Trimper Rides of Ocean City

A boardwalk amusement park that has been in continuous family operation since the 1890s, making it one of the oldest of its kind anywhere in the United States. Its centrepiece is a Herschell-Spillman carousel dating from around 1912 and installed here in 1920, still running with its original hand-carved menagerie animals, which puts it among the oldest operating carousels on the planet. The rest of the park is a dense, slightly worn cluster of kiddie rides, a haunted house and midway games squeezed into a single block at the southern end of the boardwalk.

The children's ride collection is the core of the offering, and the park is genuinely built around young visitors rather than merely tolerating them.

Good to know:

• Typical operating hours 15:00 to 23:00
• Ride tickets and wristbands sold on site; the carousel alone is worth the stop
• Indoor pavilion sections make it usable in light rain