Bushkill Park in Easton, Pennsylvania is a small but historic amusement park.
This park was ravaged by flooding between 2004 and 2006 and it was closed for many years.
But the park is open once again and that includes their famous fun house that’s the oldest
in the country.
Find out if you should visit in this review.
Bushkill Park opened back in 1902.
The park is an old-fashioned family park and it operated regularly until 2004.
That year, the park sustained major damage from Hurricane Ivan.
The park is located next to Bushkill Creek and the storm caused the river to swell, flooding
the park.
Then the park was hit with additional floods in 2005 and 2006.
Multiple classics were destroyed including the Whip and the Pretzel dark ride.
This flooding caused the park to close for nearly a decade.
During this time, vandals ravaged the park.
It took a while for the park owners to clean up the property, but it began reopening in
phases.
In 2017, the skating rink reopened and some temporary inflatable attractions were added.
In 2018, multiple rides started to reopen including portions of the Bar’l of Fun,
which is the oldest operating fun house in America.
This attraction finally opened fully for the 2022 season and it was given its original
name of Hilarity Hall once again.
The park is still rebuilding.
They’re currently in the process of adding a 100 year-old carousel.
There are a handful of rides that are standing-but-not-operating such as the Whip and Roll-O-Plane plus a few
partially assembled kiddie rides.
Right now, the park is mostly for kids.
There are roughly 10 operational rides.
All are suitable for kids, but only a few can be experienced by adults.
As of 2022, there are some small roundabouts exclusively for kids plus a very small kiddie
coaster from King.
But there are two important things if you want the credit.
One, know it’s a powered coaster that barely changes elevation.
Two, you must be under 5’8 to experience it.
There are two larger flat rides.
You have a basic Tilt-a-Whirl plus a unique scrambler named Chaos.
The latter isn’t an Eli Bridge model.
Instead, I believe it’s a Garbrick model like the one at Knoebels.
And this is a deceptively wild ride.
Unlike the Eli Bridge models that have sustained laterals throughout, Chaos throws you side-to-side…fairly
violently no less.
Every rotation, you’ll slide inwards and then you’re viciously slammed to the outside.
Just look at my reverse POV!
Another unique ride is a tractor train.
Picture those trackless trains you see at parks nowadays, but have it pulled by a tractor
instead of a train.
Last but not least, there’s Hilarity Hall, the park’s famous fun house.
This attraction is a gem.
This restored walkthrough is full of enjoyable, classic gags.
There’s a giant wooden barrel, a wobbly staircase that had me falling over, some rollers,
and a slick slide at the end that you can either experience on a burlap sack or your
back.
There are also some fun visuals, especially during October.
I saw all sorts of Halloween decorations and the park even adds scare actors during the
evenings to entice older guests to visit.
The park had some other figures along the midways, mostly on the closed and abandoned
rides.
It suited the holiday well.
And I always get a kick when parks mix theming with former rides.
The owners have done a great job getting the park operational.
And I’m sure they aren’t done.
I’d love to see the park address the half dozen SBNO or half-built attractions.
Considering how hard they worked to restore the fun house, it’s possible they could
do the same with these rides.
The park has a laid-back feel to it.
Bushkill Park has a quiet setting.
It’s a big field with trees and that aforementioned creek on the outskirt.
Most of the rides are clustered together with the fun house at the end of the main midway.
Then you have an open field behind Hilarity Hall with some picnic benches and a stage.
There aren’t really any tall attractions here, which fits in with that peaceful vibe.
It also helps the employees are some of the nicest I’ve met at any park.
They didn’t want to just operate the rides, they wanted to hold conversations with patrons
and make sure you were having a pleasant day.
Customer service like this can go a long way to endear itself with visitors.
I visited on Columbus Day weekend when pretty much every other park in the Northeast was
slammed.
Yet Bushkill maybe had 4-5 other families there.
One of the big issues may be that people don’t know it’s open once again.
If you search the park on Google, you’re brought to bushkillpark.com.
That seems like the right website, but it’s not.
That’s an outdated site from the old owners.
For the latest information, you need to go to bushkillparkandgrove.com.
I really hope this park can get the word out they’re open so they can get enough business
to stay open.
I also hope the water levels of the nearby creek don’t flood the park once again.
Parking and admission is completely free.
You just pay-per-ride.
Tickets cost $1 each, and rides cost 2-4 tickets.
So this can be a cheap day out for families if you only try a few attractions.
And that’s exactly what I did.
I only needed a half hour here.
And half that time was spent checking out the SBNO and former rides.
The amusement park historian in me couldn’t resist.
One weird thing is that they may not have any permanent restroom buildings.
When I needed a bathroom, employees directed me to a line of portapotties on their property.
I also cannot comment on this park’s food situation.
I didn’t get anything to eat in my short visit, but there are a few places to grab
food.
So do I recommend Bushkill Park?
If you have young kids, yes.
This is a nice little park.
It’s small size and lack of lines make it a stress-free afternoon.
And they can enjoy pretty much every ride in the park.
Plus you can pair this park with the nearby Crayola Experience for a full day.
For adults, it depends how much you love fun houses.
Hilarity Hall alone is worth a pit stop if you’re a fan of attractions like this.
It’s one of the country’s best fun houses.
And you can also get the coaster credit if you’re on the shorter side.
I enjoyed the employees I interacted with and my little time there, but I don’t think
I’ll be returning until they add something notable simply because of how loaded the Pennsylvania/New
Jersey/New York area is for amusement parks.
So those are my thoughts on Bushkill Park in Pennsylvania.
What are your thoughts on this park?
Let me know if you visited before or after the floods.
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