5 Tips for Your Visit to Waldameer Park

Last month, I photographed a wedding for the 2nd year in a row on Derrick’s birthday. If you know my husband, you know that birthdays are super important to him – they’re a big deal. So, we celebrated the day before his birthday by taking a mini-road trip up to Erie, Pennsylvania to do Derrick’s all-time favorite activity: ride roller coasters.

We went to Waldameer Park in Erie, Pennsylvania, not really sure what to expect. We knew that they had a small water park & a few coasters. We didn’t have super high expectations, but we were just hoping for a nice family day.

Waldameer Park was amazing. It definitely exceeded our expectations in every way. It took us a little over 3 hours to get there, so we had plans to leave before it got too late. We easily could have spent the entire day there. It was so much fun & the perfect family park. It reminded us a lot of Idlewild – just with a more legit roller coaster, a bit further away, and no Daniel Tiger. (we’re going to Idlewild in a few weeks & I absolutely cannot wait to see Braelynn’s reaction to Daniel Tiger!!)

So, since we had such a wonderful time, we wanted to share 5 of our top tips for a wonderful trip to Waldameer! These are the top few things we’d tell our friends if we heard they were going to spend the day at Waldameer for the first time:

Plan Ahead – the ticketing system is a bit confusing:

So, Waldameer Park is one of the few parks left that has free parking & free admission! However, that’s where the easy part ends. They technically have two parks – the water park & the amusement park. You can enter the amusement park for free and purchase tickets to ride rides via a point system. It’s a bit confusing. The water park on the other hand, you have to purchase a pass to enter. So, at the front gate, we were bombarded with all of these options, and putting everything together was very confusing. We ended up simply buying all-day passes for both sides of the park for all 3 of us, when in hindsight, we should have only got all-day passes for Derrick & I and did the ticket/point system for Braelynn to ride the few rides that she could ride. In other words: she needed a water-park pass, but we didn’t get our money’s worth out of her all-day amusement park pass. So, do your research & plan ahead so you aren’t confused standing at the gate.

No Food or Drink Allowed In The Water Park

We packed snacks & drinks as we usually do when we go to an amusement park. Park food is traditionally very expensive, so we usually try to only buy one meal in the park and supplement our day with snacks. That wasn’t a problem at Waldameer, except we found out that they don’t allow any outside food or drink into the water park side of the park. We didn’t know this, so Derrick had to run our backpack of snacks back out to the car. It wasn’t far, but it was frustrating, because he had to go back out & retrieve the bag once we were finished in the water park area. We found it interesting that they didn’t have a bag check to enter Waldameer Park, but they went thru every single bag to enter the water park and after standing in line for 10 minutes, only to be told that your bag couldn’t come in with you, was a little frustrating.

The Food is Reasonable & Good

Speaking of food – Waldameer Park actually had some of the most reasonably priced food we’ve seen at any amusement park! Most of their meals were under $10 (Braelynn & I even got a huge ice cream cone for just $3!) and they were really good. They had the traditional food you’d expect to find at amusement parks, but we were pleasantly surprised at the portions we were served & how quickly it was ready. Waldameer’s food department was definitely killing it the day we were there!

Pick Up A Map

Since Derrick is a bit of an amusement park junkie, we typically don’t pay too much attention to park maps. He usually has a pretty good sense of the layout of the park before we actually arrive, so park maps aren’t something we are quick to pick up (and I just follow his lead). Waldameer Park was different though. When we arrived, we wanted to head to the water park first, so we followed painted water-drops on the ground in the general direction of the water park. It didn’t take us too long to realize that we were completely on the wrong path & even though we could see the water park, we couldn’t see any way to get into it. I’m not sure what the water-drops were for, but thankfully, a friendly park guest who was walking opposite us, noticed our confused looks and directed us back around to the entrance of the water park. So, do yourself a favor, and pick up a park map!

The Ravine Flyer II

Waldameer Park has 3 wooden coasters, but the Ravine Flyer II is the best wooden coaster that I have ever ridden (it found it’s way to #2 on Derrick’s list of best wooden coasters). Seriously – it’s an amazing ride! Do not miss it! We child-swapped Braelynn so we could both ride & it was phenomenal. My resident roller coaster expert (Derrick of course) says that the front seat is the best & well worth the wait. The back seat gets the best airtime on the first hill, but after that is just the back seat. The front seat gets an amazing view on multiple occasions, you can actually see & anticipate the awesome elements of the coaster, and it is the smoothest seat. So, don’t miss this coaster & be sure to ride in the front!

BONUS TIP

Make sure you drive just a little bit up the road past the park & dip your toes in Lake Erie! It’s so close – don’t miss it! It was the perfect ending to our amazing day!

And, Braelynn was so tired, she literally fell asleep half way through eating a snack on the way home!