A couple of days before July 4th I had taken a day off from work to stay at home with my daughter Hanna.  I had contemplated just staying in the house but with the crappy weather we have been having in Jersey I figured it was a good opportunity to get outside and visit someplace we hadn’t been to in a while.

As I do with most trips I plan I checked out pennycollector.com to see where some new penny machines may be located that needed to be pressed.  I have visited and acquired pretty much every penny machine available in the state, but ever now and then new machines do pop up and this was no different.  I saw that Six Flags Great Adventure had 2 new machines.  A few years ago I would visit Six Flags a few times a year trying to update the online records of the penny machines and which were still active, their current locations and any changes.  Unfortunately about 2 years ago all the machines were taken away and the last time I had checked there were still none available.  So needless to say I was excited to see some new machines had made their way back on stage.

Another new attraction at this Six Flags is their Safari Off Road Adventure.  They used to have a safari that you could drive through in your own car and the animals would come over for an up close and personal visit.

This was another attraction that closed a few years ago, but has recently reopened with a slight change to how you experience it.  Now you get in a large open view jeep style vehicle and there is a driver and separate guide that take you through the safari .  I had heard that this was a pretty popular attraction so we decided to head here as soon as the park opened.

The entire trip through the Safari takes about 40-45 minutes.  There is a stop in the middle of the trip where your dropped off at the Camp Aventura where there are some smaller animals you can interactive with.  They boast over 1,200 animals on the Safari and there is quite the variety.  The guide was very knowledgeable and more than happy to answer any questions we had along the way.

Once the Safari was over and we were back in the them park we began wondering around checking out the huge (and crazy) roller coasters and other thrill rides they have.  With Hanna being only 2 we were on the look out for some more timid rides.  As we headed out of the Frontier Adventures area of the park we came across the first penny machine.

The machine worked perfectly, well I should mention that I rolled one design short but that was completely as user error.  Luckily I had some extra coins on hand and pressed it again without any issue.  Since this machine was the closes to the Safari it was no surprise that the designs were inspired by the latest attraction: Safari Off Road Adventure was listed on all four designs which also included the Safari Jeep & Giraffe, an Elephant, a rhinoceros, and a Zebra.

We continued wandering around the park and got to checked out some shows and plenty of rides.  Hanna really had a great time on the carousel which is her absolute favorite.  We must have gone on that about 5 times.

She even got to spend some time with some friends I hadn’t seen since I was a kid.

Porky Pig and Marvin Martian, who doesn’t love these two characters.  There was no line and Hanna was able to spend quite a bit of time with them and I was amazed at how comfortable she was with them.  I don’t even know if they play Looney Tunes cartoons on TV, but she loved them anyways and is always looking to make new friends.

After our long day at the park we decided to start heading towards the exit.  I made sure to save the massive gift shop until the end so I didn’t have to carry any souvenirs around all day.  This was also where we found the second penny machine.

The machine was located outside the Looney Tunes Shoppe and the “M”Porium Candy Store.  As with the other machine this one worked perfectly and I made sure to line up my requested designs properly before turning the handle.

The designs at machine were really nice.  I’m not a huge roller coaster fan but these do capture the big thrill rides available at this location.  The designs included: Six Flags Logo Jackson NJ, Nitro, El Toro and Zumanjaro Drop of Doom / Kingda Ka.

We left the park completely exhausted and with a pocket full of new pressed pennies.  I think Hanna fell asleep about 10 seconds after I had her strapped in the car seat.  Luckily we didn’t have a long ride home but it was a lot of fun.  I remember years ago when Six Flags had over 20 penny machines available, and now they only have 2.  But 2 is definitely better than none.  Maybe if I keep my fingers crossed there will be more coming in the near future.

Unfortunately New Jersey’s been hit with a lot of rain and really crappy weather of late.  It has made it harder and harder to get out and press new penny machines especially when most are located outdoors, but I was determined to try.

This past weekend we decided to test out luck and headed down towards Atlantic City to a place called Storybook Land located in Egg Harbor Township.  This is a place that a lot of people have been too during their childhood, and just seems to have been around forever.  From our house it took about an hour and a half to get there, and it rained the entire drive.  However I guess my karma has been in good standing order and mother nature decided to clear things up for a few hours to let check this place out.

