Clementon Park is one of the oldest amusement parks in the world.
Opening way back in 1907, this New Jersey park is rich in history,
but it has had a tumultuous past decade, seemingly closing forever after the 2019 season.
However, the park was saved by Gene Staples and reopened for the 2021 season.
But is this historic park worth visiting? Find out in this review of Clementon Park.
This park was founded by the Gibbs family and opened in 1907.
The park found early success because of a trolley that ran from Camden, New Jersey to the park.
And Clementon is one of the last remaining trolley parks out there.
Arguably the best feature of the park is its setting. The park is located on Clementon Lake.
You can’t quite see the water from the amusement park’s midways, but you get a nice view from all
the taller rides. And the park has an impressive skyline from the roadways around the park.
In 1977, the park was sold to the Baker family. The park continued
to be family-owned until 2007 when it was purchased by Adrenaline Family Entertainment.
These owners made some nice additions to both the amusement and water park.
Just 4 years later in 2011, Premier Parks purchased the property.
Ride offerings remained relatively stagnant during this period while costs continued to rise.
In late 2019, Clementon Park suddenly and quietly closed. Guests arrived for customer appreciation
day to find the park closed. There was no mention on the park’s website and the social media
accounts had been deactivated. The park seemed doomed, especially after the covid-19 pandemic
in 2020, but Gene Staples purchased the park at an auction in early 2021 for nearly $2.4 million.
Staples had formed IB Parks after saving Indiana Beach in 2020. Much like that property,
Clementon Park had the infrastructure and rides in place. It just needed TLC and a new owner.
The park reopened in 2021, but not all the rides were available. The park reopened fully in 2022.
Work is still underway. During my visit in mid-August, there were additional family rides
being installed. Then the park’s lone adult roller coaster in Hellcat has had spotty operations in
2022 to say the least. While it got some trackwork prior to reopening, it has been closed repeatedly
for work this season. Shortly after its reopening in June, people often found it closed on weekdays.
Most recently, I know people who missed out on the coaster on Labor Day weekend.
Prior to my visit in mid-August, the ride was listed as temporarily closed on the website for
additional trackwork. I was planning on skipping the park with Hellcat closed, but when I called
the park, I was told Hellcat would reopen later that day. Maintenance was working on
the ride’s drop for a large chunk of the day, but it did open for the final three hours.
To be blunt, this coaster is rough. It’s so shaky that the park will not allow anyone to sit in the
back two cars at this time. I really hope more trackwork is planned because this coaster needs
it. Hellcat has an amazing layout designed by Alan Schilke and those who experienced it in
its opening year without the trim brake gave it rave reviews, praising its airtime and laterals.
But now it’s a sluggish mess mostly free of forces…unless you count the jackhammering.
Check out my review if you want to hear more. The only other coaster at this park is a relocated
kiddie coaster from Bowcraft in the Dragon Coaster. Over half the rows were unavailable
during my visit, but it is an above average kiddie coaster with some strong laterals on the helixes.
A retracked Hellcat would give this park a signature coaster,
but they still could use another supporting coaster or two. They especially could use a
family coaster since there’s nothing bridging the gap between Dragon Coaster and Hellcat.
The park doesn’t have too many flat rides, but they have a well-rounded lineup.
You have a few spinning rides and a few pendulum rides. Then you have two rides
that offer great views. The Giant Ferris Wheel lets you leisurely take in your surroundings
while Thunder Drop offers a far more intense experience. This is one of those Larson / ARM drop
towers. It may stand just 8 stories tall, but that drop is absolutely gut-wrenching. It mixes airtime
and that glorious stomach-dropping sensation. It’s easily the park’s best attraction in my opinion.
The park’s King Neptune’s Revenge log flume is located entirely on the lake,
which is a cool setting. The drops aren’t too thrilling on this one though and the transitions
into them are surprisingly bumpy for this type of ride, but you will come off quite wet.
And it’s worth noting if you visit alone, the flume requires at least 2 people per boat.
Speaking of wet, there also is the Splash World water park. It’s not the biggest water park,
but that’s where most of this park’s crowds flock to. You have a mat racer,
a super steep trapdoor slide, and some tube slides. Then there’s also a lazy river,
a wave pool, and a water play structure for the kids.
On the dry side, all the kids rides are located under this giant archway wedged
between some trailers and storage sheds. It’s not the most aesthetically pleasing area, but it’s
nice how kids can bounce from ride-to-ride while parents relax on the benches in the middle. And
the covering offers some much appreciated shade. The rest of the park is pretty sparse on shade.
Definitely pack your sunscreen if you’re visiting this park or you’ll be burned. But
most of the park looked to be in pretty good shape considering it was closed just a few years ago.
From an operational standpoint, the biggest issue in 2022 was Hellcat’s day-to-day availability.
It’s annoying when any park has a coaster down, but it’s an especially big blow when
it’s the only major one a park has. The park does have a ride closure board out front,
but it doesn’t always include Hellcat even when it’s closed, which is annoying.
The other weird quirk with this park is that Hellcat’s exit dumps you in the park’s picnic
pavilion. If that’s not weird enough, you need to go past a security checkpoint to
re-enter the park. I can’t say I’ve ever seen that at any other park.
The staff members I encountered in 2022 were far superior to those in 2017. Back in 2017,
almost all of the employees were eerily quiet. They weren’t even reading off safety spiels prior
to guests boarding. They were just silently checking restraints and dispatching rides.
It sort of felt like a zombie apocalypse, especially since the dry park was so quiet.
There were more employees than guests. The park felt more lively in 2022.
The employees were interacting with guests this time and the park was a bit more crowded. Almost
every ride was still a walk-on with the exception being the two coasters which were basically
running at half capacity due to several rows being unavailable. I didn’t venture into the water park,
but the slides looked to have some waits, albeit manageable ones. Despite the lack of crowds,
I was surprised how the park was routinely open until 8 or 9 pm throughout the summer.
Tickets for adults cost $40 as of 2022. I think that’s quite the price to pay if you’re
exclusively a coaster enthusiast, especially since Hellcat’s operation has been so sporadic.
However, I think it’s worth considering if you enjoy amusement and water parks as a whole,
especially since lines are so minimal. I do appreciate how the
new owners removed the parking fee added under Premier’s ownership.
As for how much time you’ll need, it depends on your interests. If you only care about
the coasters, I would call the park the day of your visit to confirm Hellcat is running. If it
isn’t, you at least have plenty of other parks nearby. If you want to try more than just the
coasters, I think this is ultimately a half day park given the ride offerings and low crowds.
The final thing I want to note is this park’s food offerings.
The park has brought in some popular chains such as Chickie’s & Pete’s and Pizza Hut. It was a mix
of multi-national chains and local chains, which is pretty impressive for a park of this size.
So do I recommend Clementon Park? As it currently stands,
I don’t really recommend the park for coaster enthusiasts. Hellcat, between its roughness and
operational status, it isn’t worth a visit in my opinion. However, that all changes if that
coaster is retracked because the ride has immense potential if it ran smoothly. But the park as a
whole is worth considering if you want to rack up a lot of rides and slides in short order.
The families I saw seemed to be having a blast. So those are my thoughts on Clementon Park. What
do you think about this New Jersey park? Do you think it is faring better under the IB
Parks ownership? Let me know down in the comments. If you enjoyed this review, I’d
appreciate it if you gave this video a like and you considered subscribing since there will be a
lot more roller coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!