Joe's Playland — Attraction in Salisbury

This was my first time ever going to this place. I did feel that the beach left some things to be desired - the human architecture encroaches so close to the ocean at many points that there was little beach at all at high tide. The ocean floor appeared level for the first couple meters, then dropped suddenly - creating a fairly powerful undertow (or perhaps caused by it) - then leveled out again and stayed about chest height on me (I am 5' 6") for about a meter, then gradually leveled deeper. Once past the drop point my fears of this beach not being very swimmer-friendly abated quite thoroughly. The sand was fairly grainy and not the best, but really not anything to complain about haha. There were not too many rocks, which I did find as a positive.

There is a setup for live music, which I am told is almost always playing, close to the beach and at the beginning of "boardwalk," I am about to tell you describe for you. The music was ok. Two different bands played. The second band, I am told frequents that stage, was much better than the first that played.

It was very crowded and not just on the beach. The entire area behind the beach is a boardwalk made on concrete. There are lines of food places and two giant arcade buildings, one owning to either side of the street and at opposite ends, but belonging to the same company. I felt that the arcade being split up and in two buildings at opposite ends of the "boardwalk," was a rather clever idea. I realize that such an arrangement probably maximizes the likelihood of highest consumer spending by having to walk past all the different vendors and shops to get from one arcade building to the other. And, of course, you can't check out just one of the arcade buildings haha; I otherwise don't think human nature, in most cases, would be satisfied - especially not if you were there for the arcade. So you are "forced" to walk past everything there is to offer - which is not necessarily a bad thing, depending on your personal circumstances or personality.

Most of the food places were open-stalled vendors. There were at least two family-owned businesses too - I highly recommend the pizza from Tripoli Pizza and Bakery; my favorite was the cheese, extra cheese, with swiss - you'll understand when you stop by there. There were also a couple slushy places, what appeared to be a high-end restaurant/event house on one of the HUGE docks out on the beach, overlooking the ocean; maybe another eat-in restaurant (there is so much there I couldn't take it all in in one visit), at least one gift shop and one ice cream place, not to mention the arcade buildings. I recommend Google searching what businesses are at Salisbury Beach if you are really interested in a more complete and informative listing.

I mentioned earlier that I find the two arcade buildings located as they are, relative to one another, to be clever. However, I found I liked that set-up, disregarding that it is probably meant as a sales tactic. I could be wrong about that.

Both arcade areas were absolutely STOCKED with games! Some games I never thought I'd see again from my childhood years, and games of ALL DIFFERENT kinds! It was incredibly overwhelming - kind of the feeling you got as a young kid on Christmas morning and being in an airport mashed together somehow haha. I found my favorite, air hockey, on the second floor of the arcade closest to the beach area, along with pool tables and a couple pinball machines and traditional arcade games spattered about. The first floor of that building was a jungle of everything from skee ball to Galaga, to shooting or racing games, slots, claw drops, and so many other games and types of games. Picture booths too. The other arcade building, closer to the parking lot, has only one floor and it was much like the first floor of the one I've already described for you.

This is an overwhelming, money-eating, incredibly fun, and wonderfully unique place. I recommend spending a day there at least once. Oh! Can’t forget the fireworks at the end of the day!

I wish I had...

I was at Salisbury Beach tonight and felt like an ice cream sundae, didn’t want to contend with a tall ice cream cone and thought ice cream in a cup would be better. Looking at the menu, I felt the prices were high, but chose to order a salted caramel sundae for nearly $10. I got my sundae which was made with the ice cream very tall and the base surrounded in whipped cream. As I was trying to catch the whipped cream as it was falling down the sides of the cup, the tall ice cream tower began to topple back and forth causing a huge mess. Long story short, it was mush at the bottom where the hot fudge (on a salted caramel sundae??) mixed with the caramel sauce, I couldn’t taste the caramel at all and there was no way I could enjoy this thing. I brought it back to them and went home to take a shower as my hands were sticky, the sauce was dripping down my leg, it was so messy that it got in my sandal and the stickiness between my foot and the sandal felt disgusting. Nearly ten dollars for soft serve ice cream down the drain. It brought my fun night to a...

Took the kids to Joe’s Playland today and had the worse experience ever. My son and daughter went to play Space Invaders and the game ate their swipe. When they went to talk to the older gentleman to get the play back, he was very rude and ensured that the game was “working as intended” and shrugged his shoulders, stating that he’s worked in there for 30+ years and has never had an issue. Well, we go to the kiosk to check the card history and bam, there’s a charge for Space Invaders that we didn’t get to play. I don’t know about you, but when a place gets stingy over $1 and doesn’t care about the customer (regardless of the proof!!), then you can clearly tell that they’re in it just for the $$$… Really poor...