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Clementon Discussion Thread


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It has been a while since we heard any news out of Clementon. They have announced the addition of four retro-themed rides. The Pirate Ship, Scrambler and Tilt-A-Whirl rides, plus a twisting Dragon Coaster which will be ready for visitors when the season opens on May 24. The park had a Sea Dragon, so it sounds like only 3 new rides. My guess is the coaster will be a SBF Visa spinning Figure 8.

 

https://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/local/south-jersey/2019/03/07/clementon-park-nj-theme-park-new-rides-coaster-2019-season/3090251002/

 

Clementon Park adds four retro-themed rides for 2019 season

Sheri Berkery, Cherry Hill Courier-Post Published 11:58 a.m. ET March 7, 2019 | Updated 2:21 p.m. ET March 7, 2019

 

CLEMENTON - South Jersey's century-old amusement park invites visitors to make new memories this season by reliving old ones.

 

Clementon Park & Splash World, founded in 1907, will add four retro-themed rides. The Pirate Ship, Scrambler and Tilt-A-Whirl rides, plus a twisting Dragon Coaster will be ready for visitors when the season opens on May 24.

 

The new attractions will join 24 existing rides at the amusement and water parks.

 

The 112-year-old amusement park also will invite guests to share photo memories for a chance to win a family reunion for up to 30 people.

 

The nostalgic approach leverages Clementon Park's rich history. Back in 1907, before TVs and movie theaters, amusement parks were among South Jersey's main forms of entertainment. The area had nearly 20 amusement parks from Burlington City to Cumberland County. Clementon Park is the sole survivor.

 

The park, built along a lakefront, was a popular spot for swimmers and a destination for young sweethearts and servicemen, particularly in the first half of the 20th century.

 

Its design is still influenced by its early roots; the park added a Victorian-themed main street about a decade ago.

 

“Our guests have fond memories that go back for generations; we want to celebrate those good times and create new ones together,” General Manager Dan Jankovits said in a press release. "This year we are taking a walk down memory lane, adding four classic, new rides that can be enjoyed by all ages."

 

The first of four "Bring Back the Memories - Clementon Reunion" contests will launch April 11. Guests are encouraged to collect and write captions for their favorite photos from Clementon Park & Splash World — from 1907 to 2018. More contests will be held throughout the season, with four winners receiving a free family reunion for up to 30 family members hosted at the park.

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That checks out. I was kind of wondering where Clementon came up with 95k. I'm assuming they found a much sh*ttier one.

 

People make fun of the place, but Clementon has always been a money maker. Before Premier bought it, it was on the market for $15Million, with approximately $1Million in annual profit. The brother of friend who is not into amusement parks, was considering buying it as a solid income investment during his retirement.

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It's certainly not a cheap park to visit at $45 admission plus parking. The one time I visited was very empty, but I remember you commenting it's usually busier.

 

Reasonable season pass prices create massive crowds at the water park all summer, but the ride side is usually very slow the first few hours

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  • 2 months later...

^I went to this park way back in the year 2011 and I just wasn't that impressed. It could be that the park was way crowded on the day I visited, or the fact their log flume wasn't running that day, or they only had one coaster that was too rough for me, or it could be the fact that I tried to get on their spinning balloon ride and they wouldn't let me (I went to Dorney Park on the next day and I got to ride their spinning balloon at Planet Snoopy.). I felt this park could use more rides. Well, they're getting it, but I still have no plans on returning to this park anytime soon. However, I'll go to Hersheypark and to Busch Gardens Williamsburg this year.

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  • 3 months later...

On the heels of an odd story last weekend where Clementon Park was closed for Guest Appreciation Day (Link), Screamscape did some digging and there's a rumor Clementon Park has closed.

 

While there's no official word or statement from the park, the park has suddenly deleted their Facebook and Instagram accounts. This is on top of Clementon ending their season early.

 

If this is true, I'm not too surprised. I visited on a sunny summer weekend two years ago and it was deserted. It was also ridiculously overpriced at $45 per person plus $20 to park. I did see the website (still up) having tickets priced at $20 for this year.

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Great Adventure, Sesame Place and Clementon are all within an hours drive from my house and out of the three Clementon is technically the closest mileage-wise. Its about a 40 minute drive vs 45 mins for Sesame or 55 mins for Great Adv.

 

Still, I could never bring myself to go over there thanks to that ridiculous gate price, all the negative reviews of that coaster and the park overall. No regrets.

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Usually it's a sad day in the amusement park world when a park is closed with no word on when it will open, but I don't feel that way with Clementon Park, especially when they added four new rides this year. Perhaps the only hope that park has left is that someone else would buy it, fix it up, add a ton of new stuff, and run that park much better than before. Otherwise, all those rides would need to find new homes.

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A few years ago when it was for sale for $15 million the brother of a friend looked into purchasing it to diversify his real estate holdings. The financials showed the park to be reasonably profitable (close to $1.5 Million annual profit), mainly due to the waterpark. A decent percentage of attendance was from groups sales (camps, schools and outings) with the biggest concerns of sustainability over time and the land being more valuable than the park.

 

The shame is what Hellcat became, as it was a lot of fun opening year.

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https://www.42freeway.com/clementon-park-closed-for-good-clementon-fall-festival-cancelled-and-more/

 

An article from a local blogger that dives in a bit.

 

Clementon is only about a fifteen minute drive and I haven’t gone since hellcat was called tsunami.

 

That roller coaster was aggressive when it opened and became unrideable within a few years. The profiling on the second hill was never fixed and somehow slammed you into the side of the car twice during a slight turn.

 

Hopefully a new buyer can pick it up cheap and and fix it up a bit.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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The news story about a family buying tickets in advance and arriving to find the park closed is suspect. Only ONE family bought tickets for Customer Appreciation Day and showed up? No season pass holders or general public decided to attend that day?

 

This was my local park growing up in the 60's and 70's. Sure, it was plenty of fun then. But I've only gone twice since graduating high school in 1977, when it was already on the decline. Once about 1995 when my employer had a picnic there, then again when the new Tsunami coaster opened about 2004.

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  • 1 year later...

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