Lakemont Park - June 22nd, 2023

 On our way back from Virginia, my mom and I stopped by at one final park, the historic Lakemont Park in Altoona, Pennsylvania!

Lakemont Park originally opened in 1894 and is home to the World's oldest roller coaster, Leap-The-Dips which opened in 1902. Unfortunately on the day of our visit (June 22nd), Leap-The-Dips was closed for maintenance, so I wasn't able to ride it. But at least I was able to see it!

While at Lakemont Park, I got three rides on their other wooden roller coaster the Skyliner, a 1960 PTC wooden coaster that had originally operated at the former Roseland Park in Canandaigua, New York from 1960 through 1985. It reopened at Lakemont Park in 1987. It was a fun ride with some interesting airtime! Also while at Lakemont, I did a ride on the Lake Monster Paddle Boats and the Antique Car ride.

While no longer a full fledged amusement park, Lakemont Park is quite a gem with some nice park space and some good rides. It is definitely worth checking out if you're in the area!

We arrived at Lakemont Park around 2:30pm. Since 2019, Lakemont Park has been a free admission park where visitors pay-per-ride/attraction.

Here is a map of what is at Lakemont Park as of June 2023.

Lakemont is home to two mini golf courses. If the weather was nicer, my mom and I would have done them as we love a good round of mini golf.

Just past the go-kart track is the Skyliner, the largest coaster at Lakemont.

Skyliner has many airtime moments within its double-out-and-back layout!

The Tin Lizzy antique car ride is gas powered and operates quite fast along its guided track!

The roller coaster I really wanted to see was Leap-The-Dips, the world's oldest roller coaster that opened in 1902.

When we approached Leap-the-Dips, we were told it had a chance of opening, so walked over to the Lake Monster paddle boats while we waited to see if Leap-The-Dips would open. The Lake Monster paddle boats is a relaxing paddle boat ride next to Lakemont's closed water park.

Leap-The-Dips is not only the World's oldest roller coaster, but the last remaining side friction roller coaster of the figure-eight variety.

Here is a look into the Leap-The-Dips' station.

While waiting to see if Leap-The-Dips would open, a ride operator was hanging out in the car while maintenance workers were working on the track of this historic coaster.

Here are some of the other Leap-The-Dips cars in storage. It looks like they might cycle them out or only operate with one car (?), number 8 which was on the track during our visit.

Since it didn't look like Leap-The-Dips was going to operate during our short visit, I headed over to Skyliner.

Skyliner has to be one of the more interesting wooden coasters that I have been on to date! While I have been fortunate to have been on a few wooden roller coaster with buzz bar restraints before, the Skyliner has the most bizarre airtime that I have experienced! Instead of getting launched upwards, I kept getting launched forward off my seat! lol Luckily there was a seatbelt, otherwise I may have been in the next seat! haha

There is one of the hills before the turn around that I was awkwardly launched forward off of my seat! lol

I luckily managed to get three rides on Skyliner before the park closed due to inclement weather.

Skyliner was a really fun and quirky wooden roller coaster! Also the ride operators were very friendly and great!

Here is another shot of Leap-The-Dips.

It is good to see they are continuously maintaining this historic roller coaster.

Here is a close-up look at one of Leap-The-Dips' cars.

They have a fully-restored car in a glass display case.

Leap-The-Dips was designated an ACE roller coaster landmark in 2002.

From 1986 through early 1999, Leap-The-Dips was closed, undergoing a complete restoration process starting in 1997, reopening to the public in May of 1999. Prior to the restoration process, Leap-The-Dips was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1996.

Despite Leap-the-Dips being closed for maintenance during my visit to Lakemont, it was great to be able to see this historic roller coaster in person.

Here's one final look at Leap-The-Dips before we had headed out for the day.

Lakemont Park was a great pitstop on our long drive home from a fun time in Virginia!

Just as we were heading back to the car, I noticed these beautiful fountains located outside the entrance to Lakemont. Thanks for checking out my photos of the historic Lakemont Park! :-)