A Visit to Delgrosso's Amusement Park & Laguna Splash

Entrance to Delgrosso Park featuring classical fountain and Italian archway

Date of Visit: July 26, 2024

Pennsylvania is home to many great amusements, and all of them have their unique charms – those little things that separate one park from another.

Delgrosso’s Amusement Park is one that has definitely charmed us.

directional sign for Laguna Splash Waterpark with arrows pointing left and right

Located just north of Altoona in western-central Pennsylvania, Delgrosso’s is two parks in one. On one side is the pay-as-you-go, free admission amusement park with kiddie rides, thrill rides and two small coasters. On the other side (literally, the two parks are bisected by Pleasant Valley Road and connected by a walking bridge) is Laguna Splash, a waterpark with attractions for all ages.

We arrived just before 11 a.m., the opening time for Laguna Splash, to claim our deck chairs and get started.

In a summer that has seen many 90-degree days, we picked a day that topped out at about 80 for our visit. The water was cold, but it didn’t stop us from having fun as we splashed around.

people float on inner tubes in the lazy river at Delgrosso's Laguna Splash

Jakob’s favorite thing to do at any waterpark is to ride the lazy river so he and I grabbed pair of inner tubes and floated to start our day. It’s a fun little ride with a couple soak zones along the way, some of which are controlled on land by friends, family or strangers who just want to see you get doused as you float past.

a crowd of people stand in a wave pool waiting for the next wave

Second to the lazy river for Jakob is the wave pool. A 10-minute countdown clock gets you ready for the next set of waves, and they last about the same amount of time. Children bounce around as the water rises and falls around them while others catch a ride back toward the shallows. We could even bring our one-year-old Lukas in, as long as we stayed behind the one-foot line and held him.

tall water slides at Laguna Splash at Delgrosso's Park

Strict height limits are in place, though, on the slides. There are two towers – the red tower with three slides and the green tower with two. Two-person inner tubes carry you down the chute of your choice – a double-drop that goes straight down or one of the winding paths with fast curves.

Jakob and I rode on one of the latter slides, the Midnight Express, which carries you through a dark black tube with small openings for track lighting. It’s fast and a whole lot of fun.

If you want to do the slides, though, you better start early. It took a good 20 minutes or more to get through the line when we did it in the early afternoon.

kids splash around a replica of the Leaning Tower of Pizza spewing water at Laguna Splash at Delgrosso's Amusement Park

There are also two kids splash areas at the park. The first features a replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa which sprays out into shallow water with the youngest swimmers and non-swimmers can play.

Play area at Laguna Splash at Delgrosso's featuring a giant wine bucket that dumps water

The second is a larger play structure with small slides and tunnels and a large bucket that dumps water out onto unsuspecting kids and their parents.

Play structure at Laguna Splash at Delgrosso's Amuseument Park focused on a tube slide

We had a coupon for buy one, get one free combo passes that gave us unlimited access to both areas so we decided to spend the first half of our day at the water park, from 11 until about 2:30, before heading across the street to the rides.

The wacky worm coaster at Delgrosso's Amusement Park

This side of the park is definitely geared more toward smaller children. The two roller coasters are tame: the Wacky Worm is a small family coaster that loops twice with just a small drop. Jakob loved this, even going on it by himself on the second go-around.

Spinning multi-colored car on the crazy mouse roller coaster at Delgrosso's Amusement Park

Older kids and adults will find thrills on the Pharoah’s Fury swinging ship and the X-Scream Tower drop tower (which said coming 2024 on the sign during our visit). Rock Star, which swings riders high above the Midway is another option for the older crowd.

mother and son ride the scrambler at Delgrosso's Amusement Park

There are also plenty of spinning rides, classics like the scrambler and the tilt-a-whirl. And of course there are bumper cars.

Swing Buggy at Delgrosso's Amusement Park

We really enjoyed the Swing Buggy, a ride that took us up and down in a circle at high speeds – forward and backward.

parents pose with young boy and toddler on the train ride at Delgrosso's Amuseument Park

But we also came to the sad realization during our visit that Jakob had outgrown the kiddie rides. Our train ride on the Tipton Creek Railroad “wasn’t very fun” and he didn’t venture into the Kids Kingdom.

castle-shaped entrance to the Kids Kingdom at Delgrosso Amusement Park

Three years ago, when we last visited the park, that was where we spent most of our time as he rode the fire trucks, the boats, the cars and more.

close-up picture of carousel horse painted black with teal accents

Luckily for us, though, he still enjoys a good carousel ride, which along with the train, was one of the few rides we could take Lukas on.

boy tossing rings at glass bottles at Delgrosso's Amuseument Park

We also spent a couple dollars on games. Jakob knocked down a couple clowns with bean bags to earn himself an inflatable guitar and we spent $5 on a bucket of rings at the ring toss. We didn’t win anything, but every bucket came with a rubber chicken (yay?).

cheesesteak, fries and pizza from Delgrosso's Amusement Park

One thing we all agree on when it comes to Delgrosso’s is the food is exceptional. At lunch, Jakob and Julie enjoyed fresh-made personal pizzas while I had a cheesesteak Delgrosso style (with pepperoni, Provolone, onions, peppers and sauce). All were delicious, though I couldn’t finish off the cheesesteak.

(Pro tip: pizzas are made to order so plan to wait at least 15 minutes from the time you order).

square plastic container with penne pasta covered in meat sauce

At dinner, we ordered pasta with Delgrosso’s signature sauces – marinara for Jakob, meat sauce for me, and vodka sauce for Julie.

All three were great, and Julie even bought two jars of vodka sauce from the gift shop to take home with us.

It was a full day of fun, and we likely could have stayed even longer, but the fact that both boys fell asleep on the 20-minute ride back to the hotel told us we made the right decision to head home.

And we made the right decision in bringing them to Delgrosso’s.

When You Go

The Amusement Park side is free to enter with ride tickets available for purchase, but you can get an all-you-can ride pass or a combo pass with Laguna Splash. Keep an eye out for buy-one-get-one free ticket offers.
The water park opens at 11 a.m. while the amusements open at 12 noon. If spending the day at the water park – especially on a weekend – arrive at or before 11 to reserve deck chairs.
You can bring your own food into the picnic grove, but the food options at the park are plentiful.
Plan on spending a full day, especially if you are doing the combo pass. Lines for water slides can be long so plan accordingly.