Photo TR: Ocean Beach Park

If you were to type in "Connecticut" in the RCDB search box, you will see three amusement parks currently in operation. Everybody knows about Lake Compounce and the award winning Boulder Dash. Quassy got plenty of attention this year after Gravity Group plugged in Wooden Warrior. The other place is none other than Ocean Beach Park in New London.

This is my first TR (with a piece-of-crap camera as an added bonus) so forgive me if it's lame, but this was a fun little trip. It was only twenty minutes away from where we were and we had never gone. My friends wanted to take a trip to the beach, and when I saw there was a credit, of course I went for it. If you are headed for this place just to ride the coaster, you are going to have a very crappy day. Bring a few friends, some food, and visit the beach as well. It's a nice little gem that may not be worth a stop in a credit whoring road trip, but is worth a visit if you have an extra day near Mystic Seaport.

I couldn't find an extravagant entry sign, so this will have to do.

I didn't ride the waterslide. Part of the reason was because the lines got pretty long, the other reason is because I don't want splinters up my-

The park had a gym. Despite being air conditioned, I didn't go in.

Upon arrival, all the rides were closed. There were no signs posted as to when the rides would open and the website was no help.

However, all of the employees said that the rides should be open. If they weren't, they'd be open later.

I found the credit!

While waiting for the rides to open, we decided to check out the boardwalk first and go to the beach.

The waterpark was incredibly small, but it was not very crowded in the morning.

The play area seemed kind of...ghetto?

The park reminded me of a mini Coney Island.

Play ground themeing! Better than Six Flags!

Whoa, it looks like Ariel gained some weight!

Along the boardwalk, they had pages from a story book lined up. Cool concept, but I didn't feel like traversing the entire boardwalk just to read.

The beach will not stay this way for long.

There was never a shortage of shade. There were random rooftops over various parts of the boardwalk.

This would make a nice picnic pavilion, but it's for private events and the chainlink fence looks uninviting...

Did I mention that my camera sucks?

Remember that calming, tranquil picture four pictures ago? This is half an hour later.

Despite crowds, we found plenty of room to walk around and swim around.

At lunch, I was hoping to find some local specialties. Instead, it was the same old over-priced generic stuff.

Actually, the hot dogs were pretty good. Whether it was broiled or grilled, it had a nice snap to it.

If you made it this far, you're probably wondering where all the ride pictures are... (here's a map for map enthusiasts out there)

The park's carousel complete with traditional organ music. It even played some tunes from Roller Coaster Tycoon carousels.

I love taking pictures from ferris wheels, but I think pictures from atop this wheel would be less than underwhelming.

There were plenty of rides, but not much staff. You would have to find an employee in a blue shirt and ask them to operate a ride for you.

Finally! It's roller coaster time!

I would submit this for 100% Manly Pose branding, but it just looks like I separated my vertebrae.

Put your thumbs down, WHORE!

The ride was incredibly shaky, but the awesome operator sent us through about five times.

Credit accomplished!

I was too big for most of the rides there.

No love for the tea cups. (Tea cups!?! Those look more like ash trays!)

The last ride of the day was this INSANE spider ride. Despite its clunky appearance, it went pretty fast.

Not many rides make me sick, but this one was close! You go around in a circle, up and down, and your car spins! (BTW, that's our awesome operator in the blue)

Finally, a nice picture from the boardwalk. This was an excellent visit, and a fun place to be with your friends.

I don't think your camera sucks, it gets the job done and the pictures were sharp enough. Nice TR! We have a water "play area" comparable to the "ghetto' one pictured above at a local park that I loved to go to as a kid. I guess some kids would be just as happy running through the sprinkler on the lawn. Overall it looks like a nice beach/boardwalk.

Looking forward to future TR's!

-Doug "The best camera is the one you have" Mandell Jr.

Its a shame you didn't check out the arcade there - its completely rad and filled with all sorts of old games.

Wow, perfect timing for you to post this because I'm planning on visiting this place this weekend! This means I have questions for you!

Do you by any chance have any idea when the park closes? The website and their recorded phone message, for whatever not-very-well-thought-out reason, don't list the hours (all I gleaned from the phone recording is that they open at 9 M-F and at 8 on weekends). If there's a way to hit this up tomorrow night on our way to the Barnstable County Fair, I'd love to do it.

But since we may wind up getting there Saturday morning/early afternoon instead, about what time did the coaster and other rides open for you?

I must say, I'm super excited about the beach being right there. Thanks for sharing this, and in such a timely fashion for me, too!

The "Spider" you remark about is actually an Eyerly Octopus. Eyerly made both an 8-tub and 16-tub Octopus as well as the 12-tub Spider and 24-tub "Monster" The octopus dates back to the mid-40's and was still manufactured alongside the Spider for a few years after the Spider's introduction.

This octopus has been modified from it's original foundation and has been truck-mounted for easier removal from carnival to carnival. I wouldn't be surprised if all of these rides were owned by the same carnival at one time before being put up in the amusement park.

^^^^It's actually kind of odd how well the pictures came out because usually Facebook botches up the ones from the camera. And while the settings are minimal, you're right, it does get the job done.

^^^I'm guessing the arcade was in the building across from the gym. There was construction being done on the building so we didn't really want to enter. Also, I had completely overlooked it when planning the trip . I'm not really an arcade person, but I would have loved to take pictures of it.

^^To be honest, we kind of just guessed what time the park would be open because (as you mentioned) the website does not post their time schedules. We didn't stay until closing because we actually did everything we wanted to do with plenty of time left over. So, sorry, I can't give you the closing time, but chances are you won't need to stay very long. The rides opened up at about 1PM.

^Thanks for the correction . I love hearing about the history of rides, especially after I've ridden them.

Thank you for the comments so far

No problem, I was 50/50 on giving you all that info, so I appreciate your interest in history. Myself being a fan of carnival rides, I know a bit about them.