Camden Park

The clown at Camden Park has been ushering guests in for years.

After hearing the shaky ground so many traditional, family-owned parks are on (rumors were always circulating about Conneaut Lake and Americana) I felt I needed to pay one a visit. Someone on Ultimate Roller Coaster had mentioned that Camden Park was only 3.5 hours from Cincinnati, so I figured- I am only two hours from Cincinnati. Call it the energy (or stupidity) of youth…either way this is why, after falling asleep around 1 a.m., I was struggling to get out of bed at 6. I got ready, had a bite at McDonalds and was on Interstate 70 by 7. A lot of construction on 65 and 64 cost me some time (which I made up for later by being a little heavy on the old accelerator in rural KY). I arrived around noon my time, 1 eastern time. The town of Huntington is an industrial town in the truest sense of the word and it is a good bet most everyone was employed by one of the steel, power, or chemical factories around the area. By the time I got home at 8:30 my arms and back were killing me from a little over 10 hours on the road which had been exchanged for three at a park.

I was a little shocked when I saw the parking lot next to the famous clown…it as full. I was worried that the park had been rented out for the day until I found out a lot of local schools had come. This was not as bad as I had feared as my longest wait for the day was 15 minutes for the Haunted House…everything else was a one ride wait.


The Big Dipper crests the lift hill.	The N.A.D. cars are amazingly comfortable.

I headed for the Big Dipper to start the afternoon. It is a wooden figure eight, 60 feet high, 1800 feet long and was designed by National Amusement Devices. This was my first coaster designed by National Amusement Devices, first coaster with manual brakes, my first time with N.A.D. Century Flyer cars and the first time I have ridden a coaster w/o seat dividers, or head rests, or individual lap bars.

The Big Dipper is in a very picturesque setting.

All I can say about this train was…WOW!!!! I could have been sitting in one of my easy chairs at home. Despite being on a rickety old coaster I felt quite safe in these cars. They were full of padding and I knew I could not go anywhere because of the heavy lap bar. Going back to coaster cars by P.T.C., Gerstlauter, Morgan, B&M or anyone else will be hard. This is by far the most comfortable and protected I have ever felt in a coaster. Plus, the trains are absolutely beautiful! In my book, the Century Flyer trains are hands-down the best rolling stock I have ever seen.

The ride itself could use some work. It was a little rough, with a large pothole on the little drop after the lift. The rest of the ride was fun, although both of the brakes were on. I suspect this was more so the train would not wear the structure out as opposed to please the insurance company. Throughout the day I rode in the last seat of the first car and the second to last seat (the last one was closed). It gave some decent air but the ride as a whole desperately needs some TLC.

The Hot Kat spins seemingly for hours on end.

I rode my first Paratrooper (which was a fun ride and goes a little higher than it looks), the spider, the scrambler, the sky ride, the kiddy coaster which is also a N.A.D. creation, the log flume, the tilt-a-whirl and the round up. One other interesting ride was the Hot Kat, which I guess was a pre-cursor to the Himalaya. The ride was a caterpillar, but the park removed the cover and runs it like a Musik Express- style ride. The cars were metal and only some had little chains in plastic to put across you. As the ride operator graciously warned, “Unless you want to hold on the entire ride, get in a car with a rope.”