Waldameer Discussion Thread

Heading to the park Saturday! Hopefully the weather is not too terrible. Cant wait... first time in about 6 years. I love these small family parks.

I have no doubt the park will stay open and I'm thinking of going as well. I've been on a day when it rained hard all day and they stayed open almost all day despite the fact I'm pretty sure they were losing money.

Eh, par the course for Erie from the start of May until about the second week of June in terms of weather forecasting.

 

Most of the time it's just a straight 40% to 60% chance of rain predicted every day. The only thing you can really count on is the temperature being fairly accurate, although every day has been around 5 degrees or more above the forecasted high.

Agreed, the weather report today was for thunderstorms and I think we had a sprinkle in the morning. It would have been a beautiful day to head out and ride Ravine Flyer II.

I called the park and they are opening as scheduled. They said they will close if there are not enough people in the park.

The weather ended up being great today, I hope you had a great time

Hoping for decent weather on Wednesday!

The weather ended up being great today, I hope you had a great time

It got windy towards the end of the night, but we had a great time. Ravine Flyer II was running so much faster than it was for my 2017 visit (probably because there was a full train this time).

WOW! I had such a great time Saturday. The weather ended up being beautiful!

I had not been to the park in about 5 years. The gardens were just as beautiful as before and I think the new water park area looks great.... now lets fill it with more slides hehe

Both Music Express and Chaos look great in their locations. The Music Express and Scrambler ran awesome cycles. Ali Baba felt very short and Chaos only flips twice - which I guess is good enough.

This was my first time to the water park and its really nice. The slides are fun. My only down with the water park was having to walk so far to get to the two speed slides entrance from their exit.

The staff was overall very friendly and the dispatches on Ravine Flyer II were fairly close which I liked since they were only using one train. It still runs amazing! Being on it brought back so many memories of my backlot tour of it with TPR as well as our hour long ERT time on it.

Visited the park Sunday night. Just poked in to give Ravine Flyer a spin (we were up in Wine Country for the day). Such beautiful views as it was near sunset. Park is super well kept. And they keep finding little plots of space for new rides. I like how they've kept this small park feel while offering a surprising amount in the way of flats and slides. Ravine Flyer itself seemed to be running better than ever. Super smooth and speedy.

^ Maybe it wasn't just the full train then. Sounds like Ravine Flyer II is running particularly well this year.

Looking forward to my 2nd ever visit to Waldameer next week, last year my girlfriend and I had a great time and this wonderful gem of a park. I was looking online with no success, but is their any discount ticket deals that anyone knows about? E.g. a particular supermarket selling tickets, or some sort of online promo code? I don't have AAA (yeah I know), actually I'm not a member of anything. We will be getting the combo passes as we both enjoyed Water World last year as well.

And yes, I know I am coming across as a cheap a$$ as the park is a damn good deal anyway, but if I save a few dollars I can use it to get an extra Greek Dog across the street at Schickalay's.

Looking forward to my 2nd ever visit to Waldameer next week, last year my girlfriend and I had a great time and this wonderful gem of a park. I was looking online with no success, but is their any discount ticket deals that anyone knows about? E.g. a particular supermarket selling tickets, or some sort of online promo code? I don't have AAA (yeah I know), actually I'm not a member of anything. We will be getting the combo passes as we both enjoyed Water World last year as well.

 

And yes, I know I am coming across as a cheap a$$ as the park is a damn good deal anyway, but if I save a few dollars I can use it to get an extra Greek Dog across the street at Schickalay's.

When you get into Erie check out one of the Country Fair gas stations. They usually have Waldameer combo pass discounts up by the register (you may want to go to one that isn't right next to the park because of availability). It may only be a few dollars, but at least it's something.

I have a road trip planned with my son tomorrow and the weather tomorrow in Erie looks less than ideal. We are not afraid of rain, but I was wondering how there rain policy usually gets handled. I know my local park Kennywood closes if it is rainy all day. Would love to sneak in all the rollercoasters if we can after we stop at Coneaut. Thank you!

Unless it has changed from 2017, Waldameer stayed open and ran all rides in a torrential downpour. They did close 2 hours early, but I was one of like 10 people in the park so I don't blame them one bit.

Conneaut seems quick to close in rain so I'd keep an eye on them.

Last year they kept running Ravine Flyer in a downpour, it made it a pretty wild ride.

Thanks for the tip pryonisys, I'll check for those. If it doesn't work out no biggie.

I'm surprised this didn't get more attention, but Waldameer's new-for-2019 inverting frisbee, Chaos, got stuck in the upside down position for 2 minutes this past Friday. From the article, it sounds like it was a programming error. Until the software engineer arrives and corrects the issue, the ride will be running a non-inverting cycle.

Engineer to examine Waldameer ride after malfunction

 

A malfunction Friday on the $1 million thrill ride caused it to stop for about two minutes while riders were inverted.

 

Waldameer Park & Water World’s new $1 million ride, Chaos, will continue to operate in a limited thrill-producing capacity after a malfunction on Friday caused the ride to stop in an inverted position for about two minutes.

 

A software engineer from Italy, where the ride was manufactured, is flying to Erie to determine the source of the malfunction. The engineer should arrive Wednesday, said Steve Gorman, president of Waldameer Park & Water World.

