Longtime readers know of my love affair with Wildwood, New Jersey. Everything about that place warms me, but people don't go to Wildwood for anything other than its famous 2.5 mile long boardwalk, home to hundreds of shops, arcades, carnival games and rides. Realizing that those unfamilar will have a hard time envisioning what I'm about to describe, I drew up a handy diagram:

Speaking generally, the long boardwalk is where all of the games, restaurants and arcades are. If you're looking for 99 cent stores or an Orange Julius, that's where you go. The piers are where the rides are kept, and most of the piers run by different companies, each with different rides and a distinct flavor. Some of the piers have had different owners through the years, each bringing new ideas and visions for what Jersey shore vacationers would be willing to blow money on. Over the course of the last half of a century, this setup has meant that Wildwood has cycled through hundreds upon hundreds of rides -- probably ten times as many as Disney World has ever hosted.

Trying to sum up decades of history as quickly as I can, a company purchased a flailing pier in the 1990s, hoping to reinvent it and reinvigorate profits. Up until that point, the boardwalk's piers were just areas with random rides that didn't fall under any set "theme." This particular mystery company had something different in mind. Riding the popularity wave of hot dinosaur action set by Jurassic Park and its sequel, a new pier sprung from the abyss and promised to put thrill-seekers face to face with terra cotta dinosaur statues.

Yes, in 1996, the doors opened to Wildwood's newest pier...Dinosaur Beach! The pier only lasted for two years and never managed to become much more than a point-and-laugh-at business venture, but as an eternal dinosaur lover, I was down to party.

There were very few new rides at Dinosaur Beach. Instead, they just kept whatever was leftover by the pier's previous owners and refurbished existing attractions with a dinosaur theme. Since we Wildwood fans are mostly purists who hate seeing the town evolve, I was happy to see some of the rides of my childhood get a second shot at the spotlight.

The "Long Neck Log Flume" and "Raptor Rapids" had each existed at the pier for over a decade prior to Dinosaur Beach's debut. All the new company did was fix the leaks, paint the walls and add prehistoric-looking foliage. This may seem cheap, but it had its appeal. Like when your family paints over its hideous '80s wallpaper -- you're happy that they finally got around to doing that, but you're also happy that you can feel the floral wallpaper print beneath those fresh coats of burnt sienna. Not the kind of analogy that I'd seek a trophy for, but I hope it makes sense.

"Raptor Rapids" was originally known as "Rampaging Rapids." That ride opened in 1985, tucked away at the far end of the pier, almost over the ocean. It was probably the first real water ride I ever went on. Changing time and time again as new owners took control of the pier, the Dinosaur Beach version added a bunch of raptor statues that threatened to bite any rafters stupid enough to drift too close.

The final ride pictured above was one of Dinosaur Beach's only truly custom experiences. "Escape From Dinosaur Beach" was a dark ride in which passengers rode in little safari jeeps through parts unknown, fending off gigantic audio-animatronic dinosaurs along the way. Strangely, the ride looked pretty lame from the outside; you'd never know just how nuts it was inside from looking at the ride facade. Ride facades = the ride "fronts" that you see when deciding which one to spend tickets on. Facades were beyond important in Wildwood, and with something better than a couple of steel walls and signage, maybe "Escape From Dinosaur Beach" could've helped the burgeoning pier survive for longer than thirty-three hours.

Dinosaur Beach didn't have many rides compared to the more popular boardwalk piers, and of those I'm not mentioning, most were just regular fare not at all relating to dinosaurs. And not very good ones, for the most part. As cool as I'm finding the dino theme in retrospect, it was far from a grace during the pier's heyday. Older riders wrote it off as a kids-only park, but many kids were scared off by the thought of giant dinosaurs attacking the merry-go-round. Fortunately for the mystery owners of Dinosaur Beach, they had a little ace in their pocket called "The Golden Nugget."

(side view) - (from a mile away view)
The Golden Nugget has a rich history on the Wildwood boardwalk. It was built in the 1960s and survived several different owners to become one of Wildwood's most cherished attractions. Growing up, it was always the first ride on my list, and was usually the only ride I went on more than once during a trip. Kind of a mix between a roller coaster and a dark ride, you'd sit in tiny carts that zipped through caves filled with spooky animatronics (mangy gold diggers, skeletons and the like), with special bonuses like a spinning crystal cavern that made passengers feel like they were riding upside-down. It was basically a combination of sights, props and tricks from every dark ride you've ever been on, put to an old Western theme.

Best of all was a sequence where your cart rolled around a little track on top of the Nugget, offering breathtaking views of the boardwalk at large from the most desolate, quietest spot possible. My friends and I once vowed to break in at night and sleep up there. Never got around to it, but I guess we still could: The Golden Nugget still stands today, in the same exact spot. It's not active and probably needs a lot of work to get that way, but Wildwood purists aren't giving up hope that somehow, someway...the Nugget will ride once more.

When Dinosaur Beach opened, the Golden Nugget remained one of the pier's top rides...only now, dinosaur props had replaced some of the ride's visuals. Where strange statues of miners chipping away at fake rocks once stood, now passengers got to snap photos of nondescript upright dinosaurs who squawked like crows. Though much of the Nugget's original innards remained intact, longtime fans of the ride took a figurative shit on all the changes Dinosaur Beach implemented. To be honest, it never really bothered me. Adding raptors and tiny Triceratopsesesess to a display of old Western skeletons playing the piano is the kind of insane dichotomy that makes me tick.

So what happened to Dinosaur Beach? It's currently owned by the Morey's company folks, who nearly have a monopoly on Wildwood amusement rides these days. They haven't done much with the pier in recent years -- it's mainly there for storage space, save for a few go-kart tracks, and the aforementioned standing-but-dead Golden Nugget ride.

Dinosaur Beach opened almost in sync with The Lost World's theater debut. But fads that come from movies are short-lived, and by 1998, dinosaurs were far from the cultural icons they had been even just a year prior. With a dead theme, not enough rides and severe money troubles, Dinosaur Beach closed up shop forever, living on only in small online tributes and the occasional search through archive.org for remnants of its 1997 website.

Wildwood's ride history is pretty fascinating, and if you're interested in learning more about its fallen fun times, I suggest checking out Mr. Boardwalk and Fun Chase, mainly because I stole a few images from them to make this post.

Might seem like a weird thing to write about, but as this site is mainly a collection of the pieces of me, I put it up proudly and buy Ashlee Simpson's #1 hit from iTunes without a trace of irony.

Posted by Matt on 06/27/2007. E-mail me!