Rye Playland Opens New Old Rye Motorbike Factory Flat Ride

© Rye Playland

Rye Playland, located on New York's Long Island, has opened a new thrilling family flat ride named the Old Rye Motorbike Factory.  The attraction, seen above, represents a $3 million investment in the park and features unique theming and an interactive component to the ride experience.  The attraction is billed as the first of its kind in the United States, though it is unclear which ride manufacturer created the Old Rye Motorbike Factory.

© Rye Playland

© Rye Playland

Regardless of who manufactured it, the ride looks like a lot of fun!  The park has really put a lot of effort into theming the attraction, which makes it fit in perfectly with Rye's authentic and classic feel.  The ride features individual "vintage Italian motorbike" themed cars, complete with a sidecar attached to each motobike.  The interactive portion comes from riders being able to control the amount of outward swing that the cars have using a level in the vehicle.   Riders 36 inches and above can ride the Old Rye Motorbike Factory with an adult, making the attraction perfect for family run.

This season is the first in several that will see a total of $135 million invested into Rye Playland, a majority of which is going into rebuilding aging buildings, improving very old infrastructure, but also adding rides.  Cheers to the County for investing in the park to keep it around for decades to come!

Operator Dispute Finally Over for Rye Playland (We Hope) + New Investments Planned

The battle over who will be operating Rye Playland has been going on for years, making a bit of a dark cloud hang over the park and creating uncertainty for the classic amusement park.  But it seems that court battle is finally over and perhaps the sun will come out for the park, especially needed as it did not operate in 2020 due to the pandemic.

This news article details that a new contract has been put into place with Standard Amusements that makes improvements over prior contacts with the company in key areas.  Also of note, I really hope that at this point the county regrets not giving the contract to Zamperla years ago.  Anywho, Standard Amusements will take over the park at the end of this year, and run the park in 2022 for the first time since being awarded as operator in 2015.  How crazy is that!

© Playland

Per the contract Standard Amusements will spend $35 million on improving the park, with a maximum amount of $5 million going to overhead.  That means that around $30 million will be spent on upgrades, changes and new attractions.  No details on those changes were put in the contract.

Fans of the park can rest easy knowing that the contract forces the operator to maintain historical rides including the Derby Racer, Dragon Coaster, Grand Carousel, The Whip, Ye Old Mill the Kiddie Coaster and the Kiddy Carousel.  Other rides can be replaced via a review process with the county.

No opening date for Playland's 2021 season has been listed yet that I can locate.  The park had a strong 2019 season when they added a new spinning ride, so hopefully they can keep that momentum going this summer.

Waldameer Park to Open, Rye Playland to Stay Closed, and Hurricane Harbor Phoenix Closes

© Waldameer

Pennsylvania's Waldameer Park and Water World will open to visitors on July 3rd, marking the start of their 2020 season.  The park will not able able to open all of their rides in order to accommodate COVID-19 restrictions, but the vast majority of the park's attractions will be available.

Guests visiting the park will be required to wear a face mask, at least for those age 3 and up.  Pennsylvania has continued to have face masks required at all businesses, regardless of type, during the pandemic and Waldameer will be no exception to that rule.

In order to monitor attendance levels guests will have to purchase their tickets online ahead of time and select the date they want to visit.  The park will not be selling any tickets at their entrance gates.  This also means that non-rider free admission will not be available in 2020 but the park plans to bring it back in 2021.

© Playland

New York's Rye Playland amusement park has made the tough decision to stay closed for the 2020 season.  The park is part of the Westchester County parks system, and that general area was one of the first in the country to be heavily hit with COVID-19 cases.  In order to continue to keep the public and employees safe the decision to not open the amusement park this year was made.

From the park's website it looks like other amenities surrounding the park, such as the beach and mini-golf, are currently operating on limited schedules with plenty of precautions in place.

© Hurricane Harbor Phoenix

Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Phoenix was already open for the 2020 season, however due to the dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases in Arizona the park has announced that they will be closing for 30 days.

