Camden Park — Attraction in Kenova

We visited yesterday, June 8th, and had an exceedingly negative experience overall. While this wasn't universal, many of the employees we interacted with outside of the ride operates were rude. The quality of the attractions was pleasant enough, and most of the operators weren't a problem considering the few minutes we were around them didn't really lead to interactions, with the exception of one woman in our party feeling fairly uncomfortable around an operator (presumably attempting to be personable) with respect to personal space during a wait in line.

While many of the points-of-sale were closed, those that weren't provided poor interactions to several of the guests in our party. The person staffing the souvenir shop seemed visibly frustrated that we were in the shop to start with- when asked if he knew what the surcharge for the ATM was advised that we'd have to ask the office. When returning to the shop later in the day (one of the children saw the other's clown doll and decided they also wanted one) commented that it was "like the third time we've been in there.", later outright refusing to provide change for a purchase to a different guest in our party despite clearly having it from a previous (immediately visible) purchase. While I can understand the limitation of using cash, I think it's worth stating again that the cashier operating this facility was notably rude (and I don't just mean not particularly friendly, but noticeably impolite) to myself and another member of our party, seemed to have trouble operating the register, and confrontational when informing us of the lack of change despite the sale being underway.

Similarly, when attempting to purchase toys for the kids in the toy store, change was unavailable entirely and as such refused our sale (despite the kids already having the toys they picked out in hand and the "change" being relatively minor; you'd think that running with no cash in the register would have been something to mention while they were shopping).

After purchasing a bottled water ($3.79) with $5, the cashier operating the snow cone stand indicated that they'd have to go get change, closing and leaving without another word. We ended up leaving after waiting for 5 minutes for the $1.21 we were owed back, to say nothing regarding the line forming behind us.

It's worth noting that despite the change woes mentioned above, promotional material and nearly every point of sale has a sign indicating "save 4% by paying with cash", with many accepting debit/credit cards.

Despite having paid a little more than $200 for passes (four adults, three kids), one member of our party was offhandedly advised by gate staff that you're evidently only permitted to leave the park four times total to go to your vehicle, regardless of circumstance. I'm unclear as to whether this is an actual policy advised somewhere ahead of time.

I'm not indicating that this was the park's fault, but during our visit someone suffered what appeared to be a medical emergency in the center of the park (the "food court" seating area surrounded by food vendors, in front of the souvenir shop, very close to the staffed entrance and office) and based on the commentary of a member of our party was not attended to for some time, ultimately culminating in several police officers and ambulances arriving on premise. While obviously the surrounding guests are at their own discretion to mind their own business, I suspect it would be within expectation that the members of park staff surrounding the area (at a locale that obviously has inherent risk involved) would have potentially addressed a medical emergency sooner.

Ultimately, despite having a good time in the past and enjoying the rides on average, we don't plan on returning to Camden Park...

They over charge. It's not even worth the $5.00 that they offer sometimes. There's hardly no rides. Heirs not enough employees to cover the rides so you have to wait for someone to come and operate the ride and if they are running another ride they let the ones on the ride stay on a ride again while your standing waiting on them come let your grandson ride. Also the one girl running the merry go round constantly was on her phone texting, she was young and didn't check to make sure everyone was on or seated or strapped or anything and she didn't pay attention to notice if anyone got on a different horse or moved because she was to busy looking down at her phone from the time you got in line til after you walked away. And my grandson almost got hurt on the cars because the lady running it was young and when she stopped the car for him to get off the older lady went to help him and the younger started the car and bout pinned my grandson between the car and the fence and bout ran him over, think god the older lady was helping him and the younger girl stopped it real fast so he could finish getting off, that really upset me and made me mad, my grandson is only 2! She coulda really hurt him. Most of the workers there are not friendly and don't even hardly look at you. If they don't wanna work there they should get a job some where else. Not all the rides were running. The swan paddle boats weren't open. The petting zoo is not a petting zoo and there's hardly no animals in it and their rabbits and stuff. The putt putt golf is almost $4.00 a person extra charge of getting in. The train is so boring! They don't have the Indians that shoot at you from years ago when I was kid. It's went so down hill that it's pathetic, they really need to add some rides, take out the stage make it bigger, take out the petting zoo and add more rides and not charge extra for putt putt golf and gets some different kinds of rides. I use to love going to camden park when I was a kid but I've taken my grandson a couple of times and it's huge waste of money the only reason I took him was for the $5.00 price and it was still a waste of money we didn't even stay the whole time we was aloud and it was only like 4 hours that we had I think, my 13 year old nephew was with us and he was so bored he was ready to go, my grandson wanted to ride the planes but it was closed down and it was a boring time. Even the skating rink was removed years ago, you would think whoever owns it would want to make it bigger and better but instead they know people around here don't have any where else to go without going to kings island or some where so they can get but with over charging. I'm surprised Camden park is even still in business. It's sad to see how much it has gone down hill and it's scary knowing they evidently don't care if there employees are watching out for your safety and that they hire these people who are not friendly either. And it's not right all the rides don't have a operator even on the days you pay full price. I don't wanna go back there unless they hire better and more employees, lower their prices and...

Camden Park is an amusement park, if you can somehow find it amusing, that looks like an abandon apocalyptic wasteland. It's a county fair from the 50's that never closed. This place is a joke for multiple reasons.

The admission price online for all ages was $16.49, which is a discount and I still feel ripped off. Especially since the main attraction, The Big Dipper, which is a wooden roller coaster about to crumble, was closed all day.

The only thrilling part of the rides is the fact that they are so old and seldom looked after, that you feel as though you could be seriously injured or killed on all of them. Some rides like the haunted house are literally stopped by hand. The control panels for the rides could be understood and controlled by an infant. Big button that says "GO," and one that says "STOP." None of the employees care about the safety of the rides, nor do they even know how to inspect them. This place is a death trap.

75% of the employees that work there are the rudest, and most stereotypical depiction of a West Virginia hillbilly I've seen at an amusement park. The guy working the whip actually walked past my cart and said, "I hate my job." Also, when asking some guys at the food stall to make change out of a dollar, they looked at me as if I was crazy. They kept saying, "Change?" and "Quarters?" I was blown away at their ignorance.

The amount of things to do here is pitiful. They have a bunch of hand-me-down rides from real amusement parks and old county fairs. No joke. Kings Island literally gave Camden Park a loop from an old ride they didn't want in the 80's. Look it up. Within two hours I had done everything there is to do. And the "arcade," is literally an air hockey table that hardly works, some skee-ball, and some sega shooting game.

The rides go on FOREVER, and they are all a slightly different variant of the same premise, which is go around in a circle for 5 minutes until you feel sick and physically in pain. So not only are you gonna be disappointed and pissed off when you leave, but also physically ill!

In conclusion, just stay away from this embarrassing eyesore. It's not cute, it's pathetic. Don't take your kids here either thinking is geared towards kids, because it's not even thrilling at that age and i'd be more concerned with their safety there than on the craziest coasters in the world. Save your money and make the trip to Kings Island or Cedar Point. You'll spend a lot more money, but you will actually get what you paid for and have...