Lake Compounce Amusement & Water Park — Attraction in Bristol

They’re not valuing the opinions of their guests and when that happens, it’s time to move on. The change in ownership is going to remove traditions families have had for well over a decade and currently… They have no plans. Their response is, “enhancing the park for greater opportunities in years to come!” No plans. So… While they “enhance,” you just eradicate what the community has loved for decades about America’s oldest theme park? That’s not right.

Our family has come here for a long while. We have been season pass holders consecutively for a bit, and this year my gut told me to go elsewhere but I wanted to give my boys some more summer time memories and fun at LC and I went against my gut instinct. Shouldn’t have done that… Employees here are miserable. The park seems to not understand or truly acknowledge its limitations on capacity because vehicles will be backed out onto a main road in front of ESPN for hours on weekends. As season pass holders we’ve barely come this summer because it’s too packed. We tried to one weekend, we got in the wave pool and you couldn’t go more than 2 minutes without being stepped on and my special needs son caught a stray hand to his face from rough play because the lifeguards selectively choose who they will and won’t address it seems. There’s supposed to be a chaperone requirement but they’re not enforcing it. The water park used to have turnstiles but they stopped using them which is insanity for the massive crowds of people they have. The turnstiles would allow for capacity control in the water park and this park desperately needs to figure out how to handle its capacity.

My boys are no longer in the kiddie land but my son pointed out to me the elephant ride was taken out. Prior to that the bumper cars were removed. Prior to that the caterpillar train was taken out. Prior to that the sky ride was taken out. Honestly that list keeps going… nothing took the place of any of those rides, but one thing where the bumper cars were. A money pit arcade game area. No thanks… if I wanted that I’d go to Dave & Buster’s. Again… They’re not listening to their audience. I watched first hand DownTime get put out of commission at the start of summer. But the worst part, the ride attendant didn’t pick up on it. The child’s mother did. The restraint system was not functioning properly and she yelled at him to get off of it and then yelled to the ride operator that it shouldn’t be running. It was then put out of service. She’s right it shouldn’t have been and now my kids won’t be anywhere near that ride. That ride has been around since I was a teen but it seems that the maintenance on these rides is getting bandaid and jimmy-rig treatments. Even the swings are not operating as they used to.

They put a stage out on the lake and hardly have anyone to perform. This year they had a few performers in the park which was nice, but again… there is a huge almost brand new stage out in the middle of a lake just sitting more days than it’s in use. Dollywood is taking over from Palace Entertainment and they’ve announced the discontinuation of Holiday Lights after the 2025 season. That is a huge disappointment and when my son heard the news, it broke his heart and I watched him hold back tears. So as part of my review I’ll share his photo with Santa from last year. Listen to your consumers.

I don’t like heartbreak especially when it affects my children and so I doubt we’ll return after this season. I’ve loved our memories at this park but capacity issues have been a problem for a few years now and this year I think it was the worst it’s ever been. Holiday lights being taken away it’s our last straw. We’ll attend the 25’ showing of it, but it’s sure going to feel different and probably look different too since it’ll be the last one. As a local I’ll keep my eyes on what Dollywood does, but so far the removal of Holiday Lights? Seems like it’s going to turn into a bait and switch money grab really quick. Personally after this season and the recent news I cannot recommend this park. Listen to...