The state's Governor has ordered all water parks and tubing enterprises to stay shuttered until at least July 27th - calling that date and "aspirational" goal.  To me that means it could easily go longer depending on what the number of cases do.

It's a mixed bag of good news with bad so far this summer, everyone keep safe!

Rye Playland Boasts its Best Season in Several Years

© Playland

It has been a while since we've had good news coming out of Rye Playland, which has been troubled with much drama and lawsuits regarding who will be operating the park.  It's a long story, but the current disagreement between Standard Amusements and the County, which owns the park, is still raging on.

Let's turn to the good news instead, Playland has announced that their attendance in 2019 was higher than the past three years, breaking a trend of steadily decreasing visits.  In 2019 there were a total of 508,413 visitors, compared to 460,000 in 2018.  That's a substantial gain, based off of the park adding a new ride, a new mascot, town days to celebrate local communities, live concerts and entertainment, and adding two fall weekends to the park's schedule.

© Playland

A big part of the lift was probably the addition of the park's first new ride in eleven years, the Dragonator.  The ride, which is a Disk'O from Zamperla, opened on July 29th and brought plenty of new life to the park.  The spinning and swirling ride proved extremely popular with visitors, showing that there could be a significant need for new attractions at the property.

Despite the ongoing issues related to who will be operating the park, the County is pleased by the growth this season and promises to use this winter to "improve and expand our product."  Hopefully another new ride will join the park in 2020!

Rye Playland Gets Yet Another New Development Plan + A New Ride in 2019?

© Standard Amusements

Unfortunately the past decade hasn't been a very productive one in terms of developments at Rye Playland, a classic amusement park located in Rye, New York.

The history of the operations and future development of the park in recent memory have played out like a soap opera, with several big plans being drawn up only to have pretty much nothing actually happen.  If you scroll the posts here, you can follow along with that history.

Still, the park has been managed by Standard Amusements for a couple years now though disagreements between the County and the operator have persisted and there has been no tangible investment to date.  Yet another new plan (seen above) has hit the internet now, showing what Standard Amusements would like to do at Rye Playland long-term.

There are plenty of new ride additions, changes to the beach, restorations of the park's classic midways, and most notably a recreation of Rye's former Aeroplane wooden coaster.  I'm sure that has grabbed a lot of people's attention... but will it ever happen?  This news article features some quotes from government officials that make it sound like this is very much a blue-sky plan, and there are by no means shovels ready to hit the dirt.

And then... more drama - but this may result in a new ride (the first at the park since 2008).  The County has put out a request for bids for an operator to bring a new ride to the park by July 3rd, 2019.  It sounds like a flat ride of some sort is desired, at least when reading this story.  The odd thing is that the County is looking to add the ride, and it seems their operator, Standard Amusements, is playing no part in this request - pretty much the opposite of what you would expect.  Perhaps some development, regardless of how it gets done, is better than none?

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.

A Plan for Rye Playland's New Operator Announced

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino has announced that Rye Playland will be managed by Standard Amusements for the next 15 years, if the Board of Legislators approves the deal he has created.

The news comes as a bit of a surprise as many expected the County to move forward with Central Amusements, the park operating arm of Zamperla.

The new deal with Standard Amusements will see $23 million invested in the historic amusement park over five years.  The company will also pay the County over $2 million up front, $300k a year, and 7.5% of profits once Standard recoups their investment.  The deal can be renewed after 15 years, but Standard can also pull out of it in October of this year after co-managing the park this Summer with the County.

Playland will be operated by United Parks, with CEO Jack Falfas (former Cedar Fair executive) running the show.  

Example UniCoaster

But how about new rides?  Well I can't find any details that are as elaborate as what Zamperla showed, but a mini-water park, a Double AquaLoop slide, and a UniCoaster are specifically listed in this story.  I only know of one UniCoaster that opened, inside Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America.

The plans is to keep the park ungated, leaving guests to purchase all-day wristbands or just ride tickets if they want.

The Board of Legislators have 60 days to approve the deal.  If they do, Standard Amusements will become the sole operator of the park on November 1st.  There are already some folks poking holes in the deal, though, so this may not be the end of the story.

