The Master Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 Willow Grove Park was an amusement park that operated from 1896 to 1975. The park was located in Willow Grove, PA. The park was replaced by Willow Grove Mall in 1982. Here are some links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_Grove_Park http://umha.com/pages/willowgrovepark.html http://www.wgpark.com/index.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoshi Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 (edited) Sadly it closed before I was born, I would have really liked seeing the park still around since the thought of having a park and coasters less than 10 minutes from where I live would be awesome. I know it isn't that bad having both Dorney and Great Adventure less than an hour away but it would have been nice to just run over to a park for an hour or two without even thinking about it. The mall replacement isn't any fun for me especially after they kicked out the arcade Challenges, one of my favorite places to go. Edited January 30, 2011 by Yoshi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted January 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 (edited) Sadly it closed before my time too. When I drive on the PA turnpike I see billboards for the mall. Great Adventure is citied as one of the factors that closed down Willow Grove Park but I don't know how much truth there is to that. Edited January 30, 2011 by The Master Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted February 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 (edited) Found out a little more info about this park. I have some older relatives who used to visit Willow Grove Park back in the 50s and 60s. They stopped visiting Willow Grove Park by the late 60s because they said the park was getting more and more bad elements hanging out there. Hershey Park was also suffering from the same kind of problem in the late 60s and early 70s until they did their major overhaul of the park. My relatives said they were amazed how well Hershey turned themselves around back then. I guess Willow Grove Park didn't adapt to the changes as well as Hershey did and may have been another factor in their closing. Edited February 5, 2011 by The Master Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted January 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 More video of Willow Grove park popped up on youtube, circa 1960. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoshi Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 That's a great video, that really makes me wish the park was still around even more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted January 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 I really like that neon clown sign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemur Posted September 15, 2017 Report Share Posted September 15, 2017 On 1/29/2011 at 7:18 PM, Yoshi said: Sadly it closed before I was born, I would have really liked seeing the park still around since the thought of having a park and coasters less than 10 minutes from where I live would be awesome. I know it isn't that bad having both Dorney and Great Adventure less than an hour away but it would have been nice to just run over to a park for an hour or two without even thinking about it. The mall replacement isn't any fun for me especially after they kicked out the arcade Challenges, one of my favorite places to go. Resurrecting an old post to add ... yes. I grew up in Glenside and was perpetually disappointed that the park was closed. And Challenges was the jam, that and the pet store right next to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrummer Posted September 15, 2017 Report Share Posted September 15, 2017 It closed almost a decade before I moved down to the Philadelphia area. It reminds me a lot of Dutch Wonderland, which is less than an hour from Willow Grove. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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