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Post by Robert on Nov 1, 2007 17:46:59 GMT -5
Is OC MD as bad as Wildwood in terms of motel demolitions, changing the look of the town with new buildings, etc? I know they're building tall condos like crazy along the beach lately. I know one motel, Nassau in OC was demoed for a condo. And I read that some older malls are coming down for condos, and some old restaurants vanished.
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Post by Brandon on Nov 1, 2007 18:24:12 GMT -5
Ocean city has been undergoing serious demolition issues for the past 5 years. It is crazy. It makes me not even want to visit anymore. All of my favorite hotels, restaurants, bars, hangouts entertainment etc have been bulldozed. Now, there are over 1700 condos which cannot be sold. Trimper's is the last gem of the city, which is why I value it so much. I know in Wildwood, one of my favorite breakfast places called Hawaiian Rumble was torn down sometime last year—really made me upset when I arrived for my summer vacation this past year. The skyline is changing in OC now more than ever. Originally, the only high-rises would be from like 100-120 streets. Now, the entire city consists of “tall” buildings. So much commercialism, so little value for what was once such a family-oriented town, now taken over by greed and money-hungry government officials.
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Post by plokoon111 on Nov 1, 2007 19:59:26 GMT -5
What are the proposing tall buildings? Any pictures of them? Even through im a darkride geek, Im also a skyscraper fan.
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Post by Robert on Nov 1, 2007 23:18:19 GMT -5
Oh man, that's bad. It sounds even worse than WW. If the last time I was in OC was July 2000, I wouldn't recognize it now, would I? I was only at OC twice, also in Aug 1988. I went to WW more, between 1980-1983 and 1995, 96, and 98. It seems all the major bulldozing/razing old buildings/building new bland condos in WW and OC MD happened post-9/11. Why did all the major resort beaches like WW, OC MD, and Myrtle Beach do this in the 2001 and up time period? What happened after 9/11 that caused down right greed and city/town wide destruction in these beach resorts?
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Post by Robert on Nov 1, 2007 23:23:21 GMT -5
Oh, I don't understand real estate, why are condos more valuable to developers than motels, restaurants, arcades, amusement parks, and mini golfs? Why take away family fun for a bunch of lookalike snob houses that cost millions? And how is Jolly Roger doing? Are they still hanging in there at 30th St. and do they still have their dark ride? I hope JR doesn't "sell out" considering the economic pressure to sell to a condo developer.
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Post by Brandon on Nov 2, 2007 7:56:08 GMT -5
The logic behind the greedy minds of developers is simple: If you can buy 3 acres of land for $2 million, and spend $5 million build condos on the property that are 4 units wide, and 4 units high (total of 16 units) (thus far, $7 million invested), then, you sell each unit for $700,000, you are building a net profit of $6,200,000. (of course, after all your other expenses are paid, it will be less). But you have to remember, you also risk a net profit of that much if the units do not sell. Even though a 100-year-old amusements park may be doing good business, if the property is worth around $75 million (like Trimper’s ) and a developer can build 200 units at $600,000 a piece, you do the math. Same thing is happening in Wildwood. When it comes to buckaroos, no one cares about personal value of property, its all business.
Jolly Roger is still there, but I think they are under enormous economic pressure. I know for a fact they have had many offers to see, but they still hang on. Being that I haven’t stepped foot in the park in over a decade, I am not sure if they still have a dark ride.
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Post by gary on Nov 2, 2007 10:16:49 GMT -5
JR's dark ride is awful. I've ridden it a couple times over the years. It's got to be down there on the list. I'd rather ride trimper's one more time than bother with the JR ride. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXfhx9Q0ZQE(exterior)
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Post by Brandon on Nov 2, 2007 10:41:07 GMT -5
What a joke. They think they can get an artist to air brush some nice artwork on the exterior and call it done. What a waste of people's time and money. They should be ashamed.
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Post by Brandon on Nov 2, 2007 10:43:18 GMT -5
Actually, my memory is coming back-- Aren't they calling this Morbid Manor #2 now? As if it were equal to or better than the original...
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Post by Robert on Nov 2, 2007 12:15:34 GMT -5
No, the one at the main JR park is called Nightmare Castle and is a one level trailer ride like the kind you would find at a fair or carnival. But, it has the heavy bang doors, the old-time "pretzel" feel and a few scary surprises. I consider it better than nothing. A bad dark ride is better than no dark ride at all. And, about the loss of OC landmarks, are the hotels still there like Carousel, Holiday Inn, Dunes Manor, Best Western, Quality Inn on the Boardwalk? I remember walking through one of the hotels on the boardwalk in Aug 1988, it was very old time vintage like 70's or whatever, I think it was Quality Inn when they had the yellow "sun" or "star" logo. We stayed at the Dunes Manor in 1988. We visited JR and they had a two level walk-through haunted house then. I rode the train ride as well. We drove past Trimper's but didn't stop. I was unaware there was a Haunted House, Pirate's Cove, or Morbid Manor back then until I read about them in a book about parks, a book with listings of parks across US, Canada, etc. with what attractions they had, etc. around 1996. In 2000, we stayed at the Hampton Inn and we did all the parks and dark rides plus the Haunted Mansion in Rehoboth Beach, DE on the way back staying overnight nearby an extra night in DE. I videoed all the dark rides. So, Frankenstein said "Get out of my house!" before going outside on the balcony, and it's no longer possible to hear that, or the booming voice saying "WATCH OUT FOR THE FALLING BEAM!"? Pirate's Cove was an excellent walk-through with all the original stunts plus some new additions in an era when parks remove them although more and more parks are having them on a temporary basis for Sept/Oct fright fests, HalloWeekends, etc. I liked the slanted room.
