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Waldameer Discussion Thread


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It's been awhile since the last post but there are some hopes for the 2021 season at Waldameer. It was revealed in a local news article that the park is making several changes to improve the park for it's 125th season. Here's the breakdown:

 

The Fate Of The "2021" Rides: In the original plan, Waldameer was going to continue their current 10 year plan and add two new rides to the park. The type of ride and location were not known but what do we know is that these rides are cancelled according to owner Paul Nelson. He revealed that only 27% of their regular attendance showed up to the park for 2020 and with borrowing over $1 million just to open this year, it was almost no shocker that these rides are cancelled. Now it's possible it could be on hold for 2022 but even 2022 is uncertain at this time. 

Fun Cosmetic Upgrades: Over the past few months, it was revealed over social media that several rides would get "fun cosmetic upgrades" for the 2021 season. It's unknown what rides will be repainted or what but it's basically open arms at this point. Speculate all you want and what happens but I am interested on what rides get these upgrades. It can be anything from repaints to new lights or other improvements but again, all open arms!

New Water World Entrance: Nelson revealed that a new and improved entrance will be constructed for Water World. According to Nelson, this new entrance can get you in twice as fast. As for my speculation, I think there's one area to address and that's the current entrance near Comet. This area can be a bottleneck, especially on busy days and for the expanding water park, a new and improved entrance is well needed. I am overall happy that a bottleneck area is being addressed. It's possible a brand new entrance could be constructed but I have my doubts with that. 

New Food Stand: Nelson reveled that a new food stand will debut for the 2021 season. This will go where the former Zeke's Shack shooting game used to be. This game operated until 2019 and never opened for 2020, suspecting that new developments are near. A Dipping Dots stand was also removed in that area. We sadly don't know what food items it will cater but it's all fun and games. I suspect that a pasta bar of some sort could be in that area. Pasta is a food item that is missing in Waldameer's lineup. I see something similar to the Mac Bowl at Cedar Point where you can customize your mac and cheese with various cheeses and toppings. Imagine white cheddar with bacon!!! That's my dream but who knows what will be added?

New Food Tent: The last major upgrade Waldameer will be addressing will be a new large tent where the former Showtime Theater once stood. There was a tent there before but that was for the theater and was torn down after the 2020 season. According to Nelson, it will "keep you out of the rain and have a place to eat if it does sprinkle." I can't comment on much and what it will be built but it should be a nice upgrade from the previous one.

 

Overall, I am excited for the 2021 season at Waldameer. While its not what is planned (still sad about the two rides not being here), making cosmetic upgrades and addressing some rough patches will help Waldameer move forward in the future. Season Pass Photo Days will be May 1st and 2nd, as well as the 7th and 8th. Opening day is the 15th. As a closer, I am quietly working on my biggest video in 3 years and will cover the entire history of the park! Stay tuned!

Link: https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/43488623/waldameer-prepares-for-125th-season

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  • 4 weeks later...

Noticed some things on the park's website for 2021.

- Pirate's Cove appears to be the only attraction that will remain closed for the season

- Park opens May 15th and will be closed on Wednesdays throughout the season

- Reservations, masks and social distancing protocol will still be enforced

- And the big news for many folks is that the Covid page on the park's website does not state that admission must be paid by all guests.  So I am assuming that Free Admission will make a return this year, and hoping that will also result in guests returning.  

Can't wait to go back, most likely by myself so people can laugh and make fun of me.  🙄

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I really don't recall making a reservation last year.... Park was empty when I went too... a Saturday in late August.  

And if reservations are required but you do not need to pay for admission. How will that work? That doesn't seem to mix well.

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^ They must be planning on having a set up, so they can control the numbers or % in the park. Maybe?

Whether it's free admission, or not. I sort of understand why they're doing the system, this way.

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58 minutes ago, Nrthwnd said:

^ They must be planning on having a set up, so they can control the numbers or % in the park. Maybe?

Whether it's free admission, or not. I sort of understand why they're doing the system, this way.

I'm doubting it, sure customer service will tell you that you need a reservation, but watch our video from Splash Lagoon a few weeks ago below. I think the concern for the virus has dropped in the region.

 

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8 hours ago, jconsolmagno said:

I'm doubting it, sure customer service will tell you that you need a reservation, but watch our video from Splash Lagoon a few weeks ago below. I think the concern for the virus has dropped in the region.

