Wildwood Boardwalk — Attraction in Wildwood

Got to love Wildwood. Hard not to. I used to go to Seaside Heights often, but the place is terrible now. Or at least in my opinion, as it's family-oriented visitors have turned more into teens, some okay, but most are annoying, as parents let them roam around and do whatever they want. I've been there, as a teen myself, but I always respected other people were there. Some of these kids now are just every disrespectful, shoving, pushing, some even causing disruptions and fights.

But this is about Wildwood, not Seaside.

Coming from New York, it's a little further than most of the other Jersey Shore locations, being almost at the end of Jersey. But if you can avoid some of the traffic by traveling at the right time, it's not so bad.

Beaches tend to be crowded during the peak season, but there's always room if you don't mind sitting for the back. The last 2 years we went at the end of June, and they were busy. Again, it's okay if you don't mind sitting for the back.

During the really busy seasons, it is hard to get into the restaurants without a long wait time. My last visit, end of June of 2024, it was crowded, but not as bad as the prior, which was also the last week of June. While the beaches were somewhat crowded, it was not overbearing, and the restaurants were not that bad with the wait times (my way of judging how busy it is).

Boardwalk is always nice, good view, very long, and if you have kids you have three separate piers with rides. The staff manning the rides are not morons like some of these local pop-up carnivals that pop up here and there, with unsafe rides. I have a handicapped son, and 99% of the workers there where we accommodating when I needed to help get him on a ride, and then get off the ride so you can ride alone or with a friend or with a cousin or with a brother. There's usually one every season that is very strict about stuff, and I get it, he's trying to follow instructions. And I don't turn it into an argument, I just agree, and say "you re the boss".

The piers themselves give you a special pass if you have a handicapped child. This will allow you to bypass the extremely long lines that sometimes our present on these rides. While I get him the band, I don't always use it. I almost feel guilty having the other people on the line watching me go ahead of them. But my 15-year-old son doesn't understand that, you just wants to have fun, and If it was up to him he would wait on the line. Fact is, you just can't wait on the line that long. His handicap is physical, as well as part neurological, so it's hard to stand in line too long. He can probably tolerate about 15 minutes or so. Beyond that, we use the pass they so generously grant.

The water has always generally been good over there. Some rough days, some calm days. Irregardless, you always need to be careful. It only takes seconds to be pulled in by an under tow.

Tickets for rides... If you plan on going on rides on the three piers, you need tickets or a daily pass. The daily pass allows access to all the rides as much as you want on any of the three piers. If you just going for one day, and you plan on riding a lot of rides, it's well worth it. If you plan on spreading it amongst several days, you might be better off buying the largest quantity of tickets. The tickets can be used that week, any day, and has no expiration. And if you plan on returning, or come every year, the tickets I'll probably the better choice, because you can always use the day after. I get the largest amount of tickets, and I carry them over to the next year when I come back. Also helps if I need to get friend or cousin onto the ride with him, and they're going on the ride just to escort my son. While many of the right operators would not charge a ticket to get on as an escort to a handicap child, some do. So I have the extra tickets to use for them as well. With the daily band, you don't get that.

I've been going here for many years, and we'll continue to do so. If you've never been there, definitely a place...

This is hands down the best boardwalk in Jersey and my opinion the best one in the local few state area. Coming from Philly there are beaches much closer or for the same amount of time I could go to Maryland but I'm choosing Wildwood every time! They got rides some of which are crazy scary, went on one and was terrified, but they have more relaxed ones too, like a roller coaster, and even more kid friendly ones. The prices are outrageous for the amusement park. But the boardwalk is a decent size, u can walk it for some time. Which is great if u wanna spend hours there yet for food, clothes and other things you'd need but don't wanna walk far, they're all over. Parking can be expensive most ranging about 40 for the day, or 25 for a few hours. They play good music, are very patriotic and stop everything for the national anthem and even have an amazing fireworks show Friday nights. I absolutely loved it! It's pretty safe, they have alot of cops and they're not from what I've seen bullying the tourists, they seem to only be as needed/called, which is good and I wish was more the case everywhere. Great bars with live music, allot of people, right on in my opinion the best beach on the upper east coast. Monster truck, convention center usually holding events, tons of v all types of foods from Cheeseteaks to Polish water ice (which blew my mind how good it was and I don't even like water ice), to funnel cakes, pierogi, pizza, you name it they got it. My flip flop broke they got more, I got burnt, got aloe, it's all there and the classic Wildwood tram car which we all know is annoying unless you are on it! 😆 They got sights, showers, restrooms. They got a curfew for underage kids and is great for adults trying to have fun without children. I had a blast and can not wait to come...

Our first visit to the Wildwood Boardwalk in NJ was so much fun! We had previously visted the Ocean City (NJ) boardwalk and wanted to try a new place. It didn't disappoint! My husband and I visited on a weekday around 10am. The crowds didn't really pick up until about 11am. Compared to the Ocean City (NJ) boardwalk, Wildwood comes out on top when it comes to rides. They have 2 full waterparks and numerous amusement rides for thrill seekers of all ages. There were several rides that small children could enjoy even though the skyline is dominated by extreme rides at Morey's Piers - their coasters would rival 6 Flags or Kings Dominion. You purchase tickets for the rides you want to go on so you don't have to pay admission. I liked being able to walk around to see the rides even if I wasn't going to ride.

There is a tram you can ride up and down the boardwalk for a fee - be careful to stay out of the tram lane. (The tram announces when they are coming to alert visitors.)

You can ride bikes on the boardwalk only during set hours. (I think it was until noon - after that, no bikes, most likely due to the crowds.) We couldn't figure out the rules for where to walk to avoid the bikes - no matter where we were we had bikers dinging their bells behind us to ask us to move out of the way, and very few would yield to pedestrians who were trying to cross to the other side of the boardwalk. That was annoying.

If you are planning on visiting the beach - there is a SIZEABLE walk between the boardwalk and the ocean compared to Ocean City (NJ) boardwalk. Be prepared to haul your chairs quite a long way.

Plenty of bathrooms - large parking lots made it easy to park near the boardwalk.

Plenty of food and souvenir...