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Playland Park Rye, NY Weather: Overcast, low 70’s, muggy Crowds: Light After traveling to so many parks over so many years, it gets harder and harder to find a completely new place that might surprise you. Of course there are dozens of amazing parks around the world and in the US I’ve yet to visit, and many of them I probably never will. But the irony of making a visit to Playland Park is that it’s so very close to where I grew up, and it was around back then. Actually, it’s been around a lot longer than that. As you can probably guess, I’ll hit an amusement park or ride a roller coaster wherever I can. Insane multi-week, multi-park trips aren’t really possible anymore, but I’ll always do my homework and check for chances anytime I’m getting on a plane. This time the plane was taking us to New York. I like to think I had scoped out every opportunity for thrill seeking in the Northeast, but Playland Park in Westchester County was still on my to-do list. Somehow, the park I would always see commercials for as Rye Playland while growing up would have to wait over a decade for a visit. In town for a wedding (coincidentally, that of the couple from my Disneyland trip report from January), I added an extra day in the itinerary for a visit. Knowing the park was small and that a full day would likely not be necessary, we were able to take things a little easier than we’ve been known to do. In fact, we would only end up spending about 3 hours in the park, leaving enough time for an attempt at additional sightseeing and certainly to visit with friends and family in the area later in the evening. In all honestly, much of my interest in this park was something of a half-hearted attempt to check another park off the list, fill in a gap, and add a few more coasters to my count. I’ve not heard much about the park, as obviously it’s not a landmark on the amusement park map, but what I had heard was pretty mixed. Obviously it’s small and historic, not known for great operations or even a stellar safety reputation, and has been described as vaguely seedy. So all in all, it’s your typical seaside amusement experience, right? Well considering the fond esteem in which I hold Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, maybe I should have been a little less ambivalent about visiting. Starting the laid back theme immediately, we headed for the park (gasp!) after it actually opened. It being the first week of daily operation, we weren’t expecting much in the way of crowds. Really, this early in season at a park like this, I’m more suspicious of rides randomly not being operated than anything else. The short drive got us to the park’s entrance around 10:30am, and we were greeted by a bearable $5 parking fee, and a sparse parking lot. From our spot, we have a great view of the infamous Super Flier, a Zamperla Volare known more for pain than for thrills. Nevertheless, with hardly a handful of coasters to add, I was thrilled to see it running. As with most parks of this ilk, admission is handled somewhat uniquely. We made our way to the front gate, and were thrilled to see a middle ground between the pricey pay-per-ride and the unnecessary unlimited ride options. Actually called a sampler, it was good for any 5 rides for a reasonable $15. Granted this option is only available on weekdays before 4pm, but it cut the pay-per-ride cost in half, and was also half the cost of the unlimited wristband. We still had to wear wristbands, but I was happy to essentially get 50% off considering we were only expecting to ride that many rides. In the park’s entrance plaza there is a large fountain, and the so-called Ice Casino, which is certainly an old-school amusement park throwback, with a full-sized ice rink and arcade as part of the park. It was an instant reminder of the now-defunct Natatorium at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Instead of donning ice skates (it had yet to open for the season), we made a left and entered the gates. The first stop was for Super Flight. While the historic Dragon Coaster garnered more historical merit, I was much more wary of Super Flight’s reliability. My suspicion would later prove warranted when we noticed it broken down, but all was well for our initial stop. We were briefly turned away in the queue because of Megan’s bag, but the lockers were nearby and she happened to have the three quarters needed. Our second attempt hardly had a pause as we awkwardly scanned our bar-coded wrist bands and walked right on to an open car. The best way to describe this coaster is as a wild mouse – compact, tight turns, small 4-passenger cars – that is taken in the flying position. Zamperla is a bit late to the party after Vekoma pioneered the riding style over a decade ago, and B&M arguably perfected it shortly after that. But Zamperla smartly offers a ride in that style with a tiny footprint, and as a result a much smaller price tag – making it perfect for a small park without much room or a huge budget, but still wanting to offer a novel experience. Really, the only problem is that it isn’t very good. I don’t think I’d go so far as to say it was awful and brutal and torture, but it was moderately unpleasant at times, and pretty boring at others. The ride proves its novelty immediately as you enter the car, which is something like climbing a step stool which is raised and locked in a horizontal position. It screams of ergonomic atrocity. The unique experience continues as you climb one of the most unique lift systems, a