Stay Away! 8/08/2023 We have gone to this amusement park in the past. It was fantastic. However, things have changed for the worst. Here is our story. I took a day off from work to take the kids to the park on a Tuesday hoping for less people to be there and easier to get on rides. NOTHING was working! Not a single roller coaster was in operation. Boulder Dash, Phobia, Log Flume, Wildcat, Etc Etc....NOTHING! Why go to an amusement park if there are no rides working? OK we got on the bumper cars.....and the Ferris wheel.....what a joke. At $30 dollars a person plus paying to park this was a waste of a day. It gets worse. Let's talk about the staff. Realizing we were not going to get on any rides I decided to eat. Went to Johnny Rockets. There are two registers and one had a group of people in it. So the girl said to me the other register was open. I walked over and the kid there looked high staring at the wall. I said hello can I place an order? He turned to me and starred. I said can I have two singles, an order of fries and a fountain drink. He entered into the register then I put my card in - he then pressed a button on the card reader. He gave himself a 15% gratuity. I said wasn't I supposed to enter that? No response. So I said to hell with it and entered my PIN. Then he ripped the receipt and wrote something on it. It was a squiggly line. Apparently the register wasn't printing correctly and what he wrote was a number. I couldn't make out the number and found out it was a number 9 when I went to pick up the food. The food was terrible. Even my 13 year old didn't eat the burger. How does a 13 year old turn down a burger? So we figured we would walk over to the water park. If you ever wanted to know what it is like walking around a third world country then this is the place to be! I was really taken back by the crowd. Food left everywhere. People wearing bikinis that should never wear such a thing. It was gross. Thugs walking around like they owned the place and were looking to start a fight any chance they could get. We couldn't even find a lounge chair to sit because they were all disgusting covered with food and all kinds of stains. Even some of the water park rides were NOT working! Some of the slides were not in operation. Moving forward I said I am going to get a Slurpee. I waited in line and got to the front and ordered a cherry slurpee. The girl said it was not working. Seriously? OK give me a raspberry slurpee. She said I will have to mix it with apple to make it consistent is that ok? I said forget it and walked away. Lastly, I said let's just leave but felt bad so I wanted to get my kids something from the fudge shop before we left. I saw cup cakes and asked for 5 cupcakes. They were put into separate containers so I asked if they could be put into a single container. The girl said they didn't have one. So I took all five to the counter and another girl there rang me out and pressed a button on the card reader when I entered my card. She too gave herself a 15% gratuity. I was flustered so I just entered my PIN. So I then asked if I could have a bag to carry the cupcakes. The least she could do for the 15% gratuity she gave herself. She took out a folded bag and put it on the counter and in doing so knocked one of the cupcakes onto the floor. She stood there with this smirk on her face. Didn't seemed concerned, didn't offer me another one and didn't say anything. I put the rest of the cupcakes in my bag, picked up the one on the floor, threw it out and walked out. Not a single offer to help from anyone in the shop. I will NEVER return to this place. Will tell anyone I know to stay far away from this so called "amusement" park. Overall we spent over $300 dollars for tickets, parking, food and gas. Minus the time spent driving and while at the park - it was a...

Small park, pricey for what it is. 60bucks entry, 30 for parking, 14 for a burger with fries which I expect for park food, but 10 soft serve ice cream was nuts. lockers are either very small or * jumbo* which is kinda closer to mid size locker. If your going for water park and need to store a bag with towels or shoes you need the " large". That's another 25 bucks. All the water stuff has lines to queue up in. Lines for the slides are SO slow. Maybe 15 people in front of me for a water slide took 30 mins to get on.

Now the part that got 2 star rating TONS OF WATER STUFF FOR THE PARK WAS CLOSED AND 4-5 RIDES TOO. not coked off but half the park had closed for maintenance signs up. No joke here's the list of things closed that day which on the website only listed 2 things closed so it was shocking

-storm surge -wildcat Both water rides the* saw mill plunge and *water rapids were closed and I was looking forward to them. -Anchor bay kids splash area I know I saw more " closed for maintenance" signs up too.

I dont know about the kids rides area I didn't go there but considering they advertise as a half water park, and half of the water park was closed but not listed that way on the website was horrible.

They seriously should not be charging full price OR they can inform people at the ticket booth that alot of maintenance is going on. OR they could update their website. OR they could just not have half the park closed. If It's because it's beginning of the season I'd rather them take an extra week to get everything up and running then charge for the experience to be walking past everything saying closed for maintenance.

The lazy river was super super cold. I don't think the water is heated or anything. Also the bayu swimming area goes to 6 feet but the close it off with ropes at 5 feet even though there were 4-5 lifeguards walking around just that section of the water park.

I saw a staff member yelling at a toddler not to run in the water playground. Even if it's a rule that kid was no older than 3. Really tiny. Maybe 2. Staff member who was absolutely yelling repeatedly " no running" to multiple little toddlers like the kids were going to understand. Guy must have been no older than. 20, he looked extremely frustrated and maybe he wasn't the best candidate for the kiddy play area.

The food line had 2 orders in front of me ( a couple and a mom and single kid) and it took over 20 mins before I even could talk to the cashier to put in my order. We were all just standing there in the hot sun. It was a very long wait for everything day. Burger was super overcooked. Crunchy and dry too.

Overall I made the best of my day given what I was working with hence the 2 stars but I'd never go back. I would rather drive an extra 2-3 hrs to a different park if it means actually having things open and getting my money's worth.

In total I spent 139.00 without buying any souvenirs, Park games , typical park snacks, arcade stuff ect. This was t included gas or anything else just what I spent only on myself for that day. Honestly I could go to a bigger chain competitor for cheaper which is saying something.

Currently a diamond season pass at a certain competitor ( name of other park not mentioned so my review doesn't get taken down) is 159 and they have a platinum pass on sale for 69.99 and this is just checking 1 competitor. I'll never go back to lake compounce.

TLDR - extremely overpriced, half water park under maintenance and closed, not updated on website so customers don't know until after paying and lots of rides closed too. Staff are not great, lines are long, food is not...