Photo TR: Let's Go Down the Shore! Yeah Buddy!

[AmyUD06]

First of all, something needs to be said...

***** WARNING / CAUTION / DANGER / TRIGGER WARNING*****
This thread will feature a lot of very similar looking pictures.  It's not my fault that all of these boardwalk parks happen to have similar if not identical rides.  If seeing such imagery will cause you offense, to feel distressed, or to become exhausted from having to scroll through them, please do not continue in this thread.  I'm also not a professional photographer, nor does my phone have the best camera in the world.  My intent was to document every single ride at these rarely-discussed parks.  Thank you and have a nice day.

Okay, with that out of the way, we can begin!

Stop #1 - Keansburg Amusement Park, Keansburg

How this place continues to exist boggles the mind....

But first, a side note about my personal history with this town:  I was born here, and lived there from age 0 to 6, from 1983 to the summer of 1989.  My house was in bicycle-distance from the amusement park, and I distinctly recall riding there with my friends the last summer we lived there, without parents.  Did I mention the route passes by a (now-defunct) strip club called Chasers (as in "chubby chasers")?  Man, was it a different time back then. Not only that, but my father lived in that town since he was born, and was actually a games attendant at the park when he was a teenager, so yeah, my family has quite a bit of history there.  Why did we move?  Because the town was apparently a shithole then and has only gotten worse.  The value of my old house, even with the new second story addition, is around $300k.  "Wow, that's not cheap," you might say, but when you consider that the average home price in Monmouth County, NJ, is $550,000, yeah not looking so good anymore.  Median household income? $39,000  Monmouth County as a whole is $65,000.  My parents didn't want me going to school there, and I struggle to think what might have come of me had we stayed.  Anyway, here's a picture of that old house of mine, mind you back then it didn't have that second story on it.

Anyway, enough personal nonsense, on to the park!

Just outside the gates, there's some batting cages, that most definitely haven't changed in 30 years.

A little food stand, not open...a trend you'll see throughout this section.

Many of these rides (you'll probably be able to tell which) actually date all the way back to the 1930s.  Which is pretty impressive in my book.  The park itself traces its history back to 1904.

Classic train ride, has seen better days.

Car ride, was operating.

Planes, were operating.

Kiddie drop tower, was operating.

Kiddie Ferris wheel, was operating.

Kiddie carousel, was operating.

Motorcycles, were operating.

\

Boats, were operating.

Roto Jets....definitely have seen better days.

This looks like a Whip, but is actually just a circle, so I'm not really sure the purpose other than just go 'round in circles.  Was operating.

Yet another "various vehicles rotate" ride.  Was operating.

Classic fire trucks, one of the older rides at the park.  Was operating.

One of the newer additions, was operating.

Original Loop-o-Plane!  Not operating.

Adult, mini-double-shot tower.  Not operating.  Also not the smallest adult drop tower you'll see in this thread.

Tornado, operating.

The Haunted Manor.  No, this is not the famous Spook House, which opened in 1931, which I'll talk about later, but instead a formerly-travelling haunted house that first opened in 1995, and then settled at this park in 2002.  Sadly, not open (this was one of my reasons for visiting).

Bumper cars, operating.

Moby Dick, not operating.  It may look like it, but it was just sitting there in that position.

"Thriller," a Gravitron.  Not operating.

Tilt a Whirl, not operating.

Zamperla flyer, was operating.

Chance Chaos, the ultra-rare.  You guessed it, not operating.

Yep, they even have one of these things.  If you've never seen it in action, as it rotates around, it rises and falls on eccentricly-mounted wheels.  That's how they got their fun back in the day!  Yes, not operating, of course.

Basically, this entire half of the park was not operating.  Including all of the following:

Aww, cute little baby teacups!

I think someone forgot to put the wheels back on LOL.  None of them had wheels.

They do have an actual Whip, albeit kiddie-sized.

Red Baron (rotating/elevating planes), under construction.

Kiddie train, under repairs.  Yes, that is how decorated it is normally.

They also have two Go-Kart tracks.

And a boardwalk park staple, the burlap sack slide.

Ah. Bev and Wally's arcade.  How I so remember dropping dollars and dollars of quaters into the arcade games here....Outrun, Donkey Kong, Hang-On...the list goes on and on.

Alas, now reduced to 100% redemption games.  Sad, sad indeed.

Another arcade, the Game Room.  Do you think they paid the appropriate royalties for the artwork?

