Gary's 2011 Memorial Day Weekend at Ocean City, MD

[carolinacaniac]

Hey everyone!

 

So over Memorial Day Weekend, I had a chance to head up to Ocean City in Maryland for the first time, and I had a great time! While there, I spent a bit of time checking out the beach, seeing what all there was on the boardwalk, and took some time to visit the amusement parks of OC. Before posting the first set of pictures that cover the drive up to OC and the beach and boardwalk, I have a few thoughts to share about Ocean City itself as well as an amusing tale from while I was there.

 

-The route I took to get up to OC included driving across the Chesapeke Bay Bridge. While the drive is really cool, I found on the bridge's website an mp3 file that gives a sort of audio tour that you can listen to while you drive across the bridge. Being a history fan, I really enjoyed having it listen to while I drove across.

 

-It can be very helpful to get there early as I was able to have my choice of spot with few people when I got there earlier in the morning. You also have quite a few parking locations available

 

-While talking about parking, there are places where you could park all day, but I found that it was really convienient to park at a municipal lot with a meter as you could come and go as you wanted, and even if you had time left on the slip, you could leave from the lot, return later and still use the same slip until it expires, even if you go to a different lot. If you don't want to pay for parking, you could use the free parking on the other side of the bridge and use the shuttle.

 

-The boardwalk had a great variety of things to see and do, as well as many different places to eat. I only wish I would have tried a local place, but because of the timing and a desire to just get out of the sun for a bit when I was at the Jolly Roger Amusment Park, I ended up going to a Pizza Hut for an early dinner.

 

-While at Pizza Hut, I happend to see one of the more amusing things happen. I had a seat by a window, where I could see an intersection, and while looking out, I see this guy throwing his arms in the air yelling at some, trying to make himself look all big and bad. At one point, this chick comes along and just flat out nails him in the face, and he starts pulling his shirt off, trying to show how bad he still is. Then the chick gets into a car, and the guy runs out in the middle of the intersection to block the car (while blocking traffic as well). He then walks towards the car, and the same chick is sticking half out the car, and trys to nail him again as they pass him, and he starts to run after the car. After seeing all of this, my thought was "Since when was Jersey Shore filming in Ocean City?"

 

So for the first update of my trip to Ocean City, you will see the pictures I took of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, as well as the boardwalk and beach of Ocean City. The second update that I will get to later will feature the amusement parks of Ocean City.

 

Hope you all enjoy update 1 of Gary's Memorial Day Weekend at Ocean City!

Time for another adventure! But do we have everything necessary? Let's find out!

Got a full tank of gas.

A cooler with drinks and sandwiches

Good old Garmin

And the mp3 play for some tunes and the audio tour of the Bay Bridge

Along with clothes in the trunk, we are set to go!

First stop, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

An overhead picture from the reststop before you get on the bridge.

And here we are on the bridge

The ability of these cargo ships being able to pass is the main reason why they built the tunnels into the bridge

According to Garmin, we are now lost at sea

Signature car at random location shot. This time at the first of the four man-made islands made for the tunnels

This island happens to have a gift shop and restuant for you to check out

The resturant allows you to dine on the outside

Or inside with a view of the fishing pier

A look at the gift shop

The islands actually attract a lot of fish because of the sealife tha has formed on the islands that the fish feed off of

Another view of the pier

Fitting for the holiday being celebrated this weekend

Here's to all of those who serve the United States in the armed forces!

You can also read up on some info about the bridge itself

It was cool to check out the first island, and now it is time to head on out.

In order to continue crossing, you have to go through the tunnel that is down below the surface. here is what it looks like above the tunnel.

And here is what you see as you go below into the tunnel.

Made it to Maryland! Time to get to the hotel and rest up for the day ahead at Ocean City.

The next moring, it was time to get to the beach!

And here we are in Ocean City!

Just off in the distance, you can see the biggest coaster in Ocean City! We will get to that a bit later

Boardwalk early in the morning. If you go before 11 in the morning, you can ride bikes, scooters and segways on it.

Another view of the boardwalk before the crowds come

And here is what I have really been looking forward to during those long days dealing with middle grade students

A side view of the beach....with a couple of lovely ladies taking in some sun!

