Tuesday, April 2, 2013

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, NJ

Some rides reopen, but submerged roller coaster still main attraction in Seaside Heights


Erin O'Neill/The Star-Ledger
Jessica Larsen, 18, steers around a right hand bend in the go-kart track in Seaside Heights today.

from:  The Star-Ledger
By Erin O'Neill/The Star-Ledger
April 01, 2013
Jessica Larsen gripped the steering wheel of her go-kart today in Seaside Heights as she powered out of a tunnel and navigated around a right hand bend.
 The 18-year-old enjoyed the track enough to prompt a second spin behind the wheel. But on Easter weekend in any other year, she would have been soaring above the Atlantic Ocean on one of her favorite rides: Casino Pier’s Skyscraper, which spins thrill seekers as fast as 70 miles per hour while lifting them more than 160 feet into the air.
“We’d also be on the boardwalk and the beach,” she said.
But Hurricane Sandy destroyed the famous boardwalk and shuttered the amusement park. So Larsen, a Pennsylvania resident who visits the seashore resort every Easter with family, took advantage of what was available.
The go-kart track reopened this weekend as Casino Pier held its annual ticket sale. Though only tickets for the water park and go-karts were available, Lou Cirigliano, the director of operations at Casino Pier, said the sale was “at least a signal that we’re making steps back. It may be baby steps.”
 
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Erin O'Neill/The Star-Ledger
The Jet Star roller coaster still sits submerged in the Atlantic Ocean more than five months after Hurricane Sandy.

For now, the Jet Star roller coaster remains the main attraction in town. Dozens of people gathered behind yellow caution tape on Sheridan Avenue today to catch a glimpse of the partially-submerged ride.
 Along Ocean Terrace, shop owners and game operators have set up makeshift booths to do business. As Vinny Scuzzese worked at one of those booths, he said “it’s something until the boardwalk is back in operation.”
read more at:
http://www.nj.com/ocean/index.ssf/2013/03/seaside_heights_casino_pier_sandy.html

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