At least this one had a tiny, tiny section of non-redemption games!

And a full-size carousel, which did not appear to be operating.

Back to the rides of the park, they've got pirate ship that is super-well themed, and totally stands out from the rest of this abandoned-looking place.

A Wave Swinger, that looks kinda new.

Sea Serpent, their kiddie coaster, which looks a lot older than it is (it's a 1998 Miler model).

Which is right next to the world's tiniest and worst decorated log flume ever.

And finally, the star of the show, Looping Star, a Pinfari looking Zylkon, that has been at this park since 2015 but has been operating and traveling since the mid '80s or '90s.  Of course, it's closed.

So yeah, about what I expected from coming here.  Oh, and all of those kiddie rides I mentioned as operating?  Yeah, they only had about 4 ride operators shuffling around to the different rides.  Which was fine, because there was like 3 families there, and me, and that's it.  You might say "well, it's a Monday at the end of August, lots of kids are back in school, etc. etc."  You will see from my later parks on this blitz road trip, yeah that didn't matter.  All of the others were packed.

They also have a tiny water park, that similarly appeared not that populated.

Oh, I almost forgot, the Spook House!  Some history:  This dark ride, built by the Pretzel Company (famous for Devil's Den at Conneaut, Haunted House at Camden Park, Spook-a-rama at Deno's in NY, and the original Dante's Inferno at Morey's, to name a few), opened in 1931 as the "Mystery Ride," seen here in a photo provided by the park's website:

Those cars, and the track, continued to operate all the way up to 2012, albeit with some changes to the scenery inside and out.  Here's a couple of photos showing the ride over the years.

1970s, from Pintrest.

1992, from Wordpress.

Mid-2000s, from Patch.com

The park's website says the following: "One of Keansburg Amusement Park’s oldest rides and seen on History Channel’s American Restoration, is undergoing a complete restoration!"  Yeah, not so much.  There is zero sign of the ride anywhere in the park; the old location it used to be at is now (presumably, based on the sign overhead) a games stand.  I asked the guy selling tickets about it, and he had never heard of it.  A manager standing behind him said "You mean the ride that got destroyed by (sic) Hurricane (sic) Sandy?  It's never coming back."  Major, MAJOR bummer.  I'll continue to hold out hope that it one day returns, but I'm not holding my breath.

So, I left this place with zero credits and zero dark rides.  On the plus side, I only spent like $3 for parking plus an extra hour out of my day to get here.

I honestly don't know how this park survives.  The area is majorly depressed, there are tons of better park options around, many rides appeared to be in a state of disrepair that couldn't have been new, it's not supported by any government or historical preservation society.  Because of my memories here, I'll really be sad if it ever closes down, but the logical part of me thinks that would be a better fate for the park than continuing to putter along the way it is.

Next up:  Jenkinson's Boardwalk in Point Pleasant.  Which probably won't get posted until next week sometime (work the next two days then a SFoG/Carowinds trip over the long weekend).  I just really wanted to get this one up first since I had so much to say about this place.

Thanks for reading!

[SharkTums]

Great topic! I have such a love/hate relationship with the Jersey Shore that I look forward to seeing all of it in this one thread. 

[AmyUD06]

Alright, back to it!

After the disappointing and out of the way trip up to Keansburg, the next boardwalk amusement park south is...

Jenkinson's Boardwalk in Point Plesant

Yeah, that's actually the name of it. 

Once home to a Flitzer (that now resides in Ocean City, MD), the only true roller coaster they have is a SBF Visa Spinner....but, it's not one of your usual figure 8 models!  This one actually has a proper lift hill and somewhat of a course to it.  But I'll talk about that when the time comes.

So this park is mainly aimed at little kids to pre-teens...they have very few rides that adults without children would be interested in.  Which, this is fine for what it is - Point Pleasant is mostly known as a family beach town (aside from the two Tiki bars on the boardwalk and one several blocks away, there are no real bars), and the park keeps with that image.  As you'll see, this place was PACKED, only a few hours after my trip to Keansburg.  So, let's get going with the kiddie ride rundown!

Fire trucks-go-round

Mini-carousel

Convoy, with a unique original paint scheme

Helicopter-go-round

Dumbo-go-round

Motorcycles-go-round

Balloons-go-round

Flying-go-round

Pirate ships-go-round

Wow, a break from the go-rounds!  Tiny Larson tower (still not the smallest drop tower you'll see in this thread!)