Central Amusements' Latest Plan for Playland + New Ride Design

Westchester County Legislator Catherine Parker held a presentation/Q&A session last week with potential Rye Playland operator Central Amusements Inc. (CAI).  The company has remained interested in operating the park throughout the recent years of uncertainty, including when Sustainable Playland was 'chosen' as an operator, only to have them fall apart.

The presentation was held at a local library and is not a formal pitch to run the park, instead it is just to help the public interact with those who want to run the park, share their thoughts, etc.  Another operator, Standard Amusements will have their presentation in about a week.

The presentation was added to YouTube, but warning, when including the question and answer segment it's well over an hour long.  I will admit I only got through just over half.

Anyway, there were a few interesting slides that we have not seen before, and many we have.  To see the progression of CAI plans for Rye Playland, just read through our articles.

The image above shows the most current plan of investments in Rye Playland, showing some big numbers which would represent a lot of new rides and attractions over the next five years.

However, CAI is quick to point out that the $26 million planned could easily be expanded over the years.  They shared this slide of their developments in Coney Island, showing how they promised to spend $23 million there in 5 years, and ended up spending a cool $43 million.

Also, if you were wondering how much the new Thunderbolt cost, will there you have it - somewhere just under $10 million.

Now for that new ride - CAI previously said they would be interested in bringing a world record breaking pendulum ride to the park, but during this presentation mentioned adding brand new items as well, never before seen.

The image above is of the ride they were speaking of, labeled a Giant Air Race.   It looks like they've taken a normal Air Race ride and lifted it quite a bit off the ground during the ride cycle.  It is hard to tell from this concept, but it looks like the ride could be upwards of 100 feet off the ground.  Interesting, no?

If you would like to see the video of the presentation, I will embed it below.  If anyone makes it the whole way through and there are any other interesting items, please share!

Rye Playland Posts Big Attendance + Revenue Gains in 2014

I guess you could call Rye Playland the little park that could, posting significant increases in both attendance and revenues amid uncertainty as to the future direction of the park.

The historic amusement park saw an increase of 77,000 visitors in 2014 for a grand total of 467,000 - a 20% increase over 2013.  Revenues swelled as well, up to $8.7 million from $7.0 million in 2013, a 24% jump.

This article from Patch reports that the County's Department of Parks & Recreation "attributed the 2014 increases in attendance and gross revenue at Playland to successful promotions, pleasant weather and special events."  The article also points out that these big gains were achieved even with poor weather over the July 4th weekend, which is usually the best of the year for Playland.

The County is currently awaiting a report from a hired consultant that is meant to point the park in a direction that will make it profitable in the long run.  Talks have also resumed with two operators who previously showed interested in taking over the park and expanding it heavily.  Hopefully those talks are quickened, so as to build on this year's gains going forward!

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!

Focus on Rye Playland's Future Shifts Back to CAI Parks

© Playland Park

With the idea of Sustainable Playland taking over Rye Playland now just a part of history, local legislators are once more seeking a new plan for the classic amusement park.

And, not surprisingly, they're appearing to be turning back to two operators that proposed leasing the park's operations several years ago - but were turned away in favor of Sustainable Playland.  Feels like a big fat "told you so" if you ask me, as arguably both Central Amusement Int. and Standard Amusements had solid plans for the property that seemed more sound than Sustainable'.

Central Amusement Int. had an especially appealing plan to expand Playland.  CAI Parks, as they are also known, is the operating arm of Zamperla and are responsible for the rebirth of amusements in Coney Island, including this year's custom designed Thunderbolt roller coaster.

If you want to check out the details of that original plan, which included a large amount of new rides and coasters, the original presentation can be downloaded via this link.

This story is nearing three years old at this point - let's cross our fingers and hope that the right decision is made soon so the next chapter of Playland can begin!

Where Does Rye Playland Go From Here?

Just yesterday I wrote about how Rye Playland's future was looking to be totally up in the air once again, and apparently my psychic abilities were at their peak just then.  Today Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino announced that the deal with Sustainable Playland was off the table, dead in the water, not gonna happen.

