A Bit Of Rye Playland "ERT"

Rye Playland is an interesting place. Situated on a beautiful beachfront along the Long Island Sound, the area attracted amusements, restaurants, and resort-businesses in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, but it also attracted "unsavory crowds", so Westchester County eventually took control of the real estate, forced out the existing operators, and built Playland and its surrounding facilities. It really is a gem, but it has had its ups and downs over the years, and it has become a very big drain on the County's budget. You may have heard news in the last several years that Playland was going to close, which is at least partly true, because the County can no longer afford to subsidize it.

A plan to "save" Playland was chosen by County Commissioner Rob Astorino, but the whole process seems to have been mismanaged. I was among those who wrote to the County to support an amusement-based solution for Playland, not the weird "Sustainable Playland" proposal that Astorino selected. There have since been so many delays and challenges to the plan that it's not certain whether Sustainable Playland will even go forward in their participation. There is a summary of the situation here.

Why this report? We were missing one credit from Rye Playland...See the photos below for our adventure! (BTW, this is one of the parks where I grew up, and everyone's always called it "Rye Playland", although the official name is Playland Amusement Park. Still, you can enter "Rye Playland" and it will come up in rcdb.) On to our Saturday visit.

Back in 2008, when I was young and slim, Cheryl and I visited Rye Playland on opening day and found that Kiddie Coaster has a maximum height limit and we were unable to ride it. It's very possible that I rode it as a child, but I don't remember it, and our rule is that we don't count credits that we can't remember or somehow document.

So here we are on a beautiful Saturday to rectify the situation.

Rob Astorino is now the GOP candidate for Governor. He seems to have botched his own Playland plan, which leads me to believe that the gubernatorial post is beyond his level of capabilities, not that he has any chance against Cuomo to begin with.

To the government building to bribe government officials! But seriously, we just applied and paid for a park usage permit. Thanks to RB for the tip that this could be done.

Nelly is our host. It is one half-hour before the park opens to the GP.

National Historic Landmark

We're in!

Buckle your seatbelts!

Ready to GO!

And they're off!!!

Appproaching lift hill.

On the lift hill!

CREDIT!

Another go-around!

And another go-around! Total: 3 Circuits

We've made history!

Hah Hah, Height Restriction! You've been vanquished!

Back out of the gates, we walked to one end of the boardwalk (this is where BIG was filmed).

All the way to the other end of the boardwalk.

That's Long Island in the distance.

In the GP queue for the park to open.

The park has a lovely green in the center, with rides and eateries along the sides.

First stop was Derby Racer.

These were built by Fred Church, and only three remain. Anyone know where the 2 others can be found?

Next stop was Zombie Castle.

For a traditional dark ride, this really kicks butt. Lots of sick and grotesque gags, with a crazy loud and disturbing soundtrack.

Oops, my reflection on Zoltar. I can't say for sure if this is the same Zoltar as in the movie BIG, but it does stand to reason, unless it was acquired some time after the film was made.

Next stop, the classic Dragon Coaster.

I definitely remember going on this as a kid, but it's still worth a ride. It's incredibly long and fun.

Old Dragon car.

Ye Old Mill is another of the park's collection of classic rides.

They have these markers for the classic collection put in place for the park's opening in 1928-29.

Unfortunately, this Old Mill has received the same treatment as the one at Kennywood: lots of bad retheming. These old "tunnels of love" were meant for smooching.

Lunch time! Look, they serve beer!

My barbecue chicken wrap was not bad.

Another classic dark ride.

Flying Witch is also a messed up twisted old school nightmare.

If you grew up in the New York area, you might know Carvel ice cream, which was Westchester-based for years.

Another view of Dragon Coaster.

With its famous dragon!

Wow, what a beautiful day! Thanks for visiting Rye Playland with us!!!

Great Report!

Great pictures, thanks for posting them. I haven't been to Rye Playland for over a decade... but the one thing I remember the most about Dragon Coaster was that it seemed to keep going and going and going. Lots of flat turns (I'm a flat turn enthusiast) and hills. Great ride; I hope it sticks around for many more years.

I was lucky to get on the Kiddie Coaster in the early 80's. It's one credit that I am very proud of.

Great TR and photos!

Great pictures, thanks for posting them. I haven't been to Rye Playland for over a decade... but the one thing I remember the most about Dragon Coaster was that it seemed to keep going and going and going. Lots of flat turns (I'm a flat turn enthusiast) and hills. Great ride; I hope it sticks around for many more years.

