Friday, August 3
After a day of sight seeing including the Cape May Light House and the Hereford Light House just north of Wildwood, we ate dinner (in a less than spectacular restaurant between Wildwood Crest and Cape May) and then headed out for day 2 on the piers. Our hotel was only two blocks away from the north end of the board walk, so we walked to the boards and caught the tram down to Morey's Pier (the upper pier).
Being later around 7pm, the crowds were heavier than the day before. First coaster we encountered was Flitzer. The line for this was very long so we decided to skip it. We were then met with disappointment as the Zoom Phloom was not working (reportedly they had a leak in one of the drops).
Spying the Dante's Inferno dark ride, of course we had to take a spin. Again, I love these things, no matter how cheesy they are.
But then it was time for the main attraction on this pier… Great Nor'Easter. This was my first encounter with a Vekoma SLC (aka "hang and bang") so I did not know what to expect. My wife sat this one out… letting me test the waters first. Being an "inverted" style, experience told me to head for the front seat. Surprisingly, I found these seats to be more comfortable than my beloved B&M's. Anyway, I knew it was going to be a great ride when the train started going up the fast lift hill and I had a perfect view of the vast Atlantic. It was kind of eerie… like you were going right off into the ocean. Then she hit the drop and she screamed through her paces. It was a great ride, not as smooth as a B&M, but not nearly as rough as everyone claimed! Getting off and meeting my wife at the exit, I told her she would love it, so up the ramp again I went with her in tow. This time it was a back seat ride. A bit rougher than the front and a bit more intense, she loved it.
After that ride, we headed over to the little RC-48 coaster. This being New Jersey and all of the jokes about the Mafia, they should really theme this coaster… rename it the Godfather with the tag line "you ride-a my coasta'… I breaka' your knees." This was one of the roughest coasters I have ever been on, and the trains were small and uncomfortable… our knees were constantly battered by the back of the seats in front of us. OUCH!!!!!
Anyway, we survived our one and only ride on this little contraption. A few flat rides were next including something called the Break Dancer and Gravitron. I was a bit worried about Gravitron… a flying saucer looking thing that spins around and you are stuck to the walls on these movable little back boards… almost like a modernized Rotor. However, I found it to be fun.
Before heading off the pier, we took one last ride on Great Nor'Easter. This was my wife's first front seat ride on an inverted coaster of any type, and she absolutely loved it.
We then headed back down to Wild Wheels for a few night rides on Great White. All trams were full so we started walking. We did take one detour to go through Dracula's Castle and the Castle Dungeon. This is on the boards near the entrance to Mariner's Landing, but it is not part of Morey's. Anyway, the walk through castle was a bit corny, but the boat ride through the dungeon underneath was creepy and a little morbid (in other words, it was GREAT!)
My objective a Wild Wheels was to get in as many rides on Great White as possible. My wife (still a bit leery of wood after her Hercules experience) decide to sit these rides out, but she told me to ride as much as I wanted… she was people watching and watching the go cart track. Anyway, the front of Great White at night is very good. The tunnel between the station and lift hill is very dark at night and the view from the top at night is incredible. It was one day before full moon and the view of the moon on the Atlantic at the top of the lift was great. This coaster is a really good night time coaster and I had a ball. I got in two back seat rides, two front seat rides, and one middle ride. The only wait was a train or two for front of back. As I was going to get on for my 6th ride, my wife pointed up at the lift hill. A train was stuck at the top. Had I decided to wait for a front seat on my previous ride, I would have been up there! Not really wanting to wait to see what happened (it was nearing 11:30pm) we decided to catch the next tram north bound and head back to our room for the night.
Saturday, August 4
My wife and I found out just how old we are on this day.
We decided to save our 3 day on the parks for a later visit (the passes carry over from one day to the next) and hit one of the water parks. We decided on the one at the end of Mariner's Landing (middle pier). First off, I am not a swimmer, so I was a bit nervous. Secondly, I wear glasses, but could not wear them on the slides and such so I was "flying blind".
We hit the one of the slides and then the "endless river". After doing my first slide my nervousness was gone… except for the fact that I refused to do the one slide that dumped you into a 10' pool of water. Again, I'm not a swimmer so I like to be able to have my feet touch bottom. My wife did that one while I waited (odd... usually she is the one who waits while I ride).
There is another slide that is called the "Sky Pool" where you slide down in tubes into various pools before dropping down the next slide to the next pool. There are about 4 pools. In ever stinkin' on of them I fell off my tube! Oh the embarrassment!
However, my embarrassment was minor compared to what happened next. We rode the Speed Slide next. This is one where you lay down on your stomach on a mat and slid down. It is fast. My wife went down first and I followed. At the bottom I fell off my mat and had to swim to the side. Coming up, I saw my wife standing by the side and laughing. I didn't think I looked that funny swimming. However she said that she found out that wearing a swim suit that zips up the front is not the best thing to wear when doing that slide. She said that when she hit the bottom, she felt a bit "free", and had to quickly do some "stuffing and zipping" before coming out of the water! Only injury to report was to her pride.
One more turn on the "endless river" and then another on the first slide we hit, and we decided to call it a day.
Walking back to where we were parked (we drove and did not do the tram on Sat), we stopped and got some of those good Curley's French Fries again (loaded with vinegar and salt) and also we each got a slice of pizza at Jumbo's (also at the entrance to the pier). When they say a Jumbo slice, they mean a JUMBO slice. I swear one slice was bigger than an entire Pizza hut personal pan pizza!
Back at the room, we both laid down to rest a bit and before we knew it, we had been sleeping for 45 minutes. We woke up exhausted and our muscles in our arms hurt. That entire night we were tired and were sore, and we are still sore. We figured it was from the water park, and figured we are just not used to that sort of thing… walking up those towers for the slides, carrying the tubes up with us in some cases, etc etc etc. I'm 35, she is 31… and we both realized that we "are not kids anymore". But we still had fun… and are already looking forward to a return trip to Wildwood next year.
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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."
