As I stated the other day, I don't like roller coasters. On a recent trip to Palace Playland in Old Orchard Beach, I rode the Galaxi Coaster. It's the last seaside roller coaster in New England.
Revere beach in Revere, MA is touted as the country's oldest public beach. There used to be an amusement park with a roller coaster there too. In fact, there used to be quite a few shore front amusement parks in New England. Places like Wonderland Park (at Revere Beach); Nantasket Point and Paragon Park at Nantasket beach in Hull, MA; Salisbury Beach had a park (parts are still open, but no coaster); Plum Island in Newburyport, MA; Bass Point in Nahant, MA; Rocky Point in Warwick, RI; Pleasure Beach and Seabreeze in Bridgeport, CT; Walnut Beach Park in Walnut Beach, CT; and Orchard Beach Amusement Park in Old Orchard Beach, ME.
There's only one seaside amusement park left in New England: Palace Playland in Old Orchard beach, Maine. I used to love going to amusement parks as a kid. I am not so crazy about it anymore. Mrs. Hotdogman still loves amusement parks, especially roller coasters. She once rode Superman (now called Bizarro) at Six Flags New England 20 times IN A ROW! I rode Superman once and cried like a little baby the whole time. Being hurtled through space in an open car at high speed is not my idea of fun. It's not good for my back either.
It was with some trepidation that I agreed to ride the Galaxi Roller Coaster at Palace Playland in Old Orchard Beach, Maine on a recent visit there with my young daughters. They begged me to ride and even the 5 year old said she'd ride it if I did. Since it is the LAST coastal coaster-it's right on the beach- in New England, I agreed to ride it, twice, for posterity.
We took three videos of the ride: one is a rider's view, one is a view of me riding the coaster from the car ahead of me, and one is a side view of me riding the coaster.
The first installment is the rider's view video. The other videos will be shown in the days that follow.
Enjoy!
I have an old friend in New Jersey and we have been trying to get together for a family beach vacation for a few years. He brought his family up to our place a bunch of years ago and we also visited them down on the Jersey shore a few years ago.
He always rents a house for a couple of weeks in Wildwood, New Jersey during the summer. We used to go there BC (before children) and have wild party weekends. Now that we're all grown up with kids of our own, we tend to lean towards more family oriented activities. Since he rents a house, we don't have to worry about finding a place to stay. This is a good thing because we like to hit some of the amusements in Wildwood with the kids.
Morey's Pier is a fun amusement park. It's an "old school" beach front amusement park. There used to be lots of these kinds of parks on the entire east coast-sadly many are going condo! Whenever we go there, it takes me back to my youth at Revere Beach or Nantasket Amusement Parks. Morey's is indeed one of the last of it's kind. The have all the classic rides, including a Mrs. HDM approved roller coaster (Mrs. HDM LOVES roller coasters). There's also the Raging Waters Water Park which the kids really like.
Even though we are almost done with summer, there are still lots of weekly specials so you can save a few bucks. If you don't want to rent a house for two weeks, you can find plenty of Wildwood hotels and motels on Morey's website.
Even though I am a creature of Buzzard's Bay, I still enjoy the Jersey shore with the family.
