Waldameer continues to grow under family ownership

I am very happy with the things that are happening to this park. I was there last year and found the park to be very enjoyable. RF2 was just what the park needed to get more attention and to make the park more complete. I apopreciate all that Paul Nelson did to make this ride possible. It was well worth all of that extra effort needed.

With Kennywood now corporate, it is nice to still have a decent sized family run park in Western PA. Hopefully the new generation's commitment to the park will ensure that the park will be there for many years to come and will not give way to shopping centers or condos as so many parks have.

One thing that the park should focus on now is upgrading the food operations. This means adding more variety and improving quality of certain items. Certainly they could learn a few things from other parks such as Kennywood (even with their corporate nature) Knoebels, and even little DelGrossos.

Kennywood has been "corporate" for years, and it has had nothing to do with the quality of the park.

Agreed on food. The quality is mediocre at best.

Better and more varied food at Waldameer should translate into higher percaps. One reason is that the visitors are not captive with the unrestricted outside food policy and various eateries nearby outside of the park that have better food. Compare that with the situation at Kennywood, another park where where outside food is permitted and where there are outside eateries nearby. Nevertheless, I prefer to eat in this park because the park food is generally better..

Every season starts out that way until the schools start rolling in. I went down to watch the fireworks Sunday. Every ride had a few peeps in line and peeps everywhere on the midways. At least there are no stockholders breathing down their necks to make the margin.

Yeah, family members can be way more mellow. :)

Hey mfivsdarienlake this is very typical attendance for May at this park it has always been like that. Mid June it starts to pick up. I also wish they had better food options. We usually bring a cooler or leave the park to eat. When we do eat at the park we eat burgers and fries at the entrance to the water park or we eat pizza at the place inside the water park. The pizza is pretty good there. Those 2 places are decent.

Waldammer is as perfect for our family for location and activities for the past few years. The food is the best quality and economical for what you get, and I cannot think of any other amusement park that I finish everything they serve..
It's also great to see Paul walking around the park, and his wife working in customer service, which I found out by accident. Very approachable and the nicest people.
Waldameer is my favorite amusement park, and I don't see that changing anytime soon....The Best Family Amusement Park for us!

At least there's one functional family who still want to work the amusement park world. Sorry Kiddieland.

Can you really compare the value of land in Erie, PA, to urban Chicago?

I was comparing the families, and the way they handle their respective parks, over the land.

There's always Memphis Kiddie Park in Brooklyn, OH ;)

Waldameer has made some great strides in the past few years. RF2 is a world class ride well worth the rip. A night ride on this coaster is truly amazing. Waldameer opened very early this year which was a nice touch, I think they should have waiting until the holiday weekend to open the waterpark, not sure why it opened the 2nd week in May. I think the food there is better than mediocre. I know I have been at parks that have basically the same food or worse for three times the price.

Waldameer was a great park before RF2, I'd visited in consecutive year prior to the fantastic new ride. Maybe they'd do well to "PARC" the food (signing agreements with regional product vendors, like DL) and bring in local favorite foods for a quick and cheap upgrade to choices and quality? Anytime you see the owners walking the park, it's a good sign.