Morey’s Piers is one of many boardwalk amusement parks in New Jersey, but this is easily the best
one. Located on the southern tip of New Jersey in Wildwood, this amusement park is deceptively
large. You have three different piers of amusements, nearly 60 different amusement rides,
and two beachfront water parks. Find out what makes this park so great in this review.
This park originally opened in 1969 with just one pier and was fitting
named just Morey’s Pier. This is the pier that is now known as Surfside Pier today.
The second pier was incorporated into the park in 1976. Morey’s purchased Marine Pier
and renamed it Mariner’s Landing. This pier was located 0.5 miles down the boardwalk.
The third pier was acquired in 1988. Morey’s reopened the pier in 1992 as
Wild Wheels Raceway & Adventure Pier, but today it’s just known as Adventure Pier. This pier is
roughly 0.25 miles from Mariner’s Landing and subsequently 0.75 miles from Surfside Pier.
While the acquisition of piers was the most economical way for Morey’s to expand,
it results in a bizarre set-up. Each pier has a different set of operating days and hours.
Mariner’s Landing tends to be the pier with the longest hours.
This is the best pier for families. It tends to be open from late April or early May until roughly
Columbus Day. The other two piers are typically open from Memorial Day until Labor Day, but check
the calendar to confirm prior to your visit. In peak season, Morey’s Piers is open extremely
late. All 3 piers can be open as late as midnight. This is fantastic since these
piers and the boardwalk as a whole come alive at night with all the lighting and energy.
However, the closing time is dependent upon crowds and weather. If the park isn’t too
busy or there’s inclement weather, expect the park to close earlier without much notice.
Mariner’s Landing tends to open the earliest. Unless you visit on a weekend,
Surfside Pier and Adventure Pier don’t tend to open until the evening.
This can make it tricky to experience all the rides in a single weekday.
That’s especially true for thrill-seekers since the best pier for them is Surfside Pier.
Along with all the rides, you also need to account for the time getting between piers.
Walking between Surfside Pier and Adventure Pier takes roughly 15-20 minutes.
And you can’t really speed walk it because of how packed the boardwalk usually is.
However, you can take a ride on the infamous Wildwood Tram Car if you’d prefer not to walk.
This quirky yellow and blue tram car rolls down the boardwalk constantly spewing…
As of 2022, a one way ticket costs $4. There is also an unlimited pass for $10,
but it’s only valid until 5 pm. All 3 amusement piers have free admission;
however, it can be costly to ride anything. Each ticket costs $1.25 and most rides cost
between 4 and 10 tickets. Pay per ride is the best option if you only want to ride a few attractions.
If you want to ride many attractions, including every roller coaster,
the pay-one-price wristband is your best deal. This costs a whopping $114 as of 2022.
It does include most rides on the amusement piers plus both water parks.
The two water parks have gated admission unlike the amusement piers. Raging Waters is located
on Mariner’s Landing and Ocean Oasis is located on Surfside Pier. You can purchase individual
admission for each water park. Both open as early as 9 am and they have early bird specials.
Each water park is small, but each has a compact mix of slides. I think Ocean
Oasis is the superior one for thrill-seekers and Raging Waters is the superior one for families.
One downside if you plan to visit both is that you can’t purchase a shared locker between them.
You have to purchase lockers separately at each. Before delving into the piers, let’s talk about
the arrival experience. There are a bunch of hotels and condos within walking distance of
the park, but I typically stay at a name brand hotel further north.
If you arrive by car, you’re going to have to pay to park. Whatever you do, do not park at
the lot between Atlantic Ave and E Schellenger Ave. That is the one my GPS typically navigates
to if you punch in Morey’s Piers and I think it would have cost $60-70 for the entire day.
If you only plan to stay a few hours, street parking is the best deal.
That will cost you $2 per hour and you can pay online instead of feeding the meter.
If you plan to stay an entire day, look for a parking garage near the boardwalk.
One I recommend is at the very end of East Oak Ave. That one has cost me $10-15 per day.
While the piers themselves are spread a ways from each other,
the individual piers are pretty compact and densely populated with rides.
It really is amazing how much Morey’s has crammed into such little space,
especially considering a lion’s share of their rides are on Surfside and Mariner’s.
The compact nature causes the piers to be bursting with energy,
especially since the park also draws on the energy of the nearby beach and boardwalk.
