Amusement Park Mom

Welcome to Lakemont Park!

As part of my Altoona road trip I stopped by Lakemont Park - specifically to ride Leap the Dips which is the world’s oldest roller coaster.  I’m afraid of heights and all that so coasters are not something I normally ride, but I wanted to make an exception here.

Altoona Curve Ballfield from inside the Park

Travel to Lakemont Park was easy on Rte 99.  The hard part was figuring out where to park.  Lakemont Park is also home to the minor league ball field for the Altoona Curve and there is a lot of parking and different lanes and lots, etc.  Well, just pay attention and you’ll get to park someplace – for Free (unless you park in the Curve parking and there is a game.)

Lakemont Park's 2011 admission options

Lakemont Park offers different options for entry including wristbands and tickets.  Some days you must buy a wrist band, others you don’t have to.  I had to and it was $5.  This does not include some things like Leap the Dips or the Go Karts or things like that.

This map doesn't fit into your pocket....

One of my problems with visiting Lakemont Park was that their brochures do not include a park map.  Though they have large park maps in various places, there was never one when I needed it.  I’m sure not printing maps saves them on brochures if they make changes, but even a photocopied white paper with a map on it would have been helpful.

Tilt A Whirl

So without a map I roamed around, which was fine.  Lakemont Park is hard to describe.  It was empty of people when I went and that gave it a run-down feeling even though everything was well maintained and freshly painted.  Most of the rides here are not fixed and that adds a carnival feeling to the park. 

Ride info Stick for Toboggan

There is a separate Kiddie Land with Kiddie Rides but none of them are named so I can’t really tell you what they call them.  Each ride has a “stick” next to it for a height measure and also telling how many tickets the ride costs.  This is an odd system and kind of ineffective in a kiddie section since parents have to ask if they are able to ride with their children.  It just isn’t clear.

Toboggan Tower

Like Delgrosso’s, Lakemont Park offers some very familiar rides and also some I haven’t seen in ages – or ever.  They have 3 coasters if you count the kiddie coaster and about twenty or so other rides.  The Toboggan is a ride I haven’t seen since Hersheypark got rid of their Twin Tobbogans decades ago.  It has a loading sound so unique you would know it anywhere even if you didn’t see it.

The Skydiver

Also here is a ferris wheel type ride that I’ve not seen before – well, not cars that move like these.  It was a treat to watch the Skydiver as people flipped their cars – or didn’t – and road upside down.  I did some research and this ride was made by Chance in the 1960′s, looks like there are only two in operation right now.

A Coke Park, yeah!!!

I was happy to see that Lakemont Park is a Coke park (yeah!) and they sell Blue Bunney Ice Cream products.  Overall I found the food to be average for amusement park prices and not all that good.  You can bring food in and that is what most people were doing.  There are tons of pavilions and picnic tables here so you definitely will have a place to sit in the shade.

Leap the Dips Lift Hill

I rode the train which is a must for me.  I try to eat ice cream and ride the train in every park I visit.  As I rode the train I sized up Leap the Dips and thought perhaps it wasn’t running, but no, it was.  There just weren’t any people wanting to ride it.

Manual Breaks on Leap The Dips

So after my train ride I summoned my courage (I don’t have much) and bought my ticket.  Your ticket stub is a very nice card saying you rode the world’s oldest roller coaster.  The nice young man working the ride assured me I would not die despite my fears and also suggested I ride in the front of the car.  I’m so glad he did.  The ride in the front was rough enough but he said the back was even worse.

Old wood, new wood, duct tape - just kidding!

The lift hill takes FOREVER for someone who is afraid of heights and the turns on the topmost tier had me nearly weeping, but once I was onto the next level it got really fun.  This is not a fast ride, maxes out at 10mph. It also has no hills steeper than 9 feet.  But boy was it fun!  I almost rode it again… definitely something to do in your lifetime.

The Island Waterpark, pool side

I checked out the Island Waterpark and found it to be about the size of our community pool.  It has some decent slides and other features and since it is included in the park admission I would certainly say it is worth visiting.

Pennies at Lakemont Park

After that I finished up my pressed pennies (there are 4) and headed home.

I really didn’t know what to expect from Lakemont Park but the longer I stayed the more I liked it.  A casual and easy atmosphere, some really neat rides and the World’s Oldest Roller Coaster.  What a treat.  It does look like the park is struggling and as I was there I was thinking, “Gee, what can they do to bring in more people.”

Truth is that Delgrosso’s is only 20 min away and is much more modern – so my thought was they should go back in time and create a historical, but operational, amusement park.  Fill it with rides like the Skydiver and the Toboggan that you don’t see any more but people remember riding and loving.  A Rotor would certainly be appreciated by some. I’m sure there are enough oldies but goodies like this still around in places that you could build a park around them.  Such history deserves to be preserved and to see it all at once in a carnival-like atmosphere would be amazing.