Associated parks:
None
First The Fishing Report...
(Perilous Backround Music) With cool graphics...
(Voice Over) "Rye Pier...5000 miles south west of Dutch Harbor...Richie Reflux is going fishing..."
(Reflux) "Hi"
(Voice Over) "With temperatures in the 90's...high humidity...and no wind...the Long Island Sound strikes back with a relentless fury..."
(Reflux) "Oooh...I got a blister!"
(Voice Over) "With several hundred thousand pounds left to go on his quota...Richie is falling behind..."
(Reflux) "I've never seen fishing this rough over here...I think I'll head over to Nathan's and get a Pepsi."
(Cue the Bon Jovi Music)
I know a place...where the rides right now are closed...and I'm frying on this pier...got some lotion on my nose.
I'm a weasel. In a old black Jeep I drive...I'm gonna stand here on the pier...and wait for the rides.
Sorry, couldn't resist.
The pier was empty and I didn't catch anything. The tide was coming in and after a while I said "#@*& this" and I went to see the Batman movie. I never made it to the pool.
If you do fish, the pier is nice. There are speakers along the way - softly playing hit music at a reasonable volume...and there is a wooden overhand on the first eighth of the structure providing shades...vending machines and ac outlets.
Great ADventure Correlation - you know how many people hit the Wawa on the way to Great ADventure. On a smaller scale, a block before the first traffic oval, there is a small market on the right with a 2-pump gas station. It looked like it had decent sandwiches and the place had quite a few Playland Employees stopping by on the way to work.
That is where I got directions to the movie theater about 5 miles away. Along the way I passed some HUGE waterfront mansions. Very nice.
Got back to Rye in time to get a decent spot. The lot was open at 5 and the rides were supposed to start at 6. They started about 10 minutes early.
This was a private event for WLPJ listeners who mailed in self-addressed stamped envelopes. Families could request up to 6 tickets. THey give away ten thousand and after the firt hour of riding, the place was PACKED!!!!
The park was clean, and this was definately a family atmosphere. THe kiddie area was very crowded. The bandstand featured two performances by a coverband (Kranetown) which featured the afternoon jock (Race Taylor) (Yeah, sure that's his real name) and some of the morning show's "Cast" giving away prizes in deal or no deal fashion.
Rides:
Yoyo - I have never been on one before. While waiting for the rides to start, one of the ops told me the Power Surge and the swings from last year are gone because it was owned by the same guy who owned the mind scrambler. Anyway, the Yoyo is like a swing (tight seat though) and only provided outer ring seats. The motion is differnet than most wave swingers and the top part of the ride lowers the swings into place. Not like on the ball. It had the Playland in 3d letters embosed on its side and the park owns this model. (It looks like most of the rides, as could have been a mobile model that is fixed into place.) Decent cycle.
This ride, like most of playland's offerings has a nice lighting package. Later on the park glowed brightly.
New Policy - Don't even think about riding anything at Rye wearing a hat. You have to hold it, place it in a locker or give it to someone else. This was enforced everywhere.
Dragon Coaster - The guy in charge of this one was aggressively stapling people. I know I'm a tight fit, but he was vengeful and smirking about it. (He was the only person who bummed me out that night).
The ride still gets a lot of track from its lift hill, but it just isn't a thrill ride. It's a nice "tweener" family ride. As the sky grew darker, it's white lights complimented the frame perfectly.
Whip - It looks like it took the old boy a few moments to catch up to speed this time around, but once he was up and running he still proved to be the best and most forceful ride of it's kind I have ever been on. Some of the side-slams slightly lifted my car. That's force!
Catch A Wave - This ride rocks! It has very high torque, again great lighting (with nightime strobe effects) and it was moved into the scrambler's old spot. Nice cycle too!
Music Express - I didn't ride it, but again this park is screaming family. The version they bought has a fantastic lighting scheme. It's not as big or as angled as other models, and it now sits where Power Surge was. I didn't ride it because the line was about 35 minutes.
When it got dark, it was still 85 degrees. I was sweating, I still smelled like bait and the line for the Playland Plounge was about an hour. I just grabed dinner, sat on the boardwalk, I won a radio station prize by spinning a wheel, and I lust looked at the lights. A guy with his two sons were walking past me after spending time on the pier. I asked them if they caught anything. "Not a bite."
Thoughts:
1) If you do playland, go at night.
2) This is truly trying to become a family oriented park.
3) The pier is nice.
4) I never made it to the pool.
5) I'm sorry nobody toook me up on my offer of free tickets. It might have been cool to meet a few of you.
6) The pizza, though not as good as Rays in New York City, was good, though expensive. (Slice $3.00 Soda $2.50.
Thanks for reading this and have a great night.
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