Waldameer Ride Database

This is a website meant to archive information on Waldameer rides. Other amusement parks always have cool fan sites that archive history, and for the longest time, I was like "Man I wish there was a Waldameer website like that." But then I realized I could just make one myself. A lot of the information on these rides, especially defunct ones, is kind of just floating around the internet in various spaces, so I wanted to corral all of it into one place, as well as preserve it, should any of the original sources become inaccessible for any reason.

Waldameer is a small family-owned amusement park located in Erie, Pennsylvania, just off the shores of Lake Erie. It opened in 1896 as a trolley park, and is the sixth-oldest continuously operating amusement park in the United States, as well as the fourth-oldest in Pennsylvania.

The park was originally a picnic area known as Hoffman's Grove, before it was purchased by the Erie Electric Motor Company, who subsequently renamed it Waldameer (roughly German for "woods by the sea"), and installed several rides and attractions, making it a terminus on their trolley line.

In the 1920s, the park was purchased by longtime employee Alex Moeller, who oversaw the addition of many of the classic original rides. It fell into the hands of another longtime employee, Paul Nelson, after the death of Alex Moeller. He managed the park into its modern-day success, most notably overseeing the 1987 addition of Water World and the 2008 construction of Ravine Flyer II. Following his passing, the park is managed by his children and children-in-law.

The park is home to five roller coasters, two Bill Tracy dark rides, many thrill, family, and kiddie rides, a water park, several midway games, an arcade, and many different food options. It is one of only a few American amusement parks not to charge an admission fee. The park has a long history and has had many defunct rides and attractions over the years as well.

Sources:

Waldameer's official website

Waldameer's official Facebook and Instagram

Waldameer: 100 Years of Fun

Images of America: Waldameer Park

WaldaBlog

Erie Times-News

Erie News Now

YourErie

GoErie

JET24-7

CarouselHistory.com

Hagen History Center

David Gorman's website

Old Time Erie

Various ride manufacturers' official product pages

Various historical Waldameer YouTube videos (for information relating to the confirmation of ride existence, placement, and appearances only)

The majority of photos on this site are sourced from Waldameer's official website and social media accounts, Waldameer-related book and news publications, and myself. A few are from third-party sources and are credited when credit is available. Some are historic images with no known credit due to their age.

Legal disclaimer: This site is not affiliated with Waldameer & Water World, and I am making no financial revenue from it. This is solely a passion/archival project. I believe very deeply in the concept of archival and preservation, and I also happen to be a big fan of this park. That's why I try to archive every single piece of media relating to specifically defunct rides on here. That being said, here is a personal Google Drive collection of several more photos worth archiving that I do not have the specific rights to publish on a site.

Disclaimer regarding upcoming attractions: Be careful about sourcing and what you say. Most of the images used on this site are sourced from the park itself, news publications relating to the park, people who have given their permission for their images to be used here, and myself (and some are so old that there is no known credit). The fact that the images are used here does not inherently mean they can be reused anywhere else. Please contact the original copyright holder of the image for such permissions. Additionally, I encourage all readers to respect the park's wishes regarding keeping upcoming projects private. This is merely a quiet little archive site with a few construction updates for the sake of content on the pages for the rides they will come to be. I would not encourage one to blast said updates all over the internet before the park is ready to announce the project themselves.