Dragon-themed teacups

Finding Nemo-go-round?

Tornado, their powered coaster.  This has been here forever; I distinctly remember riding it when I was little.  I didn't ask if solo-adults could ride, so I did not.

Planes-go-round

Kiddie-swings

Adult-sized bumper cars, though I don't understand why you would name a bumper-car ride "Grand Prix."  "Daytona 500?"  Sure, but not after formula racing LOL.

Boats-go-round

The first of several Crazy Cabs I'd see on this trip.  Basically a SBF Visa Spinning coaster without the coaster.

Standard Tilt-a-Whirl

Adult swings

Moby Dick with a theme I'd not seen before

Gravitron

Super-Himalaya

Mini spinning-swing.  I can't stand the big versions of these, so I didn't even try out this little one.

Standard carnival burlap sack slide.

And they've got a cute little train ride, that also has been here forever.

There's also a nearby ropes course.

Now, onto the coaster!

They call it Tidal Wave.  Like I mentioned before, this is a SBF Visa spinner, and has quite a bit more to the course than the standard figure-8.  Basically, it exits the station, does a 190 degree right turn, goes up the lift hill, makes a 180 degree left hand turn, does a little dip, another 190 degree left hand turn, goes down about a 15 foot drop under the lift hill, then a 190 degree right turn back into the station.  The cycle is a 3  laps, so you definitely get your money's worth for the $6 the ride costs.

This was my first ever spinning roller coaster of any manufacturer...given my general aversion to spinning sideways, I had always avoided them.  But, my quest to reach 200 coasters by the end of the calendar year and limited travel days remaining in the season kinda forced my hand here.  That said, it was not as bad as I thought it would be.  Granted, it's a one-and-done for me, but it was a fun little ride.  I sat in the very front car, which is on a tilted piece of track when it comes back into the station, and being the only one the car, it was quite unbalanced and I spun probably a dozen times before the ride op stopped it.

That about did it for Jenkinson's.  It's a fun park with a LOT for kids packed into a tight space, but though I might go back for Martell's or Jenk's Club (the two aforementioned tiki bars on the boardwalk, both of which I've been to before and are super fun) another time, I don't see myself coming to this park again.

Oh, Fun Fact?  "Jenkinson" owns like 90% of what's on the boardwalk in this town.  The amusement park, two arcades, the bar/pizza place, a mini-golf place, and an aquarium.  It's not quite as bad as Ocean City, where the Mayor owns one of the amusement piers and a lot of business on the boardwalk, but yeah...totally Jersey.

Next stop:  Infamous summer home of Pauly D, Snooki, and the rest of those animals - Seaside Heights!

[SharkTums]

So many kiddie rides!

[AmyUD06]

It's T-shirt time! Cabs ah here!  Come at me bro!

Casino Pier, Seaside Heights

Ah, Seaside.  The place where I spent most Fridays back in high school, with the same group of friends, only two of which I still actually periodically talk to.  A place where I've dropped hundreds of dollars in to Dance Dance Revolution and the retro-arcade in the now-destroyed Fun Town Pier.  A place where I rode my first ever looping roller coaster, Fun Town's aptly-named "Looping Coaster" (a Pinfari looper).  A place where I worked the two summers between my junior and senior year and the one after I graduated college.  Doing what, you might ask?  That's right....games carny, just like my father did in his youth.  Some things come full circle.

I've gotta talk about that though.  I'm not going to mention which company's games I worked for specifically, to protect the owner who is an awesome guy, but let me tell you about this job.  Here was a typical day for me:  Get into town around 9:00 AM and lay out on the beach for an hour, before they started charging (yes, Seaside is one of NJ's many pay-to-go-on-the-beach towns), then start my shift at 10.  Every three hours, get a 15 minute break, in which I'd stroll down the boardwalk to the Beachcomber Bar & Grille (famously where Snooki was punched*), pound a shot or two, and come back to work.  Did the bosses mind?  Nope, not at all!  Alcohol made me more animated in my spiels, which got more customers to play, which made the bosses more money.  At the end of the day (typically midnight on a weekday, 1 or 2 AM on a Friday or Saturday), I'd go to the bars or a house party with people I hit on during the workday, or play poker with the guys, or shoot down to Atlantic City for an all-night blackjack session, just to come back and do it again the next day.  This happened 6 days a week.  Honestly, it was the greatest job I ever had - very laid back, could smoke whenever I wanted, met tons and tons of people...if I could do that for what I get paid now, with benefits, I would in a heartbeat.