chain-free upward spiral driven by a rotating arm. Off the lift you start with a small drop and a couple swooping turns mixed with a pair of frustratingly slow barrel rolls. It’s one notch less unpleasant than hanging head-over-heels inverted, but the roll managed to force contact between the awkward restrains and every pressure point in my body. The rest of the ride is more turns and a few small dips, and a sudden stop on the brake run for good measure. One ride was plenty. Was it the worst, most painful coaster I’ve ever ridden? No, but maybe I’m just getting more lenient as I get older. Hey, this ride really tried to be cool. Isn’t that worth something? Next up was the aforementioned Dragon Coaster. At 82 years old, it’s partly famous for its longevity, and party famous for - I kid you not – its appearance in a music video by Mariah Carey in 1995. Either way, it’s an often overlooked coaster landmark that, predictably, gets overshadowed by new and bigger rides from parks nearby. To think it was built only two years after the Coney Island Cyclone. But then again, this coaster doesn’t give the ride that the Cyclone does. Its double out-and-back design means more modest thrills, but plenty of speed and hills that a more wary audience could enjoy. With its somewhat unfortunate new trains from Morgan, it may not be quite the experience it once was, but it has plenty of the character you’d expect from and old-school wooden coaster and some nice forces to go along with it. I’ve ended up putting it in the middle of my wooden coaster rankings, so it definitely gets a positive review from me. While onboard, I noticed a Wild Mouse I had completely forgotten about. Sure, when initially deciding on a visit, I checked to see how many coasters I might be adding, but this one had completely slipped my mind. We walked down to the end of the park, and were the only two guests in the area as we hopped on. Crazy Mouse is one of Zamperla’s versions of the amusement park mainstay, and was a surprisingly good one. What few brakes the ride had were entirely open, giving a classic, if not gentle, ride. If you don’t want to get knocked around a little, there’s always a bench nearby. We cut across the midway to the waterside portion of the park, and checked out the flat ride offerings. There only a couple credits left on our wristbands, so we wanted to make them count. The place has a ton of classic carnival rides, really everything you’d expect from a great county or state fair, even a Gravitron. Actually, there are also a few more unique dark rides as well, including a classic water dark ride (which we regrettably skipped) that travels underground beneath the Dragon Coaster. This one had one of the number of historical markers providing some interesting information we saw around the park. In my most blatant coaster count padding effort of the day, I took a solo ride on the Family Flier. It was another generic Zamperla creation which can probably only be described as a kiddie coaster. It was there; I rode it; that’s really all there is to it. The most notable thing about the experience, in retrospect, is that it was the 250th coaster on my count. Granted I didn’t notice I had passed this exceedingly nerdy threshold until I returned home and added it to the even nerdier list, but I tend to not make as big a deal out of the milestone as others do. With all the coasters covered (or so I thought), Megan had the choice of flat rides. She expertly selected the Derby Racer, a ride that’s even rarer than it is old, which is something of a high-speed carousel. Now the top speed of 25mph might not seem impressive, but sitting on an outside horse and realizing there are absolutely no restraints whatsoever, you might find your knuckles getting a little white as you hand on tightly. We wound things down across the way on the swings, and enjoyed lunch with another fitting seaside park experience, some Nathan’s hot dogs and overpriced cheap beer. We found a spot in the middle of the park’s grassy, tree-lined midway and marveled at the swarming groups of teens (mostly in school groups) as they streaked across the park at breakneck speed. I wouldn’t say any of the guests were especially unruly, and security was plainly obvious, but if I were here with young kids I’d be sure to visit during the day like we had. I’m not suggesting it’d be a full on Magic Mountain situation after dark on the weekend, but no need to chance it. I snapped some photos despite the clouds, and even had a small run-in with a ride-op complaining that the unused portion of a queue I was standing in was somehow in the ride’s danger zone. Barely more than a few hours later, we were pretty satisfied. Had we been forced into the unlimited ride option, we certainly would have hit a few more attractions - everyone loves a Ferris Wheel, right? Instead we headed for the parking lot, and as we neared the car I noticed a coaster we had missed. Ok, so it was in the Kiddyland section of the park, and I might not have been allowed on the ride, even if I could fit in the seat. But if you’ve made it this far, you know I like to be thorough, and while I didn’t dare drag Megan back in, I did mentally kick myself. But the good news was that the visit was a pleasant surprise. So much so that there’s a good chance I may get at that “hidden” coaster yet. Odds are it won’t be for a little while, but with many friends and family in the area I would love to visit with kids, even if they’re someone else’s. Back to Trip Reports
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