Moreys Piers Discussion Thread

[ytterbiumanalystWhy do I still have a donkey title???]

[boldikusFounder of the Cult of Skank Mountain]

We have a wedding in Cape May in a couple weeks, and I'm seriously weighing whether or not to stay the night down there and have some time at Morey's the next day. Maybe even drive up to Playland's and finally get on Gale Force, too.

Sounds like a no-brainer. 1 - you can get sloshed at the wedding if you stay over. 2 - new credits at Moreys and OC. Gale Force is awesome and so is Moreys. When we talking? What is there to weigh? Do it.

[Rai FoxWhen I grow up, I want to breed donkeys!]

Just got back from a long weekend at Wildwood with a few friends. Despite a worrying forecast, it ended up being a pretty great weekend! Not many pics, sadly, since Saturday was rather wet with the rain, and Sunday was wetter with the waterpark, and I didn't really want to find out the hard way whether the cracked glass on my poor phone is still waterproof. ...and I kept getting distracted by Pokemon Go most of the time when I did pull my phone out. >.> I'm a terrible photographer anyway, so you're not missing out on much.

My friends and I drove down early saturday morning, in a downpour most of the way, and bumper to bumper traffic that meant we got there several hours later than we planned. We checked into the Landmark motel, figuring we'd be stuck indoors for a while, but the very helpful guy at the front desk assured us that despite the forecast, the rain was going to blow over very soon. We were already soaked by then and not really worried about getting any wetter, so we went for a stroll down the boardwalk in the rain and to Grab a Weiner. I tried the one with their "homemade spicy green sauce," and while I have a different idea of spicy than they seem to, it was pretty good stuff anyway. By time we finished eating, it turned out to be weather forecaster: 0, Hotel front desk clerk: 1; the rain had slowed to a few occasional periods of drizzle and Morey's had nearly everything up and running.

We weren't sure how long the weather would hold out, so we pretty much raced from ride to ride without any repeats, which maybe wasn't ideal, but we wanted to make sure we got in at least one ride on everything important before the weather turned against us again. By time we finished the last pier, and it was starting to look like the rain wasn't coming back, no one really wanted to go back to the others for more, so...not as many rides as I would have liked, but far better than the "none" the forecast had me expecting.

All of the coasters were running amazingly well. Great Nor'Easter seemed even smoother than last year, and after the rain it was absolutely flying through its course. Best ride I've ever had on an SLC by miles. Rollie's coaster was...Rollie's coaster, fine for what it is I suppose despite the bizarre seats and restraints. We skipped Doo-Wopper, Flizter is still a fun little family coaster, and I still don't know what kind of blood sacrifice was required to make a boomerang run like Sea Serpent does, but somehow it still manages to be almost impossibly smooth compared to any other I know of. Great White was definitely running better than last year; I don't know if it had any re-tracking or work done, or it was just the weather, but after an after dark back seat ride, it definitely nudged its way up a few places in my wood coaster rankings.

We got in all of the other big attrations; It, Maelstrom, Zoom Phloom, Ghost Ship, and a bunch of smaller rides. Since the under-the-boardwalk go-karts had been closed last year, we made sure to get them in this time; the track's not much more than a kinked oval with a hill at one end, not that impressive, but it was worth doing once. Ghost Ship was the only slightly disappointing thing this year; there were only a few actors working it this year, and several parts had the lights turned on higher this year, taking away from some of the scares. I hope none of that is a permanent change.

Unfortunately we had a group of five, so one of us had to sit out from Boat Tag, and I was stupid enough to volunteer, as much as I love it. We planned to get back to it later on so I'd get a chance too, but that never happened. The operations on it were a bit odd this time anyway; they sent four boats out for a while, held the fifth, with two of my friends in it, back for a while, then let them go out, only to call the other boats back in a minute and a half later and leave the last boat on their own with no one to fight for several minutes. Still, everyone enjoyed it, and that's the last time I let myself sit that one out.

After last year, we were eager to return to Cattle n Clover, and it definitely did not disappoint this year. Sadly the amazing Irish Torte wasn't on the menu this year, so I had to "settle" for a steak, which ended up just about matching the one I had a few years ago at Mama Melroses' in Disney for the best I've ever had. Their house Shep's Ale is still sheer bliss in a pint glass, too.

I'd been hoping to get in some late night re-rides on Great White after dinner and drinks, but after our very early start to our drive, most of my group was all but falling asleep on the table, so we ended up heading back to the motel room and calling it an early night.