*Fun Fact:  I was there the night it happened, but not actually in the bar when it happened.  When their "advance team" rolled into the bar to tell the owners they were coming, I promptly ske-daddled my way right on out.  I wanted nothing to do with them.

Anyway, you guys don't care about that.  On to the park!

Casino Pier is the only remaining amusement pier in town.  The other park, Fun Town Pier in neighboring Seaside Park, got absolutely wrecked by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and then completely destroyed by a massive fire in 2013.  Though investigators deemed the cause to be an electrical short under an ice cream stand, I'm thoroughly convinced that the owners didn't have Hurricane coverage and burned it down on purpose for the insurance money.  You can't convince me otherwise.

Anyway, yeah, Casino Pier.  A nice collection of both thrill rides and kiddie stuff here, along with an awesome roof-top mini-golf that I sadly didn't have time to get pictures of here.  Needless to say, it hasn't changed much since I played it weekly back in high school (the player with the worst score amongst my friends always had to buy everyone's Kohr Brother's frozen custard), and it's a nice classic course with all of the standard mini-golf gags (loops, windmills, etc).

This park has four coasters: 
-Hydrus, which we all know about
-Pirate's Hideaway, famous for appearing like a well-themed dark ride but actually just being a coaster-in-a-box
-Hot Tamales, a kiddie coaster
-Xolo Loca, a variant on the SBF Visa spinner with the flipping seats.

Unfortunately, Hyrdus and Xolo Loca were both closed during this trip.  I had ridden Hydrus on a previous trip, so no big loss there, but I was eager to try out the flipping seats on Xolo Loca.  But I'll get to the two coasters I did ride at the end of this post.  First, the ride collection:

So this is what the Zamperla buggy-go-round is supposed to look like, huh?

Wave Swinger

Motorcycles-go-round (I promise there won't be so many this time!)

Disk-o

Various-vehicles-go-round

Claw ride, Super Storm.  I think it's a KMG model.  Either way, sideways spinning and swinging does not agree with my stomach.

Standard Moby Dick.

Skycoaster.  Hard to tell here, but the cable running from the other tower was not attached, and the ride was obviously not operating.  Also, note the knockoff Mighty Mouse.

Musik Express.

Tilt-a-Whirl with the new style cars

Pretty sizeable Ferris Wheel, one of their newer additions.

Centrifuge, an indoor Scrambler.  Think like Cosmotron at Knoebel's - light and sound show to blasting music.  Yes, in retrospect I realize I should have grabbed a shot of the actual ride.

Kiddie carousel

Standard burlap sack slide

Standard climby structure

Boats-go-round

Another Dizzy Dragons.  Zamperla must be making a fortune on these things and the buggy-bouncers.

Horse-and-carriage-go-round

Dumbo-go-round

Kiddie whip themed to NASCAR

Bumper cars

Standard wacky-house

Another Crazy Cabs.

A well-themed example of the most pathetic log flume ever

An actually-sizeable S&S drop tower, set on the double-shot program.

And wrapping out the non-coasters, a Sky Screamer.

Here's a shot of Hydus, not running, just because.

And a few of Xolo Loca and Hot Tamales; the former is the orange track in these pictures. I think it's kinda cool that one coaster wraps completely around the other.

 

And finally, Pirate's Hideaway.

So I'll talk about that one first.  The outside looks really cool, right?  Awesome airbrush paint job, you'd think you're in for a treat of a pirate-themed dark ride, right?  Nope.  You get nothing inside.  Just a big open box, complete with various tools at the ground level.  Check out TPR's POV to see what I'm talking about.  What did I think of the actual ride, though?  Not terrible....until the second to final brakes, which slam you to a complete stop and drive your gut directly into the lap bar.  Pass if you don't need the humorous credit.

And Hot Tamales...it's a kiddie coaster, there's not much to be said.  5 laps, which is almost too much.

So, opposite the Pier is the Casino Pier arcade.  Which used to house a 100-plus year old Dentzel/Looff carousel, right here:
 

For whatever stupid reason, the owners decided to sell it.  Supposedly, it's being refurbished and will be placed in a new structure that has yet to be built along the boardwalk, but I'm not holding my breath.

