By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY — Micah and Nicole Ford’s two daughters — Emma, 8, and Anna, 6 — had Thursday, July 2, circled on their calendar, marking it as a special day: the day the rides would open on the Ocean City Boardwalk.
The family, who visit often from their home in Cherry Hill, came specifically for the opening day at Gillian’s Wonderland Pier.
“Our kids love it. One of their favorite things to do in the summertime is to come down here,” Micah Ford said. “We are very happy to be able to come.”
In a normal year, they would have had to wait only about six months between the end of one season and beginning of the next to get their ride fix, but this has been no normal year.
The state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the opening of the park, as well as Playland’s Castaway Cove and OC Waterpark, from around Easter Sunday until the beginning of July, when arcades could open as well. Indoor dining is still prohibited.
The Fords said safety is important to them, including wearing face masks and social distancing.
“We want our kids to be safe and everyone else to be safe. We’re just happy they’re open,” Micah Ford said.
John Kavchok, general manager of Wonderland Pier, said the opening was eagerly awaited.
“When we opened, there was a line outside a couple of hundred people deep waiting to get in,” Kavchok said.
The 48-year-old Ocean City resident said the park opened at about 3 p.m. Thursday after a frenzied week of last-minute preparations. Gov. Phil Murphy had announced June 23 that amusement parks, water parks and arcades could open July 2.
“We had a week since the governor allowed us to open, so we took that week and we worked around the clock to get the park ready,” Kavchok said. “From the reaction of the guests yesterday when they walked in, everything looked nice, everything is clean, the rides are all running, and I think they were happy.”
Ernest and Debbie Mitchell were walking the wooden way Friday with their daughter, Cori, 8, waiting for the amusement parks to open.
“We can’t wait to get on the rides, she has been looking forward to it all week,” Ernest Mitchell said.
They bring their daughter from Bellmawr to the city every weekend and they have had to find other things to do with the rides closed.
“We spend a lot of time in the water — she loves her boogie board — but she’s been waiting patiently for the rides,” Ernest Mitchell said. “When we were walking up, the Ferris wheel was not spinning so she was worried.”
Cori said she wanted to ride the big roller coaster.
“She loves her rides and wants to go on the Ferris wheel and the rollercoaster,” Ernest Mitchell said.
Kavchok said safety measures were part of the park’s preparations, noting that all guests and staff were required to wear face masks. He said the staff had a little fun with it, noting the park’s airbrush artists made Wonder Bear masks to hand out to children and that paw prints were used as spacing markers in ride lines.
Kavchok said staff members were walking around to enforce the mask rule but never had to do so.
“Everybody seemed to be following the rules,” he said. “Everybody was doing their part yesterday and it was good to see.”
Kavchok said groups are separated by at least 6 feet on most rides and that staff were loading guests into every other seat on those that are not.
“Overall I feel that the ride operators, the management and the guests — everybody was working together to make it successful,” Kavchok said. “We need that group effort in order to continue.”
Kavchok echoed comments made in previous weeks by the Boardwalk Merchants Association, which noted that the businesses all benefit one another.
Wonderland, located at Sixth Street, is essentially the anchor of the northern end of the business district (sorry Brown’s and Ove’s restaurants).
“The 600 and 700 blocks of the Boardwalk, having this open is beneficial to every business on these two blocks,” Kavchok said. “Closed, they suffer. This is the beginning of the boardwalk for some, or the end for most. I’m sure every store on these two blocks is benefiting from us being open.”