Photo TR: Derek and Nicole do Rehoboth and Ocean City

I had first visited Ocean City for its coasters 2 years ago, but went before Memorial Day and half the things weren't opened yet for the year. Being that they were all just run of the mill carnival coasters I wasn't in much of a hurry to get back, but with Trimper's contemplating closure because of high property taxes I figured this would be a good time for me to get back there, not so much for the coasters, but for the dark rides, and to take Nicole with for some more shore fun.

Our first stop would be Rehoboth Beach. We were going to stay at a friend's place down there, but they had plumbing issues a few days earlier and decided to put us up in a hotel instead. Rehoboth Beach is like a Cliffs Notes version of everything associated with the shore; it's got everything from beach, boardwalk, amusement park, hotels on the beach, mini golf, restaurants, bed and breakfasts, etc but it's a heck of a lot smaller than other places like Ocean City or Wildwood.

and watching some kites on the beach

and we'll end our time in Rehoboth with a walk on the boardwalk

coconut for me and fluffer nutter for Nicole

and yet more funky flavors

but with all these flavors how can you pass it up!

another must stop place for us is the Ice Cream Store, which seems odd since we're both lactose intollerant

That night they had a band playing in the Grand Pavilion at the center of town. Just a really cool old fashioned vibe

Such was our visit to Funland, which is also very affordable. We got 48 tickets for $12, and rides like the Haunted Mansion cost 5 tickets. Quite affordable for the amount of fun we had

here you can see another spot where the Haunted Mansion briefly steps outside

time for us to cuddle up!

The Cuddle Up is also a good family ride, and offers a different style ride than regular tea cups

They've also got a Gravitron that we would see little 3 year olds walking off of and loving it

going green, instead of being powered by gas or electricity, this ride runs off the power of yams

New this year is the Moser Superflip, taking the place of the Chance Chaos

the bumper cars are also very favored since it appeals to a wide audience. You hear that, Six Flags?!

The place is very popular once the sun starts going down

more kiddie rides that I don't think have changed since I was a kid coming here!

there are a few areas where it ventures outside, attracting more people passing by

time for our venture on this well themed dark ride

much like Peter Pan, this dark ride is suspended. And they'll let the whole family ride together if you can fit

and this dude will keep you entertained while in line with his ride spiel

Finally 6:30 comes and the ride opens. As you can see, it's very popular and the queue is always full, though the wait isn't bad at all

so until 6:30 comes around, we may as well have some eats at the towns only brewpub and one of the largest growing microbreweries in America, Dogfish Head

But the main reason we're here is for the Haunted Mansion, one of the best dark rides still around. Most of the rides open at 1, but this doesn't open though until 6:30pm

But a few rides are out in the open. There isn't a roller coaster here, mainly just kiddie rides, though there are a few more thrilling rides for the rest of us

Some rides, like the carousel and a good amount of the kiddie rides, are covered by the main building

Funland is Rehoboth's little amusement park on the boardwalk

One of the gotta eats while in Delaware is Grotto Pizza, some of the best pizza ever

The surf was pretty crazy that weekend and I managed to kiss the ground on more than 1 occasion. I think I still have some sand in my ears!

Our hotel for the stay was right on the boardwalk, just a few feet from the beach, and on the northern more quiet side of the town. Only thing we didn't have was a pool.

Welcome to Rehoboth Beach

On Sunday we took the 40 minute drive south to Ocean City, a place much bigger and touristy. With a really nice big beach, long boardwalk, 1000s of hotels, and plenty of bars, restaurants, and more mini golf than anyone could possibly play in a summer it's easy to see why Ocean City, Maryland is such a popular summer getaway. But we're here mainly for 2 things, 1 the dark rides, and 2 the credits, of which Trimper's has the better selection.

everyone knows Wacky Worms offer the most intense ride in the back

and before we go, better get Nicole's last credit at the park, the first of many Wacky Worms

and the always dizzying Zipper

after riding the Haunted House a few times and getting our money's worth, we decided to enjoy some more rides, like the Freak Out

the cars were a little uncomfortable on your spine, but they looked cool

it mixes old tricks like rotating barrels, horns, water stunts, blacklights, and things that jump out before the lights turn off with newer props. Lots of action and it didn't seem like anything wasn't working

and up on the actual boardwalk is Trimper's Haunted House, a great old Bill Tracy dark ride

tucked away off to the side is a mirror maze

and even included a slide finale

another small funhouse type ride that rocked back and forth like Noah's Ark

Nicole almost died on the rotating wheel

more cool old school things at Trimper's include a funhouse

nothing too brutal, but not smooth as a baby's butt either

which happens to be a boomerang

time for another coaster, the only "permanent" model in all of OCMD, Tidal Wave

this is one neat little walk thru

and seemingly with more pirate theming

lots of twists, turns, dark areas, and slanted floors

our next stop was Pirates Cove, which just blows the one at Waldameer away

still one of the most brutal and uncomfortable designs ever

Trimper's Rides, located really close to the pier opens at 12, so we went there first, and rode the Toboggan for the credit

also at Jolly Roger at the Pier is a Ripley's museum, definitely stamping Ocean City as a tourist trap

in the distance you can see Jolly Roger at the Pier, which doesn't open until 1pm

after finding parking fairly easily for a Sunday late morning, we took a little walk on the boardwalk, much longer and wider than Rehoboth's