Of course, before heading out, I had to get some Three Brother's Pizza.  Honestly the second best pizza I've ever had (yes, better than Mack's in Wildwood).  Huge slice, but also huge price (like $6).

And that about does it for Seaside Heights.  A good park for both kids and thrill-seekers a like, when everything is running.  For other adult entertainment, you've also got almost a dozen bars and nightclubs, both on the boardwalk and inland a few blocks (though sadly Karma, made famous by Jersey Shore, is now a wedding venue after the city pulled their nightclub-liquor license).

Next stop:  Ocean City's parks, Gillian's Wonderland and Playland's Castaway Cove.

[SharkTums]

I wonder did that SBF ride ever open this summer!? It was still under construction when we were there and I don't remember seeing any reports of people getting on it.  Also, that damn Pirates ride!!! In addition to it trying to kill you in the brakes, it also tried to kill us half way through when our lap bar popped open.

And now I really want pizza!!!

[AmyUD06]

A town that I haven't been to for probably 30 years...

Ocean City, NJ

Yes, I know I skipped Atlantic City and Beach Haven (for now) - that's because, as you can see in the photos, a wicked storm was approaching and I was desperately trying to get Gale Force before it hit.  Did I make it?  Read on to find out!

So, Ocean City is unique amongst NJ beach towns that have boardwalks in that it's the only one that's dry.  Yes, no alcohol - no bars, no liquor stores, no beer stores, no nothing.  You can bring in your own, and recently some BYOB restaurants have popped up, but yeah.  Needless to say, this town is focused on attracting families.  That's why I find it so odd that one of the parks built perhaps the most insane coaster I've ever been on.  But I'll get to that later.

First, some pictures from the boardwalk itself.

They have designated lanes for bikes, walkers, and trams.

A pretty sizeable water park.  Did not go in.

Partially-under-the-boardwalk go-karts.  See, Morey's, you can still have this!  Bring 'em back!

This arcade featured nothing but real video games, no redemption whatsoever!  Lots of classics as well as some modern games.

Anyway, on to park #1:

Gillian's Wonderland

This park is partially indoors and partially outdoors, and features a cool castle-motif entrance.  Each of the letters that spell out "Gillian's Wonderland" spin; it's quite a cool retro thing to keep around.

And first, the indoor rides, which are all kid-targeting.

Carousel

Boats-go-round

Crazy Bus themed to a submarine; first time I'd seen one of these.

Balloons-go-round

Fire trucks-go-round.  Amusingly, some of them have trailers, which I'd never seen before.

Kiddie Whip

Dumbo-go-round

A variant on the Zamperla buggy bouncer that I hadn't seen before.

Cars-go-round

Moving outside, we start with a standard climbing structure.

Glass maze

Zamperla spinning flyer

Kiddie bumper cars

A variant of the Dizzy Dragons, themed to the park's mascot.

Wave Swinger

Bungie Bounce.  Been a while since I've seen one of these at a park.

Musk Express

Larson drop tower

A train ride themed to chopper motor-tricyles.  First time I've seen one of these.

Standard burlap-sack slide.

Big spinny-swingy-thingy that is not for me.

An elevated monorail train ride, also goes around the inside part.

Adult bumper cars

Log flume that is also a dark ride.  I really wanted to go on this, but I also really did not want to get wet with a lot of trip left to go, so I passed after seeing some people coming off it considerably dampened.

Decently sized Ferris Wheel

Standard Moby Dick, without the full backdrop.

And a Ring of Fire.  Waiting to be assembled, or waiting to be shipped off?  I don't know.

And now, the rides I did ride:

Yep, that's right, I rode a Wacky Worm.  Probably the low point of my coaster-riding career.  But hey, I really wanted to get to 200, and a credit is a credit, right?  Right...?!  Anyway, it sucked.  Two laps, and one little tiny barely perceivable pop of airtime on the one actual drop on the course in the back row.

You know what else kinda sucked?  Their dark ride, literally named "Dark Ride."

Despite the name, it was full of large rooms and neon-painted decorations.  Very little animatronics.  Only one story despite the two-story building.  I mean, I've been on *worse* dark rides (see my report from the Delaware State Fair), but yeah this was not that good.

After those two at Gillian's, I headed down to Playland's Castaway Cove, definitely the more balanced park of the two, grabbing a small cup of Kohr's Brothers orange custand (with rainbow sprinkles), my staple, on the way.  No NJ boardwalk trip is complete with out it.

