Playland (New York)

Playland Amusement Park
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
The park's logo
Location	Rye, NY
Nearest city	New York City
Coordinates	40°57′57″N 73°40′26″W
Area	280 acres (1.1 km²)
Built	1928
Architect	Frank Darling; Walker & Gillette
Architectural style	Turn-of-the-20th century revival, Art Deco, other
NRHP reference No.	80004529
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	July 4, 1980
Designated NHL	February 27, 1987

Playland, often called Rye Playland and also known as Playland Amusement Park, is an amusement park located in Rye, New York, along the Long Island Sound. Built in 1928, the 280-acre (110 ha) park is owned by the Westchester County government. Beginning with the 2018 season, Standard Amusements LLC has been contracted to operate the park.

History

Late 19th and early 20th centuries

Ferris wheel at Playland

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Playland's waterfront area of Westchester County along the Long Island Sound was the site of a growing collection of recreational developments, including hotels, resorts, and "amusement areas". Local residents concerned about what a county report described as "unsavory crowds" induced the Westchester County Park Association to purchase two existing theme parks, Rye Beach and Paradise Park, and planned a local-government-sponsored amusement park in their stead.

Frank Darling, a veteran park manager with experience at Coney Island and the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, was hired to design and run the new park, called Playland. The well-known NYC architectural firm Walker & Gillette and landscape architect Gilmore D. Clarke were commissioned to produce a comprehensive design of both buildings and grounds, making Playland the first planned amusement park in the country.

Construction commenced in September 1927 and was completed in six months. The park began operation on May 26, 1928. Rides that were operating on Playland's opening day included the Grand Carousel, Derby Racers, and the Dragon Coaster. The Airplane Coaster was added in 1928 while the Casino opened in 1929.

Late 20th century

In 1966, a major fire at the amusement park claimed some of Rye Playland's all-time classic attractions, including the original Bumper Car ride and the "Magic Carpet" Funhouse.

Playland was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. At the time it was the United States' only Art Deco amusement park.

21st century

Playland Beach

By 2001 Playland was Westchester's most visited park, seeing one million visitors that year. For the 2002 season, Playland unveiled three new rides: the Kite Flyer, Crazy Mouse, and Sky Skater. Until the beginning of the 2002–2003 National Hockey League season, the New York Rangers team practiced at the Playland Ice Casino. Currently, the hockey team from Manhattanville College, located in nearby Purchase, New York, plays its home games at Playland.

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy claimed parts of Rye Playland's boardwalk, flooded and caused substantial damage to the Ice Casino, and scattered debris throughout Read Sanctuary.

In May 2016, the Westchester County Board of Legislators voted 13-4 to give control of the park to a management company called Standard Amusements. Standard Amusements agreed to invest $27.5 million into the park, which it will manage for 30 years. Westchester County maintains ownership of the park, and will receive an annual base rent and 8% of the park's profits after Standard Amusements recoups its initial investment.

In 2019, Playland unveiled its first ride since 2008, a Disk'O half-pipe made by Zamperla.

Attractions

Admission to Playland is free for Westchester residents who wish to observe the attractions. However, visitors must pay for a wristband that will give them all-day access to ride all of the attractions. Non-Westchester residents must pay admission to get inside Playland and an additional fee for the wristband. Westchester residents generally pay a lower price for the wristbands than non-Westchester residents. To keep the price of each ride low, Westchester County's government offers sponsorships to businesses in exchange for annual naming rights for a ride, in addition to sponsorships for concerts, fireworks, and revues.

Walker & Gillette's asymmetrical beaux arts plan integrated Playland's three major components. The first component, a swimming park, is defined by a semi-elliptical beach, boardwalk, and arcade. At the center of this arcade, a Spanish Revival bathhouse and pool terminates the automobile approach along Playland Parkway and its twin towers frame a view of Long Island Sound. The second component, an amusement park, is laid out along an axial landscaped mall at roughly 90 degrees to the Parkway approach. An entrance plaza with central fountain at the beach end of this axis is defined by corner pavilions and anchored by a casino and ice rink building. The axial mall is flanked by colonnades which serve to visually organize the various rides, games, and restaurants on each outboard side. A midway cross-axis terminates in a gate at the large parking lot on its inland end and at a promontory at its waterside end. The main axis terminates in a 100 foot tall Music Tower that now has a performance stage at its base. All original amusement park buildings are in an Art Deco style. The third component, a boating lake, lies beyond the tower. Its boathouse consists of two pavilions symmetrically flanking a central colonnade, facing a terrace and boat dock and the lake.

