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Connecticut (CT)
Bristol
Things to Do in Bristol
Lake Compounce

Lake Compounce, Bristol: Hours, Address, Lake Compounce Reviews: 4/5

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Lake Compounce

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See all things to do
Lake Compounce
4
811
#2 of 17 things to do in Bristol
Amusement & Theme Parks • Water Parks
Saturday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
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About
With over 402 acres of fun, Lake Compounce is the oldest continuously operating amusement park in North America, welcoming families since 1846. Lake Compounce has ten cozy catering pavilions and plenty of room to host your next birthday, party, family reunion, and corporate event! Lake Compounce combines unique and exciting thrill rides and coasters for all ages with a full-sized water park—all for one low price. As the park continues to delight families from all around the New England area and beyond, the balance of evolution and tradition continues to play an important role at the nation’s first amusement park.
Suggested duration
More than 3 hours
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The area
Address
Best nearby
Restaurants
149 within 3 miles
Pink's Hot Dogs
11
0.8 mi$ • Quick Bites • Fast Food
TimeOUT Sports Bar
35
1 mi$$ - $$$ • American • Bar • Contemporary
Kizl's Restaurant Luncheonette
69
1.1 mi$$ - $$$ • American • Vegetarian Friendly • Gluten Free Options
Los Mariachis Bar & Grill
10
1.1 mi$$ - $$$
Uncle Sam's Restaurant
7
1.1 miItalian
Max's Pizza 4
1
1.2 mi$$ - $$$ • Italian
Cava Restaurant
529
1.3 mi$$$$ • Italian • Steakhouse • Seafood
Bleachers
2
1.4 mi
Superior Pizza
9
1.4 mi$$ - $$$ • Italian • Pizza
Nice Chinese Restaurant
7
1.4 miChinese
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Attractions
30 within 6 miles
Lake Compounce
1
0.9 miAmusement & Theme Parks
New England Carousel Museum
116
2.3 miSpeciality Museums
Imagine Nation
48
2.4 miChildren's Museums
Rogers Orchards
84
Farms
Bristol Public Library
25
2.5 miLibraries
Indian Rock Nature Preserve
3
2.1 miNature & Wildlife Areas
Barnes Museum
24
Historic Sites
Relic Brewing Company
18
Breweries
Mount Southington Ski Area
64
Ski & Snowboard Areas
Muzzy Field
11
3 miHistoric Sites • Arenas & Stadiums
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Popular mentions
4.0
811 reviews
Excellent
358
Very good
282
Average
76
Poor
45
Terrible
51
Victoria T
Essex, CT526 contributions
Teen Paradise!
Oct 2021
I took two teenage girls last weekend, and they had a blast! Once you have paid the entrance fee, all the rides are free and they made the most of it. All the personnel I encountered were very pleasant. The food options were many, but expensive as most theme parks are. But is very clean, and easily navigated.
Written October 26, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Laura H
Haddam, CT3 contributions
Pleasant visit
Oct 2021 • Family
We had a great time at Lake Compounce. We visited during Happy Hauntings in October, so the water park was closed for the season. Nearly all the other rides were running, and the food offerings were plentiful and of decent quality (but pricey, as expected). The ticket price was very reasonable (we purchased ahead of time), and with the seasonal decorations and characters handing out candy to kids who wanted to trick or treat, I felt it was a very good value for the price. The park was immaculate during our visit, and only got a bit busy in the later afternoon. The park's location, nestled into the hillside, made for some nice views of the fall foliage. Proud to have America's oldest amusement park in my home state!
Written October 23, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
KCK
1 contribution
Go for the None and Done
Aug 2021
One and Done. But really, I would suggest the None and Done.

I went to Lake Compounce for the first and last time the last weekend of August 2021. To sum it up, if you are someone looking for a quality amusement park like Canobie Lake or Santa’s Village, this isn’t the park for you. If you’re looking for a park for the whole family including grandparents, this park is not for you. If you’re looking for some good value for your money and safe operations, this park is not for you.
I never thought I’d say this, but you’re much better off going to Six Flags NE.

