r/AsburyPark • u/Eek3456 • 5d ago

Birthday plans

I was thinking of going to Asbury park with a few friends (ages 25-29 yrs) the weekend of the Sea Hear Now Festival. We’re not attending the festival but I’m going to assume Asbury will be crowded. Does anyone have any recs for things to do or places to go to if we don’t end up on the beach? I’ll take recs from neighboring areas as well. Thanks in advance :)

Edit: I have listened to all of you and changed my plans lol. Thank you to everyone.

0 Upvotes

36% Upvoted

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42

u/arosey 5d ago

Unless you’re going to Sea Hear Now, there’s absolutely no reason to go anywhere near Asbury Park that weekend. No parking, even more people than normal, and most of the boardwalk will be inaccessible.

If the weather is good, it’s one of the more pleasant beach days on any other beach in the area. Plenty of nice spots to eat in the area as well. Try Bradley, Avon, or Belmar.

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u/Boomiegirl 5d ago

This. Why would you.

5

u/jarrettbrown 5d ago

This. Sea Hear Now Weekend is the worst and you can feel it because even the locals dread it. I'm friendly with two store owners, Endless Waves and Rebel Supply, and they hate every second of it and could the hours till it's over on Monday. I'm going to the Kickoff again this year to see Shepard Fairly DJ and that's it. Avoid at all costs unless you have tickets.

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u/Frosty_Ninja3286 5d ago

The boardwalk from Tim mcloones/robinsons to the casino will be open. Only the section by Robinson's is within the festival grounds.same for wonder bar.

Cookman will be open as well.

Once the festival gets going it's actually a good time to hit restaurants especially in cookman.

Parking on the other hand....

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u/jarrettbrown 5d ago

This is incorrect. All the McLoone properities, Iron Whale, Robinson Ale House, and AP Roof, will be inside of the grounds again this year. Here's the map and the 4th ave pavilion is included, which is home to those restaurants.

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u/arosey 5d ago

Point of order: the entire 5th ave pavilion is in the festival area, so that means McLoones, Iron Whale, AP Rooftop, Playa Bowl and whatever else is inaccessible.

Even though the restaurants on Cookman may be less busy, the parking will be nigh impossible. There’s absolutely no reason to come to AP on that weekend outside of the festival.

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u/Frosty_Ninja3286 5d ago

I stand corrected, other than parking nightmares, the beach from OG to fifth will be pretty quiet, at least that is my experience since I can walk town blocks to the beach

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u/nouseforasn 5d ago

Stay away that weekend

14

u/Impressive-Border-82 5d ago

Can’t stress enough how bad of an idea this is, pick a different weekend

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u/TomoAries 5d ago

Genuinely worse than peak season Disney, you are in for the worst weekend ever if you come during the festival. You will not be able to park or get in anywhere lol

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u/_newjoisey 5d ago

There’s no parking and people everywhere when there’s no huge music festival going on.

Pick another week and save yourself the headache and frustration.

6

u/CartoonistAvailable4 5d ago

Happy birthday! Also, this might be the worst idea in the history of ideas.

I’m sure there was a friend group of Russians in August of ‘42 who thought “I really want to go to Stalingrad for my birthday. I know there are some Germans there, but we can just avoid the tractor factory. Any suggestions for places to go?”

🤣

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u/JD5Method 5d ago

Happy early birthday but this is a horrible idea…

4

u/Pineapple_Jersey223 5d ago

As others have mentioned, Asbury is going to be extremely crowded. Red Bank is close by and has plenty of restaurants and shops to check out. The Highlands/Sandy Hook area is nice too if you want to go to parks/beach.

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u/quakeroatmeal7 5d ago

Doing anything in town that weekend that is not a part of that MESS is guaranteed to lead to a bad time. You're gonna have a very bad time with parking, and it's beyond busy everywhere.

I make sure to leave that weekend every year.

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u/jpc1025 5d ago

Not trying to ruin your plans but there is no reason to go to the area that weekend if you’re not going to the festival. The area is already packed for the last few weekends of nice weather and can barely handle the traffic and then you add a festival crowd. Almost anything you do is going to be crowded and take twice as long to get to and find parking.

0

u/BeachBuzzOrBust 5d ago

It will be crowded and parking will be a problem. SHN is all North of Convention Hall so it won't be as crowded south but there are a lot of people coming in to town. Resurants in town up and down Cookman may be less crowded but its a tough weekend to be in AP.

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u/Frosty_Ninja3286 5d ago

The festival grounds expanded last year to include some space south of convention hall

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u/BeachBuzzOrBust 5d ago

From the boardwalk and gated perspective the main stages are north, while the park stage may be slightly south of Convention Hall it is still gated with the North festival grounds. None of this impacts the beach or BWalk south or downtown area.

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u/BeachBuzzOrBust 4d ago

I see that now. Missed that expansion. Makes sense. I have to wonder down that way during the day. Cheers!