Roller coasters

As of July 2017, there are five roller coasters at Playland.

Ride	Manufacturer	Model	Year Opened	Description
Crazy Mouse	Zamperla	Steel (wild mouse)	2003
Dragon Coaster	Frederick Church	Wooden	1929	3400 feet of track – 80 feet high – Approx 45 mph The Dragon Coaster serves as the park's mascot and appears in the Playland logo. Designed and built by amusement ride creator Frederick A. Church, it has a tunnel along its span. The tunnel resembles the body of a dragon, and the opening of the tunnel resembles a dragon's mouth. The dragon has eyes that light up, and it blows steam from its nostrils. Playland Park removed the classic Prior and Church trains in 1989 and replaced them with Morgan trains because the P.T.C.s did not have up-to-date safety technology such as lap bars and other items. The Dragon Coaster is classified as one of the park's seven "classic" rides.
Family Flyer	Zamperla	Steel (family gravity coaster)	2001	262 feet of track - 13 feet high
Kiddie Coaster	National Amusement Device Company	Wood	1928	An ACE Coaster Classic
Super Flight	Zamperla	Zamperla Flying	2004	1282 feet of track – 26 mph – 2 inversions. The rider lies on their stomach in a caged car with three other people, all in a single row. Cars are released one at a time, allowing multiple cars to be at different spots on the coaster at the same time. The coaster contains two 360 degree turns.

Thrill rides

Playland is home to the "Grand Carousel", a 1915 Mangels-Carmel carousel. It has four rows with 48 jumpers, 18 standers and three chariots. It was originally in New Haven, Connecticut, and moved to Playland when the park opened in 1927. The Grand Carousel has a rare band organ built by the Gavioli company in Italy. The organ enclosure features two male figures that strike bells in time to the music while the central female figure moves a baton. The Grand Carousel contains designs including those on the horses that are completely hand-carved and painted by Charles Carmel from Brooklyn, New York. The horses possess many unique traits that include elaborate "fish scale" blankets, inlaid gemstones, armor and lolling tongues on several.

Playland is also home to one of only three "Derby Racers" still in existence. The Derby Racer was built in 1927 for Playland by Prior & Church with horses carved by Marcus Charles Illions, a turn of the century New York carousel horse carver. The Derby Racer rotates at 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) - three times the speed of a normal carousel. The horses move back and forth as well as up and down, simulating a true gallop as it races around the track. The other "Derby Racers" are located at Cedar Point, in Sandusky, Ohio; and Blackpool Pleasure Beach, in Blackpool, Lancashire, United Kingdom.

Other thrill rides include:

• Dragonator - a Disk'O ride
• Log Flume
• Wipeout - an enterprise ride
• Playland Yo-Yo - a swing ride
• Thunderbolt
• Starship 2000 Gravitron
• Catch a Wave
• Double Shot - a drop tower
• The Whip - a whip ride, one of the park's classic rides
• Sky Flyer - a pendulum ride
• Go Karts
• The Plunge - a water ride

Kiddyland

Kiddyland is a section with children's rides in the southwestern section of Playland. Its rides include:

• Slime Bucket
• Kiddy Whip - a smaller whip ride
• Playland Express - a ridable miniature railway
• Himalaya
• Flying Dragons
• Fun Slide
• Red Baron
• Jolly Catepiller
• Swing Around
• Antique Cars
• Motorcycle Jump
• Crazy Submarine
• Sun and Moon
• Kiddy Carousel
• Convoy
• Kiddy Scrambler
• Jungle Jamin
• Jump n' Bean
• Boat Ride
• Mushroom Ride

Casino

The "Ice Casino", built in 1929, originally contained a main ice rink as well as a full dance floor on the second floor that functioned as a dance hall through the 1940s and '50s. It also had a full service fine-dining restaurant and an outdoor café. It had smaller dining rooms upstairs for upscale private dinners. A renovation in the 1970s added a kiddie rink as well as a mid-sized ice rink. A renovation to the main ice rink that included a new surface, boards and glass was completed in 2007 for the Empire State Games.

Free entertainment

Playland features entertainment performances on its main stage on the north side of the park towards Manursing Lake. 2006 included the dance show Oh-Zone as well as Magic and Spice featuring magician Brendon Yancey. In 2007, it had New York Nights and Shakin' at the "High School Hop", a Grease-style performance. In 2008, dance shows included I Hear America Singing, a mix of new pop songs, and Summer Cruisin, a mish-mash of 1950s and 1960s music.

