Seaside and See rides! (SFGAdv too)

[darkridedan]

A couple of Sundays ago, ACE had held an event at Casino Pier in Seaside, NJ. AVMatt met up with me at my parents' house and within an hour and 20 minutes, we were at the boardwalk. Adam (njacerep) signed us up and we were off to take in the Milers, after Matt applied more sunscreen.

     Matt sent a text to me while he was on the way to my house. He said that he was on the AC Expressway and I thought it was odd because I never showed him that way to the house. He was lost and missed his drive-by fix of Hellcat. 50 minutes and 15 miles further east, he arrived and we left for the shore. I made it up to him by opening up the car door when we arrived to make him go find Guest Relations. I parked across the street and found a lucky meter with over an hour of time left. I put a dollar worth of quarters in and made the 1:00 sign-up deadline.

     On a sunny, breezy and warm 85 degrees, the eye candy was out everywhere. I see no sleaze. It had been 4 or 5 years since I had been to Seaside. My directive to go ride new credits was strong enough to overpower my instinct to go to the beach.

     I rode the Love Bugs as a kid and it left an impression on me with its spiral lift and enclosed rooms. I rode Wizard?s Cavern 15 years later and I still thought it was different, but I was hoping for some scenery in those rooms. (Oh well, there are bigger problems in the world, right?) Pirates Hideaway was virtually the same thing, with a less interesting layout. It?s probably a good ride for little, little kids.

     Hot Tamale oddly enough felt less like credit ho?ing, even with 8 ACErs on the previous train. The kiddie coaster travels a few ups and downs and the operator sends the train around 5 times. I was thankful to get off. I can?t tell anybody what I did this weekend.

     There is a Miler Wild Mouse on the pier that I liked the last time I was here. Matt and I boarded the same car, which is designed for riders to sit one behind the other. The cars turn on a dime, which makes for a scarier ride than most box-less wild mice. The Miler mice have a tight helix in the end, which is allot of fun. Matt may have bumped his knees on the turns.

     We bumped into Ed (Chillforce) and Matt (Millenium Force44) and their friends, which was a pleasant surprise. We gathered with the group from ACE for a photo by the Star Jet coaster. The operations manager talked with us about the pier and informed us that the Log Flume would not be available and the Disko was having problems and that we could ride all of the rides for the $10 wristband!

     So, most of us went over to ride Star Jet. We did a?here comes the tool talk?informal take over. I just threw up a little in my mouth. This coaster was in my top ten for a few years. It?s a Miler ride with three trains, three cars, and each car is capable of holding two riders. The layout is like a little Riverside Cyclone. We climb a 50? lift hill along the ocean and fall into the first drop. The little hills have a little violent and fun air. It?s allot of fun and Matt, after riding 450+ coasters, understood why I liked it so much.

     We were getting hungry and we ate at the Casino Pizza Parlour. The slices were huge and flat. I thought I was the glutton for getting two slices. Then Matt bought some chicken strips and fries. Thanks Matt!

     After lunch, we fed the meter and went over to the Magical Carousel shop across the way. They had working miniature replicas of bumpers cars, a wave swinger, and the parachute drop from Coney Island. There is allot of neat stuff in this store across from the carousel building.

     We went to Stillwalk Manor. The last time I was here, it was my second favorite dark ride outside of Disney. The ride has small two-seater cars that travel through a really dark old house. The ghosts and ghouls jump out at you inside and it uses shots of air very well! The layout takes you outside for a bit to disorient you for the finale. One of my favorite scenes is a ghost who runs down stairs, which looks like it?s coming right for you because of strobes. I?ve become very fond of the large room spook houses like Spook-a-rama and the Keansburg Spook House. This is my favorite amusement park haunted house outside of Knoebels!

     We all rode the Safari Train. Four grown men pushed buttons hearing tigers roar and birds sing while we rode past stuffed monkeys spinning in circles. We got sent around a second time which was very good value.

     Well, it was time to go over to Funtown. I got a couple of new credits on the Mighty Mouse which was just as crazy as the Casino Pier wild mouse, and the longest family junior coaster. If it had bubbles, I would like it more than Storybook Land?s Bubbles. Again, I?m 32.

     We took one last ride on Star Jet in the front and had a funny ride because of this woman screaming and laughing in the back seat. We stopped by Rob?s Wendys and as I pull in, Matt informed me that Rob left for Dorney two hours ago. Nice. So I used the bathroom, no soap and we went to Great Adventure.

     The parking lot was pretty crowded. I know it would have been smarter to go left towards GASM and Rolling Thunder, but I had to ride The Dark Knight coaster again. Matt had never ridden it and Nitro was just next door. The queue for TDK was almost filled, so we went for Nitro first. The queue house was half filled, but we had to start somewhere, and we forgot about riding Skull Mountain.

     We couldn?t tell whether they were running three trains, but it seemed like two. The line moved slowly until Greg the manager took over at the controls. Then the crew was moving like it was 2002. The ride was filled with lots of air, even though I kind of got stapled, but it was allot of fun.

     We did notice that the Batman crew was on top of things. As soon as one train returned into the station, the other rain was on the lift hill. The Nitro queue should have been 30 minutes from the point where the line started, but it was an hour wait.

