Several months ago I began looking at all the roller coasters credits located in nearby New Jersey that I had yet to obtain, with most of them being located throughout the state’s numerous beach towns. I made it my goal to head up to Jersey a few times this year to visit some of these towns, either for the first time, or for the first time in some time. This series will feature many different parks, some of which may only have one or two smaller coasters. Larger parks such as Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) or Nickelodeon Universe at the American Dream Mall, however, will not be featured as part of this series.
Playland’s Castaway Cove (PCC) was one of our most highly anticipated stops during Thursday’s trip through New Jersey. For the last few years, I’ve been wanting to ride GaleForce. Its layout always looked so strange to me, especially since it has no inversions. It’s taken me years to finally get back up to PCC, but I think in the long run, it was better than I waited. GaleForce had a bad reputation early on, prior to it being totally re-tracked. Since then, I heard nothing but great things about the ride and that they changed the operations to send riders through twice. Even better!
Getting Sam Her 100th Credit
With the way I had planned our day, Sam would be heading into PCC sitting at 99 credits. We were going to jump on GaleForce immediately upon arrival for her 100th. Since Sea Serpent was still testing earlier when we left Morey’s Piers earlier, she was one credit behind the plan. It didn’t matter though. PCC has four coasters so we’d just need to ride one of them before GaleForce. We picked Wild Waves since it wraps around the blue S&S Sansei multi-launch coaster. We thought of it kind of like a teaser. It made sense in our heads, at least.
Wild Waves
Of all the rides we had ridden by this point in the day, Wild Waves had the longest line. It wasn’t bad by any means, but we had about a 15 minute wait before riding.
Looking at Wild Waves, we didn’t anticipate much from the ride. I even joked that it looks like it’s running on ladders and scaffolding. Well, looks are deceiving with this one. I had so many moments of airtime on this ride, some of it even had me standing. It was by far, the most surprising ride of the trip. If we had more time, I would have loved to have gotten back on it again. Since we have some leftover tickets, which do not expire, I’ll just have to make sure I get back up there again.
GaleForce
After ripping out 14 tickets for each person, we made our way to the ride we most wanted to experience on this trip. We placed all of our loose items into a rolling bin and boarded the train. And talk about an odd looking train… It felt like I was sitting on a large plastic tray. I can’t recall being on any other trains like it.
The seats and vest restraints were comfortable, but I am curious to why they are needed. After riding Steel Curtain at Kennywood, which is also made by S&S and inverts nine times, it leaves me wondering as to why. My best guess is ride restrictions mandated by the state of New Jersey.
Once the ride got going… wow! Simply, wow! This ride gave several moments of airtime and it yanks riders with attitude through its numerous twists and turns. And even though there are no inversions, this thing feels like it inverts to me. It has to be the closest you can come to inversions without being inverted. So on this one, I guess We Weren’t Inverted?
To me, the second time through the course is even better than the first. Sure, you don’t get the backward launching segment, but the rush of going right through the station and back up the tallest portion of the ride packs some serious intensity. We loved it so much, we rode it again.
Whirlwind
Hey, another SBF Visa spinning coaster! It was my third of the day and fourth of the week. This one, however, decided to spin Renee and I at a slow, steady pace for a good four of five rotations after we returned to the station. It was so disorienting even though the actual ride spinning was not. We both wanted it to stop, though. Renee felt ill after the ride and my head couldn’t take much more of it either. Thankfully, it came to an end and there were no more SBF spinning rides left on our agenda.
Pirates Gold Rush
Our final ride of the day took us a minute to find. All three of the coasters above are located within several feet of one another. Pirates Gold Rush was on the opposite end of the park and hidden behind some other rides. Thankfully adults could ride and we jumped on for our final ride of our stay at PCC.
The train before us had went around the wavy oval track three times. So when we were finishing up our third lap, we were surprised that we were sent through a fourth time. Then, a fifth time. We have no idea why. Maybe they couldn’t slow down the train with all of us on it? Too bad we didn’t get sent through a few extra times on GaleForce instead!
Final Ride Counts
GaleForce (2)
Pirates Gold Rush (1)
Whirlwind (1)
Wild Waves (1)
Lots of Rides in a Small Space
It’s been many years since my last PCC visit, so it was great getting to go back again. All the coaster credits I had prior to Thursday’s visit from PCC had since been removed. It’s been rare for me these last couple of years to get more than a single new credit when re-visiting a park. Getting four was great.
One thing I love about PCC is how much they’ve managed to cram into a small footprint. Just look at the photos of GaleForce, Wild Waves, and Whirlwind in the gallery below. You can’t get photos of one without the other, unless you’re zoomed in super tight. This does mean, however, that navigating some of the park’s walkways can be a little crowded. No complaints from us, though. Most of the crowd was parents watching their kids having the time of their lives. I’m sure there were a few future enthusiasts in that crowd, or current enthusiasts watching their kids ride some of their first coasters too. As Greg would say, “You love to see it.”
Playland's Castaway Cove Photo Gallery - June 24, 2021
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your non-commercial projects, feel free to do so. I ask that you credit We Were Inverted whenever they’re used. I also ask that you do not alter the image or remove the watermarks. If you need any images/video resized or without the watermarks, please contact me directly.
CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): GaleForce, Pirates Gold Rush, Whirlwind, Wild Waves
Sam
Admiral
New Credit(s): GaleForce, Pirates Gold Rush, Whirlwind, Wild Waves
Greg
Captain
New Credit(s): GaleForce, Pirates Gold Rush, Whirlwind, Wild Waves
Renee
Commander
New Credit(s): GaleForce, Pirates Gold Rush, Whirlwind, Wild Waves
