Clementon Park
My wife and I visited there in June (or was it July)?
Jack Rabbit is a "fun" ride for its size. Looking at the pics on RCDB I was surprised to find that it was not painted entirely white. Its track, catwalks and railings are still white, but the support structure is a light brown. Its trains appear to be standard PTC trains. Again, from a photo on RCDB, they appear to be either recent replacements for older tains or have just been repainted and refurbished.
Other rides of note are the evil "Inverter" and their log flume. The flume is neat because its trough sits on some very spindly looking supports and is entirely over a lake. Its drops are pretty fun too. There are two, the second of course being the largest. The water is a nice "tea brown" color. Looks bad, but I have been assured that is normal for south Jersey (died that way from was it the pines or peet?) and is actually very pure.
That being said, the park is incredibly small. There is a water park there that looked alright, but we didn't venture in. Not sure if it is a ticket for just the park or for the water park and the amusmenent park, but admission is, on weekends, around $20 per person. If you can, find discount tickets. We lucked out and found some that someone had stuck on the bulletin board just out side of the entrance and got in for $26 for the both of us. The price is a bit steep for what is there in my opinion.
Is it worth it? Yes and no. If you are not travelling far and want to go there just once for the sake of going (or if you are crazy like I am and are willing to travell 2 1/2 hours to an obscure little park), then yes. If you are not local and do not like to travel for something small, or if you are looking for a really good value for your $ or if you are expecting something big and grand (or even medium size and not so grand), then I would probably say no.
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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"
Any park that operates a wooden coaster is not crap, IMO.
I have never been to Clementon Lake, a fact that I am ashamed to admit since I live about two hours away in northern NJ. I will be changing that soon, and I'm more glad for that now after reading SLFAKE's more intelligent take on the park.
as a P.S.: Those discount coupons I mentioned I believe came from McDonalds. There is on a few blocks from the park. Not sure if they still have them or not.
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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"
Yes, the tea-colored water is natural. It is from the tannin in the oak trees. It is nicknamed "cedar water" after the beautiful atlantic white cedar swamps in the Pine Barrens. Stories say that sailors a long time ago used to stock up on the water because it stayed potent for longer then "regular" water.
With the size of the drops, while not huge, I would think they had up stops for a long time.
I thought the accident had something to do with the breaks? I thought I read somwhere that Jack Rabbit was notorious for its operators not stopping the train "in time" with its manual break lever... and that is why it was "modernized" to "push button" breaks (not sure of the exact type) and the "big ol' break lever" went bye-bye?
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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"
Actually at one point the Jack Rabbit was the only coaster operating in the US that did not have up stops. (During the time that Leap The Dips was SBNO) After an accident in which the train actually left the track, Jack Rabbit was converted to an underfriction coaster. I believe that it was during the 90's, but I don't remember the exact year.
I believe that up stops were introduced on several Miller coasters the same year. (1921?). I've never seen anything that says exactly which one opened first.
As far as I know, Leap The Dips is the only side friction coaster still operating in the US. I believe that there are a couple of others in Great Britain.
I went there last summer seeing as I had free tickets, and its decent for what it is.
The Jackrabbit is fun for being a family coaster. Its kinda off because part of the ride touches the ground and all there is, is the metal in the grass.
They have a Chaos, which seemed better than the one at SFA. A Inverter which was awesome if you've never done one, its great. They have a Falling Star which is great for floating. My dad was laughing during that, and he isn't much of a amusement park person.
The Water Park is okay. I think you can get a ticket for either just one of the parks, or a double. If you can only get a double, then the water park is good for a quick dip, but its nothing great. You COULD spend 30 minutes there tops.
Overall, it was great for the flat rides, seeing at the time Kings Dominion was the only park I was going to, and they didn't have any thrilling flats, and this place was great in my opinion.
Besically, go if ya don't live or gotta travel far, otherwise, spend the day elsewhere, not worth a long drive.
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Drop Oup at PKD in 2003!
OoOoOo...Rolley Coaster!
Jack Rabbit -vs- Leap the Dips as the "oldest" coaster.
Not sure of JR's operating history. If it never had SBNO time (with the exception of time down for maintenance or upgrades), then it cold very well be the oldest continually running coaster.
LtD had about a 15 year period when it was SBNO... at first waiting to be torn down, and then, when the money was raised, being restored. LtD is the oldest coaster in the US (world?) being built in 1902 (makes it 100 this year), but it ran for only 85 of those years (maybe less if there was any SBNO time before the most recent 15 year period). JR, if it had no SBNO time, has been running for a continual 85 years.
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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"
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