 

I went to Great Wolf Lodge in Mason the day before NYE and  it was the same way. Some normalcy felt good. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

There are less than 10 days until Season Pass Photo Day and I just wanted to update on progress at Waldameer. Pieces are starting to come together for the 125th season but I will be investigating more in the coming weeks. 

 

The Food Stand Reveal: Last month, I mentioned about a new food stand coming where the former Zeke's Shack game used to operate. Now we have an answer regarding it. The name of this place will be Carousel Delights and will be severing foods such as nachos, Dippin Dots, and much more. I am a bit disappointed that a new food option wasn't coming but it will be another place for food in the amusement park. 

 

New Spider Sign: Old Man Winter visited Erie yesterday morning for one last time and Waldameer posted it's yearly snow picture to their social media. In the picture, there is a new sign for Spider. The sign is now all black, matching the ride and a brand new web on top of the letters. I personally love the new sign and should be a good "sign" of things to come.

 

A "Stupid" ICJ Plug: As it gets closer to Waldameer's opening, I am optimistic about how this season will operate. With COVID protocols being relaxed a bit and the fun cosmetic upgrades looking promising, I can't wait to see what my home park has to offer. I'll be visiting on both Season Pass Photo Day (May 1st) and Opening Day (May 15th) for my first rides of the season as well as any other updates that the park have made so stay tuned on this thread and my YouTube channel InsaneCoasterJunkie for more updates regarding Waldameer. I know this might be a shameless plug but Waldameer is my second home and I'm very passionate about how this park operates :)

 

New Spider Sign: https://www.instagram.com/p/CN7VOSWLcTk/

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was at Season Pass Photo Day this past Saturday and wanted to update you all on what I saw-

 

1. Various rides and other things were repainted (Mega Vortex, Spider, Umbrellas, Steel Dragon, Charlie the Clown)

2. Water World entrance just removed the turnstiles and added tables for what I believe will be for bag checks

3. The new food tent is huge and I personally will call it "Bigger Blue Tent"

4. The Ravine Flyer II retracking looks great. You would be fooled if you said it looked like a GCI

5. Carousel Delights surprised me! The Dippin Dots Sundaes are new for 2021 and they are delicious

6. Only 3 rides were open to ride. Music Express was scheduled to open but cycled empty the entire day

7. Not everything in the park is ready but that's okay. They'll definitely be ready for opening day

8. According to the website under COVID-19 protocols, now all attractions will be open which means Pirate's Cove could possibly open!

9. Overall crowds surprised me which is a good sign. People want to come back and I hope they make a profit this season. Hopefully new ride 2022?

 

Overall I was impressed with the park. Even though it wasn't perfect, I was excited to return to my home park, see all the familiar faces, and document what's new for this season. As a shameless plug, I have 4 videos coming to my YouTube channel from Season Pass Day (Amusement Drive-Thru, Construction Update, Vlog, Park N Eat). I can't wait to share them to the public starting May 13th! Next step: Opening Day on the 15th!

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Thanks for the update, I am subscribed to you twice on YT once on there with my regular account and one with coastercouple so I will look out for the construction update #2 video.

Any news on the 2 cancelled rides for this year? Would like to at least know what they were supposed to be.

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5 minutes ago, ajfelice said:

^Not going to spill any descriptive details, but both would have replaced existing flat rides. Speculate all you want. 🙂

I'm going to make my best guess on what could had been. I speculate that the rides would've been manufactured by Zamperla since the park works very well with them and I could see more rides from them going forward. One of the rides I could had seen was a Air Race replacing Spider and the other one could of been a Endeavour or Nebulaz replacing Mega Vortex or going next to Chaos. That's just my speculation and anything could change in the plans but that's my best educated guess :)

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5 hours ago, ajfelice said:

^Not going to spill any descriptive details, but both would have replaced existing flat rides. Speculate all you want. 🙂

Wow, that's interesting. I would guess Wipeout and Paratrooper or maybe Ali Baba.

Hopefully they see the importance in keeping Whacky Shack. I hope that its facade gets a paint job in the next few years; they used to do that a lot.

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19 hours ago, CenturyFlyer said:

Wow, that's interesting. I would guess Wipeout and Paratrooper or maybe Ali Baba.

