Status Closed Closing date 1987 Replaced by Jet Star Height 17 m Max speed 80 km/h Capacity 1,200 people/hour | Opening date 1976 Cost $400,000 Closed 1987 Opened 1976 | |
Similar Doo Wopper, Rollies Coaster, Ignis Fatuus, Zoom Phloom, Sea Serpent | ||
Jumbo jet morey s piers
The Jumbo Jet was a prefabricated steel roller coaster at Morey's Piers in Wildwood, New Jersey. Jumbo Jet was a Jet Star 3 / Jumbo Jet model coaster built by noted roller coaster designer Anton Schwarzkopf. In 1975, the Morey brothers traveled to Germany and purchased the Jumbo Jet for $400,000. Morey's Surfside Pier had to be extended a total of 250 feet (76 m) to make room for the Jumbo Jet. Despite the expense, however, Jumbo Jet became one of the most popular roller coasters on the Jersey Shore, and was credited for increasing attendance at Morey's Piers. It was the second and final Jet Star 3 / Jumbo Jet model coaster to be built in the state of New Jersey.
Contents
Although multiple sources support the purchase of the Morey's Piers Jumbo Jet as occurring in Germany, some sources persist in the rumor that this coaster may have been the relocation of the ill-fated Jumbo Jet from Great Adventure (now Six Flags Great Adventure).
Regardless of the ride's origins, Jumbo Jet was sold in 1987 to a German broker. The broker eventually traded the coaster to Gorky Park in Moscow for two railroad cars of ketchup—as the ruble was not a widely accepted currency outside of the Soviet Union at the time.
Ride layout
Like other coasters of the Jet Star 3 / Jumbo Jet model line, the Jumbo Jet did not utilize a chain lift or launch mechanism to reach the top of the lift hill. Instead, small wheel motors drove it up the incline of a tight helix. The track was also different on Jet Star 3 / Jumbo Jet roller coasters than on most later steel roller coasters. The former has much thinner track rails than the tubular steel of the latter. Riders on the Morey's Piers Jumbo Jet cited its high-speed, banking turns as a noteworthy element.