Photo TR: Ocean City Maryland, August 16th, 2022.

[AmyUD06]

Ocean City, Maryland, is often overlooked by park goers in favor of the more well-known NJ oceanfront parks, but if you ask me it's definitely worth a trip.  They have some solid coasters, a decent flat collection, and two Bill Tracy dark experiences.  That said, it can be kinda expensive if you're trying to buy wristbands for each park.

My first stop, on the way south from Delaware, was Jolly Roger at 30th Street.

This park is honestly a lot bigger than you'd think, with a small rides section, two large mini-golf courses, a substantial water park, and a massive go-karts complex.  Unfortunately time was short, and I didn't have time to experience the later two. But seriously, just look at this park map:  Note that this was pulled from their website just now, and has not been updated in several years.

Anyway, first up here was the Wacky Worm.  Whatever, it's a Wacky Worm.  Got two laps.  Interestingly, the lap bars did not latch to anything, and were held in their "secure" down location by a chain with a C-Clip at the end that could be undone at any time.

The next ride I did here was Barracuda, the former Flitzer from Jenkinson's in Point Pleasant NJ. Sorry for the quality of the photo, this was really the best I could get.

Minimal wait, super-enthusiastic ride ops, no seat belts.  Still an awesome ride.  8/10.

And my last ridden ride here was Wildcat, a Schwarzkopf (you guessed it) Wildcat.  Fun history fact:  This was actually the original Cedar Point Wildcat that existed there from 1970 to 1978.

That picture was where I started the line.  22 minute wait, mostly because they were only running two cars, making it only barely more efficient than the one at Adventure Park USA.  It runs the original cars (with the lights disabled), which was cool, and you gotta love that final helix.  8/10.

While waiting for Wildcat, I got to observe their hilariously bad "magic pirates" show, featuring two of the oldest performers I've ever seen.  Gotta give them credit though, they were definitely in to their roles.

As for non-ridden rides, they have your standard bumper cars...

...Helicopters-go-round...

...a Happy Swing...

...a small drop tower...

...standard carnival fun slide...

...train ride...

..tea cups...

...carousel....

...whales-go-round?...

...Tilt-a-Whirl...

...and the first ever pirate ship I've seen where they didn't bother to enclose the mechanicals.

They also have a classic Zipper with the original cars...

...a standard kiddie climb-around...

...an odd spinning...monkeys?....

...

...junior pirate ship (sorry for the blurriness)...

...a circus...

...Monster...

...another kiddie climb-around....

..a rather unique spinning ride with heart-shaped cars...

...a Ferris Wheel...

...and one of the more uniquely themed Musik Expresses I've ever seen.

And that about wraps up the first Jolly Roger park.  My next stop was their other park, located at the southern tip of Ocean City.

[Living_Dead]

Great report! I work at Adventure Park and work the Wildcat from time to time, and the one train operations really make the ride a little tedious to run. It's always unfortunate to see a crowd of eager riders, knowing they're going to wait several minutes to ride because we only have one train. Luckily, Adventure Park is rarely crowded.I haven't been to Ocean City in so long, but I always do enjoy my experience there. 

[AmyUD06]

My next destination was...

Jolly Roger at the Pier

...the other park owned by the Jolly Roger folks.  This one is down at the southern tip of Ocean City, on the boardwalk, right near Trimper's Rides.  This park uses the same points cards as their one further north at 30th Street, and features a slightly different collection of flats, and one coaster:  A Pinfari looping Zyklon, aptly called "Looping Star"

Fun Fact:  This model, at the now destroyed Fun Town Pier in Seaside Heights, was the first ever upside down coaster I ever rode.  I honestly forgot how batshit intense these are.  I had a three and a half minute wait for row four, and was not disappointed.  Tons of positive Gs to be had here, but it was a bit bumpy and you really need to hold you neck solid to avoid getting boxed between the OSTRs. 7/10.

The only other ride I rode here (due to time constraints) was their dark ride, Morbid Manor.

A Bill Tracy dark ride this was not.  This was laughably bad, especially with the 15 minute wait.  There were only three or four gags, but otherwise it was completely dark with absolutely nothing going on.  There was a small drop, but this is definitely not a credit.  I honestly think the portable dark ride I went on at the Delaware State Fair in 2021 was better. 0/10.

Anyway, onto the remainder of their collection (apologies for the blurriness of many of these pictures).

They have a rather large Ferris Wheel, with a more functional light package than the one on 30th Street...

...bumper cars...

...an inverting spin-n-swing...

...some sort of spinning thing?...

...a small drop tower...

...a slingshot...

...crazy cabs...

...Tornado...

...a KMG Move-It that ran an absolutely insane program...

...double-decker carousel...

...mini-Himalaya...

...junior pirate ship...