SAFETY CONCERNS:
-Lazy River in the water park: there were no guards assigned to watch the load/unload water ramp. Adults and kids were getting off tubes and hanging around on the load/unload ramp, finding themselves a spot to sit or swimming around-it was chaos. As someone who ran a waterfront for years, and who understands the entry/exit in water is one of the riskiest times when enjoying pools/lakes/water attractions, this was horrifying and a disaster waiting to happen.
-Lazy River: the crowd was quite pushy. If I had young children I’d be furious that the pushing and yelling were tolerated-people were steamrolling their way through pushing anyone in their way to the side, easily separating parents and children. Not that all the parents cared; I grabbed a small child who was trapped under his tube and panicking because his dad didn’t want to get off his tube he was comfortably situated on.
-Raft Ride: no one was telling anyone when to load/unload the raft. Park goers were figuring it themselves- the three employees in the area had their backs turned to the rafts and were talking. At one point a group of parents walked through the exit and onto the unloading dock to take pictures of their kids heading off on their raft ride. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen nonsense like that at Disney. (Or even Six Flags for that matter)
-Log Flume: Similar to the raft ride. No employees were watching people load/unload. When I stepped into and out of the log both employees had their backs to me and the loading areas.
-loading/unloading platforms at all rides were chaotic and confusing
-I don’t think I saw any actual adults with fully formed brains working there. All the rides were operated by teenagers or college aged kids. (FYI, that’s not a smart donkey comment, brains literally are not completely formed until around age 26)
-On the way out of the park to my car I counted over 15 lights in the parking lot out. Stupid me, I should’ve thought to bring a headlamp to find my car.

Not safety concerns, but frustrations nonetheless…
-Employees couldn’t tell us how to get to specific rides or even where to find a park map. Keep in mind I went the last weekend of August, so I don’t know what rock these employees were under the whole summer.
-20+people line jumped while in line for Boulderdash, and one of the seats on Boulderdash wasn’t being used because there was gum on it (why no one thought to clean it up I couldn’t say). There was also a situation where a father tried to sneak his way too short son onto the ride, he was told he couldn’t ride, but somehow his son still managed to get on the platform and almost on the ride.
-Went to eat lunch at Pink’s hot dog stand. It was disgusting, Fries, food, ketchup, napkins, trash all over the ground inside the restaurant. Food was caked on the counters, it looked like nobody had bothered to wipe down the counters or clean up any spills. Stood there waiting to be acknowledged for about 15 minutes. The manager and employees were too busy hugging and talking about weekend plans to notice the growing line, then told us we all needed to back up and create a better line for them to be able to take our orders. The food came in individual paper dishes/trays and they had no trays to carry all the food to a table.
-Handful of rides weren’t running, including the tower drop and one of the wooden rollercoasters
-Expensive. $55 for admission, no AAA discount at the door, $15 to park, $20 for a locker rental to keep bags safe while in the waterpark, $26 for two hotdogs and two fries, $24 for two sodas and two ice creams.
-Hilly and not super accessible for anyone who was not ready to walk a ton or someone in a wheelchair. The park is in a linear design. The raft ride is isolated and a solid 10 min walk from the rest of the park, so you might want to pack hiking boots and a compass along with that head lamp.

I went to Lake Compounce because of the overall decent ratings and reviews it got. I can’t figure out how it got the decent ratings it did. But, then again, after being stuck in a covid lockdown for the past year people would give a trip to the DMV decent ratings.
Written September 8, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Peter W
Middleborough, MA8 contributions
Read this before you book!
Aug 2021
First of all, let me say the people here are very nice and working hard in a trying situation....pandemic, labor shortage, etc. And I get it was hot, too...but this simply doesn't excuse aspects of the experience that were just unacceptable! First off, I'm not a roller coaster fan, but my wife is and she LOVED the wooden coaster. But for those who don't enjoy that experience, there wasn't a whole lot to do! So many of the rides are closed as are a number of food concessions. And the park is not particularly clean, but was pristine compared to the Bear Creek Campground where we stayed...our site was littered with cigarette butts, bottle caps, can rings and just plain old trash. There was even dog poop by the fireplace! We thought it was a case of understaffing but watched crews simply ignore sites as people left! Not one vacated site was raked! We had to leave a day early because our tent got flooded by heavy rains that came in overnight on Thursday and, frankly, I was glad we did. I have been camping since I was 5 or 6 and am in my mid-60s now so I KNOW what should be expected...and even adding Covid and staffing to the mix, this place just doesn't cut it. If I'm going to drive for more than an hour (two for this one), I'll head north to Canobie Lake Park in New Hampshire which really has the vibe that Lake Compounce just hasn't captured.
Written August 21, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Kristen K
1 contribution
Dangerous park not worth the risk
Jul 2021 • Family
I visited Lake Compounce yesterday, July 30, 2021. I went on one ride and ended up in the hospital. My sister-in-law and I went on the wildcat, one of the oldest wooden roller coasters. About halfway through the ride we both were scared that we were going to break our necks. I was holding my head with both hands out of fear because my neck was shaking so violently. I tried contacting someone at the park to file a report before I left. I got passed from number the number. I finally got past to someone’s voicemail. I did leave a detailed voicemail and will follow up with a written report. I was in the hospital until 6 AM this morning. I was told to never go on a ride that shakes your neck violently because you could easily suffer from broken blood vessels that lead to your brain. Based on my symptoms they made me stay there all night running numerous tests including a CT scan. I am still in a tremendous amount of pain today but luckily the blood vessels in my neck were not damaged. I would absolutely never advise anyone to go on that ride. It is dangerous and should not be running!

