Growing up along the Jersey Shore, I grew up with the boardwalk. To me the boardwalk is funnel cake, pizza, carnival games, and rides. It’s walking along the shore, feeling the ocean breeze, as you spend quality time with friends and family. I have fond memories as a child, walking along with my parents and begging to go on the rides and play the games. I remember it as a teenager, sharing funnel cake, ice cream, and other “forbidden fruits” as we had fun, parent free. Wildwood, has one of the the longest and best boardwalks. So I was excited to get the chance to bring my kids each night we stayed in Wildwood.

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Wildwood’s boardwalk is 1.8 miles of pure fun. Built in 1900, it’s one of the classic boardwalks of the Jersey Shore. It had 3 piers of amusement park rides (collectively known as Morey’s Piers), and countless games, stores, and food vendors as you walk up and down. There is fun for everyone here, from crazy rollercoasters, daredevil slingshot rides, to little kiddie rides for the tots that come. Food runs from upscale restaurants with beach view decks, to pizza and hot dog joints that litter the boardwalk. You can get a shirt with almost anything on it, and some of the best salt water taffy in New Jersey.

The “start” of the boardwalk at Wildwood is the “Wildwoods” sign. Built in 2008, it’s a relativity new addition to the boardwalk, but is quickly becoming the spot to instagram pictures. But it’s once you walk past the sign and the convention center that the fun really starts.

The Wildwoods sign is now a popular Instagram spot

To me, the best time to come to the boardwalk is evening. As the sun is setting and the sunbathers are coming off the beach, the air starts to cool and the breeze comes in. You can walk down the boardwalk without the beating sun, and just enjoy all it has to offer. We strolled past stores, games, and more. We had to distract the kids a number of times because they were excited and wanted to try every game. But once we go to the 2nd of Money’s Piers we knew were we would spend the next several hours. Money’s has 3 piers of amusement rides. The 1st pier, Adventure Pier, has the true thrill rides. The coasters that go upside-down, the harness that brings you up and lets you fly, and the catapult that slings you into the air. Our littles were not going to try that. (And who are we kidding, there was no way I was going to either). But the 2nd pier, Mariner’s Amusement Pier, had more rides to our speed.

Here the kids had a blast going on the the small and medium sized rides. We bought 65 tickets and quickly discovered that was not going to cut it with this group. Of course, they were with grandpa who just went and bought the 135 ticket bundle. Finally, I had to tear them away with 40 odd tickets left so we could eat some dinner. We returned on day two to check out the 3rd pier, Surfside Amusement Pier, which also had rides just the groups speed. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Grandpa came to the rescue again with more tickets. The kids had a blast. Thank you Grandpa!

But it wouldn’t be a boardwalk without carnival games. Between wack-a-mole, test your strength, and throwing quarters, we tried our hands at various games as well. The adults steered our kids towards games where you always got a prize, so we were sure each kid brought something home and there were no breakdowns (which happens with over excited children being fed a lot of sugar).

Finally you have the boardwalk food! We had pizza, burgers, hot dogs, fries. Nothing healthy. My kids had dipping dots and slushee (not my favorite, but we are on vacation). And we all had to have a classic funnel cake. Fried dough covered in powdered sugar, yum! Everywhere you looked was fried Oreos, ice cream, and other artery clogging delights. Not exactly what the doctor prescribed as a post surgery diet but I won’t tell if you won’t…

Every night we came home late with the children exhausted. Getting them to the car and back to the hotel bed was always the hardest part of the night. But they were so happy during the night, it warmed my heart to hear my son talk about how much he loved spending the time at the boardwalk. But when I asked him his favorite part – he said it was spending time with all his family. That is what these weekend getaways are all about.

Check out the rest of our adventures in our Wildwood Weekend Get-a-Way