The miniature golf-centered theme park right off the beach is a standard attraction at many east coast tourist spots that cater to the beach crowd, like Ocean City, Maryland and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Strangely, this type of attraction is in short supply on Long Island. The Bayville Adventure Park fills the void, however, with a pirate-themed mini golf course that may be the best one on Long Island as well as a host of other activities.

Brittany Bay's Jungle Treetop Adventure is a unique rope course in the sky that offers kids the chance to climb and explore high above the mini golf course. There are great views of the beach and Long Island Sound from up on the many platforms and some challenging obstacles to traverse. The minimum height requirement to play on the treetop adventure is 40 inches.

The bumper boats are a popular attraction as well, especially on those hot and sunny summer days. There's plenty of opportunity to get wet, both from the splashing boats and from the elephant fountain near the entrance. There is also a large waterfall and water guns on the sidelines that spectators can wet the bumpers with.

When summer turns into fall, the Adventure Park becomes the Bayville Scream Park and the fun house and forgotten maze open. For the summer season, there is the inflatable slide adventure area and the rock climbing wall.

There is a mini train ride that goes around the perimeter of the park and is a popular attraction for younger kids. Those under the age of four must be accompanied by an adult, and everyone must purchase a ticket. Tickets for the train are $4.75 each. In fact, all of the attractions at the Bayville Adventure Park are priced at the premium level. The bumper boats are $6.75 and the inflatable slides will run you $7.75 for ten minutes of bouncing. They do offer combination tickets which give a slight discount, but to purchase admission to all six attractions will cost you $39.50 (more than half the cost of a ticket to Disneyworld).

The Beaches & Cream cafe, adjacent to the video game arcade is a charming cafe that offers a limited food menu and a great selection of ice cream sundaes. We don't recommend Beaches & Cream for lunch, it's not their primary business and service was very slow, not easy when you've got a table of excited kids. But the atmosphere is great and the ice cream comes in a huge variety, so it's a terrific choice for dessert.

The Bayville Adventure Park is open every day during the summer season, from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. (11:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays). It's free to walk in and look around, but be prepared to spend a lot of money if you want to do anything there. Parking on the street is nearly impossible to find, and there is a small lot behind the park. If you're going to the beach for the day, you can easily walk across the street to visit the Adventure Park.

Bayville Adventure Park