Sunday, March 13, 2016

Showing Off Standard Amusements Vision for Rye Playland


There is still no formal agreement in place for Standard Amusements to take over running Rye Playand, but the company has opened up and shared some of its plans for the historic amusement park - should the agreement take place.

The deadline for Standard Amusements and Westchester County to agree on future plans was actually last fall, put pushed to the end of this month.  Now that plans are being presented for voting, that deadline will likely be pushed back further.  This news story about the in-progress deal features new art shared by Standard Amusements, some of which we will take a look at below.

© Standard Amusements
The current deal calls for Westchester County to invest $58 million and Standard Amusement to invest $30 million in Playland.  The big amount for the County is in large part due to the property being a county park that needs capital projects that have been pushed off.  This map shows the result of Standard's changes, unfortunately the article clipped off the number keys to the map. 

We can tell that #9 is a new roller coaster, a steel one that Standard has released no details on yet.

© Standard Amusements
The main entrance area will be totally redone, with the mini-golf course removed to open up the space.  The pool that has long been near the park would be removed, and replaced with a "waterfront vista."

© Standard Amusements
A big part of the $58 million that County would spend is to fix and restore the park's art deco columns, towers and colonnades, signature features of Rye Playland.  Here we see one walkway, feeding from the parking area, with restored details.  Part of the plan also included repaving the main parking lot, never a small project.

© Standard Amusements
The famous Dragon Coaster would received some TLC, along with a renovated entrance plaza, seen in concept above.  The park has always had a lot of charm, but needs all this work to really bring it up to current standards.

© Standard Amusements
On the ride side of things, Standard Amusements plans a large pendulum ride in a small part of the current parking area.  The placement is being done to make a bold statement for those arriving at the park, which is a great move in my opinion.

© Standard Amusements
There are other small additions planned, like this train that would run through the main promenade, that aren't being singled out in the plans just yet.  Hopefully if this deal moves forward we will get an even more detailed view of what will be coming.  The article referenced earlier mentions that Standard Amusements is hoping to fully take over the park in October of 2017 at the earliest.


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