There is also strolling entertainment including kids dance and singing shows, costumed characters and drum acts that occur multiple times a day.

Playland offers fireworks on Friday nights.

Concert series

Airplane Coaster in 1928.

Playland features a free concert series every summer that is sponsored by tri-state radio stations, Pepsi, CulinArt, Manhattan Beer Distributors, Westchester County and the Westchester County Parks Department. The free concerts are usually on Thursdays and Fridays in July and August.

In 2007, Plain White T's performed on July 31, Bowling for Soup on August 9, and Teddy Geiger on August 23. The Plain White T's attracted a very large young crowd.

In 2008, four free concerts were scheduled at Rye Playland. On May 24 the new Menudo performed. On July 18 Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child, George Lamond, Kim Sozzi and DJ Serg performed. On August 7, second runner up on American Idol Elliott Yamin performed. Finally, on August 14, British pop star Natasha Bedingfield performed to a capacity crowd despite the rainy weather.

In 2010, Shontelle performed for a very large, young crowd on August 4, 2010.

Past free concerts at the park include Joan Jett, Lifehouse, Cyndi Lauper, The Bangles, Daniel Bedingfield, Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, and Cheap Trick in 2004. Additionally, around 2010, popular 80's artists such as Pat Benatar and Flock of Seagulls played the park.

Former attractions

Roller coasters

Ride	Manufacturer	Model	Year Opened	Year Closed	Description
Airplane Coaster	Frederick Church	Wood	May 26, 1928	1957	In 1927, construction began on the Airplane Coaster, overseen by Frank W. Darling. It was originally thought that the Traver Engineering Company had been responsible for the construction of this ride; however, in 1983 the original blueprints, signed by Fred Church, were discovered in an attic at the park, disproving the Traver Company misconception. Known originally as "Airplane Dips", its name was changed to "Aero-coaster" and then finally to "Airplane Coaster". The ride was dismantled in 1957.
Flitzer	Zierer	Steel	1980		Thought to have only operated for one year.
Hurricane	S&MC	Steel	1995	2003	Relocated to Playcenter São Paulo (2005-2012) where it operated as Windstorm, then to Alpen Park (2013–present) where it operates as Alpen Blizzard
Monster Mouse	Allan Herschell Company	Steel	1967	1981	Relocated to Quassy Amusement Park where it operated as Mad Mouse from 1982 to 2010; currently not operational anywhere
Whirlwind	Vekoma	Steel	1984	1992	Relocated to Knoebels Amusement Resort (1993-2004) as Whirlwind, then to Parque de Diversiones (2005–present) as Bocaraca
Wild Cat	Schwarzkopf	Steel	1984	1991	Relocated multiple times. Previously at Busch Gardens Williamsburg as Die Wildkatze (1976-1983), then moved to Steel Pier (1994-1999), Williams Grove Amusement Park (2001-2004), and Adventure Park USA (2005-present) as Wildcat
Wild Mouse		Wood	1958	1965 - 1966	This ride was imported from Germany; according to Billboard's January 7, 1958, issue, it was sold to Playland by Eric Wedemeyer. Wild Mouse was then operated by concessionaire Schauer Amusement Corporation.
Wild Wind	Interpark	Steel	—	—	This roller coaster, built in late 1999, was never opened due to the G-forces being considered highly extreme, and was removed before 2000.
Zyklon		Steel	1971	1983

Emergency services

The Westchester County Police provides law enforcement services throughout the year, but the park is only officer-patrolled on a 24-hour basis from April to October. In addition to County Police, the park employs seasonal park rangers. Uniformed park rangers work under the supervision of county police officers to maintain a safe and enjoyable atmosphere in the county’s parks. They assist park users, provide information on park rules and procedures, help in searches for lost children, and make regular security checks of buildings and facilities.

Westchester County Parks Emergency Medical Service provides basic life support services to the guests and employees of the park, and maintains the park's two first aid stations. Paramedic and ambulance transport services are provided through Port Chester-Rye-Rye Brook Emergency Medical Service. The Rye Fire Department handles all fire and rescue calls at Playland.

Incidents

See also: List of incidents at independent amusement parks § Playland

Dragon Coaster

• In 1988, an 8-year-old girl choked to death while chewing gum on the ride.

