Roller Coasters in Maine

I didn’t have a lot of hope for many roller coasters in Maine, but there are a few! More than Louisana, anyway. The two bigger parks are close to one another about 20-30 minutes south of Portland, while one extra is down the coast about 40 more minutes. To be sure, none of these are major destination roller coasters, but they’re fun, and usually near a beach.

Click on the coaster names below for a video of each ride! Ride all the roller coasters in Maine from your couch!

Funtown Splashtown USA

Funtown Splashtown USA in Saco is Maine’s biggest park, with a Funtown/amusement park side and a Splashtown/water park side. The Funtown side hosts two decent roller coasters, one of which – the Excalibur – is Maine’s only wooden coaster! The other coaster is a steel Wild Mouse. Other thrill rides include a log flume, a 220-foot drop tower, and several spinning rides. On the tamer side, they have TWO carousels (well, one carousel and one merry-go-round) and lots of things like antique cars, bumper boats, and rides for little kids. It’s a decent-sized park, with 28 attractions total.

Tickets to just Funtown are $47 for adults and $39 for kids under 48″ and seniors 60+. Those tickets are discounted to $32 & $27 respectively, after 3 pm. Passes to both parks including the Splashtown side are $55/$43, or $35/$33 after 3 pm. Though it’s worth noting that the usual closing time is around 5-6 pm, except for a few holidays. The Maine season is on the short side too, basically Memorial Day to Labor Day for Funtown, a little shorter for Splashtown. (As always, check hours and prices before you go.) Parking seems to be free.

Palace Playland

Only 10 minutes from Funtown Splashtown, Palace Playland is right on the beach at Old Orchard Beach. Palace Playland features three roller coasters, but on a smaller scale than the Saco park. Here, we’ve got the bigger Sea Viper, the smaller Orient Express, and Wipeout, one of those spinning figure-8 family coasters. All these steel coasters are a bit oThe other 13 rides are mostly spinning ones, though some look properly thrilling. There’s a drop tower, a Ferris wheel, a fun house, and then 12 rides just for small children. A good bit of the space is taken up with a large indoor arcade.

All rides take individual tickets, anywhere from 2 tickets for kid’s rides to up to 5 tickets for the most thrilling ones. Each ticket costs $1.70, or there are ticket bundle deals that offer some discount. Or you can purchase an unlimited pass for $47 and $39 for kids under 48″. If I rode every single thing that looked interesting to me, the unlimited pass would be about half off the individual-ticket approach. Parking looks like whatever paid city parking you can find nearby. Rides generally open around noon on the weekends and a 4:00 pm on weekdays. And while it looks like a great park to enjoy at night, there is no set closing time! It all depends on attendance and the weather, though they say it’s usually 10 pm or later. Palace Playland is open between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and set off fireworks every Thursday night of their season at 9:45, with a special display on July 4.

York’s Wild Kingdom

York’s Wild Kingdom down in York Beach is a small zoo and amusement park. There are 10 rides in the park, including the small Wacky Mouse roller coaster. There’s also mini-golf, go-karts, a carousel, train, bounce house, and spinning rides. And it sounds like you are able to walk to Short Sands Beach from here. The amusement park is on one side, with the zoo on another, so I’m not at all sure if you have to purchase zoo admission to ride the rides. (And the FAQs are no help.)

Each ride requires tokens, and each token = $1. The Wacky Mouse coaster is 3 tokens, as are most of the rides except for the smallest ones, which are 2 tokens each. A go-kart track is 4 tokens, and mini-golf is $5. If you have to pay for the zoo, adults are $17.25, while kids 3-10 are $11, and infants 2 and under are $1. There’s free parking at the Rt 1 entrance between the zoo and amusements and metered parking closer to the amusements off 1A (aka the beach/town side.)

Water Parks in Maine

There aren’t a huge number of water parks in Maine, it being one of our colder states. Still, there are a few!

• On Saco’s Funtown Splashtown USA’s water park side, they have 9 slides and a kid’s splash tower. There’s nothing else, like a lazy river or wave pool, but there is a shallow lagoon pool with play structures and a swimming pool, though it looks like it’s not very deep either. Cost is $44 for adults, or $39 for kids and seniors. A pass to both the water and amusement parks costs $55/$43 or $35/$30 after 3 pm.
• Aquaboggan Water Park, also in Saco, boasts 7 slides and a kid’s splash tower, but this one at least has a wave pool. (But no lazy river! I mean, what is even the point…) They also have bumper boats and a wet climbing dome/pillow thing and dry attractions like go-carts and mini-golf. Tickets cost $30 for adults, $23 for kids under 4 feet, $6 for toddlers under 38″, and $20 for seniors aged 60 and over. Bumper boats cost $10, go-carts cost $10, and mini-golf is $6, though you can add mini-golf to any day pass for $2, and one ride each on the bumper boats and go-carts for an extra $10 on a day pass. Parking is free.

• Seacoast Adventure in Windham, a little west of Portland, offers snow tubing and an on-site restaurant. In the summer, they switch to mini-golf, go-karts, a 100′ tall sky swing, and a small Shipwreck Cove Water Playground for kids 3-12. Prices are $7-14, depending on height – it looks like some slides are only good for older kids.
• Wild Acadia Camping Resort up near Acadia National Park has a “Fun Zone” play park for registered campers, but non-campers can buy a day pass, based on availability. The play area has at least a couple of water slides, a splash tower, water slingshots, trampoline “jump shot” basketball, a climbing wall, and mini-golf. Day passes cost $29 to play, $13 to chaperone.

Did I miss anything? Have you been to any of these parks? What are you looking forward to doing this summer? Let me know in the comments below!