This place is cool in that everything is right on top of each other, sometimes literally on an upper deck.  First, I'll showcase the rides I didn't ride:

Wave Swinger

Kiddie swing

Kinda a jumbo-sized Kanga-Bounce from Morey's.

Drive-'em cars.

Tank-control bumper cars!!!  I would have ridden these if I weren't alone...bumper cars with strangers is always kinda weird.  But, I LOVED the gas-powered ones that were at Dorney Park before Demon Drop got installed.  These were electric, but probably still tons of fun.

Pirate's Gold Rush, their kiddie coaster.  Would have ridden it (adults-sans-kids were allowed), but....you'll see.

Burlap-sack slide.

Cars-go-round

Kiddie whip

Kiddie drop tower

Helicopters-go-round

Standard climbing structure

Zamperla spinning flyer

Two-drop log flume

Tilt-a-Whirl, with the new style cars.

A Musik Express called "Rock-n-Roll."  Guys, that name is already taken for a different type of ride...

Gravitron

Moby Dick themed to a Hurricane.  Seriously guys, too soon.

KMG claw ride

Bumper cars

Train ride, pretty sure it's the same model as is in Jenkinson's.

S&S tower.  Nope, still not the smallest one I saw on this trip.

Pirate ship

Carousel

Balloons-go-round

Okay, so what did I ride?  I first tried to ride Gale Force, but upon arrival at the station, was promptly informed that it was shut down due to impending lightning.  Here's some pictures anyway:

Bummer.  I figured Wild Waves was the same way, so I went to this:

 I had never seen something like this before.  Apparently, it's a Technical Park brand ride model called "Aerobat" (click here for their website and better pictures/video).  Castaway Cove calls it "Squadron 33".  The wheel spins, and raises like a Zamperla Endeavor, but at a point the longitudinal rotation of the cars unlocks, and the rider controls it by angling the wings to divert airflow.  My god was this thing nuts.  At first, I was having trouble getting the car to flip, but once I did I could barely get the thing to stop.  I must have flipped a half-dozen times before I got it to stop doing full rotations, and this is all while spinning around, coming what felt to be dangerously close to the platform while upside down.  It felt like a super-long cycle, and once I got the hang of it I was able to do one or two flips and then recover.  Insane, great ride.  Why more of these don't exist, I can't fathom.  11/10, 6-stars, A+++.  Wow.

At this point, everything started to go dark, and they made an announcement that they were shutting down for the impending storm.  I double-timed it back to my car just in time for the skies to open and a horrific deluge of water to pour down upon us.  I thought about waiting it out, but it was already 7 PM and I had to get to Wildwood to check in to my hotel, so that's what I did.  See the Morey's report in the next post.

I did make it back to Castaway Cove once the storm had passed, though, and was able to get on Gale Force, Wild Waves, and Whirlwind, but not Pirate's Gold Rush kiddie coaster.  What did I think?
 

Gale Force - I think my notes video (I do this after ever ride to keep track of things for writing these reports) speaks for itself (warning, foul language):

Bonkers.  No ride should have any business being this intense.  Just, wow.  I have no words.  Incredible, incredible ride.  Again, like I said about Steel Hawg at Indiana Beach, why are these not cloned everywhere instead of those stupid S&S 4D coasters? 12/10.  That said, it does not make my top-10, simply because it's TOO intense.

Wild Waves - It is what it is.  It's cool how it interacts with Gale Force, but I was expecting at least a couple pops of airtime, but no dice.

Whirlwind - It's a figure-8 SBF Visa Spinner.  5 laps I think?

Sadly, at this point, the park was closing for the night, so I missed out on the kiddie credit, but all in all, a great trip.  I will be back here again, for Gillian's dark ride log flume and more laps on Gale Force.  Luckily I still have a bunch of tickets for Castaway Cove, too.

Next up:  Morey's Piers in Wildwood (that one will be a lot shorter)

[AmyUD06]

22 minutes ago, SharkTums said:

I wonder did that SBF ride ever open this summer!? It was still under construction when we were there and I don't remember seeing any reports of people getting on it.  Also, that damn Pirates ride!!! In addition to it trying to kill you in the brakes, it also tried to kill us half way through when our lap bar popped open.

And now I really want pizza!!!

I don't think it did open.  One of the cars was actually touching the swing-away door at the end of the loading platform, as if it had impacted, so I think they had some technical issues to put it mildly.

