Along with beachcombing, baseball games, and fireworks, a day at an amusement park is a quintessential summer activity for the whole family.
Western New Yorkers are lucky with longtime favorite Darien Lake right in our backyard. In addition, this summer marks the full return of Grand Island’s beloved Fantasy Island under new ownership and a new name: Niagara Amusement Park and Splash World.
Here are favorites from New York State, Pennsylvania, and across the border in Ontario:
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Six Flags Darien Lake, which opened in 1981, is the region’s largest park with a total of 50 rides between the amusement park and waterpark. It is New York’s largest combination theme park and water park. The resort also has a 20,000-seat amphitheater operated by Live Nation.
This park truly offers attractions for all ages and interests. Are you an adrenalin junkie or coaster fan? There’s the Mind Eraser, the Boomerang, the Viper, the Tantrum, the Ride of Steel — one of the tallest coasters east of the Mississippi, climbing 208 feet and reaching speeds of 75 mph and the wooden Predator coaster.
There’s a group of Family Rides including the Pirate, the Grand Prix Speedway, the Grand Carousel, Bumper Boats and Bumper Buggies. Then there are Kids Rides and Water Rides.
This season the 1,200-acre park is opening a new water slide called Wahoo Wave, a 60-foot-tall slide. It is one of the tallest slides in the park.
“Six Flags is committed to making the park bigger, better and now wetter than ever with the addition of this world-class waterpark attraction, Wahoo Wave,” said Park President Chris Thorpe. “With non-stop soaking thrills for the entire family. Hurricane Harbor will be the perfect summertime escape.”
Wahoo Wave features twists, drops, and a water wave wall. The whole family can experience the six-story slide together in a four-person tube.
Look for a new selfie photo spot with a 20-foot-tall shark for your background.
Although Darien Lake, located between Buffalo and Rochester, can be an easy day trip, it also offers a wide variety of overnight accommodations including cabins, guest houses, hotel rooms, camping and RV rentals. (Six Flags Darien Lake, 9993 Allegheny Rd., Corfu, 585-599-4641, sixflags.com)
Niagara Amusement Park and Splash World, formerly Fantasy Island, plans to be open with a full complement of rides and entertainment as this summer season progresses. Fantasy Island closed in 2020 after nearly 60 years of fun. The Splash World part of the reconfigured 75-acre Grand Island Park opened late last summer for a shortened season under new ownership.
The water park, Kiddy Land, and Western Town will be the focus of the park during the beginning of the 2022 season.
The new owners are bringing in new rides with a family-oriented theme as the season progresses. The popular Scrambler ride has been installed. The Zamperia Samba Balloon Ride is in the process of being fully restored. It is one of the few rides left behind when the park closed.
A classic shuttle loop roller coaster is also under construction. Weather and supply chain issues caused some delays in constructing new rides, but the new owners are confident that 2022 will be a successful year. Many area families are eagerly looking forward to returning to the park with their children. (Niagara Amusement Park and Splash World, 2400 Grand Island Blvd., Grand Island, niagaraamusementpark.com)
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Visiting Midway Sate Park on the shore of Chautauqua Lake is a step back in time and ideal for younger children. It is the very definition of family friendly.
Originally established in 1898 as a trolley park by the Jamestown & Lake Erie Railway, the park is one of the oldest continually operating amusement parks in the nation. It is the only amusement park owned by New York State and operated by New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Midway and other similar parks were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s as a way to earn weekend business. The trolley went from Mayville to Westfield and Midway got its name because it was midway on the lake between spots for ferryboats.
The first owners of the park constructed playing fields, tennis courts, bath houses, and a dance hall to entice customers to ride the trolley on weekends. In 1915, a new building was constructed with a kitchen, a large dining room, and space for dancing and roller skating.
Today it is home to a museum, gift shop, concession stands, and other facilities. There are grills and picnic tables for visitors who want to bring their own food. There are no admission fees and there are individual ride tickets or unlimited ride wrist bands.
Take a nostalgic ride on the vintage carousel, play a game of mini golf, take a spin on the tilt-a-whirl, and ride the go-karts. Everyone loves the vintage train ride. There are classic midway games.