After Trimper's we headed to the Jolly Roger parks, of which there are two, the Pier and 30th St. Both parks work together with the same tickets system, so we grabbed the $15.99 1-6 wristband good for all the rides and included some mini golf as well.

and so, our weekend of credit whoring and dark ride exploring had come to a close. Next time we'll spend more time on the beach and playing mini-golf, assuming Ocean City doesn't get devoured by Wacky Worms first!

too many intense wacky worm rides left us riding this one in the front. The best thing about this credit was the price, $1.50 per person! Cha-ching!

a Wacky Worm! I hadn't seen one of these in like a mile

Besides mini golf and lots of go cart tracks, they've got something else quite rare to find in Ocean City

finally, on the other side of the bridge into Ocean City we run into our last stop, Baja Amusements

Jolly Roger's Treasure Course was pretty good. They also had a Jungle Course

we can't leave Ocean City without first playing at least 1 round of mini golf

and a tipping bucket kids area

more newer slides

It seems that Jolly Roger's Waterpark, Splash Mountain is the big draw here, with lots of newer style slides

the mirror maze even included arrows on the ground to tell you where to go. Where's the fun in that?!

this dark ride was also closed at the moment, which was a bummer because I think it could have competed with Morbid Manor and Jersey Junkyard as worst dark ride ever

another Gravitron but we didn't ride it due to the 1 operator per 3 rides thing going on at the moment

This may be the slowest flume ride ever!

even the ducks don't want to swim in there!

time to take a ride on Malaria Falls

not sure how long this ride will stay put though, this place seems to get the coasters from traveling fairs and keep them for only like a year or two.

The ride looks newly refurbished, now complete with LIM brakes

New for 2008 is this Wildcat that is believed to have come from Bell's

again, back row's most intense

yay, a wacky worm!

the rides area is very carnival-like, plopped down on gravel

The original Jolly Roger is on Philadelphia Ave at 30th St

a look at the beach before we head to the other Jolly Roger park

since we were in Ocean City, we had to get some Thrasher's Fries

we also did the dark ride, Morbid Manor, which was right up there with the Jersey Junkyard as a really bad dark ride. The "coolest" part was that all the props were metal sculptures...all like 6 of them

A little rain was approaching, so we tried to hurry through the pier, which was easy since there wasn't much we really wanted to do here other than the Looping Star

our first, but brief stop, the Pier

just in case you forgot where we were

Jeff Johnson would be proud, you two! Great pics.

Cool. I love small seaside parks like these. I especially enjoyed all the pictures of the dark rides.

Great TR!

DogFish Head Rocks! 60 minute IPA...

Nice, I am going to Ocean City next weekend. I was wondering how close each of the parks/peirs are too each other?

^The Pier and Trimper's are like 1 block from each other. Baja is pretty much on the same latitude, but on the other side of the bay from them (Highway 50, I believe). Jolly Roger at 30th St. is 2 blocks over from the Boardwalk and like 30 blocks north of the other two parks. I would suggest parking by the beach for the lower 2 (or walking there if your hotel is close enough) and then driving to Jolly Roger and Baja. Both of those have free parking and large enough lots.

I liked Pirate's Cove and the dark ride at Trimper's, but Jolly Roger's Morbid Manor was like riding a golf cart in a stinky aluminum box.

Good to see Rehoboth on here since it seems like Delaware doesn't have anything. Rehoboth is pretty much all Delaware has I'm heading down their this weekend.

Funland used to have this ride called the Wagon Wheels. You went upside down in a circle and the arms spun around at the same time...I miss them!

BTW yeah Grottos is the most known in Delaware/Rehoboth.....Nicola's is actually the best IMO.

Mini golf rules! Glad you two had fun. I haven't been to OC in a very, very long time. I've been to Rehoboth in the last five years, and would like to get back there. Thanks for the pics!

dt

Good to see Rehoboth on here since it seems like Delaware doesn't have anything. Rehoboth is pretty much all Delaware has I'm heading down their this weekend.

Yeah, it sure is. We drove by Blue Diamond Park on the way down Friday night and intended to stop off on our way home on Sunday, but I missed the exit since Garmin never showed it as a park. Upon driving by we saw no signs of life at all, and after arriving home we checked the website to find our thoughts to be true, the park isn't opening this year. Once again Delaware is roller coaster-less.

Great TR! I used to go to both Rehoboth and Ocean City a lot while my dad was stationed in Dover. Grotto's is awesome pizza, and Thrasher's fries are the best too.

The thing I love about Rehoboth is even though it gets pretty crowded, it still seem pretty tranquill compared to all the other main beaches on the coast.