So what does that mean for the future of the park?  Well things are basically back at square one.  The park is still operating, but after years of debate and planning, nothing has really come of it.

This article summarizes the news well, but one thing I am hung up on is what happened to the plans submitted by other amusement operators, including Central Amusement Int or even that crazy Legoland proposal?  Are they just going to be ignored at this point?

From the way the story sounds the county will hire a consultant to review the park's operations and make suggestions - the details of which I am not sure - and a for-profit business has taken over operations of the Ice Casino (indoor ice rink).

Sort of a mixed bag with this news - Sustainable's plan seemed like a bad fit for the future of the park, but it is also fairly clear that something needs to happen to the slowly stagnating park. 

More Changes in the Plan for the Future of Rye Playland

I will admit that I have purposely held off on covering every bit of the current Rye Playland story - honestly it has just twisted and turned far too much for me to keep up.

However, there are some bigger changes afoot that are worth noting - mainly that during the first half of this year the support for Sustainable Playland has been chipped away, from the general public to those currently sitting on the board of legislators.

The classic amusement park has already reopened for the 2014 season with business as usual, no new attractions but the county has spent money on repairs such as a new roof for the Ice Palace and boardwalk repairs.

Support for other proposals, especially that from Central Amusement International (which is Zamperla's park-operating arm) are still on the table as well.  Sustainable Playland had already picked Central Amusement to run the rides at the park, and with their proven success in Coney Island I would think they might be a forerunner.

While the final plan for the future of Playland is discussed, and eventually voted on this Summer, hopefully plenty of visitors will head out and enjoy the day there.  I would love to see a happy ending to this story, but it looks like we will still have to wait a while on that one.

Details of the 5-Year Plan for Rye Playland Released

Sustainable Playland and CAI Parks have released a document showing off the five year plans for the classic Rye Playland, detailing what rides are planned to leave - and what ones will be built.  Over the course of five years around $14 million will be spend on new rides.

The plan is not totally dissimilar from the independent plan that CAI Parks submitted some time ago, before joining forces with Sustainable Playland.  There are a few less ride additions, but still a lot of new toys.  Keep in mind that while this project is moving forward, it still does not have the ultimate final vote and approval of the County Board of Legislators.

The work is proposed to start in 2014 with the removal of some of the older kiddie rides, which would be replaced by a bunch of newer Zamperla models.  These include a Jump Around, Happy Swing, Samba Balloon, Magic Bikes, Sky Tower, HydroRace and Rockin' Tug.  All of the new kiddie rides are shown with appropriate theming.  The Family Flyer, and kiddie coaster already at the park, would be moved, refurbished and rethemed.

In order for the new rides to be added the proposal would see 18 rides and attractions removed.  The full list is above, but a large amount of the removed rides are for children.  Other removals include the Antique Cars, Go Karts, Himalaya, Yo-Yo, Wipe Out and Miniature Golf.

Over the next four years there would be a large amount of bigger rides added to Playland.  These include a Discovery (spinning thrill ride), Galleon (Pirate Ship), Flying Carousel (above), Electro Spin (Disk'O) and the high flying Air Race.  Coasters would also come on board in the form of a launched MotoCoaster and a Spinning Coaster.  After year three the Playland Plunge, a splash boat ride, would be removed in favor of more open park space along the water.

This slide is included in the proposal and shows off how much would be spent on each new ride over the years.  Very telling, and not something you often find made public.  If you've ever wanted to know how much Zamperla rides cost, here's your chance!  You can have a MotoCoaster for $4.5 million, or an Air Race for $1.1 million!  Also notice that they've added a Water Mania attraction for the 7th year out - one of the company's latest attractions.

The plan also calls for the renovation of 7 of the park's classic attractions.  These include the Derby Racer, Grand Carousel, Ye Old Mill, Dragon Coaster, the Whip, Kiddie Carousel and Kiddie Coaster.  All these rides will receive a through refurbishment that will preserve the rides for years to come.