The first ride at Midway was the Jack Rabbit roller coaster. The current carousel was made in North Tonawanda at the Herschell Carousel Factory and there are other Alan Herschell rides onsite. (Midway State Park, 4859 Route 430, Bemus Point, NY, 716-386-3165, midwaystatepark.parks.ny.gov. Open weekends in June and Wednesday through Sunday in July and August.)
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Roller coaster fans should head just north of Toronto to Canada’s Wonderland, a mecca for roller coaster lovers and is among the parks with the most roller coasters in the world. It opened in 1981 on 300 acres and features more than 200 attractions including 17 coasters, two children’s areas and a 20-acre water park called Splash Works.
Last year, the park debuted an attraction called Mountain Bay Cliffs where guests can experience the exhilaration of cliff jumping from a variety of heights into the water below, with the ultimate challenge of conquering the highest peak at 25 feet. The Beagle Brigade Airfield, an exciting plane ride for kids is another new attraction.
The Yukon Striker is considered the world’s longest, fastest, and tallest dive coaster. It is themed around the idea that it is 1897 and the riders are prospectors seeking gold in northwest Canada. Riders take an exciting (or terrifying, depending on your viewpoint) journey through steep mountains.
After making a climb to its first 245-foot drop, the ride pauses for three seconds just over the hill, giving riders a moment to view their fate. Then it plunges into a tunnel at 80 miles per hour. The train soars through four inversions including a complete 360-degree loop — the only one of its kind for a dive coaster. The trains are floorless and are designed to give more of a sense of flying with your feet dangling.
This coaster is in the recently themed section called Frontier Canada. Other attractions in this section include the Mighty Canadian Minebuster, Lumberjack, Soaring Timbers, Flying Canoes, Vortex, Timberwolf Falls, and White Water Canyon.
There are a wide variety of foods available, but the park’s signature food offering is the Funnel Cakes with strawberry sauce and vanilla ice cream with more than 300,000 sold yearly.
(Canada’s Wonderland, 1 Canada’s Wonderland Dr., Vaughan, Ontario, 905-832-8131, canadaswonderland.com)
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Seabreeze Amusement Park is a historic park in the Rochester suburb of Irondequoit where Irondequoit Bay empties into Lake Ontario. Opened in 1879 as the last stop on the steam railroad, it is one of only 13 trolley parks still operating in the United States. Picnic groves and the lakefront were the main attractions, and the mechanical rides arrived soon after.
Many visitors consider Seabreeze the perfect size — not too big and not too small. It is recognized as the third oldest amusement park in the country and the 12th oldest in the world.
The Jack Rabbit, a giant wooden roller coaster built in 1920 is the oldest continuously operating roller coaster in America. The 2,150 feet of track includes a spectacular 75-foot drop, awesome dips, a wild last curve, and a finale through a dark tunnel.
Other thrill rides run the gambit from the Time Machine — as the hands of time take you full circle and lifts you up three stories — to the Whirlwind, the Log Flume, Bobsleds, Wave Swinger, Sea Dragon Screamin’ Eagle and classic Bumper Cars.
The Waterpark features a Soak Zone, Inner Tube Slides, Lazy River, The Wave, and Kiddie Water Fun activities. Family Rides such as the Carousel, the Great Balloon Race, Twirlin’ Cups, a Train, Tilt-A-Whirl and Seabreeze Flyers are designed for the whole family to enjoy together.
Every day the Cirque En Vol, a spectacular acrobatics show is presented at the Center Stage. (Seabreeze Amusement Park, 4600 Culver Rd., Rochester, NY, 585-323-1900, seabreeze.com)
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Sylvan Beach Amusement Park on the eastern shore of Oneida Lake is another park full of nostalgia. This park north of Syracuse is also one of the country’s oldest amusement parks — the first park opened in 1886. It is on the lakefront and just steps from the Erie Canal.
For well more than a century vacationers flocked to this region in the summer, leading the area to be called the “Coney Island of Central New York.”
It could be a movie set — a perfect mile-long white sand beach, breathtaking sunsets, a fish-filled lake, the bustling Erie Canal, and the old-fashioned amusement park. In fact, it was a movie set back in 1968 when a budding young actress strolled along the beach and danced in the water. The actress was Lisa Minnelli, and the film was The Sterile Cuckoo. Sylvan Beach was known as the playground of Central New York and drew headline entertainers including Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, and the Dorsey Brothers.