As someone who has been visiting Waldameer for 30 years now, I totally forgot about Ali Baba.  Probably because I rode it once and it made me nauseous!  But I could see Waldameer removing it for something else.  I always gave the park credit for making what was a standard off-the-shelf ARM portable ride look great with the fountain in front, but it always looked sort of out of place with its airbrushed backdrop.  Wipeout is the other one I could see on the chopping block.  It seems they have fallen out of favor lately as several parks have removed theirs or shipped them to other parks.

Not sure what the park may have planned to add though.  Zamperla has a new ride called Gryphon which looks like an updated Huss Swing Around with Endeavor style individual seats.  Gryphon That would probably be a good fit for a park like this.  A Zamperla Air Race is a possibility now that the park has an upside-down ride in Chaos.  Or perhaps even one of these new SBF Tower Plane rides (I believe that new "park" opening in Myrtle Beach soon is going to have one of these. It reminds me of the old Intamin Flight Trainer) SBF Tower Plane       

Looking forward to the park's 125th Anniversary season in just a few weeks!  

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On 5/4/2021 at 1:17 PM, BitterOldHag said:

As someone who has been visiting Waldameer for 30 years now, I totally forgot about Ali Baba.  Probably because I rode it once and it made me nauseous!  But I could see Waldameer removing it for something else.  I always gave the park credit for making what was a standard off-the-shelf ARM portable ride look great with the fountain in front, but it always looked sort of out of place with its airbrushed backdrop.  Wipeout is the other one I could see on the chopping block.  It seems they have fallen out of favor lately as several parks have removed theirs or shipped them to other parks.

Not sure what the park may have planned to add though.  Zamperla has a new ride called Gryphon which looks like an updated Huss Swing Around with Endeavor style individual seats.  Gryphon That would probably be a good fit for a park like this.  A Zamperla Air Race is a possibility now that the park has an upside-down ride in Chaos.  Or perhaps even one of these new SBF Tower Plane rides (I believe that new "park" opening in Myrtle Beach soon is going to have one of these. It reminds me of the old Intamin Flight Trainer) SBF Tower Plane       

Looking forward to the park's 125th Anniversary season in just a few weeks!  

I can agree that Waldameer has a great relationship with Zamperla. The park has added 8 rides since 1999 and I don't see why they can't continue with that. I say most likely, the next ride will be Zamperla due to these circumstances. An air race is definitely possible as Waldameer has proved that upside down rides can work for the thrill seekers. An Endeavour could also work as well. That new Gryphon does look intriguing and I could see Waldameer jumping early to trends. Down below is a Zamperla wish list of rides I could see-

 

1. Air Race/Super Air Race (Named Aeronaut) 

2. Endeavour (Name Free Spin)

3. Gryphon (Named Gryosphere)

4. Nebulaz (Named Neubla)

5. WindstarZ (Named Windstar)

6. A custom variation of the Thunderbolt coaster model (Fit to the park's specific needs)

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I'm already starting to think about the next coaster at Waldameer. Even though it might not be for a few years, I think I have a solid prediction. I personally am returning to that RMC idea awhile back as the manufacturer released two new concepts on their website. Either or could work out for the park when space and money allows. All pictures are from the RMC website and I will link them below! Just some food for thought :)

 

Links:

https://www.rockymtnconstruction.com/steel-coasters/

https://www.rockymtnconstruction.com/family-hybrid-coasters/

 

RMC Raptor.png

1069880282_RMCFamilyHybrid.png

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Just got back from Opening Day at Waldameer.  Overall enjoyed my visit as usual.  Some of my observations:

- X Scream and Sea Dragon were down.  When we were leaving, Wipeout was being worked on as well, but it was running earlier.  
- Mask wearing was about 70% not wearing to 30% wearing.  Many employees were not wearing them either.  Being fully vaxed and wearing my mask, I am not overly upset about it, but I was surprised. 
- inside the Whacky Shack, the park painted the interior of the rotating drum, making the effect much more convincing.  All stunts were working as well.  I love the fact that the park maintains this classic dark ride so well.  
- Ravine Flyer 2 was running great.  Lots of track work was done including the 90 degree banked turn and it maintained its speed quite well.  Such a great coaster.  
- It boggles my mind how many people wait until opening day to process their season passes.  That line was enormous.  Despite the  park offering a couple days before the park opened (and even having a few rides open), most people seem to enjoy waiting.  Hey, to each their own.  
 

