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I figured I'd use this thread to recap my annual Jersey Jaunt last week. I almost didn't go after my car troubles on my way home from the Midwest and my bank account hates me for actually going, but it was a great time with excellent weather. Sunday 8/10: Six Flags Great Adventure and Gale Force On the way down I couldn't resist the magnetic pull of a quick ride on Toro and a few other things on my way to the shore. Started with Superman on the way in to check out the new footers being dug up and the absolute shithole that is the current Great Adventure boardwalk. I never ride this thing. Other than the pretzel loop it's a waste of time. Even with Flashpass it was a 20 minute process. It's making a weird metal on metal sound in the barrel roll, not sure why but I've never heard it before. After getting off Superman I made my way down the Boardwalk, past Green Lantern and the Parachutes before turning left towards the world's tallest coa....oh wait nevermind. I actually headed back to the other total disaster in the park which is Frontier Adventures. Log Flume closed, Mine Train closed, wanted to eat at Best of the West but closed. Absolutely nothing going on back there other than Medusa. And I really don't understand the rumors around it that have been coming up occasionally. Even with nothing else open within 1000 feet of this thing it had a big line. Glad I had Flashpass for this one. Back seat ride was excellent as always. I've ridden every Floorless east of the Mississippi and this is my favorite one, it just runs flawlessly with pretty good forces and is always a good time. Tackled the Bull next which was a walk on so no Flashpass needed here. Rode in the very back and it was running much better than when I rode in March. The track work in the turns has helped tremendously. I didn't even get a headache. The pacing feels better like the old days also. Rode this twice, why not when it's running so well. Had dinner at Yum Yum. Chicken was good, but if I didn't have my dining pass and bottle it would've been over $60 for two small plates of chicken fingers, a side, and a drink. Insane. Had to hit the road but a quick check of the Flash Flashpass line looked good so I hopped on real quick. Rode in back, it's good fun but after riding Sirens Curse it definitely feels a bit lackluster. Headed out for Ocean City and walked around on the boardwalk for a bit and also stopped into Castaway Cove for my annual Gale Force ride. The queue house was full and it was a good 30 minute line but this ride is so kick ass. I had just ridden El Toro 3 or 4 hours prior and you know...I think Gale Force is a better coaster. The ejector over every hill is insane, then there's bone crushing positives, and meanwhile it is glass smooth. I know it was a shitshow when it opened but it's really too bad that more of these were never built. Even though they removed the unique Squadron 33, I liked how they moved things around inside the park and it feels less crowded in now. The Bumper Cars are right next to the Gale Force queue which adds some entertainment. Monday 8/11: Watch the Tramcar Please After a day of bar hopping (Stubborn Bros might be my new favorite place in Wildwood), swimming, and indulging in lots of pizza, I ended up getting a wristband for $34 that was valid from 9:30-11:30. While it was a bit of a rush for those two hours, I rode most of what I wanted to. I started on Surfside which unfortunately had a closed Noreaster and a broken down Atmosfear. Rode Zoom Phloom which was excellent as always. Also rode It which is kind of overrated IMO but still a lot of fun with the lapbars. While I was waiting for Atmosfear to open I rode Doo Wopper to kill time. This thing sucks. It's slow and it has no airtime hills that its cousins have. I sat on a bench by the exit of the flume and watched Atmosfear test over and over. It's my favorite drop tower and if it was gonna open then I wanted to wait for it. Apparently I was within view of the guest service window and a guy, totally unsolicited, walked out and was like "I saw your Velocicoaster shirt...I'm sorry about the maintenance issues we're having tonight!" and handed me a coupon for a free wristband. I didn't have to sit around waiting for one ride, there was plenty else to do, but it was really awesome of the guest service guy to just come out and do that. Definitely will use it next summer! Anyway, after probably 15-20 tests the tower finally opened and I got my excellent ride! Unfortunately by then the clock was working against me as it was almost 11:00. Had to walk by Mariner's Pier and the world's best boomerang and went to ride my favorite Screaming Swing. Got a zen ride on it, excellent ride as always. It's not that big compared to some parks, but it's location flying out over the pier and the beach is really awesome. Finished up with 4 Great White rides which they kept running 15 minutes past closing, sweet! The millennium flyers feel like they don't pace quite as well as the old PTCs but it's still a really good ride and always fun to get night rides on this thing. Tuesday 8/12: Steel Pier and a mall Ferris Wheel on the ride home. After poking around Wildwood a little more in the AM, we started our way back up the Parkway, stopping into Atlantic City as I became aware that Steel Pier has a new credit and one of those insane Tropical Storm rides. First off, this city feels absolutely f*cking depressing after being in the much more lively shore towns to its south. Anyway, it was $4 ride day at Steel Pier (as opposed to the usual $16 per ride). Rode the new spinning mouse which is very similar to the old one except it absolutely sucks. It's trimmed to death and they also insist that you sit in the middle to balance the cars, so it doesn't really spin. What a shitty coaster. Tropical Storm though...insane. It spins almost uncomfortably fast, though thankfully it does it in spurts. I'm glad I got to ride one, I don't think there has been another one in America since Castaway Cove got rid of theirs 6 or 7 years ago. Not as insane as Scat at Bay Beach, but still a good time. On the way home, after driving past Palisades Park Mall hundreds of times in my life, we finally stopped in to ride the Ferris Wheel and check out the mall. The wheel was cool but weird for sure. Basically they meant to order their food court Carousel and f*cked up and ended up ordering a Ferris Wheel instead. It gets super hot up near the ceiling. The rest of the mall is huge, definitely a nice place. I didn't do anything else but they have Go Karts and even one store is just Bumper Cars.

I was originally going to stop on my way down Sunday, but when I saw they run specials on Tuesday and Thursday it was an easy choice to stop on the way back instead. They wouldn't let me ride solo (and there was no one else around at the time I was trying to ride it) so my wife reluctantly came with me so luckily for her it was a very benign ride lol. The op said 2 people minimum, and like I said he forced us to sit in the middle and balanced the car out. My ride was lame speed wise, and then I was taking a video of a car that had 2 small kids in it...once it got to the lower hairpins the first brakes engaged so I thought there's no way the 2nd set was gonna engage, but sure enough they did and I literally thought the thing was gonna valley before the end lol.

Source The park reopened at 4 p.m. after nothing was found. Worryingly, this appears to be a sudden trend in South Korea. It's the 3rd one this week after fake bomb threats were given to a shopping mall and a concert.