Playland/PNE (Vancouver) Discussion Thread

[Evan-500]

PlayLand is getting Canada’s fastest launch coaster:

 

 

 

[Nrthwnd]

^ Finally! Looks great, too. Thanks for posting the announcement.

Theming looks interesting. Wonder what it's going be called?

[grsupercity]

Looks short but sweet! 

[SharkTums]

No more Final Destination coaster!!!

[coasterbill]

I'm not taking credit for this, because others have already picked up on it but there is a lot of weirdness going on here.

This "Zamperla" seems to be an Intamin. It's Senzafiato, an Intamin Rocket Coaster that closed in 2018 and has been standing but not operating ever since. Either, Zamperla put an LSM launch on an Intamin coaster or they cloned an Intamin coaster that the park could have just bought for some reason.

PS: This will also send the Top Thrill Dragster rumor mill into an absolute frenzy.

[Nrthwnd]

For those who've forgotten ....

Where it's going. Photo taken July 31/22 from the West Coast Wheel.

[leqant]

3 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

I'm not taking credit for this, because others have already picked up on it but there is a lot of weirdness going on here.

This "Zamperla" seems to be an Intamin. It's Senzafiato, an Intamin Rocket Coaster that closed in 2018 and has been standing but not operating ever since. Either, Zamperla put an LSM launch on an Intamin coaster or they cloned an Intamin coaster that the park could have just bought for some reason.

The layout and stats does seem to fit Senzafiato very well and I'm guessing it might be a relocation from Miragica.  Either way, I don't think this will bother the vast majority of people in the Vancouver area, since they wouldn't have even known the region of Italy Miragica is in (Apulia), much less have been there or even known of the park/coaster

[AmyUD06]

16 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

I'm not taking credit for this, because others have already picked up on it but there is a lot of weirdness going on here.

This "Zamperla" seems to be an Intamin. It's Senzafiato, an Intamin Rocket Coaster that closed in 2018 and has been standing but not operating ever since. Either, Zamperla put an LSM launch on an Intamin coaster or they cloned an Intamin coaster that the park could have just bought for some reason.

PS: This will also send the Top Thrill Dragster rumor mill into an absolute frenzy.

If Zamperla has anything to do with whatever is happening to Dragster, I will be very sad.

[Nrthwnd]

3 hours ago, leqant said:

The layout and stats does seem to fit Senzafiato very well and I'm guessing it might be a relocation from Miragica.  Either way, I don't think this will bother the vast majority of people in the Vancouver area, since they wouldn't have even known the region of Italy Miragica is in (Apulia), much less have been there or even known of the park/coaster

Probably not. Still. <sighs> Was hoping this was an original. But what the heck, Old Corkscrew came from another park, "way back when." 

[leqant]

15 minutes ago, Nrthwnd said:

Probably not. Still. <sighs> Was hoping this was an original. But what the heck, Old Corkscrew came from another park, "way back when." 

Personally, I still think that this Intamin Launch Coaster layout would have been a better fit for Playland considering that it has inversions 

[Nrthwnd]

^ Yeah, I did notice in that first video, that the dang thing never went upside down. I mean ......?

Sure we get a (supposed) 'cave' to speed through. But ..... ? Well when it's all built, we'll find out, hmm?

Ooooooooo, and we'd get that "Anticipation Turn", too, hmmm?

[ricklap77]

Used ride better than nothing I guess!  No inversion! 

[grsupercity]

Whoa Zamperla shows off a good looking new coaster. Finds out it looks good cause its an Intamin lol. Least they didn't touch Matugani

[Nrthwnd]

Well, now that Playland is back in the coaster world news for awhile, I might as well post my One Day Only at the park.

I went on Sunday, July 31st, looking forward to 1) Finally riding COASTER with the new seat belts, and whether or not I felt okay about it. And 2) Riding the new flat ride that debuted this past season - the Sky Bender.....

Well, one out of two wasn't bad. COASTER, unfortunately was down that day. And knowing what was in store for "wait times" during the annual fair, I thought no thanks, not worth the $$ for the ticket AND (what I found out later amounted to) nearly 2 HOURS' wait in the PNE queues. Ugh. Nope. But anyway...