More beach

Got the chair set up.......

Time to kick the sandals off and.....

....enjoy the sounds of the ocean!

After a little while, it was time to go see the boardwalk and what it had to offer.

Like many beaches, you can find an assortment of t-shirts that follow the present pop culture.

This one was pretty awesome!

Also got a kick out of this one, and the one just like it with George Bush on it.

YES!!!!

While I am not one to promote religious messages or promotions, I thought this sand art was very well done.

Along with this one too

Continuing down the boardwalk

I thought this was a cool variation of the claw game.

More of the boardwalk

A memorial to firefighters

Along the boardwalk, they also have these custom play structures like this ship.

As well as a plane and monster truck.

As the day gets later, more and more people show up....with more beautiful ladies wondering around as well!

Another view of a busier beach

A shout out to all of the Texas Trip crew! If you were on the Texas Trip in 2009, you will recall the Boardwalk Beast in Kemah, where you rode a speedboat like this and got SOAKED!!! Tons of fun!

And we will wrap-up this first update with the historical marker of Ocean City. Update 2: the Amusement Parks of Ocean City, will be comming a bit later. Thanks for checking out the first update!

Edited June 22, 2011 by carolinacaniac

[cal1br3tto]

I absolutely love the Ocean City boardwalk! I would love to go back, browse the tacky shirts some more, get another mini-Bible from the sand sculptor, check out some dining establishments, and finally visit the amusement parks!

 

Just thinking about that bridge makes me nervous for some reason...

[carolinacaniac]

^I have to agree, I am definately ready to head back and check it out again. It will probably be a while though since I am going to be heading across the country here tomorrow morning as my younger sister and I begin our drive. Before we do though, it is time for the second update of my trip to Ocean City, this time focusing on the amusement parks of Ocean City.

 

I took a break from the beach area first by going back across the bridge to check out Baja Amusements. Baja Amusements is your large go-kart complex with miniture golf and a few amusement rides, including a Wack Worm. I decided to try out the mini-stock car go-karts while I was there, and actually made a second place finish! If I spent more time here, I definately would have liked to try out more of the go-karts.

 

Park number two would be Trimper's Rides, which I felt like was probably the best park of the four I visited. It had the best selection of rides (which is a rare thing to say about a park whose signature ride is a Boomerang), and it also had a better atmosphere in my view.

 

The third park I went to was Jolly Roger at the Pier, which was only about a five minute walk from Trimper's Rides. This was the place that I probably spent the least amount of time at as it only has but a few rides. The operations for their one coaster (a Pinifari looper) was a bit odd, as they required at least four people to be on board. A fun stop for an hour or so.

 

The last park I would visit was Jolly Roger Amusement Park, which would be a bit of a disappointment to me. While they had a Schwarzkopf Wildcat which is always a fun ride, the park just didn't quite do it for me. Between the scores of employees that were just standing around smoking while on the job, to what appeared to be some left-over weed on the estroom toilet paper holder...it just seems a bit on the poor side of quality. I will say though, that at their Speedworld complex, they had what have easily been my favorite go-karts thus far, which were made to resemble formula 1 cars, and had more speed to them than any other go-kart I have driven. If I had a bunch of extra money, I would buy one along with a small piece of property to make my own coarse to drive on.

 

So with all of that said, here are the rest of the pictures from my trip up to Ocean City. Thanks for checking it out, and feel free to leave any comments!

 

-Gary

First up, Baja Amusements

As mentioned before, this is a large go-kart center

Along with the many go-kart tracks, they also have a few rides as well

This track would be the one that caught my attention, as I had never done a "mini stockcar" track before

A closer look, and I would become a bit more interested

I might have to give it a try.

So along with a ticket for getting the credit on the Wacky Worm, I bought one for a spin on the mini stock car go-carts

This would be my ride, and I would start towards the back.

Strapped in and ready to go!

A second place finish would make me happy, but next time I'm shooting for the win!

Here we have the main reason for many a coaster fan comming to this park....the Wacky Worm!

A side view of the coaster

Lift hill fans rejoice!!

Credit earned!

Our next stop would be Trimper Rides

This park is secured by your local pirate force!

The park is dominated by Tidal Wave, the park's boomerang coaster

Looking at it from the same street, but other direction.

