Lakemont Park Trip Report: June 25, 2016

[Thunder_Run]

So, this summer we went to New Jersey with the family on our annual visit for relatives up there. While we did stop at Six Flags Great Adventure, we did not manage to take nearly enough pictures to justify a trip report of the place. We DID, however, manage to take a shitload of pictures and footage of Knoebels and Lakemont when we returned home travelling through Pennsylvania. Both places we managed to take a numerous amount of photos of, but I currently still am sorting what pictures to delete of Knoebels, as I took a substantially greater amount from our trip there than we did at Lakemont Park. Why? Well... the photos probably will speak for themselves.

 

Getting right to it, Lakemont Park did not start off with a good impression. And despite what some people may be thinking, said impression didn't start with finding out Leap-The-Dips was closed, no, actually, it started with the PARKING of all things: The parking for the park is virtually non-existent, in fact I don't even know if they own any parking except for the section at the front gate; we had to park in a place we were not even sure was open to parking outside of people who were visiting/working at the offices next door (said offices being former Boyertown buildings, no less...). In any case, we chose to park there, as it seemed a majority of park goers were as well.

 

As for the place itself, it is not very attractive to the eye of even normal patrons. I knew the Boyertown era cut down a ridiculous amount of trees, but the humidity and heat outside was almost unbearable. Getting it out of the way, we took a spin on the paddleboats. If anyone says Lakemont Park is beautiful, this is probably the only part they are talking about. Aside from the "water park" they have on the small island, the rest of the park can be summed up with gravel, pavement, and empty buildings. Almost every ride has gravel under it, and if there is a ride, you can guarantee they are put side-by-side a la RCT style. Except for the kiddie rides, in their section they're spread all over the place.

 

I've gotta say, the place looked deader than Beech Bend. And I'm talking about BEFORE they had the Kentucky Rumbler or even the Wild Mouse (pre-2005). The part I enjoyed most about Lakemont was buying a book about its history and reading its PAST. But if I had to go with the park as it is now, I'd have to say the train ride at the back of the park, it was a god-send for us when the heat had almost gotten to us.

 

I never thought I'd say this, but... this park makes me LOOK FORWARD to visiting Conneaut Lake Park. It's definitely not the greatest trip report, but for those who expect Lakemont to be chock full of historic stuff, well... prepare to be disappointed.

 

Ex-Boyertown USA buildings.

This is a really, really tiny road accessing parking...

Ex-Boyertown USA Entrance. Hardly can see the anything due to the trees. If only the rest of the park had trees like that...

Did you know you can have a picnic at Lakemont Park and bring your own cloaking device? It's all the rage for company outings these days.

Let's play a game of "Find the historic things"! To our immediate right... NOTHING!

Standard miniature golf course. Didn't bother due to the humidity.

I don't know whether I should be glad or disappointed the Sky-Diver had a 2-rider policy. I've never been on one of those before.

More nothing.

The midway is hustlin' n' bustlin'

No, it wasn't open.

I think I've seen pictures of Conneaut Lake Park that look more alive than this.

What's a classic, retro, vintage, one-of-a-kind, HISTORIC park without midway games? Here you can watch paint dry!

Really odd-shaped food stand.

Looking at the water park, and... GASP! That has to be one of the few trees left from the original park! That counts as a historic thing, doesn't it?

I'll admit, the paintings on this are kind of nice. Too bad it's obvious to even a kid that something used to be behind those.

Leap-the-Dips was still closed and recieving some new wood. Also historic thing #2

Got to love how primitive the rollback and chain system is.

The gift shop was open, despite the coaster being closed.

It really is a beautiful structure, even if it isn't running.

The same can not be said for its neighbor.

Historic Thing #3 and Historic Thing #4! The lake itself and the Lakemont Casino... that no longer is owned by the park. And has had significant changes to it.

I'm betting its operation doesn't come close to Lakemont Park's dead atmosphere, however.

If you told me this was at Lakemont Park, I would not believe you. At all.

