PA, NJ, NY Finale Rye Playland NY 7-28-08

After leaving Coney we continued up some circle freeway that was wall to wall traffic on a saturday. Left Brooklyn with a sign saying Leaving? FUGHETABOUT IT! Thru Queens Passed both Liguardia and JFK airports. Noticed the Air Train which I need to do some more reaserch on but no they had problems at upstart and finally reached I-95 North to get out of the City. Got the to Rye exit, crossed the NE corridor and all of us had to go so bad it hurt and ended up waiting in a ten minute line at the one gas station with one unisex restroom. Little did we know the park was only a half a mile down the hill and we could have been in free and used theirs in no time.

Playland, Rye NY. I didn't really know what to expect. I hadn't done much research on it as I don't with most parks I visit as it gives me a clear way to form my own opinion of a park.

I LOVED IT! WOW, What a setting, Beach and ocean to the east. Lake to the north. ICE PALACE on the south and a very long Midway with flowered center and tons of rides up each side of it! Its a free addmission park. I think it was 32 bucks for a 6hr ride band which tells you how much time left you have at each ride you take.

Second thing I noticed is this park was old, Very old but IMPECABLY MAINTAINED. I think the county owns the park and operates it as part of its parks board. This park was so well maintained that even the 80+ year old rides such as the Old Mill, Derby, Carousel and Dragon Coaster were like new.

Also mising was PC BS with anatomically correct statues and funhouses that didn't skimp on the gore.

Dragon Coaster, This is a big long coaster. It's not intense of anything but its fun. It's beautiful but you really can't see much of it from inside the park. You either have to go up the parking lot or up by the lake to even see most of it as the midway is all latticed with the rides tucked back in em.

Whip! OMG! WHAM! BAM, THank you mam! NOW THIS IS A WHIP! I gotta video up on Youtube under chucknungester. Check it out. INSANE and how these rides were meant to be ridden and not tamed down to near mediocrity status! RYE's WHIP WINS FOR BEST FLAT OF THE TRIP! EVEN OVER KNOEBELS FLYERS and that insane upside down spinny contraption at Moreys.

Both Fun Houses were fun and all three of us rode em together. Filming was allowed with no posted warnings against it and a OK by the op. We didn't film on the coaster or anything else that forbade it.

We rode everything, The Sea Dragon, Great Bumper Cars that has the most cars and pretty good clip. The Incredible Carosel and The Racing Derby. The only other of this type is Cedar Downs but Id beg to say that Rye's ran bit faster speed. This thing would toss ya if you didn't brace.

The Jr. NAD coaster is off limits to adults. Why? I have no idea but its not the same layout as Camdens Jr and is all wood structure unlike Camdens.

The Mouse it apears to be a Arrow Mouse and we got one ride. It seemed about shorter than the other two Arrow mice I've ridden though but it was unbraked! BONUS!

I skipped the Zamperla Flyer thinking I couldn't ride as I wasn't even close when we went to Canadas Wonderland A couple years back but Rob said Id fit this one and I did easy Abeith losing 50pds I still was unsure but all was good. All I can say is whats all the biatching about? This ride was cool, The most I got was a little tap by the head rest and it was intense in parts and quickly changed direction. Not to mention you flew the whole course unlime both Vekoma and B&M Versions.

We were going to ride Dragon Coaster again and alas, I DONT FIT! Must have been that second Nathans Chili Dog of the day LOL but its strange, These Morgan trains seem to have different bars than the ones I remember from Seabreeze and I was much heavier then too. Oh well, I got one ride on it. It's fun and memerable for nostalgia alone.

Other than that Zameperla Flyer, This park was 100 percent traditional. The operators seemed lax and thats about the only down side. The Whip operator took a full 6 minutes to load and check us all but other than that. EVerything was PERFECT!

WOW, WHAT A ENDING TO A FANTASTIC TRIP! If your a traditional fan on non waits, classic rides run as they should be and CHARM OUT THE WAZOO!

VISIT PLAYLAND in RYE NY!
Thanks for reading
Chuck Nungester

The side slams on the whip at Rye are almost as good as the oval ends. GREAT RIDE! (I mentioned in a prior report, that it took a bit longer for it to "get up to speed" this year...but despiute the "slow loader" it's the best ride of it's kind I've ever been on.

What are you referring to when you say PC BS??

It's too bad the Derby Racer's horses don't undulate back and forth. Each horse is permanently mounted in the central position. THe ops who hop on and off are facinating. They never fall. I'm surprised they are allowed to enter the platform while the ride is running.

I'm glad you liked Playland and it sounded like it wasn't too crowded. It can get packed on the weekends and during daycamp hours. Late weekday afternoons and early evenings are best.

I mean PC and wimpyness, Tonned down as in scenes being less gory, Parks operating rides at half speed and being so afraid to upset anyone the real world is lost.

The Derby Racers horses undualated, There are some rows that don't but me, my brother and his wife were in the same row of horses and at least me and his wife were racing :). I had heard they didn't but at least me and her horses did move back and forth on the slide.

Was up there this past weekend and that Whip Rocks!

not better the The Flyers, but very good just the same.