Waldameer Park & Water World is an amusement park and water park in Erie, Pennsylvania, located at the base of Presque Isle. Waldameer is the fourth oldest amusement park in Pennsylvania, the tenth oldest in the nation, and one of only thirteen trolley parks still operating in the United States.[1] The park is admission-free, with a midway, and covered picnic facilities. The roller coasters and other major rides require either the display of a paid wristband scanned upon riding, or the use of "Wally Points" on their "Wally Card" system. The water park operates an assortment of water slides and pools, and is admission by fee only. The name "Waldameer" can be translated roughly to "woods by the sea" in German.[2] Waldameer's operating season runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
The park began as a picnic area called Hoffman's Grove. The Erie Electric Motor Company leased the park in 1896 and renamed it "Waldameer." The trolley car company extended service to its new park, making Hoffman's Grove picnic area a terminus on the line in the hopes of increasing passenger traffic.[3]
The park operates two classic dark attractions: the Whacky Shack (built in 1970), a two-story ride, and Pirate's Cove (built in 1972), a walk-through funhouse. Both were designed and built by dark ride specialist Bill Tracy and his company, Amusement Display Associates of Cape May, New Jersey.
Waldameer sold its classic carousel at auction in 1988 for more than $1 million. A new carousel with sixty operating horses was obtained from Chance Manufacturing. The park owner intended to construct a new restaurant called The Carousel next to the Rainbow Gardens banquet hall, though this idea never came to fruition. A 10-foot giraffe and a jumping horse from the classic carousel were reserved from the auction to be used in the new restaurant. Part of the auction proceeds was used to erect four additional water slides—a speed slide, free fall slide, one-man and two-man raft slides—all built by Molded Fiberglass Company of Union City.[4]
In 2000, a junior coaster built by E&F Miler Industries called Ravine Flyer 3 opened, despite the fact that the Ravine Flyer II would not be completed for another 8 years. In 2004, a spinning coaster manufactured by Maurer Söhne named Steel Dragon opened. For the 2007 season, Waldameer opened X-Scream, a 140-foot-tall drop tower ride. In 2008, the highly anticipated Ravine Flyer II wooden coaster opened, leading to a 20% increase in attendance, and the busiest season in park history.[5] The coaster won the Golden Ticket Award for the best new ride for 2008.[6] The 2009 season saw the extension of the midway south to coincide with the addition of a new Disk-O ride, Mega Vortex. A modern, "cashless" pay system called a Wally Card was introduced for 2010. A new family-oriented area, The North End, located within the train turnaround, opened in 2011. The rides located in the area are the Flying Swings, S.S. Wally, and Wendy's Tea Party. New additions for the 2012 season included the Zamperla-manufactured Happy Swing (located in the Kiddieland area), a second train for the L. Ruth Express, a redesigned loading area for the Whacky Shack, and the requirement that all in-park transactions must be made with a Wally Card. For the 2014 season, Waldameer painted the slides in Water World, as well as added new decorative items throughout the park. In 2015, Waldameer began a waterpark expansion with the opening of the largest wave pool in the tri-state area.[7] The 2016 season saw the addition of slides and a splash pad for younger children known as Kidz Zone.[8] A water playground, dubbed Battle of Lake Erie, was introduced for the 2017 season.[9] New additions for the 2018 season included a bowl slide from ProSlide Technology, called CannonBOWL, and a Zamperla Samba Balloon Ride, named Balloon Race.[10] In 2019, the park unveiled a Zamperla Discovery pendulum ride called the Chaos.[11] Although Waldameer opened later than usual in 2020 due to Covid-19, the park still added a compact spinning coaster from Italian manufacturer SBF Visa and named it Whirlwind. It was the park's first new coaster since the addition of the Ravine Flyer II in 2008. On May 22, 2023, it was announced that Paul Nelson, the owner of the park for several decades, had passed away at the age of 89.[12]
A dance hall called Rainbow Gardens also exists on the property, having been built in 1925. It replaced the original dance hall which burned down in a fire in 1924.
In 2008, Ravine Flyer II was named "Best New Ride" by Amusement Today and was ranked #11. That same year, Paul Nelson was named "Person of the Year" by Amusement Today.
In addition, Waldameer’s two Bill Tracy dark rides, Whacky Shack and Pirate's Cove, have won numerous dark ride awards from DAFE.org. Both attractions have consistently ranked in the top 10 for their respective categories (Classic Dark Ride and Walkthrough).
Water World is a water park located in Waldameer. Established in 1986, Water World contains 10 major slides, an Endless River, a Heated Relaxing Pool, and two kids' zones. In June 2015, Waldameer opened a wave pool that can accommodate 1,000 people, making it one of the largest wave pools on the east coast. The water park has continued to expand with new attractions every few years. In 2023, the Rocket Blast water coaster slide won Best New Water Park Ride of 2023 in the Golden Ticket Awards.[14]
During the late evening hours of August 8, 1938, the Ravine Flyer coaster failed to clear the hill following the bridge crossing Peninsula Drive. As the train continued to travel back and forth over Peninsula Drive, passenger Mary Sersch became hysterical. Her brother, 19-year-old Clarence Sersch then rose out of his seat in an attempt to calm her. He lost his balance, which resulted in the fall to his death in the middle of Peninsula Drive.[15][16] Ravine Flyer was shut down for further investigation. An investigation into the coaster determined that a locked wheel had caused the train to lose speed over Peninsula Drive. It was dismantled at the request of then park owner Alex Moeller's wife, who was distraught over the incident. Ravine Flyer was replaced 70 years later in 2008 by Ravine Flyer II, in which Peninsula Drive was spanned again.[5]
On June 28, 2019, the Chaos ride was going through its usual cycle. At around 1:30 p.m., the ride became stuck upside-down for about two minutes. There were no injuries reported during this incident. The ride was closed for the rest of the day and reopened the following day with the upside-down feature removed. On July 3, the cause of the malfunction was stated to be because of loose wires. The ride was opened to its full ride cycle on July 4 without further issues.[17]