Zamperla's Plans for Rye Playland Would Include Record Breaking Ride

© Rye Playland

The Board of Legislators recently met with both companies still interested in running Rye Playland, Central Amusements Int. and Standard Amusement Inc. to go over their proposals for the classic amusement park's future.

This article is packed with interesting details, with some new information coming to light as well.

Central Amusements (Zamperla) wants to bring attendance to seven or eight hundred thousand, up from three hundred fifty thousand the park does today.  Their would put more effort on theming rides they build, and also work to preserve the park's art deco style.  They know a marquee ride is needed, proposing the world's tallest pendulum ride or something big like a Air Race ride.  If built, the pendulum ride would be the largest by ten feet - and I think Zamperla's Giant Discovery pendulum ride is already the tallest at 147 feet.  Central Amusements would work to add new rides each year to build the park up over time, using a big new ride as the starting point.

Standard Amusement has a slightly different approach, wanting to add several new rides at once to really get the park on the map, and to bring back old visitors to see what was new.  They see running Playland as an important part of preserving the history of it and want to see it shine like it did decades ago.

Both companies have their own funding in place, and both also want to expand the park's season by including Halloween events.  Central Amusements also runs the rides at Luna Park in Coney Island, citing that they've increased revenues from $8.5 million in 2010 to $22 million in 2014.

Legislators sound like they really want to get one of the two operators (the two tried to make a deal to work together but couldn't meet on the terms) in place for Playland's 2015 season, but time is quickly ticking by.  Here's hoping!