With a trip to Kings Island planned for mid-October, my aim is to make Orion my 400th credit. In order to do so, however, I needed to secure five credits before the trip. My plan was to do a quick tour through New Jersey and visit three never before visited beach parks. Knowing I could run into a ride closure along the way, however, I had three locations on stand by where I could make up a credit if needed. Did I have to use any of those back ups? Did I meet my goal? Find out in my Quest for 399.
After my stop at iPlay America to ride Freedom Rider, it was onto my next stop, Jenkinson’s Boardwalk. Jenkinson’s was on my initial list of three stops, along with Keansburg Amusement Park and Fantasy Island. Only needing five total credits, my hope was to grab the two at Keansburg, the two at Jenkinson’s, and grab the lone credit at Fantasy Island. As you know, if you read Part 1, I missed the first two credits at Keansburg, which had me stop at iPlay. I had my fingers crossed that the rest of the trip would go according to plan. Jenkinson’s, however, threw me a strange curve ball.
2 Credits? Nope! Just 1
After parking along the street, I approached the park and saw Tidal Wave making the rounds. That was one of the two coasters I needed, so that was good. I began shooting some photos from the road and filmed a few vlog segments for the upcoming Jenkinson’s Boardwalk vlog on the We Were Inverted YouTube channel.
Once I entered the park, I decided to walk around and get the lay of the land. I took some photos and filmed some more footage. While doing so, however, I noticed something strange. By the bumper cars a huge area of ripped up boardwalk laid right next to the train tracks. I filmed it and wondered if the park was doing some repair work to the boards. I then moved on to find the park’s second coaster, Tornado.
As I continued to walk around, I couldn’t find Tornado for the life of me. I pulled up Roller Coaster Database (RCDB) on my phone to view some photos of the ride. I figured I might be able to see another ride in the area to help me pinpoint its location. Little did I know, I had already found it and even filmed it. That’s right, the ripped up boardwalk was where Tornado once stood.
The weird thing about the situation was, on Saturday the ride was still listed on the park’s website. It also appeared on the ride selection at the ticket booths around the park. It was even still listed as active on RCDB .
It wasn’t until I asked the guy working the ticket booth, that I learned that the ripped up boardwalk was the former home of Tornado. He told me it was taken out earlier this year and the park plans to replace it was a coaster of a similar size. Bummer! Looks like another back up location would be needed to secure my five credits in the Quest for 399.
Tidal Wave
With just one coaster to claim, I made my way over to Tidal Wave and jumped in line. Over the last two years I’ve added quite a few SBF Visa spinners to my credit list, but this was the first to feature this layout. RCDB lists the model number as MX62 v5.0. Only five installations of model exist, with a sixth set to open soon. During the upcoming trip to Ohio for Kings Island, I will be stopping at Scene75 in Dayton, which features another one of these models named Tsunami.
This layout, for me, was more fun than the figure eight models. While it was a little more jerky in some transitions, I preferred the drop and dips to the curves and straight portions of the figure eights. I also didn’t spin a ton, which was fine by me. I did get to go down the drop forward, backward, and partial sideways during my ride, though. That was more enjoyable that spinning for me.
When I add my new credits from this trip to my favorites list, Tidal Wave will certainly place higher on the list than its figure eight cousins. This one also featured on board photo systems, which I’d never seen before on an SBF Visa spinner. That being said, however, it did appear that the system was non-operational with cameras missing and the photo booth closed.
Final Ride Counts
Tidal Wave (1)
A Reason to Re-Visit
With a possible replacement for Tornado making its way to Jenkinson’s at some point in the future, I will be keeping tabs on the park’s social media accounts. A few of my fellow flight crew members will surely want to visit these parks in the future, so hopefully when that happens there will be another coaster for me to experience.
In my brief visit to Jenkinson’s, I will say that this is one of those spots that is perfect for kids and families. There are lots of tamer flat rides with intensity levels equal to, or less than what you find on Tidal Wave. There is plenty to do around the park as well, including the beach, boardwalk, games, and a few blocks away, an aquarium. I didn’t have time for those, but I’d love to visit the aquarium. Hopefully it will be something I can make time for in the future.
If you’re an enthusiast, Jenkinson’s is worth a stop, especially if you’re going to be in the area. It is only a 30-35 minute drive from Casino Pier at Seaside Heights too. You’d have plenty of time to do both parks if you’re if you’re staying in the region.
Pulling Out All the Backups
Now that I was out three of my planned credits between Keansburg and Jenkinson’s, I was forced to go to my back up options once again. The thing is though, I’d have to plug in two of them in hopes to achieve my goal of getting five credits on the day. I was sitting at two coasters between iPlay and Jenkinson’s. Fantasy Island offers just one, so that would give me just three on the day unless.
With Casino Pier not too far away, I put into GPS and was on my way. I also knew in the back of my mind, after visiting Fantasy Island, I also had to head to Steel Pier in Atlantic City. Both locations had one credit I could claim, which would give me my five. Hopefully I had the time to make this all happen.
Jenkinson's Boardwalk Photo Gallery - September 25, 2021
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your commercial and/or 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): Tidal Wave
