A Wild Ride: The Story of Morey's Piers, Planet Earth's Greatest Seaside Amusement Park

The story begins in the summer of 1969, with the erection of a giant slide on the boardwalk of Wildwood, NJ by two brothers, both carpenters, who knew little about the amusement business. Their competitors, seasoned boardwalk operators, poured scorn on the newcomers, who, undeterred, began developing an amusement pier around the ride, the Wipe Out.

Driven by the work ethic, imagination and "yes-we-can" creed of its founder, Will Morey, this family company, which now runs three piers packed with more than 100 rides and attractions and two world-class waterparks, has become a benchmark for the industry. These days, The Morey Organization operates the largest seaside amusement park in the world.

From the monster attractions of the Seventies to the Euro invasion of the Eighties and the roller coaster race of the Nineties, this is the remarkable story of a small family company that dared to dream big in one of the most competitive, unpredictable industries of all. Fasten your harnesses and prepare to take a ride...

Running the business of an amusement park is a lot like spending a day at an amusement park. It's a roller coaster of emotions, full of highs and lows. Sometimes you'll be breathless, other times you'll feel like your stomach is in your throat and your heart is in your mouth. It won't be boring, that's for sure.

So it goes with Morey's Piers. The company launched 40 years ago with one simple slide on the boardwalk, and zero experience in the game. Now they're running the world's biggest, and arguably best, seaside amusement park, in the wonderful world of Wildwood, NJ. This is their story.

A Wild Ride was designed and written by Jack Wright, with contributions from amusement park experts Jim Futrell and Tim O'Brien, and Wildwood historian Ralph Grassi.

Wright was a national newspaper and magazine editor in his native Britain before moving to the US in 1998 to launch and edit a new men's magazine, Gear, which was voted second-most successful US launch that year, second only to ESPN: The Magazine.

After moving on to Us Weekly and Men's Journal magazines, where he held the title of Executive Editor, Wright moved in 2002 to Cape May, NJ, where he founded Exit Zero Publishing. The company publishes a weekly magazine, Exit Zero, along with guide books and general interest titles.