Arnolds Park Amusement Park — Attraction in Arnolds Park

Two sub-par experiences at Arnold’s Park in one summer.

The first on May 31. Our group of 10 purchased day passes with the #1 expectation of riding the carousel....which happened to not be in operation. The tickets still listed the carousel as a ride, but in its place was an empty slab of concrete when we entered the park. We asked the ticket office about ”park bucks” to come back at a later date to ride the carousel but none were granted. We left with four disappointed toddlers and a somewhat sour taste of Arnold’s Park customer service, albeit an otherwise pleasant day.

Our second trip to Arnold’s Park was August 10 and was far more frustrating than the first....which leads me to write this review. As the big slide wasn’t open at the time of our first visit, we decided to come back for a second. Our group of 17 purchased day passes with the expectation of riding the wooden slide 20+ times as we’d done last summer at the pavilion (an awesome memory that everyone age 1 to 65 enjoyed in 2017 at no cost). We were slightly disappointed that it now costs money to ride what had been free in previous years, but were all excited to make more memories. So, paid for a day pass for 17 people. We were completely unaware that Arnold’s Park had put a height restriction on the slide and no longer allows adults to ride with kids on their lap. This serves as a PSA: Children under 36 inches are no longer allowed to ride the slide. In addition, all of the mats to ride down are in extremely poor repair. I couldn’t find one mat that wasn’t completely shredded with holes in the foot pocket....meaning an adult is virtually unable to make it to the bottom of the slide without coming to a complete stop in the middle. This took most of the fun out of the ride for those that were actually tall enough. Seems a bit odd that Arnold’s Park couldn’t afford to keep a supply of in-tact mats for the slide that was donated to the park and has in fact become a revenue source for the park....

To wrap up our experience in full...Our two year old daughter was maybe 1/2 inch shorter than the required height, but the attendant let her ride seeing as how she’d gone down it no less than 20 times the year prior. After three rides, another Arnold’s Park staff person came and put the kabosh on all fun and enforced the height requirement. Well, that was more frustrating for the two year old than just being told “no” from the start. Cue toddler meltdown and a long lecture from staff person #2 about rules and the park’s liability. Fabulous way to end the day.

Arnold’s Park took something that was so carefree and fun and turned it into the most frustrating event of our summer at the sake of “liability”. (A simple waiver was all the pavilion required before allowing parents to determine who was tall enough to ride). As you can imagine, all of the kids who were too short to ride were in hysterics and had frustrated parents and grandparents who felt they wasted a lot of money on a place they would have avoided completely had they been aware of the new stipulations imposed...

TLDR: Great park for those under 42 inches and their parents. Wednesday is a great day to attend the park as the crowds are lighter than the weekend. Be prepared to spend a little money in the park, but it's not as expensive as many other outings.

Arnold's Park is a great small amusement park for younger children. (Not the little littles, though they have some rides for them too). Mine is five and just under 42 inches he got to ride many of the rides. Some of them he did need to be accompanied, and of course there were a handful he wasn't eligible for, but the shorter kids have a lot of rides here. In addition to the rides being oriented toward those 42 and under they have a more traditional playground to break up the over stimulation of the rest of the park tucked away in a corner. This allowed our little to relax and then return to the rides.

The lay out of the park is fairly intuitive, but I would have loved to have a map of it. We didn't get one at the entrance and had to use our phones in the sunlight. On the other hand, the park is small enough that they really aren't needed either. In addition, the layout ensures that several of the park's sitting areas are always shady.

The tickets were not that expensive, when you're going in with an under 42 and do not want to ride the thrill rides yourself, you can get a companion's pass, with theirs, which means you can ride on the rides they need you for, but you cannot ride on rides yourself. The food was not badly priced for park food, which means it was higher than it would have been outside the park, but cheaper than many other amusement park prices. They also had most of it contained in one area near the front and the games, which is good marketing.

The staff was friendly and accommodating, and since we were there on a Wednesday in the morning and early afternoon the place was fairly empty. No waiting lines for rides and games, and often the only ones on the ride were us.

Unfortunately, it was easy to see that some of the areas were under repair or renovations. These are needed I'm sure, but I also didn't get to introduce my son to the...

Great fun for my grand kids. But Admin needs to hire more personal and train them better. My son and grand son went on the Rocket ride and the operator did not handled the ride properly. At the go cart ride, there were a group of " yearly members who thought that gave them the right to ride " continuously ". One of the group would stay in line back a bit, while the rest if the group rode. When they got off, they would join up with the one who stayed in line. That put them " ahead" of the people who have been waiting for their turn. After waiting for 2 hrs., one of the men finally bouted the group out after hearing complaints from my son about what they were doing. Then staff had to refuel all cars, so it took total of 2 1/2 hrs before my grand daughter was able to have her turn. My son and grand son had already had their turn an hour and a half fron the start of us waiting as they rode double. The attendant at the entry gate shoud pay more attention to who is going through the gate. They must have known the group because their armbands were not checked each time they went through. This action is not acceptable!! Long lines at certain rides we can handle, but people through and ahead of others, is NOT ACCEPTABLE!

Other than that, we had a great day. Their was a lot of ride choices and a rew chance games for the kids. The attendant at the balloon shooting game was very nice ( I shoud have gotten her name) , and suggested that the 2 kids go at one time and for their dad and me go separate so there would be 2 prizes so each child would have one. Great job there! The kids were doing great as their balloons were neck and neck, one broke at the same time as the other flew off the nozzle. To me they both should have gotten a prize. ( rule said the 1st balloon to "break" was the winner). I bet know one was expecting a baloon to fly off the nozzle!

All I all it was a grand day for me ad it was my last day spending time with my...