I was lucky enough to have my lap-bar stay closed on Pirate's Hideaway, but that gut-punch at the end makes me thing I wish it had come open haha.

[AmyUD06]

In the middle of this trip, I had planned an overnight stay at Wildwood's Bolero Resort.  Definitely one of the nicer hotels/motels in the area, even though I stayed in the outdoor-hallway "motel" section of the place.  They had two pools (one indoor, including two hot tubs), a tiki-bar near the outdoor pool, and a decent enough restaurant/bar that featured an Elvis impersonator on the night I was there.  Only in Wildwood LOL.

Morey's Piers, Wildwood, NJ

So, this report will be very brief.  My main point in including Wildwood in this trip was to get the two credits I didn't have, Doo Wopper and Wild Whizzer.

Doo Wopper is your standard wild mouse, this time by Zamperla.  I don't know what it is with their rides, but I always find their seats/restraints needlessly uncomfortable.  Wild Whizzer is your standard figure-8 SBF Visa spinner, but gave 6 laps.

I did also grab a ride on Dante's Dungeon. After that hilariously bad dark ride experience at Gillian's, I needed to cleanse the pallet.

It was awesome, as always.  Everything was working.  No one on the ramp to jump out at me this time, but the ride op was TOTALLY in character.

Proclaiming himself "Master Dante," he would interact with everyone who boarded the ride, trying to scare the little kids and having some adult fun with the grown-ups.  Being a bit of a sub in my private life, I absolutely loved it.  So, big shout out to Joe, who was kind enough to let me take a picture with him.

I'm honestly a bit surprised that Morey's lets him get so into character with it (though he did say my recommendation of a bondage harness "would be great, but they won't allow it"), then again they do have Ghost Ship (quiet for two years now, though).  We chatted a bit about haunted houses (which he does in the off-season) and dark rides, and was a pleasant end to my night.

I didn't take pictures of every ride here because the place has been discussed ad nauseam, I figure most of you have already been here if you're going to be, and I was in a rush to get back to Ocean City for the rest of Castaway Cove.

I grabbed a slice of Mack's pizza (actually sub-par this time, too much sauce), got a good nights' sleep, then it was back on the road in the morning for the parks I missed.

Next up:  Steel Pier in Atlantic City.

[AmyUD06]

Okay, getting close to the end here...

Steel Pier, Atlantic City, NJ

So, if you ask me, this place really shouldn't exist as it does.  All of these efforts to try to make Atlantic City "family friendly" are pretty much in vain.  It's still a casino town, first and foremost, and will always be ridden with crime and poverty.  No boardwalk rides pier, outlet shopping, massive arcades on the old Showboat casino floor, or proposed water parks are going to change that.  I say they should go the other way with it - legalize all drugs and brothels in Atlantic City only, and reap the tax revenue.  Hey, NJ just legalized recreational marijuana, so they're part of the way there, right?

I've gotta get one thing out of the way, right off the bat.  Security here is nuts.  I was approached by a security guard, asking me about why I was taking pictures of everything, rather confrontationally.  I explained that I do write-ups for a website (don't worry, I didn't mention TPR), and was documenting the park.  I also explained that I'm a LEO, and was not a threat to anyone.  He "let me go," but then later while walking around approached me with the owner of the park, who again questioned me on why I was taking pictures.  When I pulled out my badge to clearly demonstrate that I'm not a threat, he took a picture of it as if he thought it wasn't real.  Absolutely unprofessional, but not very surprising for Atlantic City.  I hate to think what would have happened to me had I not had that badge.  Needless to say, I will not be back here, missing credit or not.

Anyway, if anyone is still curious about the rides here, I did take pictures and got on their kiddie coaster, Loco Motion.  5 laps on that; it's a kiddie coaster and not much more to say.  Their spinning wild mouse, Crazy Mouse, was non-operational when I went to it but appeared to be running when I bought my tickets.  So, I gave the rest of the tickets I had to a family and headed out.  Here's the ride lineup:

Buggy bouncer

Baby pirate ship themed to a plane

Motorcycles-go-round

Planes-go-round

Double-decker carousel with some odd empty spots

Junior roto-drop

Tea Cups

Adult-sized bumper cars in a kiddie-sized field

Junior disk-o style ride

Dumbo-go-round

The kiddie coaster, Loco Motion.

"Giant" ferris wheel...psh, only 227 feet, that's only half of the High Roller in Vegas, and that has bar cars.  This is separately ticketed, and costs $11.25.

