If you ask us – and good thing this is our site – Wildwood and Ocean City have the two best boardwalks in New Jersey. They’re two sides of a mid-century fever dream. Take a stroll down either boardwalk (it’s healthy!) and you might believe in nuclear optimism again. But the boardwalks aren’t so steeped in nostalgia that they always stay the same. This past off-season brought more changes than any in recent memory. There’s a whole lot to unpack, from massive construction projects to funny fads. Try to keep up! If we missed any changes, email us at chall@cmcherald.com
A Wider Wildwood

A large section of the Wildwoods boardwalk – Roberts Avenue to Montgomery – expanded from 44 feet in width to 60 feet. This section always felt like a pinch point. Busy nights got chaotic here, and the tram car could barely squeeze by. Well, it’s wider now and has brand-new wooden planks that are a dream to bike on. There’s also a new shaded pavilion with benches!
Arcades & Pizza at Wonderland Pier


Wonderland Pier is officially dead; it closed in October 2024 but visitors might be in for a bit of a shock when they see the hollowed-out building. Mayor Jay Gillian sold the business to prolific developer Eustace Mita for $8 million after declaring that he “couldn’t pay the bills.” Visit Wonderland Pier for some arcade games and pizza, but don’t expect much else, certainly not the same ambience that visitors knew so well.
Wonderland Pier once delighted guests with a beautiful carousel, one of the largest Ferris wheels on the East coast, and Coney-Island style decor and food that became a staple of Ocean City. Walk by Wonderland Pier now and the giant building remains, but much of the charm is gone. No more castle turrets, no more colorful letters.
Eustace plans to build an all-inclusive ICONA Resort on the property, integrating the famous Ferris wheel into his plans. Eustace has said publicly on several occasions that he wants it to be like Congress Hall, in Cape May, as a community hub and an icon on the shoreline. But until that plans takes shape—or not, the building sits in limbo.
It’s a Lafufu, Mom!

Labubus are baby-like monsters from Hong Kong that have taken the world by storm. They’re cute, they’re plush, they have doll-like plastic faces, and they come in a thousand different varieties. They’re the hottest toy of the year so far, and if you see one for sale on the Ocean City or Wildwoods boardwalk: it’s fake.
Sorry to say it, but it’s true! Boardwalk vendors are always quick to spoof popular products, and this year they were on their A-game. Fake Labubus, better known as Lafufus, vary greatly in accuracy. We saw some that could pass as the real deal, but most are so different that we put them into the “abomination” category. We saw one with its head sewn on upside-down!
A Grand Wildwood Entrance

Wildwood has been working tirelessly to add big ornate signs to focal points around the island, and the latest piece of the puzzle is a new boardwalk entrance on Cedar Avenue. This part of the boardwalk was under-loved for many years, an old entrance with no flair, but now there’s a fancy parking lot and a beautiful sign that looks great at night. We love it!
It’s a Ford, Dale!

If you missed the hubbub: a Sightseer-branded Ford Maverick is now on people-moving duty at the Wildwoods boardwalk. It took over for an old tram car that could no longer be repaired after parts became too scarce. Some of those original cars are still in operation since their introduction in 1939 at the World’s Fair. We at Do the Shore love the Ford Maverick because it’s an honest, small, & affordable pickup that hauls cargo without the bloated sizing of most modern trucks. We were skeptical at first, but the Sightseer Maverick looks great in action.
We speculate that the Maverick was custom-built by Ford for the boardwalk because factory Mavericks aren’t rated to tow this much weight. It remains to be seen how well it will maneuver through crowds during the summer’s busiest months, but we’re optimistic.
More Cops, More Cameras
There are now cameras that monitor every inch of the Wildwoods boardwalk, and more cops than ever. There has been much discussion about crime on the boardwalk, read our take on that in this edition’s Shore Musings, but the city’s solution is to have a heightened security presence everywhere on the boards. Walk for just a few minutes and you’ll immediately notice police stationed on nearly every block. Sometimes, you’ll see cops on horseback patrolling the 2.5-mile boardwalk.
Contact the author, Collin Hall, at 609-886-8600 or by email at chall@cmcherald.com