The new ride was great, actually! Sky Bender was a swift rush to the senses, especially when it started the "in and out" sequence. I still think the whole thing should haven designed with two seaters attached. Or maybe every other one, etc. But no matter. Fun ride and they'll definitely wait in queue for this one during The PNE Fair.

Outside, in queue to enter the park, I saw what I thought was the yellow train going up the llft hill.

The queue to enter the park.

Testing, testing ......

Nice to see them also flying the flag for  LGBTQ+2 people in the world.

And then I find out ....... grrrrrrr.

I also notice they've removed all the photo banners that show groups of people riding Coaster .... with no seal belts on. Hmmmm.

The map of where it's all at.

The Beast is going pretty good, there. Lots of screaming up there.

What was a coin arcade, still closed up as it was, the past couple of years.

Sure they are. Eventually, something will happen with either the building, or the spot it's on.

Not for candy. Not for snacks. But for ... wheelchair rentals? Okaaaay.

One of these multi-simulators was available to ride in. Didn't check to see whether it's a upcharge or not.

Here we are! And no they didn't shorten the queue. Walk-on time, took time to get there.

.

After my ride, I stuck around to take an action shot or two.

Pretty intense swinging, I'd say. I rode it one more time, later on, and still enjoyed the rush.

From the West Coast Wheel .... the spot where The New Coaster will be going, by 2024. Finally.

This will actually become a great viewing/photo spot for the future construction of the coaster!

Another shot of Sky Bender, from above.

Mountain shot w/o much snow on them.

And actually, the Kettle Creek Mine Train here was The Only coaster open! Bug Whirled was down, too. I mean ... wtf?

So I went on Sky Bender one more time, then went to The Bar that was thankfully open ...

... for one beer, and a break, before heading home.

A nice view of AtmosFEAR doing it's thing.

Ooooo, this looks promising. Maybe a set up for special events and eventually, the annual fair, late August.

One last look at it, with the yellow train still mid-lift hill. <sighs>

On the way home, I picked up food at our A&W drive-thru, and while waiting, saw this. Made me smile.

[Nrthwnd]

Looks like the name of this new coaster is Lightning. The PNE really hadn't announced a name yet, but at the IAAPA EXPO in Orlando, it looks like that is it's name. And they had a couple of pairs of coaster seats to try out. Look comfy. Nothing over the shoulders, which is nice.

 

[Nrthwnd]

Playland(PNE) just posted their info.page about 2023 Season Passes! At this time, only two levels of pricing exist .... a milder, more General Pass, and then there's their Thrill Pass, which includes Coaster, SkyBender, AtmosFEAR, etc. Here's the link to the page, and for ordering...

https://www.pne.ca/playland/?utm_medium=email&elq_cid=715750&ehash=296cfb63182d7267918b2600a62278ac115b9c752efad4ccecd03fa9b39370f6

Sadly (or at least, at this time...) there's no listing for any kind of a Seniors Pass. But I'm supposing there's very few of us around here, in our age group, who are still riding coasters, etc. So I decided to buy the Thrill Pass, which costs $119 (Cdn). saving $10 (deal good till Dec.24th).

[Nrthwnd]

"Tis The Season .... to post Late TRs, ho ho ho!

Actually, this report isn't too late. It's the one day (Thurs.Sept.03 which would have been "Out At The Fair" Day for us, as in the past few years). David and I went to the annual PNE, which then includes Playland (and mucho raised ride wristbank/single tix prices). They had expanded the exhibition site from last year's Fair, now including all the  buildings at the East end of the park (or front-of-the-Fair, when you look at a map of it all). So the Showcase was back in the Forum Bldg. And the Rollerland bldg. had something different: The PNE Prize Home. Although not exactly The Home itself. They decided to forego having the actual home onsite, allowing walk-thrus by the gp, and instead recreated a couple of it's rooms, and used a lot of media to show off the house itself. So this was a quick one for us.

We literally tried not to backtrack anywhere, and headed to the Livestock Bldgs. Nothing new there, so I took no pix. But, we missed the Central "Foodtruck Alley" that others walk thru and figure out what they want to eat. I think we missed a couple of trucks with food we wanted to try. Our loss. We next headed to Revel District where our BBQ was. Two of them, this year. Both good BBQ and sides. We liked both. Couldn't choose between them, lol.

