My rough plan for this year hasn’t exactly panned out, so instead I thought I’d offer a short review
of two rarely visited or talked about parks.
I was in Pittsburg
with a friend the other day. With Pensylvania so full of amusement parks, we
obviously had to stop by somewhere…
We’d already been to
Kennywood a couple of years ago and we were not fans, so decided to try out Lakemont. A tiny
park, but it boasts the world’s oldest roller coaster still in operation and North
America’s last surviving side friction – Leap
the Dips. It’s also home to a Chance Toboggan
(a ride type I’d yet to try) and another wooden coaster named Skyliner.
I was expecting the
park to be nice enough. Pulling up to the place, the park itself is
overshadowed by a contemporary business park that we had assumed was more like
an outlet village similar to the one found at Lightwater Valley in the UK. It’s
a real shame that it is not, it would perhaps draw much-needed visitors to the amusement park.
The ticket price for
entry and a wristband for all rides and the waterpark, with the exception of
Leap the Dips, was only $5 on a Friday. That seemed insane. Most ticket-based
parks will charge that per large ride. The modest ticket price soon becomes
apparent though, there’s nothing at this park. Literally. Well, there is a
waterpark, and arguably $5 for any waterpark however awful is pretty damn good,
and I suspect that’s what most local people come here for. But this park was
completely dead. For a Friday afternoon sandwiched between 4th July
and the weekend, this was crazy quiet. I cannot fathom how the park makes
enough money to even cover staff pay.
