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Camden Park, 1995


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Between the losses of Dodgem, Spider and Hot Kat and the physical appearances of Big Dipper and Scrambler in particular, this little park has its work cut out for it.

I will try my best not to mention the tragically despicable restrooms (including a water fountain inside each....YUCK).

Without a major rehab or install next year, as much as I hate to say it, the future looks very bleak.

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The Owners dont care, nor will they sell it to someone who does.

That was true of the previous owners. It is NOT true of the Boylens. If they didn't care, why are mother and son both there 12-14 hours a day? Why have they liquidated nearly every other asset they have while keeping the park? Why have they turned down buyers who would level the park?

I know Jack Boylen personally. I have met his

mother many times, for various reasons over the years.

When making a statement like the quoted post, remember, those are PEOPLE you are talking about. In this case, people whose blood, sweat and tears have gone into that place.

Yes, it's in bad shape. But, it is open. Which is far more than can be said of so many other parks.

And it may have a future. So far, I've made it to the park too few times to suit me. And I'm depressed the place seldom gets mentioned here unless I mention it.

Support your parks. Or watch them go away.

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I have always wanted to get to this park. However, I have never had the opportunity to. I really need to, but I am just so busy right now with wedding planning, working two, sometimes three jobs and tending to the house, it doesn`t leave much time for amusement park trips.

I still kick myself for not getting up to Americana/LeSourdsville Lake. Wish I would have made it up there before it closed.

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Besides the Dippers and the Haunted House there is not much here that draws me back. More has left the park than has been added to the park over these past few years, which is sad. One of the few times that I think ride tickets would draw more guests that flat rate entry pricing.

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Great video, Interpreter. I am going to Camden in a couple of weeks with my son. It should be fun. I've been disappointed with their bathrooms for decades. They smell terrible and doesn't appear to be cleaned on a regular basis. I would like to see some investor(s) help out the family and get Camden back on track. I enjoyed the Spider, but from what I understand, they didn't even have a maintenance manual for it. All they had were some notes that the maintenance crew had written down in order to service the ride. I would like to try out their miniature golf course and see if it's any good. It looks decent. I also wish the previous owners would have taken care of the Thunderbolt Express. It was a great coaster addition for that park. I highly doubt a new coaster is ever coming there again. Although, I would like to see a small coaster installation there. Something along the lines of Wild Cat that used to reside at Cedar Point.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Owners dont care, nor will they sell it to someone who does.

That was true of the previous owners. It is NOT true of the Boylens. If they didn't care, why are mother and son both there 12-14 hours a day? Why have they liquidated nearly every other asset they have while keeping the park? Why have they turned down buyers who would level the park?

I know Jack Boylen personally. I have met his

mother many times, for various reasons over the years.

When making a statement like the quoted post, remember, those are PEOPLE you are talking about. In this case, people whose blood, sweat and tears have gone into that place.

Yes, it's in bad shape. But, it is open. Which is far more than can be said of so many other parks.

And it may have a future. So far, I've made it to the park too few times to suit me. And I'm depressed the place seldom gets mentioned here unless I mention it.

Support your parks. Or watch them go away.

I did not know about this, I stand corrected. I really hope they can do something with it. Was it them that put in The Rattler?

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  • 1 year later...

I was there late in the season last year and I enjoyed myself. It is quite small, but I was able to spend about 3 hours there, and I would have stayed longer if not for the fact that I had a three hour drive to get home.

 

When I was there, all three coasters were running very well. And the staff was of the best and most courteous I've ever dealt with at any park.

 

Yes, three coasters.

 

Comparing it with others that I've been to, I would rank it at the top of my list among parks of similar size (Little Amerricka and Conneaut Lake come to mind the most prominently for that comparison).

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Reithoffer Shows brings a smaller Pretzel Coaster(yes I call it a coaster, I watched it valley one day and it had to be man handled up the hill) but it is named "Mouse Trap", painted bright colors and not even darkness inside of the hairpins. It is kinda of a shame, videos I have seen of the Camden Park ride look way better than the Reithoffer one.

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I need to get down there, or else I fear one day I'll find myself replying to this topic saying "I wish I had made it down there before..."

If I ever can find the time to do so, I'll try and upload some of our home movies of Camden Park.  We've got one from when I was quite young (which would predate this video by two or three years) and we've got some from my parents youth in the 60s/70s.  

 

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I need to get back out there as well. I was there in 2010 and haven't gotten a chance to get back out there since. The park has changed a lot in that time (the Hot Cat was removed and several other rides have been removed and/or added since then).

 

Here's my contribution to the Camden Park videos though...

 

 

That was the first time I'd seen this type of ride (slightly different than Coney's Flying Bobs), and playing great music to boot ("Those Nights" by Skillet).

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  • 2 months later...

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