After that, it was up through Playland, noting that SkyBender never opened for the Entire - Fair. I got to ride it back in July, but geez ..... Anyway, checked out Coaster and sure enough, set belts were on. Also found out from an older couple nearby, that their grandson "waited up to two hours to ride this thing." I laughed.

So we had entered at the Main GAte. And we left the PNE at the Playland Gate.

Here we go... the Front Gate Entry.

And immediately to one's left, is the MARKETPLACE bldg. Which we immediately entered!

This was a cool find. Pre-mixed for veggie/protein/vegan dishes. We bought a few of them.

I love these kinds of "greeting cards". Brilliant, really.

More of these lovely cards. I didn't buy any, as there is a place downtown I like to support, buying their cards. Still ....really lovely work.

A Piece of The Map, on display again. It's from a HUGE plywood creation. The original was wonderful to see.

Red line is the Canada-US Border. We're all north of it.

We find something we wanted to try: Deep Fried Oreos. We got a 5 piece.

How they looked.

Not bad. But thy really needed a nice cold glass of milk with them.

Lotsa BLING for sale here.

Amusing to watch people freak out and fall off these things. This IS "Reality Entertainment"!

This was neat to watch. She rolled clay, basically, combining colours, then cutting and melted in the basic oven (!) and ....

.... to make these ... or ...

... to make THESE beautiful creations. I bought one of the round tin boxes, like the ones in that bowl there.

An exhibit area to show more of what's happening all around our city.

Many, many exhibits here. And a lot of stuff for kids to do, too.

I'm not too sure if this was mainly for kids, or families or ... ? Didn't stick around to find out.

Best. Onsite Food truck. Ever.

We really get a lot of food trucks here at the PNE. For a good number of years, now. Awesome!

Henri's BBQ was there, too. Always tempting, but we do have a lot of great chicken cuisine, beyond the PNE.

One of our finds was this taco truck. with (it's at the bottom there) PHO BEEF BRISKET.  We ordered those ones.

Not much left of it. But they were good tacos.

Big display of motor homes etc. here. Awesome to check some of these $$$$$$$$ out. (o:

Pretty.

We didn't queue for it. We're fine where we are, thank you very much!

And this part of the TR ends, with A Big Chair Photo. (To be continued...)

[Nrthwnd]

"Let's Continue On, From Where We Left Off..."

Backing up to The Show we saw, at the Coliseum. Being paired with SUPER DOGS!!!, were the Peking Acrobats Show. Something for everyone.

We'd seen the dogs' show a number of times. Lots of fun. But it's usually the second 'act' that appears in conjunction with The Dogs, we're really interested in. One year, they did a convoluted touring show of "Peter Pan." Back in 2019, it was a Hypnotists Act. But they cleverly gave 1/3 of the end of the stadium rink, for the show, the back of the stage being the stage front for the Dogs, and the rest of the floor for the Dogs.

This time however, they put the performance stage for Peking waaaaaaaay over on the other side of the floor. Which looked really strange once their show started up. It's like all the expensive seats decided not to show up. And PNE staff were there to shoo away anyone walking up to the stage, closer on the Dogs' show mat, etc. Even kids that wanted to get closer were gently turned away, too. It was all wierd. The show was great, by the way. Just far, faaaaaar away, lol.

After the show we went thru the livestock buildings with nothing really new to see, since last year. Then we ended up in Revel District where we got our two kinds of ribs, and sides. And a couple of beers for me. Then we finished our visit, by walking up through Playland, stopping for one last beer at the Side Car Bar (or whatever it's called). Paid our respects to SkyBender (didn't work for the whole two week fair!), then exited out the Playland Gate, to catch a bus home.

We decided not to stay late, even though they were doing (again) this great night time show with fire, drones, and fireworks. But we were one-and-done by late afternoon.

Maybe next year's visit, longer? We'll see. Here's the rest of the photos...

OMGOMGOMG! We're back where we left off! Anyway ....

Pardon in advance for the photos I took. I wasn't used to such long distance shots.

How far we actually were, from the stage. with the SUPERDOGS!!! mat in between.

Before the show, I had bought this new case for my camera at an outdoor stall.

She was good at what she was doing up there.

Good old spinning plates act.

