Constructed on the town's old ballast tip, the park's roots date back to April 1920, when a Figure Eight wooden roller coaster was relocated from West Glamorgan and initially operated from an old World War I aircraft hangar.

Other attractions in the early days included a bandstand on the town green nearby, an outdoor and indoor skating rink, three cinemas, a Pierrot stage, and donkey and pony rides on the adjacent beach.

In September 1939, following the outbreak of World War II, the park was temporarily closed for several years as the 15th battalion of the Welsh Regiment was based at the Coney Beach site; later on, the Belgian Brigade's armoured car division were also billeted there until the unit left Porthcawl in 1942.

This accident was the second in a chain of nine high-profile incidents from 1994 onwards that led to repeated negative publicity for the park, in turn causing the number of visitors to drop sharply by 1998.

From 1994 to 2000, Coney Beach was the scene of several serious and, in one case, fatal incidents: Many visitors and critics from local and national press complained in the 2000s that the park did not properly maintain or care for its older rides, instead focusing solely on its newer additions, compromising the safety of users.