Yesterday, I took my first "full-day" trip to Morey's Piers in almost 8 years.
The trip to Morey's
I woke up around 9:30am (early for my summer standards) and started packing for the trip. I knew we would have to take a few side-stops along the way, the biggest one would be at my aunt's in Forked River to pick her up and my nuisance of a little cousin. My mom and I left at 10 am in order to avoid the lunchtime rush hour. When I was crossing through Pemberton my mom asked me to check her car registration for what I thought was no reason, not too soon after I freaked telling her it expired at midnight. We stopped at my aunt's around 11:30 and the first thing I notice is that they just got up a half an hour ago and were just starting to pack for the trip. It wasn't much of a side-track because we left at noon and proceeded to head to Manahawkin via Route 9 in order for my mom to renew her registration. That took only 10 minutes even with people flocking in from Toms River due to the computers crashing at their DMV. We finally arrived at Morey's Piers around 2:00 in the afternoon and the enjoy the ambiance of the always beautiful Wildwood. We parked in the community lot which is always $6 instead of the private lots which can be more than $20 at times, even though there's a walk in store for us it is worth it either way.
Mariner's Landing pt. 1
The first stop on our day was Raging Waters, the water park just off Mariner's Landing. I had the day all to myself because my little cousin is seven and needs 2 sets of eyes on him because of how reckless he is.
I went on every slide at least twice. The speed slides were my favorite even though I bruised my ribs catching too much air on the drops. Every slide was good and rather empty, I did like the park a lot for the fact that all the rides had an "equal value" meaning none of them had a new ride factor or an intensity factor, so every slide had about the same wait time. I rode the skyponds slide with my mom later on in the day and we flipped out of the tube every time except for the last pool where we ran over the lifeguard, I helped the girl out of the pool and helped her to First Aid so she could be treated for some bruising and scratches. The one complaint I would have to make about it is the rope swing, mainly because my little cousin doesn't know how to swim, life vest necessary, and they let him swing on it anyway. All he did was drop into the water while holding on to the rope and it really worried me and the life guard at the end of the pool because he was bobbing there for a couple of seconds due to the fact he didn't have a clue what he was doing. We started packing up to leave the water park around a quarter to 6 and went back to our car to dump off the unnecessary weight of our wet clothes.
Dinner
before we started our night riding, we decided to stop at the Doo Wop diner right across from Adventure Pier. The diner was very clean but there were loads of flies around because of all the food. I told my little cousin to not swat at them multiple times and yet he still didn't listen. He also was kicking me under the table as I made clear statements I could easily break both his legs kicking him back, it was a threat and no I wouldn't follow through with it. When our meals came my cousin was swatting at this one fly, AGAIN, and made a swat at me causing me to spill half of my italian sandwich. In my anger I got up and moved to another table nearby so I wouldn't get hit again. The meals were good and I would give the Diner high remarks amid my cousin's stupidity.
Adventure Pier
As we left the Diner to cross the boardwalk my cousin almost got hit by the tram car, I didn't save him btw, an employee grabbed him before he got hit. The first thing we did was play boat tag were I had the personal enjoyment of shooting at two boats, one with my aunt and cousin in it. The $12 for the two buckets was worth it.
-I will rate coasters on a 0-10 scale while the flats on a 0-5 scale;
The first ride I rode on the night was Great White which I got on three times with minimal wait time, I rode in the back seat each time. Great White had good airtime in spots, most notably the first drop and the bunny hills on the return trip. The ride was a little rough but was still very good all three times. 8/10*
*roughness had no say in rating.
The screamin' swing was one word, AWESOME. I would've like it more if I went upside down but either way it was still very fun, the screamer sitting next to me (none from my party) added even more to the experience. 4/5
Mariner's Landing pt. 2
This visit was for pure dry rides only.