Secondly, about 10 years ago I had another incident where my four-year-old had a seatbelt malfunction. He was screaming because he almost fell out of the ride. I had to have them stop the ride in an emergency. I called management over and no one did a damn thing about it. I would highly advise to stay away from that park completely.
Written July 31, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Paige LC
Hi Kristen, we’re sorry to hear about your experience. We spoke with the team and were informed that you were able to get in contact with a manager. Should you need further assistance, please contact our offices at 860-583-3300. We do hope you'll give us another chance in the future.
Written August 2, 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Aaron20152016
Deer Park, NY48 contributions
Nice but needs more variety
Jul 2021
We went here yesterday after not having been back for 5 years. I like this park because it is small and usually not busy. We got there early and it was near empty. For most of the day, crowds were light. The only line we waited in was for the log flume. A few drawbacks: There were several rides down, the disco ride, the Zoomerang, and the wave swinger and wipeout rides were torn down, the games were $4.00 a game and there weren't many games and there were no shows. The Ghost Hunt was updated which was nice and the staff was very friendly and rules were followed, but I saw a little line jumping mainly from people saving places for others on line.
Written July 29, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Maureen K
New Fairfield, CT26 contributions
Fun for the entire family (get there early though!)
Jul 2021 • Family
A great, warm day at LC. We spent 3 hours at the water park which had plenty for the 8 and 6 year olds! The lifeguards were on top of everything. I have never seen kids working who were so conscientious at a summer job. Amazing! The dry park was fun too, less lines. Again the workers were so aware of safely. Only issues-at least 5 rides were closed and the lines for food and drink were way too long! Lovely day for the kids and grown ups.
Written July 21, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
evelynegomis
Johannesburg130 contributions
Great park in the middle of a beautiful nature scenery
Jul 2021
This is definitely not a small park: it has many rides for toddlers as well as teens and adults. The water park area also includes very nice slides. We were lucky to go on a rainy day (it did not rain and the park was empty so the lines were fantastic). Clean premisses and professional staff. I wish the staff would stop the rides from time to time to wipe everything off as people were not requested to sanitize on a regular basis.
Written July 4, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
teetee5
New york7 contributions
Not a great value right now
Jun 2021 • Family
Been coming here for 10 years every year but last year because of covid. It’s always been our favorite amusement park..... but sadly today we were so very disappointed ☹️. Supposed to be only 3 rides down yet there were so many more
Revolution
The swings
The purple loop by the cars
Half the kiddie rides
At at least 4 water park rides
The beach was closed
Not to mention there were no food places at all open in the back of the park. Only the place by saw mill was open. Pinks was closed the funnel place closed.
We paid a lot of money $47 a ticket plus parking . I can only assume some of this was due to many of the kids working did not return after covid. Very sad. I can say the kids that were there were doing an amazing job. It was sooo hot and these kids really busted their butts.
Would love to hear from lake compounce to give some input as to why today was the way it was. Not fair for all that money. Also the food place by the water park took 1hr30 min to wait on line to get food. To find out there were no wraps left. And there were only two young kids working to serve food. Poor planning
Written June 29, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Evie
1 contribution
Personal space
Jun 2021 • Family
The park should be limit it’s to crowded. People don’t respect personal space. My belongings in the water park was put on the floor and took our space.
Written June 28, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Lake Compounce
Lake Compounce is open:
  • Sat - Sun 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM