Waldameer Trip Report

The fourth and final stop of the trip concludes in Eria PA at Waldameer Park! You drive through Erie on the way back to Buffalo from Sandusky so I figured why not break up the drive home and do a quick pop-in. I knew Waldameer was small but now having been here I would describe it as a permanent fair. It was by far the smallest park of the three.

At this point in the trip, we were pretty fried. We were able to rally and do a later night on our final day at Cedar Point but that was fueled solely by the rides on Steel Vengence/Maverick and Dippin’ Dots. When we pulled up to the park, the overcast sky accurately represented the mood. I would describe my time at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom as a get-in-get-out operation. I didn’t love that park so it was a ride everything once and get the hell out kind of day but even then it ended up being about a three-hour trip. Our day (read hour) at Waldameer was truly a get-in-get-out operation.

There are only five coasters here three of which are kiddie rides. The other is a portable spinning coaster featuring the most lackadaisical operations I’ve ever witnessed. And the final is the reason we even bothered with this park in the first place.

Ravine Flyer II is a good ride. I don’t like it as much as Mystic Timbers or Gold Striker but I think it at least hangs with those two. It has some fun elements. The first drop is good. There is a part where you go over the highway and back on a bridge. It's pretty smooth as well with some minor rough spots but pretty re-rideable. One thing I did like was the crazy banking on some of the final turns you usually don’t see those kinds of sharp angles used on woodies. My biggest complaint with this ride is it can’t carry enough speed towards the end for the final elements to work. Some Steel Vengenese-esque airtime hills at the end just do nothing since you’ve lost almost all your momentum by that point. This was my first ride by The Gravity Group who along with GCI are carrying the torch for modern wood coasters. We did two rides on Ravine Flyer II but I think we would have done some more if we weren’t so tired.

Not much else to add this will be a fittingly short report for the park. Next time we come home from Cedar Point I think aside from maybe stopping for lunch we can bypass Erie.

Conclusion

And with that the first mega-trip is complete! Overall I think it was a success we both had a lot of fun.

There are some things I’d do a bit differently next time.

1. Early mornings every morning don’t work. The long days walking around in the sun and the heat just kind of wear you down. Sleeping in before driving to the next stop is something that we’ll do next time.
2. Half days at smaller parks are fine. For parks like Waldameer and to a lesser extent Kennywood just a half day would have been sufficient. These parks are smaller and don’t have a ton of coasters so you can pretty easily get on all of them in just a half day. In both Erie and Pittsburg, we found ourselves looking for stuff to do. Next time arrive, spend the rest of the day at that park, and leave in the morning is something that I think we should do.
3. Cedar Point in early August is a no-no. Not going to rehash this too much the park is just flat-out too busy this time of year. Hotel Breakers is a rip off. I think we’ll stick to the late August/early September time frame for future visits.
4. Shitty hotels are shit. You don’t need to stay at a five-star establishment but the last thing you want to do after a long day at the park is come back to a garbage hotel. Trust the Expedia reviews 9/10 or better.

Overall I can’t complain things went pretty smoothly. No mega trip next year as instead we have a long long overdue Italy trip planned but I already have some ideas cooking for 2026!