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.
Although I already knew I would fail at my Quest for 399 during my stop at Casino Pier in Part 4, I still wanted to see if I could make it to Steel Pier in Atlantic City to end my evening with 398 credits. I had one problem, however. I had no idea if I’d be able to make it in time before Steel Pier closed for the night. Their website showed the park opening at noon, but featured no closing time. Google listed the park as closing at 9 p.m. My GPS had me arriving at 8:38 p.m. leaving from Fantasy Island. That was cutting it close. I decided to take my chances and get on the road.
During the hour long drive, I did try calling the park a few times. No one ever picked up. Thankfully I was able to shave a few minutes off the drive time and I arrived just before 8:30 p.m. Parking required me to download an app and I was a couple blocks away. Life was throwing everything at me this day, I tell you.
I made my way over to Steel Pier as quickly as possible and then things got even more interesting.
So Much Confusion
Thankfully there was no one at the ticket booth. I always pick the lines where someone has 25 questions, even at parking booths going into parks. Just ask Sam and Greg. Anyhow, I asked the woman in the booth if I could have enough tickets to ride both coasters. Loco Motion was the credit I needed, but I figured I’d jump on Crazy Mouse too. That’s when she scared me.
“Two coasters? We only have one,” she said.
“Did you remove one?” I asked.
I figured I might have run into more bad luck like I did back and Jenkinson’s Boardwalk in Part 3. The thing is, I saw Crazy Mouse running as I approached the park, so if they did indeed remove a coaster, it would have been Loco Motion.
At that point I was asked if I was talking about another ride. I said no and it’s listed on their site. I pulled up and showed her the listing for Loco Motion.
“Oh, the kiddie coaster,” she replied.
I said yeah and that I’m a coaster nerd and like to ride them all. I asked if adults were allowed to ride and she said yes. I bought my tickets and made a bee line to Loco Motion. I didn’t have much time.
It Gets Worse, Almost
When I walked up to Loco Motion, I didn’t see anyone working the ride. It was parked in the station and appeared to be closed. I’m not going to lie, I was a little upset. If the ride was closed, you’d think they’d mention it when I asked about riding it at the ticket booth. I went and rode Crazy Mouse and then began to film a vlog recapping the horrible ending to my night. Then I saw her!
Sitting on the front of the Loco Motion train was a female staff member. I walked up and asked her if the ride was closed. She said it was just down waiting for someone from maintenance to come and fix something. There was hope, but there was also only a few minutes left before 9 p.m. That’s when I got more good news. I asked her if she thought they’d even bother fixing since they were closing soon. She said yeah.
“Yeah, we’re open until midnight,” she said.
I was stunned. I told her that I thought they closed at 9 p.m. and thanked her making my night. From there I deleted all my vlog videos and redid them with the proper information. About an hour later, after another slice of pizza on the day, I was getting credit 398. Here’s a recap of both coasters:
Crazy Mouse
I rode Crazy Mouse one time prior to this visit, all the way back in 1999 when it debuted at the park. I was with my friend Tracy and we rode the coaster in a light drizzle. I can’t say I had been on many spinning mouse coasters back then, but I’ve been on quite a few since.
Speaking of spinning, I had already done my fair share of it throughout the day with all the SBF Visa spinners. This one, however, I find much more enjoyable even though it’s not as pretty to look at. And speaking of not pretty, someone please apply some new upholstery to this ride’s seats. They’ve seen better days and are ripped to shreds.
Loco Motion
And then there was Loco Motion. I didn’t even know this coaster was also made by SBF Visa until I got home to add it to my credit listing. That meant I got four new credits on Saturday and all four were from the same manufacturer. Just imagine if Xolo Loca at Casino Pier had been open. I would have gotten all five credits and all five, SBF’s. I might have had to change up the series title here to the “SBF Quest.”
All kidding aside, I kept checking out the ride from a distance to see if anyone was getting on or if it was testing. All I saw was the same female who I talked to earlier sitting in the front car. I was hoping I wasn’t going to have to wait around for hours to ride it. That’s when I went up to get an update. As I approached she motioned to me that the ride was up and ready. I told her I didn’t realize it since no one rode it since I asked the first time. After my ride, however, kids started running into the queue. I think it was the loud train whistle sound effect that drew them to the ride. Like me, everyone probably thought it was down.
Kudos to the staff member working Loco Motion Saturday night. I didn’t get her name, but thank you for being so kind and chatting with me during the ride’s downtime. It’s the little things like that which turn an experience from good to great, or in this case, worrisome to relieved.
Final Ride Counts
Crazy Mouse (1)
Loco Motion (1)
Out of the Weeds... Sorta
Once I filmed my off-ride footage of Loco Motion, it was time to head out of the park and get my butt back home. It was 10 p.m. so I’d be getting home around 12:30 a.m. Thankfully, Greg gave me a call and we talked about my experiences and coasters in general for a bit.
As for the park, aside from the confusion and worry, this is a park that I’d recommend visiting for the credit, but maybe do so during the day. Your feelings will vary here, but Atlantic City isn’t your typical beach town. It’s literally like a city right off the ocean. There is of course, the casinos and gambling aspect going on all around. One thing I did notice during my visit, from the moment I parked, to the moment I left, was the abundance of weed being smoked everywhere out in open. I don’t smoke, but it sure did smell like I do when I got back in my car to end the night.
My saying this has nothing to do with the park or its operations at all. I only mention it in case you plan on taking little ones with you, or you, yourself, are not fond of such things. The park itself has some fun attractions in addition to the coasters and is worth the visit. You can even take a helicopter ride at the end of the pier.
Casino Pier is easily one of the best parks to pair up with some other nearby beach parks. Not only do you have the ones I visited during this Quest for 399 series, but parks like Playland’s Castaway Cove, Gillian’s Wonderland Pier, and Morey’s Pier are to the south. All three of those were featured in the Jersey Days series from late June. And if you’re with little ones, you owe it to yourself to visit Storybook Land, which is only 20 minutes away. You have to love how many coasters and different small parks operate throughout Jersey!
With that, I conclude the Quest for 399, falling one credit short of my goal. I do have two options at two different Scene75 locations in Ohio I can grab before going to Kings Island for number 400 on Orion. And guess what? They’re both SBF Visa spinners. Of course they are!
Casino Pier 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): Loco Motion
