ElvisLuv Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 Doing my planning for our Summer family vacation I have a transit day from Norfork/Virginia Beach to Philly. I do not want to backtrack thru Virginia as we will have been to DC and Williamsburg already. So going up the coast is my goal. We will leave Virgiania Beach between 8 and 9am but I want to stop at one boardwalk/pier along the way to spend 3 or 4 hours at and break up the trip with fun. Ocean City makes the most sense but excites me the least. It would also allow me to head to Philly thru Wilmington DE saving time and ferry expense. Wildwood I think would be the best but that requires the ferry from Lewes and may cut down on my visit time as I will not be staying the night. It would allow me to hit up Dogfish Head for a couple of beers before the ferry trip across though. Or, I could cross and skip Wildwood and Morey's and hit another area like Seaside Hieghts before cutting over to Philly. Which would you choose if you had time for just one and had never been to any of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 I'll say Morey's just because of course I'll say Morey's. The 3 big coasters don't get much love around here but Great White is fantastic, the boomerang is pretty good, and there are plenty of great flats (a killer flume, the BEST claw/pendulum ride ever - lapbars only, some cool flyers, a great drop tower, a brilliantly placed waveswinger, etc etc etc). And who knows - The Great Nor'easter might just be the best SLC ever now (I say that jokingly but we won't know til we ride it). Also there is tons of great boardwalk food, an enormous FREE beach, and two solid waterparks. There is also booze on the boardwalk (Ocean City is a completely dry town) and you could also stop at Cape May Brewery (which is awesome) when you get off the ferry on your way to Wildwood. The ferry ride itself is a good 2 hours but its pretty cool. If you leave VB @ 9am you'll get to Delaware around 1pm, 2 hours on the ferry relaxing, stop at CMB for an hour and you can be in Wildwood by 4/5pm. Spend the night there til 10 and then its a two hour drive to Philly (though in deep summer the piers are open til midnight). They have GREAT lighting packages at Moreys so its a fantastic place to be @ night in the summer. I would also suggest Ocean City but really only for Gale Force and with the way things went last year who the hell knows with that thing. Seaside obviously has a flashy new eurofighter but I can't think of a single other redeeming thing about the place besides pointing and laughing at guidos. Oh and booze on the boardwalk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 (edited) This is a tough one. I've been to Ocean City / Trimpers / Morey's / Seaside and of course Rehoboth so I feel pretty qualified to weigh in but it's still not an easy decision. First off, Seaside sucks. Seriously... kill it with fire (too soon?). Yeah, I know they're adding Hydrus or whatever but no... just no. As far as Ocean City goes (you're obviously talking about Maryland, right?), I'm a fan of the place as a whole but the parks are pretty forgettable. They have a pretty cool Haunted Mansion, a Zipper and a new Enterprise but the rides are absurdly expensive and the coasters are pretty much crap. I also have a special kind of disdain for the Jolly Roger parks (though I like Trimper's). This still isn't a bad option though since it's so much more convenient. What would be the most fun option? That's easy, drive to Rehoboth and go to Dogfish Head (as you suggested), check out the boardwalk real quick (maybe pop in Funland though their awesome Haunted Mansion isn't open during the day), get on the Cape May Lewes Ferry, spend the entire time at the outdoor bar on the deck, go to Wildwood, get a wristband, ride everything, eat everything, drive home, get no sleep and power through the next day knowing it was all worth it. So if you want a more sensible, laid back plan then go to Ocean City Md. If you want something far more awesome then go to Rehoboth / Lewes / Wildwood. I don't know if you've taken the Cape May Lewes Ferry but it's pretty awesome. First of all Cape Henlopen is beautiful. You you get pretty close to 2 great lighthouses in Lewes that few people see and more importantly they have a bar where they make killer orange crushes and sometimes have bands / a booze cruise so you can sit in the sun on the ocean and have a few drinks. Edited February 8, 2017 by coasterbill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirkFunk Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 (edited) Doing my planning for our Summer family vacation I have a transit day from Norfork/Virginia Beach to Philly. I do not want to backtrack thru Virginia as we will have been to DC and Williamsburg already. So going up the coast is my goal. We will leave Virgiania Beach between 8 and 9am but I want to stop at one boardwalk/pier along the way to spend 3 or 4 hours at and break up the trip with fun. Ocean City makes the most sense but excites me the least. It would also allow me to head to Philly thru Wilmington DE saving time and ferry expense. Wildwood I think would be the best but that requires the ferry from Lewes and may cut down on my visit time as I will not be staying the night. It would allow me to hit up Dogfish Head for a couple of beers before the ferry trip across though. Or, I could cross and skip Wildwood and Morey's and hit another area like Seaside Hieghts before cutting over to Philly. Which would you choose if you had time for just one and had never been to any of