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Park News - (4/16/2025) If you visit Waldameer park this season, you may notice something a little odd. If you were a fan of the park’s Potato Patch fry stand, then know that a change is coming. You will still be able to buy the same fries for the 2025 season, however the old “Potato Patch” sign is coming down. This is due to the sale of Kennywood to Herschend, and Kennywood not only has the original Potato Patch stand, but they also own the copyright on the name.
    Waldameer is currently not part of any park chain, and is still family owned by the Nelson family as it has been for many years. Owner, Paul Nelson, who passed away in 2023, was long-time friends with the family that owned Kennywood before it was sold to Parque Reunidos years ago, and had an agreement with him to let Waldameer use the “Potato Patch” name.
    While the sale of Kennywood to Herschend has not yet been completed, it seems Palace Entertainment (the US arm of Parque Reunidos) recently asked Waldameer to discontinue the use of the Potato Patch name. So in 2025 you can look for “The Tasty Tater” instead when you visit Waldameer Park.
 
    (8/31/2024) The local news reports that Waldameer Park will reopened their Flying Swings attraction this weekend, which has been shut down following an injury incident that took place last week.

 
    (8/20/2024) Waldameer Park has released a few more details regarding the incident that took place on Saturday on the Flying Swings. According to the latest report the park says that the swings malfunctioned and swung riders ‘too far out’ and did not just come down properly when the ride operator chose to stop the ride mid-cycle. This was done after the ride operator noticed a child on the ride that appeared to be “in distress”.
    The Flying Swings have been examined by the state inspector and given an OK, though the park was waiting on an additional inspection from the manufacturer, as well as a way to determine that the incident like this can’t happen again before they reopen it. They were assuming they might be able to reopen the ride on Tuesday.
 
    (8/18/2024) I don’t know all the details, but an incident took place at Waldameer Park on Saturday night involving the park’s Flying Swings attraction. According to a statement from the park on social media, the park’s medical staff along with local first responders were involved and an inspection of the incident is taking place.
    Small updates from local news stations only add that three guests were transported to a local hospital with ‘minor injuries’ related to the incident on the Flying Swings. Based on the photo on the park’s website this appears to be a Wave Swinger style ride, but I’m not sure of the manufacturer of the ride in question, as there are a  number of manufacturer’s out there who make very similar rides.

 
    (4/12/2024) A reader has sent a link showing that the Spider flat ride (Eyerly) from Waldameer Park is now listed as being for sale on the IRM website. The listing shows that the ride will be available to go in September 2024.
    So with that in mind, if you visit Waldameer this season, be sure to get your last rides in on the Spider, because even if they don’t sell it, they may be planning on removing it anyway.

2025 - Time Twister - (8/9/2024) I had not heard this prior to now, but it seems that Walameer Park has officially confirmed that they are retiring the park’s SPIDER ride this season. It will be replaced with a new ride called Time Twister for the 2025 season, which will be a Zamperla NebulaZ flat ride.

Future Expansion - (1/31/2024) Back in May of 2023 it was announced that owner of Waldameer Park had purchased 27.5 acres to the south of the park, which included the nearby Village Mobile Home property. At the time they had not announced what their intention was for the property, and that at that time they were not seeking to remove the residents… yet.
    According to the latest update posted at GoErie this week, Waldameer Park has confirmed that they will be closing the mobile home park. Notices were given to the approximately 50 occupied units in the Village Mobile Home park that they have until October 31st, 2024 to vacate the property. The exact plans for the property have not been set, though they did confirm some open land will be used for guest parking this summer, and they are working on plans to add new attractions at the park over the next two seasons.
 
    (5/8/2023) Is Waldameer Park making plans for a large expansion? According to a local news report the owner of Waldameer Park has now purchased the Village Mobile Home property located just south of the theme park property. The deal was done through another company he owns named Meer Village LLC.
    According to the report, the land deal was for a purchase of 27.5 acres of property in total, which includes the mobile home park. At this time they don’t plan on closing the park or removing the residents yet, though I would expect that it is only a matter of time as it would be difficult for the land-locked theme park to expand without making a land purchase like this.