In year four there is a plan to build a water play structure at a cost of $1.5 to $2 million, a larger sized one that would be located near the beach and outside the main amusement area.  The addition would attract even more families to the area, and serve as a mini-self contained water park.

Other improvements to the property in general (non-amusement) would include new indoor and outdoor sports fields, restoring the Ice Casino, totally reviving the original architecture of the property, upgrading the beach, parking, and shoreline areas.  Obviously there are a lot of details available about those plans, but I'm skipping them for now and focusing on the amusement park aspect.

This plan is sounding more promising, I must say.  I'm anxious to hear a 'real' final decision on the future of the park.

You can access the full plan in .pdf form by clicking this link.

Small Steps in the Future of Rye Playland

Several members of the Westchester County Board of Legislators recently met with members of Central Amusements International to go over their plan for running Rye Playland's amusements.  One of the current proposals for the amusement park that has garnered much attention is that of Sustainable Playland, which has tapped Central Amusements to revitalize and operate the rides.

A press release notes that Central Amusements has plenty of operations experience, as "CAI works with two 85-year old family firms based in Italy, Zamperla, Inc. and Antonio Zamperla S.p.A., and presently operates Victorian Gardens at Wollman Rink in Central Park and Leolandia in Italy, as well as Luna Park."

The Legislators are performing a financial audit of the four top plans for Rye Playland, one of which is that of Sustainable Playland.  Earlier plans also included proposals from Standard Amusements and a company that would change the park into a Legoland - and Central Amusements put in a bid on their own without the involvement of Sustainable Playland.

The results of the financial audit of the individual proposals should lead the Legislators toward finally making a decision on who will run the park long-term.  Still, there is no deadline to be met on the decision, though if the board members do not vote in favor of the current plan from Sustainable by the end of the year they have the option to drop out.

I'm not sure exactly what the intention of this release was, aside from perhaps an honest status update - but I hope that something good pans out for Rye Playland!

A New Plan for Playland With More Rides

© Rye Playland

The plan for the future of Playland Amusement Park has continued to evolve, and the latest news is good for fans of the amusement park's rides.  Sustainable Playland, the organization that has been tapped to take over the park, has reversed their earlier decision to remove up to a third of the park's amusement rides.

The news that the organization plans to remove or relocate only a few of the park's rides came on the day they signed a lease to manage the Westchester Children's Museum for a period of ten years.

Sustainable Playland has replaced the previously selected ride operator, Mega Funworks, with Central Amusement International, the operations arm of Zamperla that runs Luna Park in Coney Island.  Central Amusement had submitted a proposal to take over all of Playland (details can be seen here) and now state that their plan will be similar, though scaled back.  Still, based off of the success they have found in Coney Island this development is a good one, indeed.

The latest plan also diminishes the size of the 'great lawn' that Sustainable had planned, which was the major cause of the removal of most of the rides seen above.  The plan for a smaller great lawn is now on the books, with the Log Flume and most of the rides staying put.  The large splash ride seen at the top of the photo will still be removed at some point in the future.  Overall, the vast majority of the current rides will remain and if Central Amusement carries forward with even some of their plans new ones will be added.

The deal still is not 100%, however, as Sustainable Playland has yet to receive final approval for their plans and is currently reworking some details before a final submission.  I'm glad to see that the outcry of folks against removing so many rides has taken hold, however!

A Deeper Look at Rye Playland's Proposals

The next step in deciding the future of Rye Playland was taken this week, when the county legislators held a public forum where the potential operators of the classic amusement park were able to present their plans and answer questions.

As reported before, the four contenders are CAI Parks, Standard Amusements, Sustainable Playland, and Paidia Corp (Legoland).

You can actually check out the powerpoint presentations from the county's website for each proposal.  Some of the stuff is what we've seen before, such as Sustainable Playland, but others are showing off a bit more.

As an amusement park blog, I'm not really too concerned with playing fields and other things that are a part of all this, so I'm going to focus on the ride side of these plans.  Sustainable Playland wants to remove half the rides and scale back the amusement park, replacing many of them with a "great lawn."