There are roller coasters, a fun house, vintage arcade games, carnival rides, bumper boats and bumper cars, the Scrambler, and other traditional park rides. Laffland, a long-time favorite, is known for its pretzel carts and is one of just two left in the country that still uses these carts. There is also a Kiddieland area for children with ten rides for the young visitors. (Sylvan Beach Amusement Park, 112 Bridge St., Sylvan Beach, NY, 315-762-5212, sylvanbeachamusementpark.com)
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Six Flags Great Escape, just outside the village of Lake George in New York’s Adirondacks, has had a nostalgic tie with our region since 1994. That was the year that the much beloved Comet roller coaster that had been a favorite at the nearby Crystal Beach Amusement Park just across the lake in Canada was reopened in Lake George. It was moved there and rebuilt after Crystal Beach closed.
It fits right in with the charm of Lake George. The park has maintained much of the sweet charm of its origins as a family-run storybook-themed attraction called Storytown USA. There are many attractions that are appropriate for toddlers and preschoolers. Within the park there are “kiddie zones” that offer low key rides and gentle family entertainment. Timbertown has a swing ride and Frankie’s Mine Train, and a small roller coaster.
Goosy Gander, Humpty Dumpty, and a quaint Old West Ghost Town are still there to charms today’s kids and rekindle memories for their parents and grandparents. Don’t miss the swan boats and a ride on the park’s scenic river.
There is plenty here for thrill seekers including roller coasters, a freefall tower ride, log flume ride, a giant Ferris wheel, alpine bobsled ride, and river raft ride. Ghosttown, an old western town features the newest thrill ride, Adirondack Outlaw, and its premiere steel coaster Steamin’ Demon.
Just across the street from the park is the Six Flags Great Escape Lodge, a destination resort with a hotel and indoor park, a Kids Club, spa, fitness center and the Tall Tales Tavern and Johnny Rockets restaurants. (Six Flags Great Escape, 1172 State Rt. 9, Queensbury, 518-824-6060, sixflags.com)
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Hersheypark is a theme park, a waterpark and a zoo but it is a park like none other because it is in the town that chocolate built. Chocolate is everywhere in this central Pennsylvania town known as the “Sweetest Place on Earth.” Milton Hershey, the creator of the town and the chocolate company opened Hersheypark in 1907 to provide a place of relaxation for his employees and their families.
Two years later the zoo was added. The park continued to grow over the years and in 1971 it was developed into a major theme park. There are now more than 70 rides and attractions for all ages, including a turn-of-the-century carousel with hand carved horses and a Wurlitzer Band Organ, a 33-meter-tall Ferris Wheel, live performances in the Amphitheatre, a sea lion show, strolling performers, and huggable chocolate characters.
The park continues to grow and in 2020 the new $150 million Hershey’s Chocolatetown region opened celebrating the life of the founder and bringing people together for happiness, fun, and of course, chocolate. This 23-acre development features the Candymonium hypercoaster (the tallest, fastest, and longest park coaster).
This area features the Chocolatier, a full-service restaurant and bar. Watch sweets being made before your eyes at the Sweeterie or enjoy an ice cream sundae at Milton’s Ice Cream Parlor, inspired by one of Hershey’s early ventures.
New for this summer is the Jolly Rancher Remix reimagined boomerang roller coaster that takes guests and their senses on a flavor ride as they go forward and backward on the same flavorful track. Each ride is different with five randomized flavor rides like Watermelon or Green Apple complete with different music, lights and scents for an only-in-Hershey sensory experience.
Mix’d Flavored by Jolly Rancher is an all-new family ride where riders sit in one of the four arms and spin 360 degrees and then shift into gear for the lifts and drops. (Hersheypark, 100 W. Hersheypark Dr., Hershey, PA, 717-534-3900, hersheypark.com)
Travel Tip of the Month: At press time, a U.S. dollar equals $1.28 Canadian so a visit to Canada’s Wonderland can be a bargain for American visitors. Be sure to check on border crossing rules. Both countries require vaccinations for adults and Canada requires the use of the ArriveCan App but, of course, all border rules are subject to change.
Deborah Williams lives in Holland, NY and is a veteran travel writer whose work has appeared in national and international publications. She is the recipient of the Society of American Travel Writers’ Lowell Thomas Gold Travel Writing Award.