them. I'd go to Ocean City & Rehoboth and spare myself hours of extra driving/expense of a ferry to ride a different Boomerang. Edited February 8, 2017 by DirkFunk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaellynn4 Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 Seaside obviously has a flashy new eurofighter but I can't think of a single other redeeming thing about the place besides pointing and laughing at guidos. Oh and booze on the boardwalk. Three Brothers Pizza, for the novelty of having a pizza slice the size of a manhole cover. Seriously... kill it with fire (too soon?). Boooooo. #Seaside4Life Seriously, though, Seaside Heights is a bit farther north than all of these other locations, so it probably wouldn't be a feasible option for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 Also how do you live in Philly but have never been to any of the Jersey shore parks? Does not compute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 an enormous FREE beach The fact that you even have to specify this just makes me hate the rest of the Jersey shore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 If you need some inspiration go through the Moreys thread you'll find a dozen or so trip reports from me since I am there all the time. Here is one from one of my visits to CMB. Its only a 10-15 minute drive to Wildwood from Cape May. Oh and I just realized Bill and I are talking about two different Ocean Cities. I have never been to the one in Maryland, so I can only speak for the one in NJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElvisLuv Posted February 8, 2017 Author Share Posted February 8, 2017 Appreciate the replies, the original plan was to go from VB to Ocean City MD and stay 2 or 3 hours mid day and then head to Wildwood/Moreys and close down the pier and stay the night. Head to Six Flags for the next day in Jackson and then on Philly that evening. But...we decided to catch U2 in concert at Philly. I knocked off the nite at Wildwood in favor of get settled in Philly. I want to hit Six Flags and El Toro and that other coaster up during the day and back for the concert that night without having to get checked in and situated in Philly in between. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElvisLuv Posted February 8, 2017 Author Share Posted February 8, 2017 Also how do you live in Philly but have never been to any of the Jersey shore parks? Does not compute. I don't live in Philly, this is a vacation that starts in DC/Baltimore I'm doing a bit of a circle with BWI as the starting and stopping point. I have gold season passes for Six Flags so not going to Great Adventure is not an option as it is free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 Gotcha. And yes you should not miss Great Adv, notably El Toro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esvadj Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 If you do decide to hit Ocean City MD and visit Trimper's rides, be sure to keep an eye on their Facebook Page. (https://www.facebook.com/TrimpersRides) In the early Spring you can purchase ride wrist bands in advance that can be used any day in the summer. These wrist bands are considerably cheaper than buying them there and will include the Haunted House. I agree that there is not much worth seeing or doing at either of the Jolly Rogers' Parks. The only sorta cool thing is the Cyclone Go-Kart "coaster." Its a different experience, expensive but cool. "coaster" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElvisLuv Posted February 8, 2017 Author Share Posted February 8, 2017 If you do decide to hit Ocean City MD and visit Trimper's rides, be sure to keep an eye on their Facebook Page. (https://www.facebook.com/TrimpersRides)In the early Spring you can purchase ride wrist bands in advance that can be used any day in the summer. These wrist bands are considerably cheaper than buying them there and will include the Haunted House. I agree that there is not much worth seeing or doing at either of the Jolly Rogers' Parks. The only sorta cool thing is the Cyclone Go-Kart "coaster." Its a different experience, expensive but cool. Might stop just to do this( quick dash) as we love the multi level go cart tracks and some ice cream to say we have been there. Are there manned toll booths on the Jersey turnpikes ? How much in change will I need if not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 I'm also in the planning stages of a trip that includes New Jersey, and this is what I've been using: http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/toll-cars-2012.html https://turnpikeinfo.com/toll-calculator.php?road_name=garden-state-parkway&state=new-jersey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElvisLuv Posted March 1, 2017 Author Share Posted March 1, 2017 We remodeled our itenerary and I booked a two night mid week stay at Starlux. So... we decided on Morey's obviously. We'll have a late afternoon and a whole day at Wildwood. But... we are going south from there to Norfork so we may stop at Ocean City for a bit on our way to Norfork/Virginia Beach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 We remodeled our itenerary and I booked a two night mid week stay at Starlux. So... we decided on Morey's obviously. We'll have a late afternoon and a whole day at Wildwood. Make sure you let us know how everything works out. I never stay in hotels in Wildwood but have heard great things about Starlux. Looks hella swanky (for WW). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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