Those older designers like Church, Traver, and Miller tended to have flat instead of banked turns, right?

I was lucky to get on the Kiddie Coaster in the early 80's. It's one credit that I am very proud of.

Great TR and photos!

Great! Yeah, we just weren't patient enough to wait for an enthusiast event!

I have never been to Rye Playland despite living in NY. I am visiting a friend in NYC Saturday is it worth the 30 dollar admission? I will almost do it in case the park isn't open in the future.

I have never been to Rye Playland despite living in NY. I am visiting a friend in NYC Saturday is it worth the 30 dollar admission? I will almost do it in case the park isn't open in the future.

You could always just pay the $10 admission and then pay per ride, if the $30 entrance plus ride band price is too steep for you, but you're asking someone who will drive for hours, or even fly, to get a single credit, so four credits for $30 sounds like a deal to me. If you're a New York amusement park enthusiast, this is, literally, the only New York City metropolitan area amusement park that has survived the last century more or less intact.

At various times the park has alternated between the pay-for-entry and open admission models. Currently, one must pay for admission, which keeps the crowds lighter and also affects the composition of guests (a good or bad thing, depending on your point of view).

I'm always interested in "old-school" dark rides--would like to check out Playland's someday.

Is that the head from the old SeaDragon ride?

 

Is that the head from the old SeaDragon ride?

I guess it's possible, because there are actually two heads there and the Sea Dragon had two heads, but I've never heard of chopping up a flat ride for such a purpose. Also, those dragon heads are emitting steam/smoke, so some modification would have had to have been done on those heads to allow the steam to pipe out. I can't find older pictures to verify anything one way or another. I'm guessing it's not them, because I don't see big dorsal spikes on these heads, but I think the Sea Dragon had them. Or maybe they were cut off? Good question.

Great pictures, thanks for posting them. I haven't been to Rye Playland for over a decade... but the one thing I remember the most about Dragon Coaster was that it seemed to keep going and going and going. Lots of flat turns (I'm a flat turn enthusiast) and hills. Great ride; I hope it sticks around for many more years.

 

Those older designers like Church, Traver, and Miller tended to have flat instead of banked turns, right?

The opposite, actually! I think Church and Traver specialized in wild twister type designs, while Miller was more an out-and-back designer. I read somewhere that Playland wanted a milder coaster after they built Airplane, hence the flat turns. There is a great Traver book ("Legends of Terror"?) that has detailed information about the Rye Playland coasters.

I did some digging and those are absolutely SeaDragon heads. I can't find pictures of there old SeaDragon but I found some good pictures of some other ones (look at the decorative blue pieces and the teeth).

It's a shame they got rid of their SeaDragon ride but at least they found a good use for the heads.

Nice trip report. I know last time i was there it was starting to get run down but looks like they fixed it up. Did they finally get rid of the bad system where each ride has points and you have to buy points to ride them.

I did some digging and those are absolutely SeaDragon heads. I can't find pictures of there old SeaDragon but I found some good pictures of some other ones (look at the decorative blue pieces and the teeth).

 

 

It's a shame they got rid of their SeaDragon ride but at least they found a good use for the heads.

Hmm, its very unusual that they did that...

These were built by Fred Church, and only three remain. Anyone know where the 2 others can be found?

The other 2 Derby Racers are at Cedar Point and Pleasure Beach Blackpool. I've ridden all 3. Rye and Blackpool are better(faster) than the Cedar Point in my memory though it has been many years since I have ridden the Cedar Point and Rye Playland versions.

That was honestly my favorite ride at Rye Playland for a long time makes me sad the horses no longer "race" on any of the Derby Racers.

Great report...I really liked Rye.

Always nice to see these nostalgic parks open. Granted, it has seen it's share of struggles, but what a beautiful area to have an amusement park!

Ma home park

I'm always interested in "old-school" dark rides--would like to check out Playland's someday.

Chuck, the dark rides are great gore fests. I wished that I was 9 years old again while riding them so I could truly relive that creepy old dark ride feeling.

^I've heard good things about them from other folks, too. Loves that old-school, dark-ride gore.

Awesome report, and I'm so glad to see the park still has plenty of dark rides! It is a bummer the Old Mill still has bogus "theming" but at least Rye didn't go with some completely unrelated "brand" character.

And I love the latest Dragon! Really sweet. If we lose this park, I'm going into deep mourning.