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Lakemont Park changes


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Lakemont got its butt kicked by DelGrossos. When I visited in 2015, I felt embarrassed by the lack of patrons. The ride ops were bored out of their minds. Afterwards, we went up the road to DelGrossos, which was absolutely packed. I went to Lakemont to visit the Skyliner, the first coaster I ever rode as a child when it was at Roseland Park in Canandaigua, NY. But yikes! What rickety pile of sticks! It needs a major overhaul of both track and trains. I think the no gate fee approach should have been tried years ago. Makes it worth a stop on the way to DelGrossos or Knoebels.

 

Visited Conneaut Lake a few weeks ago. There were lots of people there! I was amazed. They have managed to turn it around nicely. The water park looked decent. The Blue Streak scared me too much to ride more than once. Looks ready to collapse, but I'm sure it's safe. Conneaut has a great carousel, a tumble bug, the Devils Den and a slew of funky old kiddie rides. It's cool and creepy in a good way. I'm happy to see money flowing in for a change.

 

Another sketchy old park is Sylvan Beach in central NY state. They also have lots of funky old rides and no people. Ride ops run multiple rides because is never enough riders for more than one ride to operate at a time. But I try to visit every year.

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I'm really rooting for this park to put in the work needed to become a real attraction again. If they really haven't even started work yet despite closing for the summer, that is a really bad sign. They can do a lot of work in a few months, so there is still time to get in there and fix it up, but I don't have a good feeling about it. If they could just invest in the water park like they were talking about, that would be a huge boost on its own.

 

I really hope the Skyliner gets fixed up though. I love old wooden coasters, and these old John Allen PTC's are such a rare breed anymore.

 

I'm planning a Kennywood trip for next year, and I really want Lakemont to be fixed up a bit so it is worth driving out to. I'll go if I can be assured that Skyliner and Leap the Dips are at least operational and not hemerage-inducing. If not though, I guess there's Conneaut at least...

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  • 1 month later...

Lakemont posted a lot of the rides for sale. Some pretty cheap prices, really. Get one of only a few Chance Toboggans for $25,000. Just the price of a sedan and lots of TLC and probably lots more money to get it running alright. Oh and the Little Dipper is for sale for $12,500. Aren't those some of the oldest steel coasters around. It's half tempting..

Edited by Taylor Finn
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^I noticed their Chance Herschell Twister is sale pending. Would be interesting to see where that ends up; that ride intrigues me.

 

Really hoping this is all part of the improvement plans we've known about and not a bad sign.

Edited by cal1br3tto
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That Chance Twister was in really rough shape a couple years ago when I stopped in at Lakemont, but it was a pretty fun little ride regardless. I'd love to see somewhere known for taking care of old rides refurbish it. If only there were a park that liked to take care of old rides somewhere in Pennsylvania... >.>

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That Chance Twister was in really rough shape a couple years ago when I stopped in at Lakemont, but it was a pretty fun little ride regardless. I'd love to see somewhere known for taking care of old rides refurbish it. If only there were a park that liked to take care of old rides somewhere in Pennsylvania... >.>

 

 

I can think of 2. One with Kenny and one with Kozmo... Maybe a 3rd with Daniel Tiger

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^ In the pre-Palace Entertainment days, I would agree about Kennywood and Idlewild, but after seeing Idlewild lose their classic Caterpillar, their unique Haunted Swing and have their Whip sit in pieces over the past few years, I doubt they'd be a good fit for any of Lakemont's rides. While I do enjoy Kennywood and Idlewild, the upkeep of the parks is definitely nowhere near as nice as it was prior to Parques Reunidos ownership. Just my opinion. Now Knoebels on the other hand...

 

And one more thing. If anyone wants to replicate the Toboggan experience for far cheaper than 25K, go to your local grocery store, get a shopping cart and take it up to the roof of the building, hop in the cart, and roll yourself off the building. It may even be a smoother experience than the Toboggan.

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And one more thing. If anyone wants to replicate the Toboggan experience for far cheaper than 25K, go to your local grocery store, get a shopping cart and take it up to the roof of the building, hop in the cart, and roll yourself off the building. It may even be a smoother experience than the Toboggan.