..and this Musik Express called Hurricane, which had the music blasting and was running super-fast.  Unfortunately, due to time, it had to be skipped (it had a HUGE line).\

And that wraps up the other Jolly Roger in Ocean City.  Honestly, these two parks are kinda cool, and better than any boardwalk park I've been to not owned by the Morey's family as a whole.

Next up:  Trimper's.

[AmyUD06]

Before I get to the park itself, it's time to talk about Trimper's Haunted House.

This is an incredible two-story Bill Tracy dark ride, built in 1964 by the same family that runs the rides park, and is still family owned and operated.  That said, it is not officially part of "Trimper's Rides" and wristbands or park tickets from there do not work here - it's a $7 flat fee, and is absolutely worth it.  The course is super long (it takes around 15 minutes to get through), there are a ton of animatronic props and physical gags (for example, going over railroad ties before a freight engine in front of you lights up and blows the horn), there are live costumed actors roaming about to scare passengers, and I mean, c'mon, the cars are coffins:

This is easily the very best dark ride that I've ever been on (sorry, Knoebel's Haunted Mansion), and is worth much more than the $7 they charge.  Absolutely incredible, 15/10.  Enjoy some more photos....

History sign (they say 5 minutes but I swear it was more like 15):

The ticket booth:

One of the actors, on the balcony:

The loading area:

And an animatronic "host":

Seriously, if you go to Ocean City and only do one thing, make it this.

Moving on to the park itself,

Trimper's Rides

Why yes, that is another Bill Tracy attraction there on the right...

Pirates Cove, a walk-through attraction that I have to imagine is pretty similar to the one I sadly skipped at Waldameer.  This one has been updated with some neon, but is otherwise great with a ton of physical gags and animatronics.  9/10.

Trimper's is also home to the rarely-seen Mondial Electric Shake, this one themed to Magnum PI.

C'mon, just look at that background art.  I skipped this, as I valued the contents of my stomach, but wow this looked crazy.  Just check out this video of the full ride cycle:

 

Trimper's has two coasters, one being a Vekoma Boomerang called Tidal Wave.  It still runs the original trains, but it does have a decent light package on it.

I actually didn't ride this on this trip, but rather a few weeks earlier when I came here with a friend from college, his wife, and kids, and had a walk-on experience for front row.  It was quite a "not-fun boomerang," in my exact words...why any of these don't have the new vest-restraint trains is beyond me. 2/10.

They also have a figure-8 SBF Visa spinner, literally called "Spinning Coaster," that gives you seven laps.  Whatever, I got the credit.

Otherwise, it's another typical collection of your standard boardwalk fare, including...

...a Yo-Yo...

...a kiddie whip...

...a Rock-n-Roll...

...kiddie swings...

...Gravitron (in which they do not let people turn sideways or upside down...are there any of these left where the operators allow that?)...

..balloons-go-round...

...mini-Teacups...

...Tilt-a-Whirl...

...a Zamperla Endeavor, which was non-operational...

...and a Himalaya, which I did ride.  This one was quite a surprise...it started backwards, and was kinda slow during that phase so I wasn't expecting much, but once it went forward they cranked the speed up to 11.

Trimper's also has a vast collection of indoor kiddie rides, much like Gillian's Wonderland in the other Ocean City.

I very much doubt they pay royalties for the graphics on these...

I'd never seen an elongated boats-go-round, so I thought this was kinda cool.

I absolutely loved the original carousel ticket booth they had on display (would've been cooler had it been in use) and this "picture with a pirate" bench.

And, that about does it for amusement parks in Ocean City, Maryland.  Obviously, there's not as much to do as in Wildwood, but the Trimper's Haunted House makes a trip down here worth it for any enthusiast.

I wrapped up the night with a tasty adult beverage at Seacrets, one of the coolest bars/nightclubs I've ever been to (seriously, they have tables in the bay), and headed home.

One last thing from Ocean City, though:

Yes, that is a banner for the "teen night club" they have, a genre I could've sworn died off in the mid-2000s.  Brought back a lot of memories of going to teen nights at Temptations in Seaside Heights and Club Abyss in South Amboy.

Anyway, thanks for reading everyone!  My next report will be a blitz weekend I did of almost every park in the New England area.

[Bamwa]

Wow as a kid we went here for summers and stayed at the Pyramid condos. I thought Rebel Yell at KD was my first coaster but it may have been the wild mouse here. Must have been 1981 or 82. I would have been 8 in 1982 and just tall enough to go on it. I remember the mouse cars would go waaaaaay out before turning abruptly. Felt like the cars were going over the edge. So fun.

[Living_Dead]

I had no idea that Trimper's had a Mondial Shake, I've been trying to ride one for so long. I'll definitely have to take dramamine beforehand, but it'll be worth it. I hope it's around next year. This one looks like the one that traveled to the Florida State Fair, the one from Wood Entertainment. I wonder if that means it no longer travels, but it could just mean Trimpers is renting the ride for the Summer.