     The Dark Knight queue was just about filled. Matt and I played 20 questions while other people slapped each other. The line moved really slowly at first and picked up towards the end. There must have been a breakdown, but there was no way to know. We were entertained by trying to guess which parks Kit was at on Six Flags TV. Matt pointed out the Six Flags commercial, which ran at Six Flags Great Adventure that featured a wave swinger. I pointed out the shoot-the-chutes and the fireworks in the commercial. We wondered where in the park they were.

     The doors opened into a very chilly preshow. I was wondering why the crew member was wearing a jacket when he would peak his head out. It felt so good. The preshow is just a press conference with movie clips and a bunch of ?HAHA?s? on the walls and the people who keep saying this is the best part of the ride NEED TO SHUT UP! (teehee)

     Some of the Joker cards were missing in the pre-station, and a monitor had been added to the security station mock up. Matt thought one of the rats in the station was real until I pointed out the rat sitting on the sign, motionless.

     The loading is fast and how can it not be? I saw something disturbing ahead of us. An attendant told a guest who had just waited an hour for the new ride that he could not ride because he had a souviner cup. The guest had jumped the track of moving cars, punched the wall and went cursing down the exit. His friends followed by jumping the track and the car went empty. I don?t blame the guest. The attendant was taking the rules too literally. This is a reason why I believe internationals should not work the new rides or the majors, unless they understand the big picture.

     The coaster itself is fun. I (finally?) spotted another Batman at the beginning of the ride and finally saw the Joker?s henchman. I gave up on seeing that scene work properly and the back of the truck scene is hideous. I also tried to see Batman on the motorcycle. It must be badly timed or placed in a bad location. It should be before the truck scene on the swoop from the hairpin turns. I?m not giving up hope that they will work on the busted pipe scene or an ending. Does anybody know about completing the exterior paint job? 
           
     It was already dark when we exited. The entertainment department was setting up for the parade. Matt had never been on the Sky Way. I was eager to ride because it had been years since I had a nighttime ride and it had been years since I went from Dream Street to the Western Fort, even longer since I rode?Cable B? We were on the lakeside. It was a beautiful site. I hadn?t seen the Big Wheel, Good Time Alley, or Dream Street lit up so brightly. I do understand why they?ve changed the names, they are kind of kitchy, but they are still fun to say. Mmmmm, Strawberry Fair.

     We saw that the Log Flume was operating and there was nobody drifting about. I hadn?t been on the flume in two years, so we walked through the Western Fort and crossed over into the Saw Mill. Aimee was working there and she told us that Rolling Thunder had stopped racing 20 minutes prior.

     We had the flume all to ourselves. It?s a great ride in the dark of the woods. You should give it a whirl if you haven?t tried it at night.

     El Toro was a walk on. Matt liked it! Stranger things have happened. Like what happened to us at Rolling Thunder. The attendant wanted to go home early but an international was sent home early instead. So, he hit the E-STOP. I know all of this because he told this to the whole train while we were stopped on the lift. This was after he took a ride on the air gates, fell, and then failed to check the seatbelts. Apparently they still send the dufuses to work the coaster why the oxygen breathers work at Toro and Ka. We got two rides on the Blue train while the Yellow, Green and Red were unused. The Yellow Train was sliding too far onto the brakes to be used. The Blue train sucks. Time to get new brakes, 15 years ago. It was a fun ride though and Matt enjoys riding on wheels.

One of us does.

     Well, the park had closed and it was a peaceful visit. A few spin rides, maintenance on the woodie, a dark ride and a couple of flat rides would make it the perfect park to visit. It was a great day in NJ.     

[AV Matt]

I can't believe how much I enjoyed EL Toro. It's still far from one my favorites, but I like it now and look forward to getting more night rides on it.

Entertaining TR as always, sir Dan. Thanks for putting it together!

[Millennium Force 44]

Thanks for the detailed report Dan. It was nice seeing you again and meeting Matt.
The Star Jet is actually a decent coaster. If you sit in the front row, you get some decent air on some of the hills. It is a lot of fun.

[AV Matt]

Even more air in the back seat IMO. Like Dan alluded to, even after almost 500 coasters under my belt, I still enjoy rides like the Star Jet more than your average B&M/Intamin.

^And it was nice meeting another Matt!

[Robert T Ackerman]

We were entertained by trying to guess which parks Kit was at on Six Flags TV. Matt pointed out the Six Flags commercial, which ran at Six Flags Great Adventure that featured a wave swinger. I pointed out the shoot-the-chutes and the fireworks in the commercial. We wondered where in the park they were.

  That video must've been taken about 2 or 3 season ago. Those jerks.

Fun read, Dan. Almost makes me wish I was there!!! Thanks for typing that all up for us!

[Bubba Z]

^ Did any of that take place? 


Oh,and Dan, Maybe you should write for a living?  Call Courier post or something and use that talent!

[Robert T Ackerman]

Mmmm indoor scrambler!

[Millennium Force 44]

I went on that once Sunday. I honestly think that the bridge with the spinning walls you walk through while entering the ride is more fun than the ride itself.

*400th post!

[darkridedan]

Thanks guys.  Bubba, we missed the Centrifuge. Maybe next time.