Things to Do in Old Orchard Beach, ME: Palace Playland, the Pier, and the Beach

Palace Playland: New England's Only Beachfront Amusement Park

Palace Playland has operated on the same waterfront site, directly across from the Amtrak Downeaster station, since it opened in 1902 — a genuinely long single-site run for an amusement park, and one that predates most of what else is on this page. Early on, the site drew crowds with a roller-skating rink, an adjacent merry-go-round, and lemonade and salt-water-taffy stands; by the 2010s the park had been repositioned with the tagline "New England's Only Beachfront Amusement Park," a real distinction versus the region's inland parks. Roughly 28 attractions have operated in recent seasons, including named rides such as Sea Viper (a sit-down coaster added in 2018), Wipeout (a spinning kiddie coaster, also 2018), Gold Rush, Adrenalin (a Frisbee-type ride from 2007), Drop Zone (a 2007 drop tower), Power Surge (2003), Super Star (a Troika-type ride operating since 1979), and a Pirate ship ride, alongside family-oriented rides including a carousel, the Cascade Falls log flume, Dodgem bumper cars, the Electra Wheel Ferris wheel, and a Wave Swinger. A HyperJump-style ride was added in 2023, and new rides were reported for the 2025 season.

One piece of the park's history is worth knowing even though it is no longer there to ride: Palace Playland operated a hand-carved 1910 Philadelphia Toboggan Company carousel for decades before pulling it from service in 1996 and selling it to the Western Reserve Historical Society. That carousel is a genuinely notable piece of American amusement-park heritage, and its absence today is part of the park's real history rather than an oversight. The current-season ride roster, operating hours, season dates, and admission pricing can change year to year and were not independently confirmed through the park's own site this session — verify all of that directly at palaceplayland.com before building a visit around a specific ride or a specific price.

The Pier: A 1980 Rebuild That's Now the Town's Central Landmark

The wooden pier standing today is a 1980 structure, roughly 500 feet long, built by local businesswoman Kathy Duffy after the original 1898 pier — once the longest pier in the United States — went through a series of fires and storms and was finally destroyed outright in the Blizzard of 1978. That fuller disaster history is worth knowing as town lore, but for a visit planned around what's there now, the pier today functions as a boardwalk-style hub: shops, an arcade, restaurants, and Pier French Fries, a long-running local institution that shows up on essentially every current OOB dining list. Exact current pier tenants beyond Pier French Fries were not independently confirmed via a live source this session, so treat specific shop and restaurant names as worth checking before a visit rather than assuming a fixed, unchanging lineup.

The Beach: A Shared Regional Stretch of Saco Bay

OOB's beach sits on the inner curve of Saco Bay and is popularly described as running roughly seven miles — but that sand is a shared regional system, not a stretch that belongs to OOB alone. It continues north into Scarborough and south into Saco, so the wide, flat beach that makes OOB's boardwalk scene possible is really one link in a longer chain of connected sand rather than a landmark unique to this town. Within OOB's own limits, the beach is the reason the boardwalk, the Pier, and Palace Playland all sit where they do — a wide, walkable stretch immediately adjacent to the amusement district rather than a separate destination requiring its own trip.

Ocean Park: A Quieter Pace a Short Walk From the Boardwalk

Not every part of OOB is boardwalk and arcade noise. Ocean Park is a historic neighborhood within the town, founded in the 1880s by Free Will Baptist leaders as a Chautauqua-style religious and educational summer retreat, and it retains a genuinely more genteel, ecumenical-retreat character than the honky-tonk core near the Pier. Its signature structure, the Temple, is an octagonal building that seats 1,000 and remains the neighborhood's visual anchor. For a visitor who wants a change of pace after a day at Palace Playland — a quieter walk, a different architectural feel, a slower afternoon — Ocean Park is a real, distinct option inside the same town rather than a separate day trip.

Nightlife: A Real Bar Scene, With One Well-Documented Anchor

OOB's honky-tonk reputation extends into a genuine bar and nightlife scene, and the most concretely documented current anchor is The Brunswick, which markets itself as having the largest oceanfront patio bar in town. Aggregator sites such as Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Wanderlog list additional bars and nightlife venues around OOB, confirming an active category beyond The Brunswick alone, but this research did not independently cross-verify those additional venues' current names or operating status this session. Treat The Brunswick as a safe, sourced starting point, and check current listings directly before building a bar-hop itinerary around specific additional venues.

Getting There: The Amtrak Downeaster

For a day-tripper without a car, OOB is genuinely accessible by train: the Amtrak Downeaster stops directly across from Palace Playland, putting a visitor within walking distance of the park, the beach, and the Pier the moment they step off. That makes OOB one of the more transit-friendly beach towns on this stretch of the Maine coast for a single-day visit, whether the trip originates in Boston or Portland.

Planning a Visit

A first visit reasonably centers on Palace Playland and the Pier, both within a short walk of each other and of the Amtrak Downeaster station, with the beach itself as the connective thread between them. From there, a quieter afternoon in Ocean Park offers a genuine change of pace without leaving town, and an evening can shift toward The Brunswick or another bar for OOB's boardwalk-and-nightlife side. Because Palace Playland's current ride lineup, hours, and pricing change season to season, and because this research could not independently confirm those specifics through the park's own current-season page, check palaceplayland.com directly before finalizing a visit built around a particular ride or a specific admission cost.