This guy was fun. Playing it very 'casual' on the wire...

Then, he'd go and do something like this.

The Finale starting up.

A 5 - 6 - 7 - 8!

Wire guy comes back for his bows.

And they all wave to us waaaaaay across the floor. Good show.

The PNE "House Band" performing out front of the Coliseum.

Took a look in here at the livestock/horse competitions. Unfortunately, nothing was happening there.

Heavy horse? ....... okaaaaay.

Like I said, nothing happening "at this time".

Trivia: my dad took me to see the Moscow Circus here. Back then.

The Livestock Buildings. Nothing new, but some good shade as it was a pretty warm day, that day.

#One BBQ spot.

#Two BBQ spot. We tried ribs and sides from both.

Always get a kick out of the Gator BBQ Menu.

Yum. We got too much corn bread, though. And we forgot slaw, too.

Next year, better prepared with notes!

Getting one more beer, and a last look at a non-running SkyBender. <sighs>

Haven't ridden Coaster yet, with <ugh> the seat belts. Maybe next year when they open for the season in June.

[Evan-500]

Goodbye Revelation and Drop Zone, hello new coaster. 
 

 

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2023/01/19/playland-rides-new-roller-coaster/?fbclid=IwAR0P6d5IiMe61hXQIG2RE5Kp74BrfB38lDceaFRWo89MrpaBg_CLt7ny-0Q&mibextid=Zxz2cZ
 

 

“Construction of a new roller coaster at Playland in Vancouver means amusement park goers will be saying goodbye to two rides at the park.

According to the PNE, the new ride will take the place of both Drop Zone and Revelation. Both of those rides are coming down this week.

“Construction of Playland’s next new ride is ON TRACK!” a social media update reads, noting the new attraction will be “Canada’s fastest launch coaster.” “

[Nrthwnd]

^ I wondered if those two 'rides' were going to stay. Apparently not. Thanks for the update. I do wish they would have replaced Revelation with a smaller length (height?) kind of ride. Like the one I rode in Power Park, Finland. Can be included with the Playland Pass, and not be counted as an "Extra Charge." Oh well. Stay tuned till 2024.

Power Park, TPR 2014 Scandi Tour.

[ricklap77]

Didn't they have a few years ago a huge Booster type ride in front of the Corkscrew?

[Nrthwnd]

^ That's what Revelation is... uh, was. But it was also an Extra Charge to ride. Same as Drop Zone. I though they could put both of them somewhere else in the park, but I guess they decided to take them out, altogether. The smaller Booster (see above) I rode in Power Park (Finland) was awesome and felt much faster with a smaller circumference  to run. And it was included in their Day Pass.

[ricklap77]

Well Revelation was a scary ride!  Yes they could have put it somewhere else in the park.  It doesn't take up a lot of space.

[Nrthwnd]

^ Who knows? I think there are some traveling ones, so it's possible it may come back during the annual PNE fair, only.

By the way, I am pretty positive, that I must have ridden that Booster in Power Park, at least ..... 5 times?!! In an evening's and an early daytime's visit there. But Revelation, here? I think I do/did it once-every-three-years. If that. And it was an Upcharge, so at least $10-15 spent for one ride, at the time.

Same goes for The Drop. I rode one, finally, in Mexico (thanks Selva Magica!). Great cheap price ($5?), too.

Other TPRers on Selva Magica's Drop. TPR 2013 Mexico Tour. Once was enough for myself, thanks.

[Nrthwnd]

Playland is now scheduled to open on Saturday, June 03 (Sat.-Sunday only in June). And they have  a bunch of different prices for single day, and season passes. With or without the thrill rides, etc. It looks like the Season (Thrill) Pass (already got mine) will get one 10% off their food and games, too! Great!

Here's where to find more information: https://www.pne.ca/playland/

And it looks like, until the PNE opens in mid-August, Playland will actually be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. A first!

DISNEYLAND Trivia: DL did that too, back in the 1960s... close on Mondays and Tuesdays. They did it, to help support Knott's Berry Farm get their crowds. And Knott's thanked them, by closing on Wednesdays and Thursdays, truth! I was there in 1963 and remember how me and my mother planned our trip there, to both parks. A-E tickets sold there too, at that time.

Photo from Playland(PNE).