Paidia Corp, which would make it a Legoland, had almost zero specifics in their presentation about what would happen to the current park.  They seem a bit unorganized as far as that goes, and I have to say that I can never see the very protective county legislators allowing them to come in and raze everything for the usual Legoland rides.  I just don't see this one panning out.

Standard Amusements, who is also involving former Cedar Fair COO Jack Falfas, only says that they will build three new rides and water attractions for kids.  With no further details on what those rides are, and if anything would be removed, it's hard to get a feel for how the park would appear.

CAI Parks, which is a part of Zamperla, has a really detailed presentation available, so I thought it might be fun to look at some of their plans.

CAI Parks even has an updated logo for the property created, seen above from their presentation.  They've updated the dragon character that's in the current logo, and modernized the overall appearance of the design.

CAI Parks has a plan designed that would see at least twenty new rides added to Rye Playland.  Some older rides would be replaced during the expansion, but both water rides and the dark rides would remain.  The general layout of the park would only change here and there in order to accommodate the new rides and attractions.  As far as I can tell every new ride would be fabricated by Zamperla.

The first year that CAI Parks would take over Playland's Kiddieland would be the focus of the work, with a slew of new rides replacing older versions.  The park's family coaster would be moved into Kiddieland, and the Kiddie Coaster would remain.  Zamperla would theme many of the new rides to fit in with the historical nature of the park, some examples of which are above.  It looks like eight or so new rides would be added.

In the second year of operation the park would add a handful of bigger, family oriented rides.  Well, perhaps family / thrill rides as a couple of them are more on the wild side.  Additions are shown as a Discovery thrill ride, family Tea Cups, Vertical Swing Ride, Starchaser 'flying' style flat ride, and a Galleon pirate ship.

Some additional big rides are on the list for year three, along with a Wave Blaster bouncing kiddie ride.

A Flying Carousel ride would prominently take up residence in the center of the park, in the middle of the long landscaped promenade that runs the length of Playland.  A Z-Force tower ride would be added, which in turn means that the current S&S Double Shot ride would be removed.  The Electro Spin Mega Disk'O would be added near the water.

A pair of thrill rides would be the focus of year four.  A new roller coaster would be added in the form of one of Zamperla's MotoCoasters.  The ride would take up the space of several former rides, including the aforementioned S&S tower.  Thrill seekers would also be pleased by the addition of an Air Race, a ride that has really taken off for Zamperla in the past few seasons.

Year five would feature another coaster, this time a spinning mouse that would replace the park's current Wild Mouse, which coincidentally is from Zamperla as well.

When all of this is said and done, many of the really historic rides at Playland will still be there.  This includes the Dragon Coaster, Whip (and kiddie Whip), Ye Old Mill, the Derby Racer, Grand Carousel, and the Kiddie Carousel.

Other rides that would remain include the Flying Witch dark ride, the Ferris Wheel, Super Flight, House of Mirrors, Zombie Castle, Plunge, Log Flume, and the Auto Scooter bumper cars.

Renovations to the pool area would include a water playhouse structure, complete with dumping bucket.  The uninspired min-golf course would be replaced with a more adventurous version as well, complete with rockwork and additional theming.  CAI even has a plan for the children's center that is being developed, along with the famous ice casino.  Also in the works is an eight year plan listed for completely restoring all historic colonnades and towers that are an integral part of Playland's architecture.

The entire 142 page CAI Parks proposal can be downloaded from the KeepItPlayland website, which they have set up with plenty of information.  They seem to really, really want to take over the park and I'd be lying if I said they didn't seem to have a solid plan in place.  I mean Luna Park and Scream Zone certainly seem to be doing alright!

It sounds like a final decision on an operator could come in the next few months, so it semms like 2014 is the first year that any new operator will have the reigns at Playland.

Rye Playland: Legoland New York?

Rye Playland sits on the Long Island Sound

Here's an interesting twist in the story of the future of New York's Rye Playland:  County officials have met with the company behind the successful chain of Legoland theme parks about turning the park into one of their properties.

