Pennsylvania Trip Day 2: Delgrosso's/Lakemont

[raptor]

I woke up at 6:00 and left Hotel Conneaut headed for Tipton PA, it had stormed through the night, and it looked like it would rain all day. It took me 3 hours to get to Tipton in the rain. Fortunately it stopped raining and the sun came out when I got there.

I only planned to spend about 90 minutes here as I was more interested in Lakemont Park in Altoona, just 10 minutes down the road. Unfortunately after 5 minutes the rain began to pour. We found shelter in Murf’s Kitchen.

This is not an indoor eatery but it is under cover and I managed to get one of the two tables, someone asked if they could have it while my sister was fetching a Pizza from a stand, I politely declined, the large Pizza rivaled Laroasas, and I’m sure made with Delgrosso’s sauce. It was a great deal at 8.50. after a half-hour the rain subsided and the rides started backup so we headed for the ticket booth which was in the entrance to Kiddy Kingdom.

First thing I had to ride was the Casino, which came from Kings Island when it was The Wheel of Fortune.

I remember riding this when I was about 7 with my parents then it was gone. I’ve ridden other Trabant’s since but riding this one felt so nostalgic. Maybe it’s me but it seemed to have a little more kick than other Trabant rides. Next we headed off for the Wild Mouse, this is a spinner

We had to wait about 20 minutes for them to test the ride. I’d never ridden one and while it wasn’t overly exciting it was fun. We then headed for the paratroopers.

They seemed newer than other models I had seen and they were certainly faster than some I have been on, they were awesome. We had time for one more ride. We opted for the new Yo-Yo swings ride that had replaced the retired Balloon Race.

These were great swings that went very high, reminded me of the one’s at Indiana Beach.

Some of the rides we didn’t have time to ride were:

The Roundup:

The Carousel:

The Flying Bobs:

The Scrambler:

The Tilt A Whirl:

And The Dodgem:

They also had an old Catapilar ride without the canopy indoors I can't remember what it was called, and a Pirate Ship, but I had not the time to ride them.

All in all it was a nice clean park and reasonable. An all day pass was about $13 and with ride tickets most rides were a dollar in tickets, the Wild Mouse was 2 dollars. I was however disappointed with their gift shop. With such a cute logo, I would think it would be on their shirts, but their shirts had no pictures, I did manage to pickup a nice hat. Now it was time to drive to Altoona and go to Lakemont Park, I couldn’t wait to rid the Leap the Dips, The Skyliner, and the Twister. So I head down I-99 and got there in about 10 minutes. I couldn’t figure out where to park so I parked in the Altoona Curve baseball lot for a couple bucks. I found out there would be a game to night, Awesome! I could catch a few pitches while riding the Skyliner. It was almost 5 so I went in their gift shop to kill a few minutes as the price went down to $8 after 5. Their gift shop was much better than Delgrosso’s and I bought a nice Leap the Dips shirt for only $12. At 5 I entered the park.

The first thing that struck me about Lakemont was how dead it was. There was only about 50 to 75 people there. There were ride operators just waiting for people to ride. One of them told me this was normal for Saturday, it’s packed on $3 dollar Wednesday’s but the rest of the time is slow. That is a shame because it is a very nice park, and very reasonable, and the staff is very friendly. The local people really need to step up! First thing I rode was the Twister.

This is a vintage ride that is very rare, a bit like the tilt a whirl, but takes less effort to spin and don’t quite spin as much, but it was a very interesting ride. Next we headed for Leap the Dips, the oldest coaster in the world built in 1902; it is a side friction, figure eight coaster.

This ride was awesome! It was longer and funner than I expected, with lots of dips. The ride operator had to push you out of the station towards the chain incline until you latched on and he had to pull you back into the station at the end. I rode this 6 or 7 times that night. Next we headed for the Skyliner.

The baseball game was just starting, actually they were practicing, but before the night was through I was able to catch a couple of pitches while riding. I rode it about 6 or 7 times, the final 3 in a row without getting off. What tremendous airtime this ride has. Right next to the Skyliner we rode the Tin Lizzy Antique Car Ride.

