Weekend Wildwood Trip 9/11/08 - 9/14/08

We arrived down in Wildwood NJ on Thursday night just before midnight. It was nice to arrive at our condo in N. Wildwood after the 3 ½ hour trip, and getting stuck in construction on the PA turnpike.

I grew up going to Wildwood every Summer for our family vacation. This year we decided to take the whole family to the beach. There were 12 of us total in a 6 bedroom condo, and it was perfect place for everyone to relax at the end of a long day.

Wildwood has lost a lot of the charm that it once had. It's just
amazing to see the transformation of the area from the time I was young to
how it is today. The once great arcades are full of claw games with
wonderful prizes that you'll never win. I won't waste my money on those
games, but the rest of my family seemed to be addicted to them. Seems like a lot of other people were just as addicted. Wonder how much money those arcades make off of those? I know there has been some discussion on here about it.

I can't really put my finger on any one thing that has changed the
atmosphere of Wildwood. It's several things that add up to diminish the
experience. First thing is the cost for accommodations are outrageous. I
know it's a beach town, but come on. The price we spent for our family to go we could have gone to Disney World for the same amount of time. Doesn't really make me feel like I am getting my money's worth.

The lack of variety on boardwalk is another problem to me. They used to have a lot more to do. Now it's just restaurants, shops, and arcades. What happened to them rebuilding Frankenstein's Castle? A lot of the game wheels have been replaced by something lame. Most of them being replaced by more clothing shops, and Wildwood doesn't need any more of those. They still have Fascination, so the boardwalk does earn points for that.

We only rode on Morey's Piers on Saturday 9/13/08. The reason was just
because of the cost of an all night ride band. It's just amazing how much it
costs to ride. My nephew just wanted to ride the Great White, and that cost $6.80 for one lap. Makes the $45 ride band seem like such a good deal. To me that's a little high for admission considering the price of other parks I can visit within the same distance from home, and the quality of rides they have at the other parks.

I know that Morey's has spent some money on general improvements to the piers, but as far as new rides not much has changed. Since my last visit(2004) AtmosFear, Screamin Swing, Dante's Dungeon makeover, and the makeover for Fly the Great Nor'Easter were the new things. I didn't get to ride Dante's Dungeon because it was closed. I loved Dante's Inferno since I was a kid, and I wanted to see what they added to it.

AtmosFear is the first A.R.M drop tower that I have experienced. The restraints are more open then S&S's or Intamin's, and that makes it a little more intimidating then the others. Beautiful views of the ocean, Wildwood, and other surrounding areas from the top. Decent freefall. Not the best, and not the worst.

Fly the Great Nor'Easter- First SLC I have ridden with the new trains. My guess is that it'll be the only SLC to get these in the US. The new lighting package is pretty sweet, and really makes it standout from anywhere on the boardwalk at night.

Yes the new trains do away with the lateral headbanging, but now there is a new vertical banging that I experienced with these trains. I happened as I was coming up into the 3rd inversion into helix. It felt as though I was punched in the stomach pretty hard. I am guessing it's from the force of the vertical G's, and the horrible transitions in that part of the ride. I don't know if my restraint was too loose, or what. It was almost more painful then the headbanging of the standard trains. We were planning to ride the Nor'Easter in several other seats to see what they were like, but all I needed to take was one front seat lap. :) That was enough until my next visit to Wildwood. It doesn't make it any more reride worthy, and I think they may have wasted their money on those trains. I just don't see the point in adding them to a pay one price park.

Screamin Swing was just like Dorney's but in a better environment with the sand, ocean, and boardwalk surrounding. I like how it was elevated off the ground about 30 - 40 feet because of the boardwalk and the way it's situated on the pier. The smaller ones like this one and Dorney's are a little more intense than CP's or Kennywood's park models. Fun for the small price of $5 with ride band and $8 without. $5 seems reasonable, but $8 seems like too much. What do you think? ;)

I still the love the Zoom Phloom, and their variety of flat rides. The Great White was running really well, and I took at least 10 laps. The boardwalk, and Morey's will always hold a spot in my heart just because of the childhood memories I have from there. It's one of the places that grew me into the enthusiast that I am today.

We had a great family vacation, and surprisingly everyone got along pretty well. There has been talk about making it an annual event, and I don't know if I want to spend that kind of money every year to go to the beach. ;)

The only problem I have with Wildwood is the accommodations. $200 a night gets you one step above sleeping in your car. It's just stupid how expensive and bad the hotels are down there. I have no problem with the pricing of everything else down there. I find it to be a great value in general. If only I could get a comfortable bed for a reasonable price so I could spend the weekend down there.