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Post by Robert on Nov 2, 2007 12:17:01 GMT -5
I remember the slanted rooms in Wildwood's Bill Tracy attractions the Crazy House on Fun Pier, burned Nov 1984, and Pirate Ship Skua on Hunt's Pier, removed early 1989.
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Post by Brandon on Nov 2, 2007 12:32:54 GMT -5
Thanks for bringing me uptodate with JR's darkride. I will make a point to stop there next year. Most of the classic hotels, like Dunes Manor, are still there. The smaller motels are the businesses that are suffereing. The "Get out of my house" sound was only used for a few years, and was actually Chris Trimper's voice. The falling beam, I believe, was Cliff's voice. I will look around in my archive and see what I can find for you.
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Post by Brandon on Nov 2, 2007 12:49:34 GMT -5
But, if I am not mistaken, Jolly Roger now owns the pier, so technically, they do have the Morbid Manor 2 ride. The one you are referring to may be in the original park on 30th...
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Post by Robert on Nov 2, 2007 21:23:55 GMT -5
The pier should have done it right and rebuilt Morbid Manor as a walk-through. Not some rip-off two minute ride. I rode the previous dark ride called Ghost and it sucked. I suppose they decided to replace Ghost with the new Morbid Manor ride. It looks bigger than Ghost. Whoever remembers the inside of the original Morbid Manor can you give a blow-by-blow description? There is a myspace page of the MM showing pictures of the exterior of the Manor. Looked like your classic 70's style haunted house like HH at Morey's Pier, etc. There is a movable one level haunted house with live actors in NJ called Haunted Manor, it was on Funtown Pier in Seaside the past four years excluding this year, this year it was in Vernon, NJ for October the uppermost northern section near NY State. It's the only "classic" walk-through left in NJ since Castle Dracula in Wildwood which burned.
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Post by Brandon on Nov 2, 2007 23:23:11 GMT -5
I faintly remember any aspects of the original Morbid. I just remember it was a good, quality walk-thru attraction. There are a few articles on my site in the articles section from when it burned down—what a sad day that was. The new Morbid Manor #2 has a new stunt outside every year—they lour you in with a quality Distortions stunt sitting out front in a protected facility—last year, it was the electric chair, year before it was a rocking nanny I believe. Anyway, I actually bought tickets to ride last year, and was heavily disgusted upon the exit. But, you are right. JR should just cough up the 100K (or probably less) and build a nice dark ride attraction that folks will remember. No one will remember a cheap ride, and if they do, it will be because of its unsatisfactory stunts and overall experience. Also, JR always seems to have many more games than rides anyway, it may just be my imagination though. JR’s Wild Mouse was just for sale on usedrides.com not long ago—I hope they are planning a new coaster to attract folks from Ocean Highway. From the road, nothing grabs people’s attention more than a towering coaster plummeting down to the Earth with a force that is all but gentle. Let us just wait and see…
By the way, I do remember a walkthrough dark attraction at JR back in the 80’s, early 90’s. I remember it was closed because of safety reasons for many years. By the time I went back to try to experience the attraction, it was gone and a kiddie ride was put in its place.
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Post by Robert on Nov 3, 2007 9:34:49 GMT -5
If you go south to VA Beach and Myrtle Beach they have walk-through haunted houses but not standalone, they are all built into existing buildings like shops, etc. VA Beach has Haunted Fun House, Nightmare Mansion, and Rockin' Rosie's Fun House. Myrtle used to have the Haunted Hotel dark ride at Pavilion Park from 1978-2006 but the park closed and moved and downsized and the dark ride was razed March 2007. The colored carts from the Haunted Hotel wound up on Ebay a while ago. I'm surprised the props didn't make it on there. so, Myrtle lost it's last and only traditional dark ride, now they just have 2 walkthroughs on the strip (Ripley's Haunted and Nightmare Haunted House) and the western shoot-up dark ride at the other park Family Kingdom which has the Swamp Fox coaster built in the 60's, the last old wood coaster on the eastern shore, except NY's Cyclone. Well, Morey's in Wildwood has the Great White but it was built in 1996. Hunt's Pier lost the Flyer in 1989 (built 1957) and Nickel's where the Castle Dracula was lost the wood coaster in fall 1984 (built 1919) Jack Rabbit/Dracula's Screem Machine. NJ only has 1 classic style walkthrough, the Haunted Manor which wasn't open this summer but open for October at Vernon, NJ. Morey's has a "tent" walkthrough on the old Fun Pier where the Great White is called Curse of the Mummy as well as the crappy Jersey Junkyard dark ride. Years ago, until 1984 Fun Pier had the Lost World dark ride, Bill Tracy Crazy House funhouse, and Castle Frankenstein walkthrough, and Jungleland boat ride which is now Morey's guest services building.
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Post by plokoon111 on Nov 3, 2007 11:22:14 GMT -5
Robert why do you always go off topic and state every darkride there is when were walking about walkthroughs in MD?
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Post by Brandon on Nov 3, 2007 22:36:13 GMT -5
Common and extensive knowledge of Dark Rides is fully welcome here. No comments are looked down upon or excluded. As full enthusiasts, no comments will be looked down upon or forbidden.
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