And the possibility comes with a huge investment figure, as much as $200 million according to this news report.  That's roughly six times as much as any other company who has expressed interest in taking over Playland has said they would pony up.  Those other developers include Central Amusements - Zamperla's park operating arm - and Standard Amusements - led by former Cedar Fair executive Jack Falfas.

While all this is going on the County Executive is still moving forward with Sustainable Playland, a non-profit that has committed to redeveloping the park.  Their plan involves the addition of sport fields and removing roughly half the amusements at the park in favor of a large open park area.

Could you imagine if Playland became a Legoland?  That's quite an idea to wrap your brain around.  I would think a lot of the character of the park would have to go, which is a shame, but at the same time the Legoland folks seem to be rather good at success.  Interesting development, even if nothing comes of it, eh?

Playland's Fate Not Yet Decided, Afterall?

Although plans for the future of Rye Playland seemed to have been officially announced a few weeks ago, it seems that perhaps things aren't as final as they seem.

According to this story, the Westchester Board of County Executives are still entertaining presentations by companies interested  in renovating and expanding Rye Playland.  It would appear as though there is some debate as to whether County Executive Robert Astorino has the authority to have signed the deal with Sustainable Playland.

The latest proposal is for a $25 million investment from Standard Amusements, who's plan includes "a comprehensive facelift for Playland, improved food operations, more games that cultivate inter-generational experiences, increased use of the park for live entertainment and seasonally-themed shows, plus better marketing of the park."  That quote is from a release sent out directly from the Board of Legislators.

The Board has also stated that they would like to hear from Central Amusements, Zamperla's company which runs the amusements in Coney Island.  The Legislators hold that they ultimately have to approve the operator for the park.

From how the agreement with Sustainable Playland was presented, things seemed fairly final - but apparently that is not the case at all.  Guess this story isn't quite over!

Sandy's Impact on the Industry

© Julio Cortez, AP

I'm back!  Happy Halloween, by the way.  We usually like to celebrate the spooky holiday to the fullest here at NPN, but this year for some obvious reasons it wasn't much fun in the Northeast.  Still, I just got a treat instead of a trick and got my power back, and I'm quite grateful for that.

I don't usually cover disasters here, but this will be a bit of an exception to the rule - mostly because the images of coaster destruction from New Jersey are so dramatic.  Be sure that our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by Sandy, and that's what really matters: surviving and rebuilding.  Coasters and parks are fun, and what we cover here, but we don't lose sight of what really matters.

Casino Pier, located in Seaside Heights, NJ, was largely destroyed in the storm.  Previous sunny Summer days saw the pier looking like this:

But after Sandy rolled through it looks like this:

© Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger

The park's Star Jet roller coaster was left idly sitting in the ocean when the pier beneath it collapsed.  Several others rides and attractions were also sucked into the sea, and generally all the rides are ruined.  More photos of Casino Pier from the air are located here, and a story about the park can be found here.

Funtown Pier, also in Seaside Heights, didn't fair so well either.  The park lost a large portion of its boardwalk foundations, sending several rides into the water and sand below.  One of them is the park's Looping Coaster, which can be seen crumpled on itself in the above photo.  A story on the park can be found here.

Other seaside parks felt the wrath of the storm as well.  Keansburg Amusement Park suffered significant damage, and owners had to search the town's streets to find pieces of their park according to this story.  They've already vowed to rebuild and reopen this Summer.

Coney Island's amusements, mainly Luna Park and the Cyclone roller coaster fared the storm well, all things considered.  It sounds like much of the damage is cosmetic, and there's plenty of sand throughout the park from the storm surge.

Rye Playland also had superficial damage from the storm, which looks like it will be fairly easily cleaned up.  Some of the rides may have had damage done to their operating systems, due to interaction with the salt water, however.

Other parks, such as Morey's Piers and Jenkinson's Boardwalk, were hit, but appear to have avoided major destruction.  That's not to say there's no work to be done, but it wasn't catastrophic.

Hopefully all parks affected will be able to rebuild, some have a much tougher journey ahead of them than others.  Our best wishes go out to all of them.