BobFunland
Posts: 7962
Registered: 8/9/2001
Rank: Site Moderator
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 9/5/2006 9:51:29 PM
I haven't even finished my West Coast TR, but since I don't think my type of trip really calls for a full-sized report, I will just share some notes from my crazy trip through the mid-atlantic.
I had to go up to Baltimore for a little bit of work, but I ended up finsihing in about a day after bugdeting two. I planned it to include the weekend for some fun while in the area, and I was in striking distance of dozens of parks.
I believe at one point in time, the question of "is it possible to do the Jersey shore in a day?" came up here, and our wise local Cyclonic said it was. In an attempt to actually impress myself, I wanted to see if I could do it. Originally I was going to try to do Ocean City & Reheboth, take the ferry and do Wildwood, but the pain of dealing with a ferry (not to mention the cost) resulted in me opting to stick to New Jersey. So early in the morning of August 26th, I dragged myself down to my hotel's business center and used the computer, rcdb and my trusty roadmap to plan a trip. I wanted to do Keansburg, but if I was going on Saturday I would want to go at night with the psychos. OK I can end with Keansburg... wait! Most of the shore doesn't open until noon, and one of Morey's Piers wouldn't be opening until at least 2PM. To do Keansburg last I would HAVE to go north to south. With everything opening at noon, why not do Great Adventure at opening and get some Toro rides in? The ideas went wild and the fatigue continued to grow. Seaside Heights and Ocean City both have two parks? How convenient  There's a kiddie park with a dragon wagon on the way out of Seaside? Nice. Anyways after about an hour of planning and fighting my inner deamons to go to Keansburg, I decided on the following schedule:
Six Flags Great Adventure
Jenkinson's Boardwalk
Casino Pier
Funtown Pier
Blackbeard's Cove
Steel Pier
Gillian's Wonderland
Playland
Morey's Piers
Nine parks in all.. quite a challenge. An odyssey of sorts. Unfortunately, I would not get to do everything at every park, but I came to find out that I didn't miss much. OK I went to bed shortly after two to wake up at 6AM to get out the door to ensure that I make it to Great Adventure at opening.
Somehow, my lazy ass woke up with little difficulty and I was ready to go. A plat of eggs at the hotels' reception area and I was on the road at around 6:45, leaving my BWI-area hotel for Jackson Township, New Jersey. I had forgotten how many toll roads were in the area, which is something that I am not accustomed to. I ended up paying nearly $25 in tolls alone on the day, or so I would figure. That bites hard for someone from a state with only a single toll road.
I arrived at the exit for Great Adventure around 9AM.. very early. I filled my rental car's tank at the wawa - I still can't get over the mandatory full service gas stations - and grabbed a egg sandwich from McDonalds, which was highly greasy as expected, and bordering on discusting and delicious at the same time. I got back on the road and entered the park's parking lot with a solid 45 mins left until opening. I was one of the first half dozen cars in the lot, and I quickly rushed to the entrance.
Six Flags Great Adventure
We were let in a little early as usual, and at 10AM I got to witness the park's openind ceremony for the second time this season. The budget cuts in entertainment are noticable... at least they kept some of the Six Flags Girls, even if not the top of the class as I had remembered from July. Once the ropes were pulled away, I used the shortcut learned earlier in the year to beat the majority of the very light (maybe 3000 for opening) crowd to El Toro, to find out that I was not only just the fifth person in line, but that the ride would not open with the park. I was shocked. While I saw Ka launching in the distance, I figured that would apease most of the thrill-seaking folks for a while, so I darted across the park to Nitro.
On the way over to Nitro, I atte
Message updated 9/5/2006 9:52:32 PM by BobFunland
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larrygator
Posts: 4654
Registered: 11/7/2002
Rank: Platinum Critic
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 9/6/2006 12:27:21 AM
great TR Joe, I would put your walking at closer to 4-5 miles for the day. You probably walked 1 1/2 miles at SFGAdv, a 1 mile at Seaside, 3/4 at Ocean City and close to 2 miles in Wildwood.
Kiddies coasters get expensive don't they.
Many of the pizza places at Seaside are pretty good so you made a good choice on the food,
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hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
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9/6/2006 9:42:32 AM
wow joe, i read ALL of that.
i love "visionary" missions like this. i think obsessive trips, especially done solo, make an interesting read.
although you don't elaborate much on meals, the approximate calorie intake is a new detail i haven't seen in TRs.
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BobFunland
Posts: 7962
Registered: 8/9/2001
Rank: Site Moderator
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9/6/2006 10:02:44 AM
I believe that just walking past some of the food outlets added to the intake. It was so good yet so arteriosclerostic (?)
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hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
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9/6/2006 12:51:42 PM
i was checking out some pics of wildwood on rcdb when i noticed this...
hidden in the right hand corner of the frame...
http://www.rcdb.com/ig302.htm?picture=2
which a little further research yeilded...
http://www.rcdb.com/ig1950.htm?picture=1
this kind of stuff gets me. a side friction john miller still running through the 80s. damn.
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there are approximately 10,000,000,000,000,000 ants alive right now. the combined bio-mass of ants on earth roughly equals the combined biomass of humans.
Message updated 9/6/2006 1:21:44 PM by hrrytraver
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Timberman
Posts: 845
Registered: 9/21/2004
Rank: Gold Critic
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9/9/2006 4:59:39 PM
Quote:
hrrytraver said:
i love "visionary" missions like this. i think obsessive trips, especially done solo, make an interesting read.
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Agreed. It's like "On the Road" with roller coasters and cheese fries.
One day I'm going to cross from one coast to the next hitting every coaster I can think of...one day.
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