We started Sunday off with donuts from Fractured Prune, of course, and then it was waterpark day, and again the forecast called for thunderstorms all day, but apart from a few drizzles in the morning, they failed to materialize at all. We had a day of bright sun, and while gray clouds hung on the horizon to threaten an early end to the day for hours, they never actually seemed to move an inch closer to us. That still seemed to be enough to keep everyone else out of the waterparks, so we had exactly zero line for almost everything.

Morey's does have some great slides, too. Nothing particularly modern or fancy, but just well designed slides with some great speed and drops, and in the case of the Sidewinders, absolutely amazing/terrifying air time. We stopped between the two piers for treats at Dragon Lab; I got the taro and berries rolled ice cream; a little pricey but absolutely delicious. Taro ice cream really needs to be easier to find in the US. Or maybe not, I'd likely be ten pounds heavier if it was.

After we were exhausted from climbing stairs all afternoon, we gave a local brewpub a try, Mud Hen brewing company. Beer was very good, appetizers were fantastic, food was a bit "eh"...chili was tasty but a bit watery, the burger that I ordered medium came well done and rather dry, and a couple of my friends order the "massive grilled cheese" and got their sandwiches with some of the cheese still not even melted. Not bad overall, but we'll probably try someplace else next year for a second dinner. Cattle n Clover, of course, will definitely still be first.

I should probably mention the motel here, too. By time I booked our room, there weren't a ton of of promising looking places still available, and several had three night minimum stays. After agonizing over reviews for a while, I'd ended up giving the Landmark a try, and that turned out to be a pretty good choice. While it's still expensive for a motel, like everything else on Wildwood, and looked a little bit sketchy and dated from outside, it turned out to be a nice enough little motel. The room was actually much bigger than I expected, with a pull out couch in addition to the two beds, a table and chairs and quite a bit of floor space. The room did look a bit older, but well kept up and clean. Beds were on the firm side but not uncomfortable. The motel staff was very friendly and helpful the entire time, and apparently far better at reading the weather than the local meteorologists. If you're not comfortable around dogs, it's worth mentioning that the owner does have a big rottweiler that seems to have the run of the office area, but it's a very sweet, well behaved dog that seems to love attention from everyone, so I'm gonna put that in the "pros" column for the place. The Landmark is also in one of the best locations for enjoying the piers; just a couple blocks off of Mariner's Pier, behind the Splash Zone waterpark and Schellengers's Seafood.

Overall, another great weekend in Wildwood; I'm definitely going to be making this an annual thing now. I'd be a little sad that it's over...except two weeks from now I'll be heading down to spend a full week at Knoebels!

[alilstrongerWhy do I still have a donkey title???]

^ Great review!

That hotel is not good! My colorguard has stayed here two years in a row now the first weekend in May. The elevators are terribly slow. The rooms are awesome with the garden style but not every room has a sofa in the living room part. The operations are not good either. Some of my friends had water falls in their rooms when it rained and they never use the pool or restaurant anymore.

[coasterbillWhy do I still have a donkey title???]

Great report.

I still haven't done boat tag. I really need to fix that.

[Rai FoxWhen I grow up, I want to breed donkeys!]

That hotel is not good! My colorguard has stayed here two years in a row now the first weekend in May. The elevators are terribly slow. The rooms are awesome with the garden style but not every room has a sofa in the living room part. The operations are not good either. Some of my friends had water falls in their rooms when it rained and they never use the pool or restaurant anymore.

I'm kinda surprised to hear that. Maybe I just got lucky! The elevator was slow, but I didn't think that was a big deal in a four story place. Operations were pretty good in my experience, but I imagine it depends on the staff, too. The pool was open when we were there, but I didn't know they even had a restaurant.

I still haven't done boat tag. I really need to fix that.

You really should! It looks silly with how slow and clunky the boats are, but it's so much more fun than it has any right to be.

[boldikusFounder of the Cult of Skank Mountain]

Awesome report! Sounds like a good time.

I just noticed Morey's posted a POV a while back of the new Nor'easter and it does a really good job of showing off how smooth it is now. You can even see where the newer track starts right after the crest of the lift.

[coasterbillWhy do I still have a donkey title???]

I f*cking love that ride now. Great video.

[alilstrongerWhy do I still have a donkey title???]

Awesome video! My favorite SLC.

[njcoasterguy34The only thing better than a naked woman is a naked donkey!]

Morey's Piers just posted this on their Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/MoreysPiers/posts/10156849807734586