Mind Scrambler

• On May 22, 2004, a 7-year-old girl from New Rochelle was killed when she fell out of the ride after she opened her restraining bar.
• On June 29, 2007, a 21-year-old female park employee from White Plains was killed when the ride was started by a second employee while the victim was still assisting guests with their safety restraints. Park officials stated that a safety precaution (put in place after the 2004 Mind Scrambler incident) was not followed. A report issued by the State's Labor Department on August 24, 2007, stated that the ride operators were running the ride improperly. The ride owner was cited for providing inadequate training. Due to this incident the Mind Scrambler was closed permanently.

The Whip

• On August 18, 1938, a 19-year-old man was killed after being flung off The Whip.

Wild Mouse

• On July 8, 1984, six people were taken to the hospital after suffering injuries when one of the trains they were riding in collided into another. The ride was shut down for investigation and later reopened. Park officials stated that a mechanical failure was the cause of the accident.

Ye Old Mill

• On August 3, 2005, a 7-year-old boy from Norwalk, Connecticut died of blunt force trauma to the head after he climbed out of a boat on the Ye Old Mill ride, where he became trapped underwater by a conveyor belt. The victim's family sued the county that owned Playland, and on March 24, 2009, the defendants were ordered to pay US$1.25 million, as well as create a scholarship in the victim's name. The scholarship will be awarded annually to Playland employees who exhibit excellence in safety and customer service.

Accidental drowning

• On July 4, 2006, a 43-year-old woman from Queens drowned after walking into a man-made lake that is off-limits to swimmers. An autopsy showed the victim had a blood alcohol level seven times the legal limit.

In popular culture

Film

• The 1984 film The Muppets Take Manhattan features a scene filmed in Playland, although the scene is set in Michigan.
• Playland was the amusement park featured at the end of the 1988 movie Big starring Tom Hanks. The scenes of his date with Susan and at the end of the film where the "Zoltar the Magnificent" fortune teller machine returns the adult Tom Hanks to his original childhood age/state of being were filmed on Playland's boardwalk.
• Playland appears in a scene from the film Fatal Attraction with Glenn Close.
• The park is featured in the Woody Allen film Sweet and Lowdown (1999) starring Sean Penn.
• In 2004, the Playland beach was used for the film Tenderness with Russell Crowe, released in 2008.
• The park was mentioned in passing in comparison to Adventureland amusement park on Long Island in the 2007 film Music and Lyrics.
• Playland's Dragon Coaster was used as the backdrop for the closing monologue in the Jodie Foster film The Beaver.

Television

• "BET Now" taped a series of episodes from around the park including the pool, beach, boardwalk, Double Shot and Carousel on Friday July 25, 2008. The episodes aired the week of July 28, 2008.
• The Naked Brothers Band made a free live appearance at Playland on Friday, August 24 at 6pm on the Music Tower Stage. They were taping an episode for the second season of their Nickelodeon show.
• In 1980, the entire amusement park was used for a storyline on one of Procter & Gamble's soap operas that they produced - CBS's/ABC's The Edge of Night.
• On How I Met Your Mother, Marshall accepts a job at a law firm in "I'm Not That Guy" where his only client will be Tuckahoe Funland, which is a parody of Rye Playland.
• On Mad Men, Glen Bishop stops by the Francis household to ask Sally Draper to come to Playland with him for the afternoon in episode 88, "The Forecast". Also in episode 12 season 4 "Blowing Smoke" Henry and Betty are talking about moving, Henry states "I always like that place in Rye. Bobby reponds "Rye isn't that where Playland is"?
• In the episode "The Good Life" of the Showtime series Billions, Bobby Axelrod takes his kids to a theme park called "Kiddyland." The park is actually Playland, and the Dragon Coaster is briefly shown in the scene.
• In The Nanny, Fran Drescher's character Fran Fine mentions Rye Beach Playland in conversation.
• Pan Am used Rye Playland to represent parts of Rio de Janeiro in the episode titled "The Genuine Article" which originally aired in October 2011.
• The climax in the season 2 finale of Jessica Jones is set at Playland.

Music

• Mariah Carey filmed 1995's "Fantasy" music video, including appearances on the Boardwalk, the Dragon Coaster and the parking lot.
• Hot Chelle Rae played their last known concert on July 25, 2014.

Literature

• Carol Rifka Brunt's 2012 debut novel, Tell The Wolves I'm Home, includes a visit to a fictional photo booth at the real Playland during the 1980s.

See also

• List of National Historic Landmarks in New York
• National Register of Historic Places listings in southern Westchester County, New York
• Playland Parkway
• List of incidents at independent amusement parks

External links

• Official website
• Playland at the Roller Coaster DataBase