yet another thrill ride with the Mega Vortex Disk’O ride. In 2011, the park saw the addition of a new section, the North End, with three new family rides: the SS Wally Rockin' Tug ride, the Wendy's Tea Party Teacups ride, and the Flying Swings Wave Swinger ride.
In 2015, Waldameer began a large water park expansion with the opening of the tri-state area's largest wave pool. In the following years, several new attractions would be added including two children's water playgrounds, a cannon bowl water slide, and the region's only water coaster slide. In 2018, a Zamperla Samba Balloon Race ride would be added, and in 2019 a Discovery Revolution Frisbee ride named Chaos was installed. In 2020, the park opened later than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but still managed to add its first new coaster since Ravine Flyer II: Whirlwind, an SBF Visa Group steel kiddie spinning coaster. In 2023, it was announced that Paul Nelson had died. At the end of the 2024 season, Waldameer announced that the Spider ride would be closing after 47 years of operation, to be replaced in 2025 by a Zamperla NebulaZ ride called Time Twister. The water park entry will also be completely redone, and the Paratrooper ride will be relocated.
Location[]
Present roller coasters[]
| Name | Manufacturer | Type | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comet | Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters | Wooden | August 1951 | Operating |
| Ravine Flyer II | The Gravity Group | Wooden | May 17, 2008 | Operating |
| Ravine Flyer 3 | E&F Miler Industries | Family | 2000 | Operating |
| Steel Dragon | Maurer AG | Spinning | July 2, 2004 | Operating |
| Whirlwind | SBF Visa Group | Spinning | July 3, 2020 | Operating |
Past roller coasters[]
| Name | Manufacturer | Type | Opened | Closed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Figure Eight/Dip the Dips | T. M. Harton | Wooden | 1902 | 1937 | Demolished |
| Ravine Flyer | John A. Miller | Wooden | 1922 | 1938 | Demolished |
| Scenic Railway | Frederick Ingersoll | Wooden | 1907 | 1919 | Demolished |
External links[]
- Waldameer Park & Water World official website
- Waldameer at the Roller Coaster DataBase
- Waldameer & Water World at Wikipedia