Waldameer tips

[Tanks4me05]

Ok, since Waldameer is almost directly on the route to Cedar Point from where I live (roughly the half way point) I'm planning to head out by about 7:00 AM, arrive at Waldameer at about 10:00, and stay there until 5 PM. Once I leave, I head over to Cedar Point and arrive there by 8:00 to 9:00 PM. I already went to Cedar Point before, so I know what to do there. But Waldameer I haven't been to before. Looking at their main website, it looks like a small park. So, would I be able to ride everything in about 7 hours? They are getting a relatively large Gravity Group for this year, but I can't imagine the park having much more attendance than Seabreeze (which I can ride everything in about 3 - 4 hours with re rides.)

 

Questions:

 

1: How bad are the crowds at the end of June to early July?

 

2: Is it possible to ride the major and a nice amount of the family rides with some re rides in about 7 hours?

 

3: Where are the best places to eat in the park?

 

4: How good is their waterpark?

 

5: What is the general "atmosphere" of the park? (Seabreeze is cool, calm, relaxing, and just a day of fun, Sylvan Beach is a time machine to the 1940's - 1960's, and Cedar Point is big, huge, legendary, and exciting.)

 

6: Are there any weird/uncommon rules I should be aware of?

 

7: Are there some "little things" in the park that make the visit extra special? (Sylvan Beach - I take a picture of the Shooting Gallery with the flash on, and every single target lights up and makes sounds - it's a great practical joke to do on unsuspecting nearby guests.)

 

8: Are there any "magic seats" (best seats on the coasters or flats) besides the front and back?

[larrygator]

The Whacky Shack is low capacity and certainly worth riding if you are a Fan of Laffland at Sylvan Beach. Ride this as soon as you can before the line builds.

 

I found the atmosphere similar to Seabreeze.

 

I did not eat in the park as I didn't spend much time there. However, they have a decent size picnic area and the ride lines get even shorter during the lunch hours.

 

The park is closed on Mondays, so plan accordingly.

[carolinacaniac]

1: How bad are the crowds at the end of June to early July?

 

The one time I had been there with a friend of mine, the only two rides with decent waits were the log ride and Steel Dragon, although they were not terribly long, and this was on a Wednesday

 

2: Is it possible to ride the major and a nice amount of the family rides with some re rides in about 7 hours?

 

On our visit, we did everything we wanted to in about 3-4 hours with plenty of re-rides

 

5: What is the general "atmosphere" of the park?

 

I would say that it has a relaxed feel to it, and a nice setting with the trees surrounding the park. I really enjoyed the place

 

6: Are there any weird/uncommon rules I should be aware of?

 

Not that it is uncommon or weird, but I thought you may want to know anyway, on Comet, they would seat people on a first come-first serve basis, and they wouldn't allow you to let others go ahead of you so that you could be the first for the next train and pick a seat you want.

 

8: Are there any "magic seats" (best seats on the coasters or flats) besides the front and back?

 

If you can, try and sit on steel dragon with the two heaviest people sitting on opposite corners, not back to back. Doing this provides for the best spinning, especially if there are three people on the car.

[Sue]

For food, I'd suggest trying a strawberry ice cream sundae. I think I read in Tim O'Brien's amusement park guide that the sundae was good so that's what we got when we went to Waldameer. I'm not a big ice cream person, but it was very good.

[Carnage]

Make sure not to miss the park's smaller flat rides.

 

Wacky Shack, Pirates Cove, log flume, and the drop tower were all alot of fun.