Low is an understatement.

Even the carp are starving with how dead it is... nah, they're just greedy hogs in general.

Oh, look! Remnants of a past bridge! That counts as historic too! That makes five historic things, guys!

This has got to be the weirdest-looking standard slide complex I have seen.

Yes, this is still Lakemont Park.

Historic Thing #6! Old train that just sits there doing nothing!

Quiet as the off-season for most parks.

Looking towards the right half of the park.

No shows performing today, obviously.

People say parks like Beech Bend or Keansburg look like permanent carnival, but Lakemont takes this to a whole new level with all the gravel.

Rare Twister ride. Best way I can describe it is a weird-funky hybrid of a whip and a tilt-a-whirl. Also historic thing #7...?

Octospider.

A few of the more standard rides.

Going up a small hill to the kids area.

I think the building behind this is a skating rink. Also not owned by the park of course.

Even a path turns into nothing.

An accurate view of Lakemont Park.

Uh... historic thing #8? It's a little dipper, therefore it MUST be historic!

I'm honestly surprised out of all the rides here, the antique cars had a spinning sign.

Then again, what other ride can you use to directly get advertising money?

Ugly parking structure... check!

The views of the Skyliner may be good looking from the bleachers, but from within the park... it's not very pretty surrounded by all this grey.

Also it's rough. Really, really rough. Not as bad as the Georgia Cyclone, though. Historic Thing #9

Skid brakes... are historic! So that counts as Historic Thing #10!

The closest things you can see of what actual, HISTORIC Lakemont Park was, besides Leap-The-Dips, is actually on their custom chair swing. Each of the panels shows a vintage view of Lakemont Park prior to its conversion into "Boyertown U.S.A Theme Park."

So, the park as it is now? It's banking on Leap-The-Dips and cheap admission, it really seems that way. Don't get me wrong, I'd still highly advise going to this park, but only due to the "impending feeling of immenient closure" the park has. If you want to experience Leap-The-Dips and Twister, go there while you still can.

[BeansproutMidget]

Relocate to Knoebels. Please. It's quite sad seeing Leap-The-Dips like this. Somebody make a petition.

 

As for the pics, thanks for showing me how dead the place really is. I didn't believe it, but MAN is that place practically abandoned.

[I305forever]

When I went there last summer, there were some people there.

[Geauga Dog]

These are probably the most general views I've seen of Lakemont (I've never been there) so thank you for them. I didn't realize how depressing it is until now.

[bert425]

that's rather depressing

 

tho the Octopus ride and a couple of the flats look really, really interesting!

 

can't wait to see the Knobel's pics. .we LOVED it there.

[GCI Wooden]

Wow, I knew this place was desolate, but I had no idea it was this bad. I couldn't help but notice that there was almost no one there, so I went through and found that there were only 60 people in all of the photos you took (That's being generous, if I was ever doubtful, I just counted it anyway), and 60% of the photos had no people pictured.

 

Nice report.

[Rai Fox]

Been a few years since I've been but it looks just about the same. What these pics don't show is the sad condition of the rides, too, assuming that hasn't changed. When I last visited (and, probably, the last time I ever visit), everything looked downright unsafe. The skydiver looked like it could collapse at any moment, the toboggan coaster seemed to be held up by rust, there were literally holes rotted through some of the cars on the Twister ride. It's a really sad little place, by far the most depressing park I've ever been to. I couldn't even stand being there for long. I would love to see some of the rarer rides go somewhere that will care enough to restore them, if there's enough left to restore, but as for Lakemont itself...I'd be very surprised to see it ever recover.

[SFOG1991]

I had a great time at Lakemont when I visited.

 

Keep in mind, this park isn't a normal park and I believe it is run under special circumstances with government funding and/or tax exemptions.

 

Sure, the park isn't pretty or investing heavily in upgrades, but it still has some really cool classic rides including the world's oldest coaster and a few other vintage coasters, all of which I found to be a unique and overall enjoyable experience. I actually loved the Toboggan and I believe it is just one of two left now.