Zamperla spinning flyer

THIS is the most comically short drop tower I've ever seen.

Pirate ship

Kiddie bumper cars

Sling shot

Crazy Mouse

Junior Moby Dick themed to surfing

Inverting spin-and-swing

Rock-n-Roll

Wave Swinger

After my very brief trip here, I stopped in at White House in Hard Rock for a cheese steak, which was also quite disappointing (overcooked, not enough cheese - should have gone to the original location on Arctic Ave).

Made my way out of that shithole of a town, and headed north...and then south.

Next up:  Fantasy Island in Beach Haven.

 

[AmyUD06]

Okay, we've finally arrived at my last stop on this whirlwind blitz of NJ's boardwalk amusement parks, a place that I had completely forgotten existed:

Fantasy Island, Beach Haven, NJ

This is basically an outdoor FEC with a big arcade.  Great for kids, very little for adult thrill seekers.  This place is so out of the way, too (about a 30 minute drive from the nearest highway), it's really only for locals and those who vacation on that barrier island.  Which is fine by me, everyone needs parks!  NJ is truly gifted in that department.

On with it, then.

The only coaster here, kiddie or powered or otherwise, is Hang Ten, a standard figure-8 SBF Visa Spinner, but 7 laps though if that's your thing.  Whatever, it got me to 191, in the perfect place to break 200 at SFoG the next weekend.  Here's the rides:

Ferris Wheel

Drop tower, unknown make.

Carousel

Pirate ship

Boats-go-round (without water)

Junior swings

Kiddie train

Tilt-a-whirl

Tea cups themed to the beach.  Looks like a Zamperla "Dizzy Dragons" model

Cars-go-round

Scrambler

Bumper cars

Baby pirate ship

Pirates-go-round

Kiddie Ferris wheel

Mini-himalaya

And finally, Hang Ten.

There's also a very small water park next door.

So that was every boardwalk amusement park in New Jersey.  I know it was kinda repetitive, but thanks for reading...I just kinda wanted to share something that people in a large part of the country don't get to experience.

I hope you enjoyed.  If not, oh well, you'll be more entertained by my next report.

[SharkTums]

Great report, and yeah Atlantic City could fall into the ocean and it would improve New Jersey!

[esvadj]

Really enjoyed your report.  Amazed how how similar some of these parks are.  If you continue south (Rehoboth / Ocean City MD) all this parks look just like these except for a different dark ride or 2. 

[grsupercity]

Looks like a neat credit run! Thank you for taking the time and effort to take the pictures and post the reports 

[Nrthwnd]

I'm dizzy from seeing all those 'go-rounds' lol.

Awesome report on all the parks you visited, thanks!

[coneyislandchris]

Good stuff here. Hit almost all of these parks over the summer with the exception of Fantasy Island, Steel Pier, and Keansburg... as far as Keansburg goes, been there all of once and it was the most depressing experience I've had at a park not named "Six Flags Discovery Kingdom". And from the pictures you've shown, it appears to have only gone downhill since then. Every now and again I get the urge to maybe check it out again... and then my better sense of judgment takes over.

Squadron 33 at Castaway is LEGIT. Although I miss the ride that used to be there, Tropical Storm, this one is a fantastic replacement and one that I wouldn't mind seeing pop up more frequently in the States. And that one flat you mentioned that looks like a bigger Kang-a-Bounce? It's called Tidal Wave, and do NOT sleep on that. I thought I knew what to expect going in but it ran the most insane program, alternating between slower bouncing, high speed spinning both low to the ground and high up, and then a combination of both. Way crazier than I thought it would be and I'm definitely giving it a few re-rides the next time I'm down that way.

[bert425]

great to see all the NJ parks. . every time I visited my Aunt and Uncle growing up (they lived in Tom's River), we'd go to the shore.  Usually Seaside Heights, but also to some of the others you visited (Ocean City was a favorite too).

 

needless to say, they look nothing like they used to when i went with them in my teens.

but still wonderful memories brought back.  thanks for sharing!

[AmyUD06]

Thanks everyone!

[Haymaker]

Is Crazy Cabs a mini Calypso?

[AmyUD06]

4 minutes ago, Haymaker said:

Is Crazy Cabs a mini Calypso?

Not quite...it's actually closer to a Huss Break Dance in that the cars appear to be free-spinning.