My wife manages to get my sorry butt down there all too often it seems. Often enough (well, okay, 2-3 times a year) that it was most economical to get the “Season’s Pass”.
So now with the achievements!
Olde-Timey “Merry-Go-Round”: Ring in the clown’s mouth at least once EVERY RIDE! Best preformance 3 times on one ride, 2 of them consecutive “circuits”.
Ghost Blasters: High score of 2520. This is the greatest ride in the history of rides, if you ask me. Combines sitting on my butt in the dark, shooting at fake ghosts and the competition of beating your wife (not like that! I’m talkin’ bout score!)
I love the Boardwalk. I don’t usually go on the rides or play games, so I can’t really add to your achievements collection. I just stand in front of The Typhoon and watch the cages go around and around and around. It’s mesmerizing. I also like to watch the machine parts rotate and hear the motors whir.
I can stand there for ages just watching the Typhoon. It’s kind of creepy.
Stand in front of it sometime and just watch. Then tell me if I’m crazy.
I like how you can smoke weed on the beach and no one cares. Also, the arcade totally rocks my socks. Oh, and once I saw a gang fight there - complete with chairs being smashed over people and guys kicking another guy while he was down…it was kind of scary. But cool, man!
I used to LOVE the boardwalk; I went there once with a girlfriend on a misty weekend, got the all-day bracelet-pass. We would get off the Big Dipper and RUN back to the entrance! We must have ridden that thing 10 times, and the bumper cars another 10. Skeeball, bad food, miniature golf – ah, good times.
Unfortunately, the rides are all part of that bygone era before supersizing, and I (a not-terribly-fit 240 lbs) am no longer able to close the restraining bars over my gut.
Ahhhh, the Boardwalk. Sometimes I forget how nice it is to live in Santa Cruz. The wooden railroad bridge is part of my walk home. I used to study for finals on the ferris wheel. My cupboard is full of cups from the toss-a-dime booth. I work every weekend at a hotel full of people going there. I wonder if I met any Dopers and didn’t know it…
Locals don’t make it out to the Boardwalk much, but we get to see it year round. I love eating French Fries and vinigar in the arcade looking out on the rain. I’ve got endless memories that take place in the cold, empty winter boardwalk.
But I’ve never hit the clown’s mouth on the merry-go-round.
I haven’t been to the Boardwalk in several years, but I bet I’ve been there over 100 times. When I was growing up in the East Bay my family went down there quite regularly. Then when I was in High School and had my drivers license, my friends and I would pack the car and head down during the day or evening and hang out. The Big Dipper was the first “big” roller coaster I ever rode. I don’t have a high score on any games, just many fond memories of a very fun place.
I haven’t been to the boardwalk in years, either. I just wanted to point out that because of this thread, I’m going to have the song from the commercial running through my head for the rest of the day. “…in the warm California sun. BOARDWALK!”
There are a few very nice shops in downtown Santa Cruz, though a bit posh.
Theres a great cook shop, toy shop, gellato shop, the Games shop is pretty decent, and quite a few wierd clothes shops worth a visit. Shame they seriously reduced the amount of Sunday free parking, that has kept me from going there too often these days.
My special Boardwalk achievement was living in Santa Cruz for three years and only going once - as a freebie thing during orientation week when I was a freshman. I dunno, it always skeeved me out. And there are much nicer beaches elsewhere.
Does the water EVER get warm? Everytime I’ve been there, I’ve gone to the beach-and the water is friggin freezing! It’s a great place for girl-watching, but you never see anybody (except for wetsuited surfers in the water).
(2) THat restaurant on the corner (across from the amusement park)-the guy has all kinds of maxfield Parrish prints…is the food any good?
Last of all-when does the damn fog (in summer) lift? I’ve been there in late summer, and the fog hangs in till 3 PM, sometimes…gret hot babes on the beach, though!
I no longer live in California, so it’s no longer an option to drive over the hill for a fun Saturday. Two tales:
(1) There’s a little river (or creek) that empties into the ocean south of the Boardwalk. The 1989 earthquake shifted the course of the river so that it turned most of the beach into an island. The Powers That Be somehow shifted it back.
(2) My brother and I are roller coaster nuts. We once made a “coast-to-coaster coaster tour”, starting with the Giant Dipper on the Pacific, and ending two weeks later with the Coney Island Cylone on the Atlantic. We rode about 25 different coasters in between.
Grew up in Santa Cruz, went to Soquel HS and Cabrillo College and (briefly) UCSC. Go slugs!
Anyway, we used to say that if you sat up by the curve in the road above the Boardwalk, near the railroad bridge, that eventually everyone you knew in the world would drive or walk or ride a bike right by you.
We were young then. It was a cool place to grow up. And I loved the Capezio shop at the boardwalk. Those were some great shoes.
All is not lost! Drop 10 pounds and you’re in like Flynn! (I’m right about 230 and can fit in everything, including the 'Kiddie Rides" that my 3 year old goes on)
The water basicly drops into a deep canyon very close to the beach. So, no, it doesn’t really get not cold. I was there for a while and I never went swimming for that reason. Did Kayaking though.