Flat ride row

This haunted house ride is right off of the boardwalk, and is owned by Trimpers, but I am not sure if you could use a ride bracelet for it or not.

Well themed ticket booth

A view of the beach from the haunted house ride

"GIVE ME BACON!!!!!!"

The cool ride cars of the haunted house ride

From the boardwalk, when you look back towards the main part of Trimpers, you get a good view of Tidal Wave

"Weeeeee!!!!"

Inside of the main building of Trimpers, you have a shooting gallery

Along with the carousel that is a signature of Ocean City

And an old ticket booth that is not in use, but looks really cool.

But now it is time for the main reason for comming....the credits!

First up, Tidal Wave

Behold, the looping glory of a boomerang coaster.

Perhaps now would be a bad time to think that maybe I shouldn't do this?

Turns out that it only gave one jaw punch, so it wasn't 'terrible'

but don't expect me to hug you!!!!!!

....oh who am I kidding? I never pass up a chance to have a facebook picture with a coaster support

Time for another Wacky Worm!

Ready to ride!!

So this is what you would see if you were a wacky worm doing another wacky worm doggy style.

The third park was Jolly Roger at the park, which as you can tell, is not far from Trimpers at all.

Just in case you forgot already where we are going next

A Sideview of the park

The main reason for coming to the park...Looping Star

Down the fishing pier a little bit, and you can see this angle of the park

Almost forgot where I was, until I saw this!

Going on into the park

Tried one of these for the first time, and it was pretty fun.

Oddly enough, the 3D effects on this carnival style dark ride were more effective than that of Curse of DarKastle the last time I rode it

The ride car

Whenever I see this picture, I think of that old school wrestler known as the Repo Man from the early 90's

Alright, time to face the pain!

A sign of guaranteed roller coaster quality?

When about to ride a coaster that could very well put a chiropractor on speed-dial....put on a happy face!

Alright, so it didn't turn out that bad, I did try a ride in the front, back and middle just for laughs

And here we are at the last park of the Ocean City quartet. One that I just felt could use a bit of improvement

You arrive thinking this is a family friendly place until you find.....

Their promotion of alcohol with Captain Morgan....

They are always showing off their chests.....

And it looks as though someone didn't finish their weed......okay, so maybe I am embellishing on the oher two a little bit But in all honesty, between this and the employees just standing on the midway smoking, I just felt like the place could use some improvement

Compared to its cousin down the road from here, they have a lot more rides, and even a waterpark and go-kart center.

Here is one of the main reasons for my heading up to this park.

Wait a minute...I think I know who had the weed in the restroom...look how stoned this guy is!

While they say you should never operate heavy machinery while under the influence, I figured that it might be okay if the machinery is under the influence.

Turns out I was right, and would live to see another credit!

Which just happend to be a few hundred yards away.

I always love a good Wildcat coaster....it shows Schwarzkopf's genius!

Time to climb aboard!

And with that, we come to the end of this second update of my visit to Ocean City. I hope you all enjoyed! Please feel free to leave any comments below.

[samisthabomb]

Awesome TR, Gary! It looks like you had a lot of fun.

[chadster]

Thanks dude, I really enjoyed the read. You've convinced me I need to make a visit and whore it up!

[beatle11]

Cool! Very nice creho trip.

[PKI Jizzman]

Texas shout out! See you in Georgia!

[Skycoastin Steve]

I will visit this place before the end of the season.

[drewelap]

I can't wait to return to Ocean City in July! It's my second home!!! I've been going there every summer since I was born, so viewing your post made me joygasm. I still remember how Jolly Rogers used to be when I was a tike. It was great back then, so many more rides. My first coaster was actually this Zamperla Dragon they used to have. All it did was helix but it scared the crap out of me lol. The Log Flume they have was also my first major water ride. Too bad the park is not what it used to be.

[ratdogg68]

Great report, loved the pics.

[carolinacaniac]

Glad to have done well with this based on what some of you all have said! I am surprised that I have convinced someone to actually go to a place even! It is worth a trip, even if you are not the credit whoring type. Even if they don't add anything to any of the parks, or even if a new park is not added, I would certainly love a chance to go back to Ocean City.