This park has an awesome atmosphere. There really isn’t any theming, but that’s the norm
for most boardwalk parks. Rides are colorful and well-maintained. Because they have limited
space to expand, Morey’s is constantly upgrading their pre-existing attractions. Just look at how
they put new trains on Sea Serpent and completely retracked Great Nor’Easter. How many other parks
would do that, especially the latter? It also helps this park has some of the
friendliest staff members out there, which further reinforces the park’s pleasant feel.
Operations are usually very fast at Morey’s. Since many people use the pay-per-ride option,
Morey’s has every incentive to load rides as quickly as possible.
And in most cases they do. Even on weekends, most rides are less than a 10-15 minute wait.
There are a few exceptions. First, if you visited during 2020,
operations were glacially slow due to the cleaning procedures and reduced capacities. Know
that was an outlier and not the norm for Morey’s. Second, Great White usually has both trains on the
track, but on quieter days they will only load one of the trains until the ride has a steady line.
I’m guessing this is to reduce the risk of valleying with guests on-board.
But they only do this when the ride has a short wait, so it’s not too big of an issue.
Third, this park does allow chest mounted Go Pros;
however, multiple operators stopped me and had to call a supervisor to ask if it was ok, which would
delay a dispatch. I wish this is communicated better to employees in future seasons.
Fourth, if you plan to visit the water parks, go early. They are pretty dead for the first hour,
but their limited throughputs can cause lines to back-up by the afternoon.
Moving onto the ride lineup, Morey’s Piers is jam-packed with attractions. The park currently
has 7 different roller coasters. The best of the bunch is Great Nor’Easter. For most of its life,
this was an extremely rough Vekoma SLC littered with headbanging. But because the park added new
trains with vest restraints and retracked 90% of the coaster before the 2017 season,
it is quite smooth now. That makes it possible to appreciate the fast-paced and frenetic layout.
You are hurtled through all 5 inversions and the near-misses are world-class.
Not only do you have the usual foot-choppers with supports, but this coaster also wraps around a
water slide. These near-misses are why the park has a strict no loose-article policy and forces
everything to go in a locker, but it truly is in the name of safety since the lockers are free.
I have a separate review going into more detail, but the way Morey’s transformed Great Nor’Easter
into an enjoyable attraction is admirable. Another Vekoma that they have improved
over the years is their boomerang in Sea Serpent. It’s the best boomerang in the US.
The vest restraints eliminate all headbanging and this one tracks smoother than others as well,
so it’s an enjoyable and very forceful experience
as you experience over 5 Gs on the trio of inversions going both forwards and backwards.
Great White is their only true custom coaster and the primary ride on Adventure Pier.
This CCI wood coaster is uniquely placed directly on the beach and it has a solid
layout. The turns have good laterals and quite a few hills give decent pops of airtime.
The ride is mostly smooth too and I believe the one rough spot in 2021 that I mentioned
in my review was retracked for the 2022 season. The park also has a nice mix of family coasters.
Runaway Tram is my favorite of the bunch. Lightly themed to that aforementioned Wildwood tram,
this coaster is super smooth, gives two laps, and has some mild force at points.
I have a review for this coaster as well that goes into more detail.
Doo Wopper is a relatively rare Zamperla wild mouse. This one has decent laterals
on the initial hairpin turns, but the brakes and shallow drops result in a dull second half.
This ride is lightly themed to fast food, so there are some fun visuals along the course though.
Rollie’s Coaster is a Pinfari zyklon. The coaster itself is your standard layout,
but it has more restrictive over-the-shoulder restraints.
The ride is thankfully smooth and there are some ok positive Gs on a few of the pullouts.
Lastly, you have Wild Whizzer, a SBF Visa spinner. This is your standard figure 8 layout,
but it does have a very long cycle. This is the best coaster there for kids.
Mariner’s Landing and Surfside Pier each feature a cluster of roughly 10 kiddie rides.
These are the best two piers by far for younger guests. Mariner’s Pier also features some slow
observation rides that can be enjoyed by all ages, including their massive Ferris Wheel.
Morey’s has a deep collection of flat rides for adults. You’ll find a bevy of
spinning rides on Mariner’s Pier, but my three favorite flats are located on Surfside Pier.
AtmosFear is an intense Larson drop tower. It stands just 14 stories tall, but you drop like
a rock, getting a gut-wrenching stomach-dropping sensation and floater airtime the whole way down.
