Hip Trendy Swamp Hotel Design Revealed!

Brad Maule at phillyskyline.com got a hold of a photo of the Aloft (or, rather, “aloft”) hotel, the fancy hip aimed-at-young-people hotel that’s inexplicably being built down by the airport. It reminded me of something:

Sweet, they put one of those giant slides you ride down in a potato sack on top! (Pictured above: Morey’s Surfside Pier’s Giant Slide.) That’s not an amenity I’d usually think of for a hotel, but it definitely makes me want to stay there.

Oh, and another aloft hotel is being built in Harrisburg, of course.

New aloft Hotels

Leftovers: No Tickets, Please

• This summer, Morey’s Piers will be switching to a plastic card system instead of tickets. The inspiration was apparently that annoying ad where the entire food court explodes because one man pays with cash. Um, yay? [Press of Atlantic City]

• Heroin is not just a problem in Philadelphia; it’s spread to northeastern Pennsylvania, too, complete with fentanyl-laced overdoses. Here’s a solution: T-shirts! [Daily News]

• The Inquirer and Daily News have dueling Atlantic City hooker stories today. The Inky’s George Anastasia goes with a woman who may have been with the man who killed four women and the Daily News‘ Simone Weichselbaum has a nice piece about how prostitutes are segregated by class. Key line comes from a prostitute named Heaven: “I’m a ho. I’m not that different. But I’m not a crackhead ho. So I’m not that bad.”

‣ And, finally, our city’s skyline likes to light up. Of course. [Inquirer]

North Wildwood: Combine Alcohol With Swimming For Bonus Down The Shore Fun! Only 156 Tickets!

It’s almost the middle of June, and with the official start of summer quickly approaching, we’ll all be heading down the shore for at least a day or two in the coming months. And whether your choice of south Jersey beaches is Avalon, Ocean City, Stone Harbor, Sea Isle, Cape May, Cape May Court House, or wherever, you know that for the trashiest fun possible, you have to go to Wildwood.

This year, North Wildwood has decided to trash up its act a little bit by allowing Morey’s Piers to open up a bar at its water park. Yes, Morey’s Surfside Pier at 25th Ave. (the one everyone calls “Morey’s Pier”) has renamed Raging Waters and turned it into an adult playground.

The new Ocean Oasis is essentially the same thing as the old Raging Waters, with slides and a kids’ area and the lazy river. But there is one exception: The bar. And the pool tables. And chess and backgammon. Oh, and did we mention the serving of alcohol at a water park on the pier?

And people wonder why some of we native Philadelphians have an attachment to Wildwood. C’mon.

Bonus: According to this article, when the alcohol license was still pending, there was a group calling itself “Families Opposing Waterpark Liquor,” or FOWL.

One Seashore Town Allows Water Parks to Serve Alcohol [KYW 1060]
North Wildwood facility seeks OK to serve alcohol [Camden Courier Post]