The main building that greets you when you arrive is designed to look like a castle.  This does include the ticket purchasing area, as well as the gift shop when you leave.  Not sure if you can tell by the above picture but there were only about 5 cars in the parking lot when we showed up.  This turned out to work in our favor as all the rides were operational, but with only a handful of people in the park there were no lines for anything.

We headed in through the main entrance and just started wondering.  Oh did I mention there was a penny machine here?  I’ll review that in more detail shortly.  This cute little park is designed after all the classic mother goose nursery rhymes, and other childhood favorites like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Alice in Wonderland, Moby Dick, and a whole lot more.  There were plenty of rides for the kids to go on, and a lot of great detail all over the place.  They also had animals like sheep and goats that could be petted and fed.

Hanna is still a little young to know some of the stories but the nursery rhymes she was all about. The park also has some character cutouts that make for some cute pictures.  There was also an area that magically transports you to the north pole.

After wandering around for a while we needed to fuel up.  Towards the entrance of the park is The Dining Depot.  This has your classic theme park food, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, pizza, chicken fingers and fries, etc.  We ordered lunch and while waiting for it I took the opportunity to look for the penny machine that was located here, but came up empty.  I asked the employee’s if they knew whether the machine was located anywhere else in the park or if it was gone completely and they didn’t know.  Once we had finished eating our lunch we wandered around the park again checking out every little attraction and bathroom location we came across trying to find the machine.  With everyone starting to get tired we headed back towards the main entrance and headed through the gift shop that lead to the parking lot.  This way my last hope but it wasn’t located here either.  I asked another employee if they knew about the machine but was only told it has been taken away for repairs and didn’t know if it would be coming back.

Even though I was unable to acquire the pennies here it was still a nice outing for the family.  Truth be told I had actually stopped in to this park in 2013 on my way to Atlantic City.  At that time the lady running the ticket counter let me run in without a ticket to use the machine without having to buy a ticket.

As I mentioned back when I had visited originally the machine was located in the Dining Depot right by the queue you wait in to order food.

The 4 designs include: Humpty Dumpty, Mother Goose, a Carousel Horse, and the Storybook Land Train.

As with machines that get removed from a location, I always hope it’s just to have the designs updated and not removed permanently.  I’ll keep my fingers crossed, but for now if you visit Storybook Land it will have to be just for the nursery rhymes!

Memorial Day weekend what a wonderful weekend it was.  Who can complain about having an extra long weekend.  Not to mention living in Jersey you are never more than 30 minutes away from a beach.  Usually the Jersey shore gets really crazy on the Sunday before Memorial Day weekend so we decided to go and check it out on Saturday.  This usually is a great day to go as the crowds aren’t too crazy, but everything is open and waiting for visitors.  As I mentioned there are numerous beaches to choose from up and down the coast but we decided to check out Seaside Heights.

For those of you that might not know Seaside Heights was one of the many areas that was hit hard during Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.  There is a pretty memorable picture of the Pier falling into the Atlantic ocean, and a roller coaster that appears to be floating among the ways.

In the years since the boardwalk has been rebuilt and the pier show above has been put back together.  It’s call the Casino Pier and was in full swing when we arrived.  It was a beautiful day but the breeze off the ocean made it a little chilly.

We took our time walking up and down the boardwalk and had to make a stop so Hanna could try her first deep-fried Oreo.  Not sure if you have ever tried one but wow you must.  I’m not a deep-fried food fan usually, but these are the exception to that.

After filling up on the Oreos we headed back towards Casino Pier and into the Arcade.  All the usual boardwalk games are in here including our personal favorite skee ball.  There was a vintage carousel inside that Hanna and I took a spin on.

We wandered around the arcade see what else they had when I finally came across the one penny machine located here.  This machine seems to move each time I visit, but had the same designs from previous years.

The machine had 3 designs: A Carousel Horse, A Sand Artist, and a Sand Castle.  All three designs said Casino Pier and Seaside Heights, New Jersey displayed.  Here’s a close up of the marquee sign.

I pressed the coins to update the ones I already had in my collection.  The machine pressed the designs nicely and they only had a bit of a tail at the end.

By this time we were ready to head home.  Due to the breeze off the water it was too cold for us to get onto the beach or water.  We decided to save that for a trip later on in the summer.  It was a nice quick trip to mark the official beginning of summer at the Jersey Shore.