Putting Surfside Pier Away
The end of another amazing summer season is always sad. This means no more beach days, no more boardwalk nights, and no more screaming from the Great Nor’Easter.
While many people find it sad to see things close up, I find it extremely interesting.
Unlike places like Walk Disney World and Universal Studios which are open year-round, here in New Jersey most amusement parks pack it in for the winter.
For all of their existence, Morey’s Piers have been closing down after Columbus day and put their rides into winter storage. This involves a ton of work as they remove ride parts or wrap ride sections to keep them from corroding.
Morey’s Piers has such an interesting way of doing it compared to places like Hershey Park, Kennywood, Dorney Park, and more.
In the video below at the bottom of this article, we show you how Morey’s Piers is Surfside Pier away for the season. [Be sure to subscribe before you watch]
What makes having an amusement park in a beach town is the fact you have two things to worry about in the off-season, freezing snow and salt air.
Amusement parks like Hershey Park also have a closing system but theirs doesn’t have to be as broken down due to them being so far away from the ocean.
Morey’s Piers has a few steps on getting their piers buttoned up.
One thing to keep in mind is that both of the Waterparks are closed up earlier in the season. We touched on the Raging Waters closing in our Mariner’s Pier closing video. Click the link below to watch that video.
Morey’s Piers Closing Day Recap 2022
The first step is removing all benches and trash cans and cleaning them. They get stored in a few different locations on the piers.
Next, they go to each ride and remove the ride vehicles.
Morey’s Piers has a unique storage facility that others do not. A few decades ago they purchased the old Dino Beach pier, aka Hunt’s Pier, and built a few storage buildings.
They move most of their ride vehicles including coaster trains, teacups, tilt cars, and more into this building.
For parts that they do not plan on moving, such as the Kanga Bounce ride cars, they have a plastic wrap that goes on top of it. That plastic is then heated to create a shrink-wrap effect on the ride. This protects the paint and the metal from the show and salt.
One of the last steps they due to protect the rides is to tie them down.
Rides such as “IT” and “Kong,” have parts that would move in strong winds. Morey’s take heavy steel cables and tie them down.
Rides like the Giant Wheel have some of their cars removed to allow as much wind through.
At this time, Morey’s is on to the step where they are removing the ride vehicles from the piers. There is one ride this year that nightly be completely removed for the off-season.
Let’s give you a tour in the video below.