TR: Clementon Park: August 13, 2005

[Cyclonic]

Clementon Park
August 13, 2005
Hot and hazy, high in mid 90's

Could this be?  Could I actually be writing a trip report so soon after the actual trip?  It must be a trick, or I am dreaming.

But it is true.  Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting little old Clementon Park, in Clementon, New Joisy

I decided to make it an evening trip, it is so freaking hot, with highs reaching into the mid 90's and very high humidity, the whether has been just brutal.

I left at about two in the afternoon because I was making a few stops along the way.  First stop was Citizen's Bank Park in South Philly.  The Phils are on the west coast, but they were having a blood drive down at the ballpark.  Give blood and you get a free Bobby Abreu figure, and well, free is my favorite flavor.  Besides, I had not given blood in sometime, and it is always good to help someone else out.  SO a lovely nurse sucks some blood out of me, after a bit of struggle ("I've been doing this for years, and you have some of the toughest skin I have ever seen"), and I am off to Clementon.

But first, I have to stop at my cousin's house, who live right across the lake from the park.  So I do, getting some dinner and spending a few hours there relating family news and such, and finally get into the park at about seven, with dusk fast approaching.

I get my ticket, and head straight back for Tsunami (now J2, but for me it will always be Tsunami).  



The park was very crowded, with lots of group picnics and family get togethers.  The waterpark was wall to wall people (did I mention it was oppressively hot), but Tsunami only had about a 15 minute wait, with just one train running.  I got to the top and got a front seat ride.  The loading operations were just as slow as last year, though now they were not double checking everything, they just had a smaller crew.  The ride op was making the most of it though, doing his best pilot's imitation, "This is your pilot speaking, today we will be flying at an altitude of 110 feet before descending 62 degrees and reaching a cruising speed of approximately 60 miles per hour.  Flight duration will be 37 second, so please keep you belts buckled and remain seated.  Enjoy your flight."  I got a kick out of it, it was a pretty good spiel.



The ride?  Well, lets just say, Tsunami's still got it, it is one hell of a wild ride.  Still present is the fantastic bucking action at the top of the second hill, the incredibly tight turnaround, the awesome double helix, and the amazing airtime.  I rode several more times, closer to the back, which is just even more amazing.  In the back the forces in the helix are just so incredible they take your breath away, and you return to the station wondering what had just happened to you.

I rode into the night, when the park remained busy and it was still hot.  When I had enough of Tsunami, I checked out some of the other flats, including the Falling Star,



Yoyo,



Thunderbolt,



and the Clementon Belle before leaving.



Complete photo gallery can be found here:
http://cyclonic.smugmug.com/gallery/730418

[chilled182]

Your pictures came out so clear, even at night.  What kind of camera do you use?

Great TR by the way, Clementon is one of those parks that go very overlooked.  And well, theres not much to do unless you go to the waterpark.  I really wish they would start adding things but theyre prety hurting in attendance in the first place.


Jack rabbit was my first roller coaster, and eventually thats going to be torn down.  I wish they would save that as well.

[Bubba Z]

The last I heard,  Larry wanted to sell JR like baseball cards. They wanted to cut it up into millions of pieces and sell them for a dollar.  I would so buy one since JR was my first coaster as well.

[overlord]

Did you get a picture of the swingman? Hes awesome.

[DianaR]

I remember the Swingman from a Rob Alvey coaster video I had LOL.

[overlord]

I want to go to clementon just to see him. That and ride J2 or tsunami or what ever they change the name to.

[chilled182]

hes thier own main attraction.  Im not 100% sure on whether or not he is still there.. i normally walk right past the swings.


The ride will be called j2 from now on.. and i have heard some crazy rumor about you have to be 21 to ride the back row of it or something.  I dont know if its true but i found it a little, odd.. and funny.

tsunami fits so much better, its a shame that huge tsunami really happened, making it somewhat politically incorrect to use that term.
i was reading about how the first and 2nd drops relate to an actual tsunami, and how the first one is he biggest, 2nd one following quickly after, and the rest is a crazy mess of swelling waves and a rough undertoe and current = the very interlocking twisted helixes near the grounnd.

[overlord]

What does J2 mean anyways? Why cant they call it Rip Tide or something?

[stew560]

^Jack Rabbit 2

[chilled182]

I dont mind the J2 name.. and it has a pretty cool logo now.  Its kind of a passing of the times, sort of handing down the tourch id say.


If theyre selling it in pieces im going to have to get me one.  bubba please let me know what happens with that.