Again, I enjoyed my time at the park and it was just great to be out on a gorgeous day.  Heading to Cedar Point with my season long FL next Friday.  I saw that Math and Physics Days are going on each Friday in May, so it might not be a long visit!  

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Would anyone be heart broken if they did? I live a few hours away, but I don't recall Comet being as sacred as the KW coasters.

But I do know they own that hill side on the lake and there's a video from a few years ago where they mentioned that is where the next coaster will go (the video is in this thread).

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I know I'd be sad if they did anything to Comet, but that's because it was my first coaster (and my wife's first coaster, and my daughter's).
I'm glad to hear Waldameer also values it

I was hoping it would be my first coaster of the year, but it was down while I was at the park with my 5 year old yesterday

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, with Cedar Point seemingly down for the count this morning (they did end up opening up some, but not all of the major coasters), I decided to drive out to Waldameer earlier than I had planned for my first visit to the park.  All in all, a great time.

It has a quaint charm to it, not unlike Knoebels.IMG_20210529_132209369_HDR.thumb.jpg.f41bd205b5f0ed9feefb69ad588c7744.jpg

They've even got a Larson drop tower, which is probably just as nutty as Stratosphere, but it wasn't running today, so I can't be sure.

IMG_20210529_133025910_HDR.thumb.jpg.73e67cac7ad5821ffe8c5d6b9d3a40a1.jpg

My first ride of the day was Wacky Shack, a classic mutli-level dark ride.  Good enough, but some of the effects inside were obviously not working.

IMG_20210529_133052564_HDR.thumb.jpg.b92f8aa8ad734a587d9511bbbdc3f8f4.jpg

It has this little downhill section...does that make it a credit?  LOL, no.

IMG_20210529_133723941_HDR.thumb.jpg.052f345bc3001ae808972f66cb277270.jpg

First coaster of the day was Ravine Flyer II.

IMG_20210529_133808474.thumb.jpg.d1707b4dc04c66df17f68e6f2fc26238.jpg

Nerd shot.

IMG_20210529_134005203_HDR.thumb.jpg.736a4c671b2bd99c2486d9b86979d57d.jpg

So what did I think?  HO. LY.  SHIT.  This was an incredible ride, both in the front and the back, but I'll put the front a little bit higher.  As someone else said, you could easily mistake this for a GCI....I got a lot of Mystic Timbers and White Lightning vibes off of it.  With Millennium Flyers, this would be a top 5 wooden coaster for me....even with the shitty two-bench PTC's it might end up in the top 10.  Speed, twistys, airtime...this coaster has it all.

This thing, though?

IMG_20210529_135327301_HDR.thumb.jpg.0d09e0029c052022af457e4fc16199df.jpg

Disappointing.  I was expecting a classic junior woodie with some pops of air like the Woodstock Express clones in the back row, but nope...it just kinda meanders around the course, never really doing anything special.  I expected better with the buzz-bar and no-seat-belt junior PTC trains, but...meh.  One and done for me.

That was it for me for rides here, two laps on RF2, one on Comet, and one on Wacky Shack.  The Music Express and Paratrooper were running stupidly slow, so I skipped them.  It is nice that they have a Chance Wipeout, but I recall them making me violently ill, so it was also skipped.

I DID very much like that you could use your rides card points for food, which I thought was a smart move.  As for the food, I had a burger (very good, especially for the sub-$5 price), and a pretzel, which was a little hard for my liking.

They also had this "ACE Memorial Park" which I found hilarious for how little was in it.   Note that you could not read whatever was once written on the two plaques.

IMG_20210529_142455972.thumb.jpg.0807a1da710cf9b9fc744b87bdb885c3.jpg

IMG_20210529_142500086_HDR.thumb.jpg.186f98c0011ea1ff423951a9c2114bf1.jpg

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So long, Waldameer.  I will definitely be stopping by on my next trip out to Cedar Point for some laps on Ravine Flyer II.  Now get to work on those Millennium Flyers!

IMG_20210529_145747208_HDR.thumb.jpg.8de10338e3d178c6d85de985af4149da.jpg

 

 

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