Anyone been to Camden Park?

I really has no competition, period. It's more or less a local park or a park that's easily accessable to enthusiasts who happen to hit KI, or are travelling on I-64. :)

A waterpark would be nice but I wouldn't count on it. I always thought this area should have a Kalahari or some type of indoor waterpark. I know it would make a KILLING!

-Tina

Any amusement/water park to compete with Camden would make a killing, imo, Tina. I dream of a water park/theme park somewhere between Huntington and Charleston of a medium size. A lot of people around here tell me that it wouldn't do well, but the traffic on I-64 alone tells me otherwise.

A decent water park around would rock! Waterways and the wave pool are barely water parks. I have to go all the way to Cincinnati to find a nice water park.

I believe that a waterpark in the tri-state area around Huntingdon could be successful. Summers get hot and sticky in this area making such an attraction desirable. Also, it is a long drive to Cincinnati if you are looking for H2O fun.

Many waterparks depend primarily upon local patronage. Unlike ride parks which usually get one or two visits a year from those that go there, waterparks (and combination ride and water parks) have many repeat visitors with season passes.

Got back this evening. By and large, a great experience. I'll try and get a TR up tomorrow.

Gonch, sorry we missed you. We were there four hours yesterday (Saturday) evening, and three hours today.

---

Ensign Smith said:
We were there four hours yesterday (Saturday) evening, and three hours today.

---

Then you truly are an entirely different beast than I, my friend. :)

Obviously I'm going to have to teach you how to appreciate charm. ;)

Oh yeah, if you want to observe time getting eaten up at a small amusement park, it helps if you have a six year old who wants to ride the swan boats for half an hour *and* play a full 18 holes of putt putt golf.

I see. :)

Paying $3 a head to pedal my ass around the water in the blazing sun wasn't a very appealing choice and quite honestly, even though Camden's Mini Golf looked nice enough, we had just come from Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge and Myrtle Beach and in comparison...well, it didn't stand a chance of garnering any interest.

Hell, a chunk of our three hours was spent in the arcade. If it were just a "do this and move on" run, we could've been outta there in an hour and done everything unique to the park. ;)

Seriously, though. If this park qualifies as one of the 'charm' parks, then I really don't get it. While I might not agree with the appeal of some of the 'charm' parks, I can at least understand the argument.

Camden was just a run down little place that doesn't fit the profile. I might be able to buy that it's big on the 'nostalgia factor' except that nostalgia isn't ugly.

Nah, I was kidding and taking opportunity to insert a running gag. :) I wouldn't call Camden all that charming -- though there were certainly areas or aspects that I appreciated for some quirkiness or uniqueness that approaches the definition of charm.

A lot of the park really does look like a hole, agreed, an absolute hole. Maybe call it a hole with potential to be charitable.

I think you've completely nailed it. Camden captures how a lot of these parks actually looked 50 or 75 years ago. Knoebels might be the rose-colored vision of a past that we like to imagine but which seldom existed, but Camden is the time machine portrait of the real deal.

Funny thing was, we still had a blast.

Dang it, I'm totally making my TR anti-climactic. Okay, nobody read what I just wrote.

Well, "May the Swartzbe with you!" Gotta love Spaceballs...

Camden...charming? Hmmm...not sure about that. Its a little too carnivalish to be charming. Quirky and seemingly trapped in a different era is how I'd describe it. But its also obvious someone cares enough about the park to make improvements. Removing that rusty Arrow shuttle was a step in the right direction and the new mini gold looks very nice. There's definitely some hidden potential (Bass and I mapped out a layout for a new woodie while riding the sky ride).

And yes, that Spider is the best I've experienced. Major spinnage on every ride and nice long cycles. Out last ride was insane...we kept "catching the edge" and spun faster and faster through the entire cycle. It was so intense it made us laugh/cry!