 

 

I've noticed that a weird thing happens when rides are on the brink of extinction where all of a sudden fans come out of the woodwork to praise them and talk about how awesome they are when they were never appreciated before. In many cases I'm guilty of this too. I don't know if it's all nostalgic delusion or a legitimate case of only realizing what you've got when it's gone and realizing that the rides really were LEGITIMATELY underappreciated but I NEVER thought I'd see the day that people started getting excited / nostalgic for a Chance Toboggan.

 

I'm not bashing anyone, people are entitled to their opinions and I'm guilty of this in some cases too. Intamin first gen drop towers were often disliked by the enthusiast community for being rough and jarring and now you never see anyone who rides Demon Drop and doesn't sing it's praises and declare it one of the best rides at the park (and I'm totally in that club). Similarly, we were in Vegas this past weekend with limited time and I made it a major priority to spend some of that limited time at Circus Circus (and paid a round trip cab fare from the Bellagio to get there and back). Sure, I'd never ridden El Loco and sure I enjoy Canyon Blaster and we rode them both once and they were great, but make no mistake... I went up there to ride a f*cking Chance Chaos again. I don't even think they're that good, I just wanted to ride it because it was cool and because of nostalgia.

 

On that note, I sort of get where the sudden surge in support for this Chance Toboggan is coming from (not just here, but all over the place since the news hit of this ride being for sale) and I can't bash anyone for it but I'm still a little surprised. I'm all for nostalgia and new-found appreciation for rides as they become harder to find but... a Chance Toboggan? Really? I don't know, that's pushing it a little for me. I thought that thing was awful.

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I would love to see Lake Winnie scoop up a ride or two from Lakemont! It's too bad they are removing basically every ride but hopefully they find good homes.

 

I enjoyed the Chance Toboggan and don't get the hate so I hope it is saved. Plus it is a rare classic. I do recall the steel track bowing under the weight of the cars to the point that it was very concerning though.

Edited by SFOG1991
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And one more thing. If anyone wants to replicate the Toboggan experience for far cheaper than 25K, go to your local grocery store, get a shopping cart and take it up to the roof of the building, hop in the cart, and roll yourself off the building. It may even be a smoother experience than the Toboggan.

 

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Yeah, I mean believe me... I don't necessarily think it's an enjoyable ride. It is just unique and kinda different in that it is portable but not necessarily a kiddie coaster by design. I guess the park will be left with the Train, Antique Cars, Leap the Dips, Skyliner, and that's about it. Maybe Go karts and Paddle Boats? I guess we'll see what ends up all of this.

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That Chance Twister was in really rough shape a couple years ago when I stopped in at Lakemont, but it was a pretty fun little ride regardless. I'd love to see somewhere known for taking care of old rides refurbish it. If only there were a park that liked to take care of old rides somewhere in Pennsylvania... >.>

 

When I rode it last year, it was actually in a pretty good condition, at least mechanically. There appeared to be some touch ups here or there, but it wasn't in a rough shape from what I saw. I'd really love to see another park buy it, as it was something of a step-up from a Tilt-A-Whirl and a Whip.

 

On the topic of the Chance Toboggan, I would actually prefer having someone buy the Chance Skydiver over it. I won't lie, I honestly believe someone could probably recreate these in their backyard or a smaller company could make a similar model to these. Not so much with a Chance Skydiver.

 

Still hoping that a certain nostalgic-filled park would just buy Leap The Dips and relocate it.

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I'm still game for more Toboggan rides (even though they suck); I've only ridden the one at Little Amerricka, and I'm not adamant on keeping it that way. They are photogenic as all heck, so that's one bright spot in their collective miserable existence.

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And one more thing. If anyone wants to replicate the Toboggan experience for far cheaper than 25K, go to your local grocery store, get a shopping cart and take it up to the roof of the building, hop in the cart, and roll yourself off the building. It may even be a smoother experience than the Toboggan.

I've only been on the one at Little Amerricka in Wisconsin, but I'm assuming there's not a huge difference. That ride looked cool, but it was absolutely as described above.

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  • 1 month later...

Well this is interesting. Just attempted to check the park's facebook page tonight while having a bout of insomnia, but it appears that Lakemont Park's Facebook pages has been deleted. Their main website is still up and shows the holiday lights are still continuing up to the seventh.

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There is no time table at this point for when the park will reopen its gates. Albarano says that best for the community and for the park to do so as soon as possible.

 

This quote from the most recent news article in November made it sound like they wouldn't open for 2017. http://www.wearecentralpa.com/news/the-future-of-lakemont-park/856896293

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  • 1 month later...

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