 

“In short, we’re still not sure,” what happened, Gorman said. “The ride is completely operated by a computer. The company thinks it was a board that wasn’t properly working. They’re going to replace that board and see if that solves the issue.”

 

The ride, unveiled earlier this season at the Millcreek Township amusement park, seats 16 people who face outward in a circular gondola. The pendulum ride sends riders swinging, spinning and then upside down as they soar 60 feet in the air.

 

Technicians with the ride’s manufacturer deemed it safe for Chaos to operate indefinitely without taking riders upside down, Gorman said.

 

“It’ll be like that until we can get this issue fixed,” he said.

 

Gorman said the ride was at full capacity or close to it at the time of the incident. Waldameer maintenance officials and its designated EMS responder arrived at the scene while riders were getting off the Chaos, Gorman said. None requested medical assistance, he said. Park officials shut down the ride for the remainder of the park’s operating hours on Friday.

 

Gorman said he’d received one email from a man who had a headache following the incident and another woman to whom he offered free passes because her daughter was on the ride and was upset by the experience.

Link to GoErie Article

Here is a video of it in the middle of the "stall":

[youtu_be]

I'm surprised this didn't get more attention, but Waldameer's new-for-2019 inverting frisbee, Chaos, got stuck in the upside down position for 2 minutes this past Friday. From the article, it sounds like it was a programming error. Until the software engineer arrives and corrects the issue, the ride will be running a non-inverting cycle.

 

Engineer to examine Waldameer ride after malfunction

 

A malfunction Friday on the $1 million thrill ride caused it to stop for about two minutes while riders were inverted.

 

Waldameer Park & Water World’s new $1 million ride, Chaos, will continue to operate in a limited thrill-producing capacity after a malfunction on Friday caused the ride to stop in an inverted position for about two minutes.

 

A software engineer from Italy, where the ride was manufactured, is flying to Erie to determine the source of the malfunction. The engineer should arrive Wednesday, said Steve Gorman, president of Waldameer Park & Water World.

 

“In short, we’re still not sure,” what happened, Gorman said. “The ride is completely operated by a computer. The company thinks it was a board that wasn’t properly working. They’re going to replace that board and see if that solves the issue.”

 

The ride, unveiled earlier this season at the Millcreek Township amusement park, seats 16 people who face outward in a circular gondola. The pendulum ride sends riders swinging, spinning and then upside down as they soar 60 feet in the air.

 

Technicians with the ride’s manufacturer deemed it safe for Chaos to operate indefinitely without taking riders upside down, Gorman said.

 

“It’ll be like that until we can get this issue fixed,” he said.

 

Gorman said the ride was at full capacity or close to it at the time of the incident. Waldameer maintenance officials and its designated EMS responder arrived at the scene while riders were getting off the Chaos, Gorman said. None requested medical assistance, he said. Park officials shut down the ride for the remainder of the park’s operating hours on Friday.

 

Gorman said he’d received one email from a man who had a headache following the incident and another woman to whom he offered free passes because her daughter was on the ride and was upset by the experience.

 

Link to GoErie Article

My niece posted the video to FB the other day, but I wasn't 100% sure of validity, so didn't post. Thanks for posting the article!

While certainly concerning, there is no doubt that Waldameer will get it figured out.

Hoping to get to visit Kennywood, CP, Conneaut and Waldameer before moving to KC, but that might be a stretch at this point. lol

Wow that must have been quite the sight to see walking into the park.

There are some people here in Erie that I've talked to who are either complaining or are really concerned about it, but it really does sound like they're doing everything they can to get this fixed. I keep trying to tell people to not be too concerned because they're trying to get it all resolved.

I think we all know how it is though, if there's an issue anywhere or a malfunction (or a sensor trips causing people to have to evac a ride) anything like that people tend to panic and view certain rides as unsafe. Just an unfortunate truth of the world.

Super unfortunate because this ride is the PERFECT fit for a park like Waldameer. I rode Kentucky Kingdom’s a couple weeks ago and it was an absolute BLAST! I personally thought it was more fun (with funkier sensations) than the giant frisbees.

I can't believe I missed this. I went to Waldameer about 3 weeks ago, and I agree with DBru it's a perfect fit. Having been on a few giant Frisbees and similar rides I wasn't sure if I would be impressed, but is a lot of fun, especially doing a full flip over the top, it throws you for a loop. (Horrible pun intended.)

What I thought was really cool was throughout the day, it had a decent sized crowd just WATCHING the ride, almost in awe of those who had the nerve to ride it.

Also Ravine Flyer II was running great. I love this coaster, I can't believe it took me until last year to ride it.

Question for the regulars... is Ravine Flyer II rougher in the 2nd row of a car? We rode front car, my son and I in the first row and wife and daughter both in the second. Both my wife and daughter said it was rough and my son and I thought it was smooth which surprised me, especially since my daughter thinks Predator is fun.

On most woodies, it's recommended to avoid wheel seats. I have ridden Ravine Flyer II in a wheel seat and recall it still being pretty smooth.

The wheel seats on RFII definitely allow you to feel the rattle more, but it definitely feels smoother this year than it has in the past. Took a couple of laps last week in the 3rd car of the red train in both wheel seats and it wasn't bad.

With the speed the train maintains throughout the ride the wheel seats will always give more punch than the first row. There isn't much let up in the layout.

I agree Ravine Flyer II is remarkably smooth for how aggressive that layout is.