Clementon Park: August 13, 2005

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

An intigrated photo version of this report can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/a5rkk

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 ;)

http://cyclonic.smugmug.com/photos/32102089-M.jpg

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).

http://cyclonic.smugmug.com/photos/32100773-M.jpg

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.

http://cyclonic.smugmug.com/photos/32102078-M.jpg

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,

http://cyclonic.smugmug.com/photos/32102081-M.jpg

Yoyo,

http://cyclonic.smugmug.com/photos/32102075-M.jpg

Thunderbolt,

http://cyclonic.smugmug.com/photos/32102086-M.jpg

and the Clementon Belle before leaving.

http://cyclonic.smugmug.com/photos/32102077-M.jpg

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

*** Edited 8/14/2005 5:30:05 PM UTC by Cyclonic***

The Clementon Belle is actually the boat ride on the lake, not the ferris wheel. That's just called "The Wheel". Nice TR. I was attending or doing height check/station line control when you were there. Loading times are only slow because of the stupid customers that we have. Half of them don't know that there's even a seatbelt on the ride. Half of them don't know how to use a seatbelt. I'd love for the day when we can stuff the seatbelts under the seats and not use them, but I don't think NJ would be too keen on that.

Opps, posted a link to the wrong picture. I've fixed it.

That coaster needs seatbelts, just no way around it. It maybe a pain, but considering the people that go to the park, if there were no seat belts it would not be long until someone decided to stand-up and that would be the end of the park.

*** Edited 8/14/2005 5:32:33 PM UTC by Cyclonic***