W O N D E R L A N D

We made a long drive to the Jersey Shore to visit Gillian's Wonderland Pier, a small amusement park that is slated to close after this season, which ends in a few weeks. It has one roller coaster, a Wacky Worm (first extra), and several children's rides. We rode the monorail, 1926 carousel, log flume, and dark ride.

Nearby is Playland's Castaway Cove, which we visited in 2022. Then, its star attraction, GaleForce (second extra), was closed. It was open this time, and we still had 10 tickets from that first visit. GaleForce is 14 tickets to ride, but there's also a GaleForce pass, which is $10 for one ride (tickets are $1 each). So we bought four tickets and the pass.

It's a fun ride. It has incredible airtime in the hills. There's one pretty rough spot at the bottom of a drop toward the end, but that's the only bad spot. The ride launches three times (forward, backward, forward) and then cycles through the whole circuit twice, the second time faster than the first.

GaleForce was my 425th coaster.