NJ Amusement Parks are Open

Spring is a good time to visit amusement parks. Online discounts, shorter lines, and cool weather make it an enjoyable trip for the whole family.

Six Flags Great Adventure is home to 11 roller coasters, including the menacing, 45-story-tall green Kingda Ka coaster, the towering wooden El Toro, and the latest addition, a stand-up coaster called The Green Lantern. Attendance is lightest on any regular operating day during the months of April, May, and June. Great Adventure’s NEW SkyScreamer, an extreme swing ride, will twirl its passengers upward to its 24-story pinnacle and spin them up to 40 miles per hour. SkyScreamer will be the centerpiece of a cluster of new family-focused rides placed in the park’s Adventure Alley: SkyScreamer, a flying elephant ride, music-themed scrambler, and bumper car attraction will encircle the park’s giant Ferris wheel. The Wild Safari opens at 9am, an hour and a half before the theme park. The drive-thru Wild Safari takes approximately one hour. The animals in the Wild Safari are more active in the morning. They tend to find shade and cool places during the heat of the day.

Jenkinsons’s Boardwalk is located at the heart of the Jersey Shore in Point Pleasant Beach, approximately an hour and one half drive from Ridgewood, NJ. The amusement park will be open from now until Memorial Day on the weekends with limited rides (mostly kiddie rides) open. For hours, please check the Ride Schedule. For pictures of the rides, visit the rides gallery. While you are there, Jenkinson’s Aquarium offers a display of such marine wildlife as alligators, coral reefs, penguins, Atlantic and Pacific sharks, seals, sea stars and stingrays, as well as educational exhibits for people of all ages. It’s open year-round and closes only for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.