[Thunder_Run]

It's surprising to see how many people don't know how dead the place is, then again, I was one of those people before visiting. I mean, I didn't expect it to be Knoebels or anything (especially since we were there the day before), but...

 

that's rather depressing

 

tho the Octopus ride and a couple of the flats look really, really interesting!

 

can't wait to see the Knobel's pics. .we LOVED it there.

 

I can agree that the flat line-up does have some unusual offerings. Specifically, the Skydiver, Octopus, Twister, and chair swing were the flats that really interested me. Not sure at all who manufactured the chair swing or Octopus, but I can confirm the Twister was manufactured by Allan Herschell. Despite what I have heard, the ride being computerized didn't seem to make a difference in how it operated. From what I experienced, it spun quite a dizzying number of times. Not as intense as other videos of the ride I have seen online, though, so I can see where they may be coming from.

 

I'm still curious about the Octopus though. It was almost like it was a missing-link between an Eyerly Octopus and an Eyerly Spider, with the number of cars it had similar to a Spider, but the structure of the ride itself was moreso akin to a traditional/basic Octopus.

 

I had a great time at Lakemont when I visited.

 

Keep in mind, this park isn't a normal park and I believe it is run under special circumstances with government funding and/or tax exemptions.

 

Sure, the park isn't pretty or investing heavily in upgrades, but it still has some really cool classic rides including the world's oldest coaster and a few other vintage coasters, all of which I found to be a unique and overall enjoyable experience. I actually loved the Toboggan and I believe it is just one of two left now.

 

Actually, it is under private ownership. The park was privatized when Blair County sold it to the Boyer Candy Company in 1985. I agree on the classic rides thing, but the atmosphere of the park itself didn't feel historic at all, except for being on the lake near the Casino. It felt more akin to a permanent carnival, literally, with how the asphalt paths and gravel were laid out.

 

There is good reason why there is only two Toboggans left.

[palmerleeberry]

Like I stated in a previous post: Lakemont Park is on its last legs.

 

Now, can Leaps the Dip be saved and moved into another park, like Knoebels? Well, they did it with the Phoenix coaster and with Black Diamond, so I'm positive they could do it with Leaps the Dips, plus I'm sure they can operate that coaster way better than those at Lakemont Park.

 

But the question should be do they want to?

[SFOG1991]

I had a great time at Lakemont when I visited.

 

Keep in mind, this park isn't a normal park and I believe it is run under special circumstances with government funding and/or tax exemptions.

 

Sure, the park isn't pretty or investing heavily in upgrades, but it still has some really cool classic rides including the world's oldest coaster and a few other vintage coasters, all of which I found to be a unique and overall enjoyable experience. I actually loved the Toboggan and I believe it is just one of two left now.

 

Actually, it is under private ownership. The park was privatized when Blair County sold it to the Boyer Candy Company in 1985. I agree on the classic rides thing, but the atmosphere of the park itself didn't feel historic at all, except for being on the lake near the Casino. It felt more akin to a permanent carnival, literally, with how the asphalt paths and gravel were laid out.

 

There is good reason why there is only two Toboggans left.

I agree it doesn't have historic charm but that is gone now and won't come back so I guess we can't dwell on it too much. I would much prefer if it had the look and feel of Conneaut Lake Park, as that is a comparable park that has a much nicer setting and more history left, but it is what it is. As for Toboggan, I thought it was awesome but I know I am in a minority with that opinion. I didn't find it rough but I did find it very intimidating.

 

I know the park is privatized but there must be something or someone funding them or cutting their taxes. There is just no way this park would survive the way it is. Entry is super cheap and even free some days and they operate a decent line up of rides which must be costly.

 

Anyways, I hope the park survives long term and it would be nice if they could get in a position where they could improve the park. The ground themselves are perfect for a park, so if the money was there it could be beautified I'm sure. I'll take it the way it is versus not at all though.