Sea Serpent was absolutely empty, there was almost no one in the station. The ride was a little rough but was smoother than most boomerangs. 6/10
Maelstrom, the robot arm ride, was calling my name on this pier. I usually don't ride flat rides, but since there were so many I decided a few won't hurt. The ride threw me around like a rag-doll, I love that in a ride as long as it doesn't kick my ass too badly. I liked it a lot because I had no clue what was happening since I was on my head, on my back, and on my stomach, all while spinning. 5/5
I had to ride the Musik express, due to the fact I haven't been on one since chiller closed in '07. The nostalgia was a big factor in me riding the ride and I soon realized that it wasn't too great in terms of intensity. 2/5
Rollie's Coaster looked like a cleaner version of the looper at Funtown Pier, without the loop. It wasn't rough, unheard of for those types of rides and was very quiet. It did swing me around a little and gave me a few jabs but it wasn't too mild or extreme. 4/10
My little cousin wanted to go in the ghost ship, immediately answered by me with a swift and powerful no because he would wet his pants out of fear and traumitization. I went on it on a previous trip in July so I'll base it off that and it's much different from other haunted rides. The first thing is that you do go out into open air instead of being in a room for 20 minutes and the second thing is the "ghosts" aren't afraid to pop out and grab you and shake you. By my previous haunted ride standards, this was off the charts. 7/5
-I also noticed the flying ships getting a lot of love because people thought it was a discounted ghost ship ride, they're idiots.
Side stops to Surfside
I stopped on my way over to Surfside to sample Stewart's famous Root Beer Floats. It was easily 5x better than any other float I've ever had in my life and if I could rate it on a five star level I'd have to pay somebody to put a sixth on it. My mom stopped at a Dairy Queen in order to have some Ice Cream, where five minutes after I had the root beer float I had their Brownie Earthquake. Stewart's over DQ every time. My mom also entered me in a prize drawing for a 2010 Chevy Camaro which I would be very happy to win. the drawing is on Oct. 17th and please wish me luck.
Surfside Pier
The first stop for me on Surfside was Flitzer, I hit this first due to the fact it was the first ride I passed. The ride didn't start off to well, mainly because it took about 20 minutes waiting for protective parents to assist their kids into the ride and harass the employees over child endangerment after the ride (If you don't believe me, you should've been there). I don't have much to say about the ride other than it was mainly an extra long right turn. 2/10
Next was the Nor'easter. The trains were very nice and rather comfy, almost uncommon for a Vekoma SLC. I did notice that the Zoom Phloom and most of the Ocean Oasis water park was intertwined with the ride. The ride was very rough but I was able to keep up with the layout of the ride. The double barrel roll was awesome and surprisingly was the smoothest part of the ride, IMO. 8/10
I had never been on a troika-tower before now. The Condor gave me a very good idea and opinion about them, I just didn't like the slow down at 115 ft. in the air. 3/5
AtmosFEAR was a calling card for me. It was well lit and was much better in terms of looks than the S&S drop tower at Sleazeide Heights. The commentary during the ascent was really unnecessary but it did have a little effect on the ride. The drop kept me out of the seat until maybe 30 feet from the base of the ride. I know some of them have different braking points, some earlier than others but I felt that AtmosFEAR stopped at the last possible second for a drop tower. 4/5
I've always had a soft spot for the Wild Mice coasters for some reason and Doo Wopper would probably have to be in my top five for wild mouse-like roller coasters. Even though I like them I don't rate them too high because they don't provide the super-thrills that a big budget coaster does. 6/10
The last ride on my night was one I've heard much about and very good opinions at that, THE ZOOM PHLOOM!!! I have nothing but praise for Mr. Morey on having this ride in his stable, this is easily the best log flume I've been on in my life and I absolutely love it. I wish I got a little more soaked than damp but I'd probably have to get a new phone. At the entrance I noticed that it has a lot of color and is very lively, much needed for an early impression of a ride. The flume is very strewn out for how much space is available in it's area and I really liked how it moved around the waterpark and through the Nor'Easter. The drops were great and I even had a little snip of air on the second drop much to my surprise. I liked it very much and this is definitely high on my must ride in 2011 list. 6/5
It was around midnight and we decided it was a good idea to head back home. I loved the trip and would be glad to head back in the near future.
Topic: Morey's piers 8/31/10 (Read 1068 times)
