Park Review
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Rye, New York August 4, 2001 I returned last Sunday from my first ACE coaster event, the ACE Preservation Conference (I've been to EastCoaster, a non-coaster riding event in February, several times). My weekend began early, very early, on Friday, when I awoke at 5 am. I didn't encounter any traffic, drove right past the still-closed Coney Island parks and made it to Long Island's Adventureland in plenty of time for our 9:30 EPT (Exclusive Park Time). The folks at Adventureland let us use the entire park for an hour and a half before their regular opening to the public. After a hamburger for lunch, it was on to Playland, in Rye, New York. This was a personal pilgrimage. Playland was my first "home" park, the park of my childhood, and it's where I rode my first coasters. I used to go with my cousin and his friends every year on his birthday. For most of those years, I was afraid to ride the coasters. Finally, I must have been about 11, the peer pressure got to me and I boarded a roller coaster. I warmed up on the smaller of the two they had, a standard wild mouse (which is no longer there). The hairpin turns scared me, of course, but didn't affect me as much as the drop. But I survived, and headed over to the Dragon coaster. By now, it was dark, and the signs told me to take my glasses off. I was nearsighted, so I couldn't see too well. I remember very well going up that first lift and down the very small drop on the other side. As the train rounded the U-turn at the top, I though "at least there are lights along the railing." But at the very top of the first drop, the lights stop. Down we plummeted, and as we bottomed out, I somehow slid down under the lap bar and onto the floor of the car. I struggled back up into my seat, just in time to look up into the out-of-focus mouth of a dragon with two different-colored glowing eyes. We were swallowed up by the dark tunnel before I knew what was happening. Finally, we emerged into the open, and then the ride became fun for me. We continued up and down the smaller hills, turning around and around, whizzing through the summer night air until we finally got back to the station. That's how it all began for me. Now it's *mumble* years later, and I'd heard many "stories" about this park, such as it wasn't really a safe place to be. But those stories were old, and while they may have been true ten years ago, the park looked fine to me now. It was well-attended, but not too crowded, as there weren't long waits for any ride. I wandered through the place, along with a friend of mine who also hadn't been to Playland in decades. We kept seeing things that made us reminisce, and we talked about what the place used to be like. Happily, many of the rides of our childhoods still exist, some of them unchanged. The walk-through fun house is gone, sadly, but the ride-through haunted house was still there. House of Mirrors (the only one I've ever seen) still fooled people -- I saw a young girl bawling out front with blood streaming out of her nose -- she must have run into a glass wall thinking the way was clear. The Caterpillar was gone, but one of its cars sat in the Playland Museum (along with an old Dragon Coaster car). Derby Racer (as you know, one of only three in existence) was running well, but my favorite part of this ride actually is just watching the operators jump on and off the moving platform -- no easy feat. The Flying Bobs has been replaced by a Thunder Bolt. It's essentially the same ride, but obviously a different model and probably a different manufacturer. Throughout the park, there were posters advertising some upcoming free concerts, featuring such performers as Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. Apparently, there's some 80's one-hit wonders tour circuit out there... The Wild Mouse that had been my first coaster of any sort was gone. In its place was a Hurricane that looked deceptively just like the one I rode earlier in the day at Adventureland. But the cars looked different: there were evil, hard, cup-shaped headrests (with cups too narrow to hold a human head), and "S & MC" embossed on the back of each car. Most significantly, the single-pole-between-the-legs lap bar was gone in favor of U-shaped lap bars that constricted your leg movements with their narrowness. Riding this was substantially similar to the one on Long Island, but a bit rougher (unless, of course, you tried to use the headrest. Then, it was very painful, so it was better to hold your head forward). Not really worth a re-ride at all. Cha-ching. Finally, it was on to the Dragon Coaster. The entranceway no longer had the phrase "World's Smoothest Roller Coaster" painted on it, but the rest of the paint job looked fresh and bright. I got in line and eventually on into the station. A train rumbled in, clearly a Morgan, with it's curve-sloped nose and sleek plastic look. It did have a nice Dragon logo on the front, at least. I hopped in the second car, pleased with the ample leg room and, for a brief moment, thought that there were no restraints. I finally noticed the lap bar, black like the interior against which it rested. The bar was lowered, not too tightly, and the manual skid brakes were released, sending us down and to the right, out of the station. Most of the signs I remembered were still there, "Hold on to your hat", but the warning to remove glasses was no longer around. We inched up the hill while I tried to remember what it was like the first time I rode it. Off the chain, a turn-around, and finally, that first drop. Whee! It didn't hit me in the gut, but it was an okay hill. Another turn or hill or two and we went up into the Dragon's tunnel. Disappointment: the dragon's head was missing. We simply entered the square outline of a tunnel instead of being swallowed up in the jaws of a fire-breathing monster. I hope the head will be replaced soon. Oh well, we kept going (like we had any other choice!). More drops, more turn-around, boy this ride is long. By the time we returned to the station, my arms were actually a little tired. So after all these years, the Dragon no longer scares me, or even thrills me as much as it used to. It's alright, but it's not going to make anybody's top ten list. It has decent speed through most of the ride, so it does provide that "fun" factor of whizzing around, and up and down. There are a few moments of air that change depending on where in the train you sit. Right around my tenth ride (sometime the next morning), I remembered one could ride with eyes closed, so I did. Suddenly, I was bombarded with smells of the ocean (well, technically, Long Island Sound) mixed with the smells of burgers being grilled, and a faint hint of sweet cotton candy. Mmmm. As a special treat, we were allowed to ride on the Kiddie Coaster (or Kiddy Coaster, depending on where you looked). This beautiful woodie for young ones runs with gorgeous junior-NAD trains. This is not like most kiddie coasters that are rough and short, like the park's own Family Flyer; this was just a scaled-down version of a real wooden coaster (complete with transfer track and, I think, two trains). At Rye Playland, there were posters advertising some upcoming free concerts, featuring such performers as Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. Apparently, there's some 80's one-hit wonders tour circuit out there... I also rode the Power Surge. Although mechanically quite different, the resultant motion and ride experience are quite similar to a Chaos, I found. So it was enjoyable in that way. One tiny bit of news: they're building a Shoot the Chutes, way in the back, overlooking the Sound. It's already on the map as the Playland Plunge. Construction is nearly complete. The entire track except for the brake run was already in place. They might get to open it before the season is over. All in all, this was a pleasant day at a pleasant park. Rye is also notable for being the location used for some carnival scenes in Big, and also for being the only park in the country run by a municipality (the park is part of the county's park system). Jon Zucker
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