has anybody been here and what do you think of it? it is a amusement park or a water park?
how mnay days do you need to spend there?
is there anything else in the area to do?
where to stay?

thanks
melissa

I guess if any of us have been there, we'll know where it is, but this post doesn't give us a clue. I'll be interested if someone answers to at least find out what state it's in.

it is in CT

It is a water park and an amusement park combined. It is a great one day park. It is the oldest continually running amusement park in the US.

Are you going to CT just for this park? There really isn't anything else in the area except for ESPN. ESPN is located right at the entrance to Lake Compounce. I'm not sure if you can arrange a tour or not. Bristol/Southington is not a tourist destination. There are a number of chain hotels located right off I-84 in Southington.

it is about a three hour drive for us so I was figuring on going up for memorial day weeekend.my 12 year DD really wants to go

I do think that Lake Compounce is a great small park, but I think you might be disappointed going there for Memorial Day weekend as the weather probably won't be warm enough to enjoy the water park and the lake. Therefore, you would really be missing out on about a third of the overall park.

If you do decide to go, there is a fairly new Residence Inn by Marriott on West St. right off exit 31 of I-84. It would only be about 10 minutes to the park from there.

what about labor day?

www.wunderground.com can give you historical temperature data for most locations.

End of May/early June the average high temp is about 75 with the average low around 55. Late August/early September the average high is about 80 with the average low about 60. Odds are better for swimming/water parks over Labor Day than over Memorial Day. Plus, by that time the summer sun has heated the lake water, and it's colder in May.

Still, you could have rain and/or cold on either day, so there certainly aren't any guarantees.

While you are there, you probably won't find enough to do at the park or in its immediate vicinity to keep you busy for a 3-day weekend, but you can enjoy other areas of Connecticut with just a little more driving. Mystic is a fun area, and Hartford has some stuff to do. If you have other interests besides the park I'm sure people here can help you find the best location to explore.

Melissa,
I would not drive three hours to go to Lake Compounce. I am about 90 minutes away and have only gone twice with my kids in 12 years. It is fun with a water park and rides but as other posters have said there is nothing else around. It is smaller than most of the other parks (say Hershey or Dorney Park) Usually what we do when we try these standalone parks is that we take about 4 days and map a journey and each day we stop at one place and then drive another hour or two to the next destination (maybe Mystic) and so on. There is also Sturbridge in CT (can't remember how far from Bristol) which might be another stopover.

thanks for all of your suggestions

Lake Compounce is a good time. I would call it an average amusement park, but nothing to go crazy over. It is directly across the street from ESPN. I live about 90 minutes away, and we went once, but the kids have already said that they want to go back. One day is good at that place, but we only did the rides. The waterpark looked very crowded and it was mid week too. We went around june of last year. It costs us 100 bucks for 2 adults and 2 kids, 11 and 8 (we used our Shaw's card for the discount). That saved us about 20 bucks or so. The food was amusement parkish, and they gave you free Pepsi drinks, so it was relatively a decent value for what we used it for. They boast to have the best wooden rollercoaster in the world, and it was a great one. Boulderdash was the name I think. The rest of the park was fun too, but 3 hours may be a long way to travel if there is something similiar close by. I know that my children both loved the place. I thought it was cool, and my wife thought that it was not the cleanest place out there. That's just my 2 cents on the subject.