Lakemont Park

Last year, I did a post on Leap the Dips, the world's oldest roller coaster, at Lakemont Park in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Since I focused on that specific ride last time, I figured I'd do a post showing the rest of the park's (limited) attractions. Opened in 1893, Lakemont Park is the 8th oldest amusement park in the United States. The park was purchased by the Boyer Candy Co in 1986, a local business famous for the Mallo Cup. They only owned the park for two years yet did some damage to its history and reputation, such as cutting down many of the trees in the park and letting Leap the Dips fall idle. Lakemont is now operated by the county who was been trying to get it back on its feet for years and years now.

In the satellite image below, you can see two of the parts left over from Boyer's failed plan. The street on the left was meant to be a shopping and dining district - it's nothing like Disney's Main St! Today, it's isolated from the rest of the park. They also built a gigantic entrance on the right, which now sits as an attractive but unused structure. 'Coz 'ya know, it's not smart to try and develop a major theme park with limited funds in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania!

The Boyer Candy Co's intentions to turn Lakemont into their own version of Hersheypark failed, and soon carnival rides were brought in that would be a staple at Lakemont for several decades.

However, when the park was closed in 2017 and '18, the majority of rides were removed and replaced with more common recreational facilities, like basketball courts and mini golf. I'm not a fan, but I understand that it's a necessary move to maintain the park's wooden coasters.

The Skyliner is a 1960 coaster (on the newer side of woodies) that was moved to Lakemont from Roseland Park in Canandaigua, New York. The Boyer Candy Co. brought it in, but it was left unfinished until after they had left.

The side of the train has "GO CURVE," painted on it, a reference to Altoona's minor league team (itself a reference to the railroad engineering triumph of the Horseshoe Curve). You'll see why in a second...

It's a rough ride that has had minimal track replaced for a while, but I still love it!

There's "Peoples Natural Gas Field!" Hm....

The Skyliner serves as a scenic backdrop to the ballpark. Remember the painted message on the train? Well, the only problem is that it was painted on the wrong side... just kidding!

Scenes like this are why I think Pennsylvania is great...

Another attraction retained after the renovation was the Antique Cars. Check out the red guide rail...

...exciting, right? Anyway, these cars are by far the fastest I've been on in any park!

The Miniature Train is the last considerable ride in the park. The engine is a standard Chance Rides C.P. Huntington, still being manufactured after 60 years!

A really old-looking engine sits on the siding.

Here's the Ponyshoe Curve! I can't handle the drama!!

As you can tell by these pics, it was a ghost town when I visited last year. A big reason why they removed a lot of rides is because of low attendance.

That's it from charming Lakemont Park. Surprisingly, there's another vintage park just a few minutes down the road from Lakemont that is much more prosperous but remained closed last year. I'm hoping to visit this summer.

Leap the Dips

Built in 1902, Leap the Dips is the world's oldest roller coaster! Located in Lakemont Park in Altoona, PA  (home of the Horseshoe Curve), I have been aware of it for years but just this year have gotten the opportunity to ride it. Roller Coaster DataBase lists its status as follows, with "SBNO" meaning "Standing But Not Operating."

• SBNO from 2017 to 7/2/2020
• Operated from 5/31/1999 to 2016
• SBNO from 1986 to 1998
• Operated from 1937 to 1985
• SBNO during 1936
• Operated from 6/2/1902 to 1935

As you can see, Lakemont Park and especially Leap the Dips have had a rocky history. Lakemont was announced to be closed in 2017 to undergo a rebranding, but that closure stretched through 2018, and when the park did reopen in 2019, Leap the Dips remained closed for the whole year. Luckily, though, as soon as Lakemont reopened for 2020, Leap the Dips was back up and running for the first time in four years, sporting a fresh coat of paint and riding better than ever.

As soon as you board the car, you realize that this is a coaster from a different era. There are no seatbelts, and the only restraint is a lap bar fixed to the car. It's impressive that they were able to reopen the ride and keep such simple restraints. Seen below is the storage shed where the unused cars are kept.

Leap the Dips is the last "Figure 8" coaster left in the world. At the turn of the 1900s, there were more than 300 of this model of coaster across the country, and any park worth its salt had one. However, they were proved obsolete by the golden age rides of the 1920s, and I'd guess that only a handful was left by 1950.

Leap the Dips is in a unique position in that the park fell on such hard times that they didn't have the money to tear the old coaster down during the years it sat closed. It's a case of lack of funds actually saving a coaster instead of spelling its doom! 

The dips are all on the smaller side, never reaching heights of more than 10 feet, but Leap the Dips is surprisingly wild and throws you out of your seat more times than you would expect when looking at it.

Lakemont Park has one other wooden coaster, the Skyliner, moved from a park in New York in 1987 when the Boyer candy company attempted to rebrand the property as a large new theme park.  This turned out to be a huge fiasco that Lakemont has never completely recovered from.

Leap the Dips holds a solid place as part of the "new" Lakemont Park, so hopefully, it will be gently thrilling riders for years to come.

It was also my hundredth roller coaster. :-)