Next we rode the Monster.

We stayed on twice since no one else was on it, and I must say even though it looked older than the one at Kings Island, I could get it to spin a lot more! There was some descent eating choices although I didn’t end up having time to eat.

This Funnel Cake place looked really good!

We did step in the air-conditioned Arcade for a moment though. Remember this Kiddy Ferris wheel that used to be at Chucky Cheeses?

This was yet another park in PA that had cute Kiddy rides.

The Toboggan was a different ride, the most thrilling part being when you ride to the top with the back of your head facing the ground.

I didn’t ride the Skydiver after riding the previous day at Conneaut Lake Park, but I did ride the swings and they were nice although obviously a very old model, but they stayed in place well not bumping into other swings.

Next was the Octopus.

At a glance it looks just like the Monster. The operator told me the difference was that the operator had some control on how much you spin on the Monster, while on the Octopus the riders have total control, I will say I spun more on the Octopus than I ever had on any Monster ride. Also the front tended to dip downwards when high up, which was cool. I rode this ride 4 or 5 times it was great. I never found time to ride the tilt a whirl since I can ride it at Coney and Stricker’s Grove.

After riding the train, which had plenty of wild life along the way, it started to get cloudy again, and I should’ve left then and there but against my better judgement I rode the Carousel

Followed by the Ferris Wheel.

Time for one last ride I had to cap it off with another ride on Leap the Dips.

I really liked this park, I thought it was terrific!

As I left it started to Pour down raining mercilessly just as I was merging onto 22 west towards my hotel an hour away in Johnstown. It was scary, I couldn’t see a thing, to make matters worse I messed up the GPS route to the Holiday Inn in Johnstown where I was staying because of there excellent Idlewild package: 2 tickets, 2 free breakfast upto $20 and the room all for $135. The rain slowed after 10 minutes but the threat remained and finding my hotel was rather tricky. Eventually I found it and went to bed, and fell asleep quick. I would be able to get some sleep tonight as I was only about a half-hour or so from Idlewild.

[CedarPointer]

Thanks! I remember those parks, as my grandparents live not too far from them and we used to go every year. The indoor caterpillar at Delgrosso's is called Space Oddysey.

[raptor]

Yes Space Odyssey was the name, I didn't manage to get on that one, but later in the week Knoebels had virtually the same thing called Cosmotron, which was obviously an indoor Catepillar without a canopy

[Avatar]

Raptor great report thanks for sharing. I probably will never get to go to either of the parks you enjoyed but by looking at your pictures I feel like I have.

[DaveStroem]

Great TR. I hope to make it to Lakemont on our Hershey/Knoebels trip.

[XGatorHead 8904]

Thanks again! I was really looking forward to riding Leap the Dips, Skyliner and Casino this summer, but it looks like I'll have to wait longer. I really should have Mrs. Gator look at your TR's to try to get her to change her mind (we had a serious discussion about our trip last night, and let's just say it didn't go in my favor).

I guess I'll have to experience them vicariously through your TR's, so keep 'em comin'!

[The Interpreter]

As one who has been to these parks many times (but not enough times), please allow me to say your trip report and pictures are quite grand. I'm very glad you posted them, and hope they cause others to discover all these parks have to offer!

[raptor]

Gator - with the exception of Kennywood which I don't think you had on your list to start with, Mrs. Gator vetoed my entire trip

[standbyme]

Another interesting report...thanks for sharing.

[XGatorHead 8904]

Gator - with the exception of Kennywood which I don't think you had on your list to start with, Mrs. Gator vetoed my entire trip

Yeah, the original plan was to go to all of those parks this year. Then the reality of finances caught up with us and we decided to shorten the trip by a few days. But doing that then allows us to go to my company's outing at Coney Island on August 1st, so I'm not too upset. I haven't been to Sunlite Pool since elementary school, and I've never been there for the rides.

I thought we would do WDW again next year, but instead the plan is to do all the "vetoed" parks next year.