This ride also gives a breathtaking view of the beach and it’s accompanied
by on-board audio to boost the anticipation. It is a unique KMG frisbee. This one features
lap bar restraints, so you’re entire upper-body is weirdly exposed for a ride like this.
This freedom enhances the already strong airtime this ride delivers. And since this ride gives a
long cycle, you come out of your seat plenty. Kong is a Larson flying scooters placed atop a
building, so you get some neat visuals. It’s also exceedingly easy to catch a breeze, so you get
some good movement. Just do not snap the cables or else you will be immediately kicked off the ride.
Adventure Pier features some expensive upcharge attractions. The SkyCoaster,
Spring Shot, Screamin’ Swing, and Skyscraper are super thrilling flats you can find elsewhere,
but you also have the super weird Boat Tag. It’s a hybrid of a splash battle and bumper boats.
Riders board these aquatic tanks and fire balls with an air cannon at other tanks
and the cage adjacent to those on the boardwalk. Meanwhile, riders off-ride try to activate mines
that will comically drench riders. I don’t know of any park that has something quite like it.
The piers also have a nice collection of dark rides. The best of the bunch is the Ghost Ship
walkthrough. This attraction features a chilling atmosphere and lots of energetic scare actors,
who are even allowed to touch you! This attraction has been closed the past few years,
but it crushes most Halloween haunts between the theming and scares.
Dante’s Dungeon is a haunted house dark ride. This one is just a step above a carnival dark ride for
me. The scares were loud and plentiful, but the visuals weren’t too special.
Pirates of the Wildwoods is a 3D dark ride that has always been closed for me,
but I’ve heard mixed opinions on that one.
Then Adventure Pier has this weird fun house called Luna’s Lost Labyrinth
that starts off strong before dumping you outside in this unthemed mess of fencing.
The best attraction overall is Zoom Phloom. This Hopkins log flume is one of the best out there.
It’s nearly 6 minutes long and it offers great visuals as you travel past rides and even
underneath the boardwalk. Both drops are pretty sizable and zippy. Just note that single riders
are not allowed on this attraction. Moving onto the two water parks,
I much prefer Ocean Oasis. This is where you’ll find the two best slides. Sidewinders
is a thrilling mat slide with a massive double down with some frightening airtime.
Then Cliff Dive is a body slide consisting of a single, steep plunge that gives a little pop of
airtime as you rush towards the ground. Then you have a few other slides,
including Riptide Rapids that intertwines with Great Nor’Easter, but no other standouts.
Raging Waters is the better option for families. The water slides are a lot
slower at this one. The Speed Slides are a decent duo of mat slides and then you have
the unique Sky Pond Journey with a bunch of elevated splash down pools on the way down.
For food, your best option is to grab something off the boardwalk. Morey’s
doesn’t have too many restaurants inside the park and you have to walk between piers anyway.
My favorite snack is the Original Idaho Potatoes. These French fries are super fresh and yummy.
Curley’s Fries are nearly as good in terms of quality, but their portions are much smaller.
Then you also have two notable pizza places in Mack’s and Sam’s. I know plenty prefer
the buttery taste of Mack’s, but I think Sam’s tastes more like a traditional New York slice.
Then while this review is focused on Morey’s Piers, the Wildwood boardwalk has plenty of
other shops and entertainment options. One that I definitely want to note is the Retro Arcade.
I wish I had photos of all the rare games inside, including Fascination,
but the owner has a strict no photo policy. Lastly, make sure to pack sunscreen. This
probably goes without saying for most boardwalk parks, but there is zero shade here
and you will be cooking in the sun all-day. So do I recommend Morey’s Piers. I sure do! This
is New Jersey’s best boardwalk park and a flat out good amusement park overall. It has such a unique
atmosphere combined with a strong ride lineup. The coasters are decent, but the supporting mix
of flat rides, dark rides, and water rides makes the overall collection of attractions notable.
The park is quite pricey, but that’s the biggest downside. I always have a great time at Morey’s.
As for when to visit, I would probably recommend a summer weekend for thrill-seekers since
Surfside and Adventure Pier have longer hours. Families will probably enjoy the lighter crowds
of a weekday, especially since they’ll spend a large chunk of their time on Mariner’s anyway.
So those are my thoughts on Morey’s Piers. What are your thoughts on this Wildwood, NJ boardwalk
amusement park? What is your favorite pier? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments.
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