Morey’s Piers in Wildwood, NJ adds to its lineup of IYKYK toys

WILDWOOD — Morey's Piers has made a big prize reveal for summer 2023.

It's a couple of follow-ups to last summer's most popular plush among the piers' games of chance.

The hottest grab of 2022 wasn't a character from a hit cartoon, or a fidget device, or the latest fad in wireless headphones. It was a stuffed seagull with a french fry in its mouth, and the words "Morey's Piers" embroidered on its belly.

It debuted as a funny nod to the occasional nuisance along the boards, and people loved it — kids and adults. If you know you know.

Sunny the Seagull

The original idea — which would land the name Sunny — was launched without much fanfare.

By the middle of 2022, boardwalk visitors were seeking out games that specifically had Sunny up for grabs as a prize. Fans of the bird created a Facebook page for it, and folks hit the internet asking how they could purchase Sunny without visiting the Wildwoods, or after failing to win one legitimately.

New prizes at Morey's

For nearly two weeks, Morey's Piers has been teasing its reveal, through videos posted on social media.

In the first video, posted on June 11, a "UPS" driver needs to get a package delivered to Sunny the mascot. He leaves a Morey's Piers employee with the box, which is filled with holes and covered in fake bird droppings.

In the next video, posted on June 19, the box makes it to a water-race game, where the original Sunny plush toys are on display. A Sunny mascot reveals himself, and he's handed the box.

On Thursday, an eight-second video teased that the big announcement would be made on Friday.

And at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Sunny the mascot opened up the box.

Inside are two new prizes that are available now — Sunny with a slice of pizza in his mouth, and a female version of the original bird, with a fry in its mouth and pink wings.

"She needs a name," an employee says in the video.

In a second video posted on Friday, the Sunny mascot and a young staffer start unloading female stuffed birds from a crate, to begin stocking the pier stands.

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