Thanks for the info and advice Derek dude!

The Big Mike Road Show 2008 is planning a visit there in the next month

Glad to see you and Nicole having fun together!

Peace, Big Mike

Funland looks really cute! Hopefully I will be going there next week with a bunch of friends from college, and since I've never been to the beach in Delaware, I at least know what to expect. Plus, any place that has a Paratrooper is cool with me! Also, I enjoyed seeing all the pics of the beaches, as I'm kind of a beach freak.

Good to see Rehoboth on here since it seems like Delaware doesn't have anything. Rehoboth is pretty much all Delaware has I'm heading down their this weekend.

 

Yeah, it sure is. We drove by Blue Diamond Park on the way down Friday night and intended to stop off on our way home on Sunday, but I missed the exit since Garmin never showed it as a park. Upon driving by we saw no signs of life at all, and after arriving home we checked the website to find our thoughts to be true, the park isn't opening this year. Once again Delaware is roller coaster-less.

I actually never made it to the park to ride the coaster. I remember the article in the paper about the park(when it opened) and thinking it wouldn't be open long. There's a few water parks also in Rehoboth but nothing too exciting.

Actually I'm posting this from Rehoboth Beach since we have a place down here, and I really enjoyed your tr. It's nice to see Funland getting some love. The place is still run by one family, and it's just about the cheapest amusement park around. We actually stopped in for some skeeball last night.

You picked a good year to come too because SuperFlip is probably the most intense ride they have ever had. It's nice to see them with a ride that's actually intense for a change, although I still think the Paratrooper is my favorite ride. By the way I hope you got on the bumper cars, they're really good.

As far as ocean city goes we were down there the other night, aside from being the miniature golf capital of the universe there is a ton of stuff to do there. We didn't ride anything this trip except for the Zipper but I've been on most of the coasters and even though they're all pretty lame, they really add to the beach and boardwalk atmosphere.

Glad you enjoyed your trip!

-Bill

PS - Dogfish head is awful beer but we love it anyway.

PSS - deguy123, I actually like Grotto better than Nicola for pizza, but I do love those Nicobolis... too bad nobody in Delaware seems to know what a calzone is but those are probably better anyway. Oh and I did get on that Blue Diamond coaster once and you didn't miss anything.

Grotto's pizza...good? Wow, to each their own I guess. Even for Delaware I'd say it's sub-par. I'd put Margarita's (Newark, DE) or even Pizza Hut and Papa Johns above them.

Of Course, I may just be spoiled by Three Brothers (Seaside), Sawmill (also Seaside) Jonuzi's (Atlantic City), and Mack Pizza (Wildwood).

But yeah, Delaware is sorely lacking in the Amusement Park department. The one pitiful excuse for a park (Blue Diamond) we had is now "closed indefinitely" for the rides section. On the plus side, it's only an hour and a half to Dorney, an hour to SFGAdv, or 2 hours to SFA from the northern part.

The thing I love about Rehoboth is even though it gets pretty crowded, it still seem pretty tranquill compared to all the other main beaches on the coast.

The mostly-true stereotype of it being a big gay community hangout keeps a lot of tourist types away. Plus the fact that it's in Delaware, which has nothing else to really draw people in, especially down in Slower Lower. Anyone passing through the state going north or south on major roads is only in the state for 10-15 minutes (or an hour, if DelDOT is at work) unless they're trying to take the Chesapeak Bay Bridge-Tunnel to Cape May-Lewes Ferry (IE really out of the way scenic routes).

I have really enjoyed your "sea side trip reports" this summer. Those places look like a ton of fun. I was especially excited to see a "Cuddle Up". That was one of my favorite childhood rides at (old) Coney Island and, later, here at Kings Island until they removed it in the late 70s. I had no idea there were any still in existence.

Shari

Great pics.

Question, is that Haunted Mansion ride at Funland a coaster? CF says it is.

Great Photo TR! I wish I was able to do everything you guys did when I was in Ocean City, but I was with a boy scout outing and we only had 3 hours to explore the boardwalk, which meant I was only able to do Trimpers.

Ahhh, wacky worms.

<<<<

I have really enjoyed your "sea side trip reports" this summer. Those places look like a ton of fun.

Same here, guys. Glad to see you're enjoying your summer!

Good to see Rehoboth on here since it seems like Delaware doesn't have anything. Rehoboth is pretty much all Delaware has I'm heading down their this weekend.

 

Yeah, it sure is. We drove by Blue Diamond Park on the way down Friday night and intended to stop off on our way home on Sunday, but I missed the exit since Garmin never showed it as a park. Upon driving by we saw no signs of life at all, and after arriving home we checked the website to find our thoughts to be true, the park isn't opening this year. Once again Delaware is roller coaster-less.

I noticed this too. I was looking to see if Blue Diamond was on the way to Chincoteague, VA, since we are heading down there this upcoming weekend, and it definitely is. It's just that the park isn't open. Sucks.

Great report.