Ocean City reopened a couple weeks ago and I've never been so me and a friend took the 3 hour trek up the Eastern Shore to check it out. Spent most of the day there and had a really good time.
We started out at Trimpers to hit the boomerang and their new rides.
Tidal Wave was painful. I managed to pull a neck muscle trying to keep my head from bouncing around. Not really worth it.
SBF spinner was up and running. This is my first actually as the other two I attempted to ride were down. Really fun and had a decent amount of spin to it.
Endeavor was closed but the ARM tower was open. Those rides are hella fun.
You don't really go to Trimpers for those though.
Pirates Cove was excellent and totally worth checking out. Only downside is that there's very limited lighting so if you're blind as a bat like I am, you'll have to feel your way around the fun house. Lots of neat gags and special effects to be had. Do not skip this attraction.
Haunted House is stellar too. Its not included as a part of Trimpers anymore so you'll have to pay extra to get in, but its so well-maintained from the hand-carveddoombuggies coffin cars to the cheesy but fun set pieces, the little nod to Disney's Haunted Mansion, and a couple surprise drop segments in the dark. It's totally worth the $6 I paid to ride.
So in terms of COVID response, the park generally did a good job with the distancing markers and everyone wearing masks (even if some were worn incorrectly). It helped that we visited early in the day so crowds were relatively low. It also helps that the park is spaced out a little bit. Sanitizer stations were plentiful so no problems there.
I just wish they kept some of the other flats like the Zipper and the Freakout. Would've made the price of admission more worth it.
After leaving Trimpers, we headed right next door to Jolly Roger. The park's location on the boardwalk made it a lot more crowded than Trimpers was so it was a little more difficult to maintain distancing.
The coaster was down and testing all day. I feel I dodged a bullet with that one. Power Surge was unfortunately closed as well, which sucked. Their starring attraction is definitely Kraken though. Its basically one of those Kangaroo rides but much more modern with lighting effects and fog. It was hella fun for sure.
We did some of the spinning flat rides and the Ferris wheel as well. All great rides.
Their haunted dark ride is nowhere near as good as the one on the boardwalk for sure. Not even half the length and much cheaper special effects, I hear it used to be worse though. I'd still ride it to make fun of the special effects and get out of the sun.
Same deal as Trimpers with the COVID response. It was much more difficult to keep distance with the heavier crowds though.
The boardwalk itself was 50-50 with the whole mask thing. Most businesses gave their staff masks to wear so that's a plus. It was still pretty busy though so keeping distance was more difficult.
Jolly Roger's second park was half closed with only kiddie rides open. Kinda weird that they'd open a smaller park with less chance to social distance but the bigger park with more room stayed closed. We met with the owner of the Wildcat and Flitzer coaster. He's a really cool dude with a bit of knowledge about Anton coasters in the area. The coasters are set to open today.
Overall Ocean City was a great time to be had. I wish more stuff was open, but I'll be saving that for a future visit. Despite the crowds, the beaches are beautiful and the boardwalk has so much to do. Looking forward to coming back in the future.
We started out at Trimpers to hit the boomerang and their new rides.
Tidal Wave was painful. I managed to pull a neck muscle trying to keep my head from bouncing around. Not really worth it.
SBF spinner was up and running. This is my first actually as the other two I attempted to ride were down. Really fun and had a decent amount of spin to it.
Endeavor was closed but the ARM tower was open. Those rides are hella fun.
You don't really go to Trimpers for those though.
Pirates Cove was excellent and totally worth checking out. Only downside is that there's very limited lighting so if you're blind as a bat like I am, you'll have to feel your way around the fun house. Lots of neat gags and special effects to be had. Do not skip this attraction.
Haunted House is stellar too. Its not included as a part of Trimpers anymore so you'll have to pay extra to get in, but its so well-maintained from the hand-carved
So in terms of COVID response, the park generally did a good job with the distancing markers and everyone wearing masks (even if some were worn incorrectly). It helped that we visited early in the day so crowds were relatively low. It also helps that the park is spaced out a little bit. Sanitizer stations were plentiful so no problems there.
I just wish they kept some of the other flats like the Zipper and the Freakout. Would've made the price of admission more worth it.
After leaving Trimpers, we headed right next door to Jolly Roger. The park's location on the boardwalk made it a lot more crowded than Trimpers was so it was a little more difficult to maintain distancing.
The coaster was down and testing all day. I feel I dodged a bullet with that one. Power Surge was unfortunately closed as well, which sucked. Their starring attraction is definitely Kraken though. Its basically one of those Kangaroo rides but much more modern with lighting effects and fog. It was hella fun for sure.
We did some of the spinning flat rides and the Ferris wheel as well. All great rides.
Their haunted dark ride is nowhere near as good as the one on the boardwalk for sure. Not even half the length and much cheaper special effects, I hear it used to be worse though. I'd still ride it to make fun of the special effects and get out of the sun.
Same deal as Trimpers with the COVID response. It was much more difficult to keep distance with the heavier crowds though.
The boardwalk itself was 50-50 with the whole mask thing. Most businesses gave their staff masks to wear so that's a plus. It was still pretty busy though so keeping distance was more difficult.
Jolly Roger's second park was half closed with only kiddie rides open. Kinda weird that they'd open a smaller park with less chance to social distance but the bigger park with more room stayed closed. We met with the owner of the Wildcat and Flitzer coaster. He's a really cool dude with a bit of knowledge about Anton coasters in the area. The coasters are set to open today.
Overall Ocean City was a great time to be had. I wish more stuff was open, but I'll be saving that for a future visit. Despite the crowds, the beaches are beautiful and the boardwalk has so much to do. Looking forward to coming back in the future.
