AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Idlewild & SoakZone is Pennsylvania's oldest amusement park and one of the oldest in the entire United States, founded in 1878 as a mountain picnic ground by industrialist Thomas Mellon. Today it is a 40-plus ride, family-focused theme park set in the lush Laurel Highlands near Ligonier, about 50 miles east of Pittsburgh — and the SoakZone water park is included with admission.↗↗
What makes Idlewild special is its singular balance: a woodland setting where heritage rides from the 1930s sit alongside modern water attractions, all calibrated for children without leaving teens or parents bored. The park was named the world's best children's park by industry publication Amusement Today.↗↗
From Picnic Grove to Award-Winning Park
Idlewild's story begins in 1878 when Judge Thomas Mellon, founder of the Mellon banking dynasty, purchased a struggling local railroad and needed a way to fill passenger cars. He leased a wooded plot along Loyalhanna Creek for a picnic ground — and named it Idlewild. Trains carried families from Pittsburgh just for the shade of the oaks. Rides began arriving in the 1890s with a steam carousel, and by the 1930s the park had electricity, a wooden coaster, and a den of black bears.
