AT: Pam Sherborne

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N.J. — Jenkinson’s Boardwalk may be 91 years old this year, but management there has learned to keep up with the times as well as the trends by trying to add new visitor experiences every year.  

This year, visitors to the family-owned and operated park will experience three new rides, a spinning coaster 5.0 called the Tidal Wave by SBF-Visa Group, a new Fun Slide by Frederiksen Industries and a Pirate Jet, another SBF-Visa ride. 

The Tidal Wave opened at the end of April, greeting its first riders during the Easter weekend. 

“The Fun Slide has already been operating. The Pirate Jet is still on the water. We are expecting that to arrive in two weeks.” said owner Anthony Storino. “The Fun Slide is already operating and the Pirate Jet is still on the water. We are expecting that to arrive the first week of May.”

When the Pirate Jet does arrive, it will have to be constructed and then undergo the state of New Jersey’s comprehensive inspection and certification process. 

Len Soled, Rides 4 U, who represents SBF-Visa in the U.S., said the New Jersey process is one of the toughest in the country, but Storino feels the process for the Pirate Jet will most likely be less complicated than it has been for the coaster.  

Soled said state engineers “do their due diligence” and then the rides are inspected by state inspectors. 

“The spinning coaster 5.0 passed with flying colors,” he said. 

According to Soled, the coaster purchased by Storino was exhibited at his booth at last November’s International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) trade show.

“This was the prototype,” Soled said. “Right after the show, it was delivered to the park. It was set up in December. Then, in the last few weeks, we put the cars on the track. SBF-Visa flew someone in from Italy to help with the engineering. Then, we had it inspected.”

On April 16, Storino said his crew was doing their own training and testing to get the ride open over Easter weekend when Jenkinson’s Boardwalk begins full time operations.

“I had seen the SBF-Visa’s smaller spinning coaster, but I wanted something a little bigger and with one more car,” Storino said. 

That is exactly what he got. 

“Since space is at a premium here, the ride needed to be set in the same footprint as our Flitzer by Zierer. We traded that one in to Len,” he said.

The Zierer ride had been operating in the park for 20 years. 

“It took four people to operate it and, with the rising cost of labor, it was just time to change it out,” Storino  said.

Soled said the spinning coaster 5.0 is 35 feet tall from the ground to the top of the cars. Jenkinson’s ride has five cars which hold four riders each. 

“The coaster comes with very ornate LED lighting,” Soled said. “There are lights on the tracks and on the cars.

“Another nice thing about this ride is that it is tall enough to be a great family coaster, but not too tall to be intimidating,” he said.

Press releases have been released to the Jenkinson’s Boardwalk regional marketing area about the park’s new rides. Special events tied to the Tidal Wave are in the works.

“We actually are trying to get some locally-known surfers to come out here for an event sometime in mid-June,” Storino said. 

Storino said they do have to get creative with space when adding new attractions. They were able to find a little extra space on the park grounds for one of the other new rides. For the third new ride, they did another trade out. 

“We have taken our Zamperla Samba balloon ride into maintenance,” he said. “We plan to do some refurbishment to that ride and bring it back out in 2020.”

Along with Jenkinson’s amusement park area, which now has 28 rides, Jenkinson’s Boardwalk offers an array of other attractions and entertainment. Some of those include Jenkinson’s Aquarium, Adventure Lookout Ropes Course, several arcade centers, midway-type games, batting cages, a 7D dark ride, a fun house, full service restaurants and concession stands,  miniature golf and a beach area.

•jenkinsons.com

This article appears in the MAY 2019 issue of Amusement Today.
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