Bayville Adventure Park — Attraction in Town of Oyster Bay

I'm posting this review for their Beaches N' Cream ice cream shop / restaurant and mini golf only. I couldn't wait to go back to this adorable and nostalgic ice cream shop after a few years absence only to be disappointed. I don't usually write reviews, but I thought this warranted one:

Positives: 1.The restaurant decor is too cute and charming for all ages. There are fun decorations all around including a shark, train on tracks just below the ceiling, and a little old fashioned piano player. It was just like I remembered. There were a team of three super friendly ladies working there. The team member who helped us noticed my child was thirsty and cranky and brought her drink out right away. So thoughtful. There's a really fun and beautifully themed pirate mini golf course on site. The team member at the counter though said everything else in the park other than mini-golf was closed when we arrived at 6pm despite the park hours being opened until 9pm. She said we could either play a round of mini golf or pick one of the two rides that was open. A separate team member inside the park clarified that the rides were open until 7pm and mini-golf opened until 9pm when I inquired.

Cons: A ROACH bit my thigh within no more than a minute after sitting in the booth under the mounted shark! They typically don't bite, but this brown banded one sure did. I swatted it off my leg and watched it fly onto a nearby table where I confirmed it was indeed a roach. Good thing it didn't bite my child instead. Gross! It didn't appear that there was a manager working the restaurant to inform about the incident. What could they do anyways after it happened? The ladies working the counter were working hard multi-tasking cooking and bringing food to table. Not sure they were the ones who can help. Maybe they were. Nonetheless, I didn't address the issue there. The restaurant makes you order before you sit so there's no ability to leave after an incident like this since they already have your money. The food is just ok to not so great quality, in my opinion, at best. I didn't care for my chicken fingers. Some of the breading fell off of one of the pieces before it was served. It looked odd, a little gelatinous and shiny inside. Not sure why this was. I ate what I could stomach. My child ate the hot dog and fries. I guess they were ok. The mini golf course had poison ivy growing around the border of the golf green at some holes. I held my breath that the balls didn't roll off the green and into it. It made me nervous that my child would get a poison ivy rash if not careful. There was a wooden seated park bench somewhere in the mini golf course. We were going to sit to let another group pass, but the bench looked worn out. I gently pressed my hand on the wooden seat and it felt like it would snap if I kept pressing. We decided not to sit there for safety concerns.

I decided we would walk to get ice cream at a nearby business on the street instead after the disappointment in...

I will start off that the attractions for Halloween are decent, but the hype that I was given did not justify the entire experience. It is definitely not worth a drive from almost an hour away, but I could see it being more fun if you are local. We went on Saturday, October 24th, 2015. First, not enough parking around the town or signage to handle the crowds by 7:00. We ended up paying $20 to park in a private business's lot after circling the town's parking lot 4 or 5 times for nearly 20 minutes. Next we waited in line for over an hour just to buy tickets. When we got to the front, there seemed to be three separate lines from inside the park and the line from the street (that we were on) that all converged to one ticket booth, each line getting one window. Had we had just entered the park and hopped on one of the other lines, it looks like it would have been a much shorter wait, but there was no signage or directions from the park about this. Ticket packages are a joke. You can either pay around $20 (cash or American Express only) for each attraction separately, or 2, 3, 4, or all 5 attractions as packages to save money. The problem is that the packages are all set with which attractions you can go to, no choosing the 2 or 3 you want. You think you are saving money, but that is only if you want the attractions that they dictate to you per package. For two of us, we spent over $60 for two of the two attractions (which includes Blood Manor and Uncle Needle's funhouse) The lines for Blood Manor were over an hour long for an about 10-15 walk through. The lines for the fun house were much shorter, 20 minutes, and an other 10 minute walk through. After this point, it was 11:30pm, we were tired, and still had to drive an hour back. We thought we would be there a much much shorter time so we could hit one or two other houses on the drive back. This did not turn out to be the case at all. Between the lines and the time trying to park, and only about 25 minutes of being inside the attractions, it just was not worth the $80 expense ($20 parking and $60 tickets) to justify the night out. Go either much earlier in the season, be local and get there early in the day to enjoy the rest of the town, or just skip it entirely, I do not see our return anymore after this year. Too busy and not staffed well enough to...

Went there twice with Groupon. I read the reviews from others before purchasing and going. I agree mostly with other reviewers that the place is run down (but it's still fun for the family), understaff (and that is management/park owner's fault) that half of the time you have to wait for a staff to come over from the other area...one time I waited by the chain/entrance and there was no staff for a few minutes..then other kids got there and didn't wait on line..the staff let the kids go and then blocked me out... mosquitoes after 7pm was horrible...we left because we were bitten alive when playing mini golf and we couldn't finish...there was a guy by the adventure course and my son was waiting for him to let us in while he was on the phone playing games. After awhile my son asked "anyone there" he got pissed that either he was interrupted or he lost the game that his attitude and tone was so bad toward my son while he puts on his harness (this I would give 1 star to)...another time I went up to the top of the climbing by the slide and then we got yelled at for staying up there (I was taking pics of me and my kids) ..after we came down then the staff was saying next time if we come again please make sure we follow rules...I'm like what rules as no one told us any rules and I'm the adult that got yelled at for not following their rules that no one told us about..(I would suggest the park to put a sign of rules so that we can read or the staff tell each of us what are the rules as we enter the play area)...i asked one of the staff how is the park management treating them..he had a 'meh' face so you can tell why the staffs are how they are at the park ...also the park does not have all the attractions as listed (or defended by the park management in prior review) as I asked..some are not opened during summer and have to wait til later in the fall or you have to pay extra ....but overall since my kids had a blast both times (and I know they are easy to be pleased) I am still giving it a 4 star...it's not as maintained as other larger adventure Parks but if you just want to spend a day or two with your kids doing something...it's not bad at all...my kids are 4 and 7...but prob older kids won't be as entertained...(after 2 times been there I think that's enough for me...