Rye Playland, Rye, New York, August 2015

For a long time, Rye Playland has been a bucket list park for me. An opportunity came along to take a trip out there this past weekend and we could not pass it up. This is one of the most polished amusement parks out there, with historic midway buildings, rides, and beautifully manicured gardens and midways. This is an all around charming seaside park, one that looks like the postcard images of the seaside parks and towns of old such as the old Casino at Asbury Park, turn of the century Coney Island, and others. This is one of a rare breed of grand seaside amusement parks, and it is kept up as well as any park out there. All of this preservation and upkeep has earned Rye Playland the National Historic Landmark designation, one of only two parks to receive this title. Kennywood Park is the other park with this designation. 

The first thing you see as you go to enter the grounds is the Art Deco styled Playland Ice Casino. At over 85 years old, this structure is simply stunning. The building sustained heavy damage after Hurricane Sandy, and it reopened last October, two years to the day after the storm hit.

 The park has a really nice stage situated on one end of the midway that faces down the entire park midway. On September 5th they will be hosting a free Village People concert. 

 We arrived about an hour before opening and decided to stroll around the beach and boardwalk area. The day was absolutely gorgeous.

A look at the historic boardwalk and Rye Playland Bathhouses building. This building now houses the Westchester Children's Museum with many hands on and interactive displays for children. 

Rye Playland's setting is absolutely stunning

 My mother and I on the boardwalk

 Look familiar? The final sequence in the 1988 Tom Hanks movie "Big," was filmed at Rye Playland. "I would like to be a kid again."

 What better place than to open up a new children's museum? I wish this organization the best of luck. 

 The back of the Ice Arcade

 The view from the fishing and boat launch pier.

 This is the first sight that boaters see of the park after docking on the park's pier. They have a nice restaurant located right on the pier.

 Park time! The view of the beautiful midway. 

 These canopies along the midway almost look like they could have been built for one of the World's Fairs.

 Did I mention that the midway is absolutely gorgeous?

The park is home to one of only two Prior and Church Derby Racer rides remaining, with the other one being at Cedar Point. This thing is fast! It spins much faster than the unit at Cedar Point, however, the feature enabling the horses to race forwards and backwards throughout the ride has been disabled on this unit. These horses were carved by Illions.

Next up was Superflight, a Zamperla Volare Flying Coaster. This was my first experience on one of these contraptions, and I do have to say that I enjoyed it. It is disorienting going through those curves, and the two slow speed heartline rolls are pretty intense and fun. I really enjoy the hangtime/airtime that you get with the freedom that these cage cars have.

Next up is the historic Dragon Coaster. This coaster dates back to 1929 and is one of only three designs by Frederick Church that remain, with the other two being the Giant Dippers at Belmont Park and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in California. This coaster has received the American Coaster Enthusiasts Coaster Landmark Distinction given to coasters that are of exceptional historical significance.

 Here are the two front cars for the original trains.

 The coaster now runs a set of Morgan trains that were installed in the 1980s. I do not mind the Morgan trains, although I would not mind if they were replaced at some point with PTC trains. The Morgans give a decent ride though, with multiple points of decent airtime.

 My mother and I riding the Dragon Coaster.

One of the highlights of the ride is getting eaten by the Dragon!

The Whip! It is a tough call whether this Mangels Whip or Camden Park's runs the strongest. There was a crowd of little kids from a camp that were riding on the cycle before us and the cycle we were riding on in this shot. It was so funny watching all of the little kids riding. They were so little, and the ride was so strong, that they were sliding out on the seat each time the ride spun around the drive wheels. Each time there was a collective leap out of the cars by the kids saying "THAT WAS AMAZING! LET'S DO IT AGAIN!" The reaction by the little kids epitomizes what is so great about this park. This is a place to be a kid, or to be a kid again. 

 In addition to the other classics in this park, three ride through dark rides, and one funhouse, are located at the park. On the left you can see the park's funhouse, the House of Mirrors. On the right you can see Zombiecastle, one of the park's ride through dark rides.

 The park's third large coaster is this Zamperla Wild Mouse. Of all of the Wild Mouse models that I have ridden, Zamperlas definitely track the smoothest.

 The view of the midway

 The park's flume ride, with the bandshell tower standing tall on the left.

 Bumper cars!

The park's 1915 Mangels/Carmel carousel celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. It opened in 1915 at the former Savin Rock Amusement Park in Connecticut, before it was moved to Rye in 1929. Both Mangels and Carmel hailed from Coney Island and intact machines from both of these carousel purveyors are very hard to come by. Rye's is a stunning machine.

 Such a nice park

 Gotta ride the Dragon Coaster again!

One of the most stunning features of the Dragon Coaster is that designer Frederick Church built it over his Old Mill boat ride. The Ye Old Mill is one of only a handful remaining Old Mill boat rides. The dark ride experts at Sally Corporation had a go at modernizing this ride, creating a "Voyage to the Center of the Earth" theme, complete with evil trolls. I have to say that this is a pretty awesome attraction. 

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 The view down the midway looking towards the bandshell and tower.

 The park's junior wooden coaster, the Kiddie Coaster, complete with an NAD junior coaster train. This is a pretty cool design.

 The large Dragon Coaster

The park and grounds have the feel of a real step back in time. Absent are the higher prices found at larger parks, and the worries of the outside world. This classic park truly feels like an escape. I am certain that this is why the park is often sought out in movies and tv shows set in New York City as an escape from the worries of daily life. The character of Tom Hanks gets more than he bargained for in "Big" and has to deal with the stresses of adult life in New York City. Rye Playland is also mentioned numerous times in Mad Men, where the people caught up in the drama and stresses of life are frequently looking for some escape out of their miserable lives. What better place for an escape than Rye Playland?

A view of the George Washington Bridge back in Manhattan on the way out. Rye Playland should be a destination for all of you that love historic amusement parks. 

Six Flags New England, July 2015

The final amusement park related stop on our way back from our weeklong honeymoon in Maine was at Six Flags New England. At the beginning of the trip we stopped at the awesome Funtown/Splashtown USA in Saco, Maine, and Palace Playland at Old Orchard Beach. This was our first visit to the park and we wanted to see what all of the hype was about regarding their perennial favorite, Bizarro, and their brand new Wicked Cyclone.

The skyline looks impressive. The 400 foot red, white, and blue tower of the SkyScreamer ride can be seen up and down the Connecticut River with ease, making the drive in to the park even more exciting. On the left you can see the brand new, 109 foot tall, Wicked Cyclone, and on the far right you can see the nearly 200 foot green towers of Goliath. 

Naturally the first thing we headed to was Wicked Cyclone. The hype surrounding this ride had us heading right to it. It was a fun ride, but I will talk more about it later on in this post.

Here you can see the 208 foot tall Bizarro standing over a coaster that is 58 years its senior, the Thunderbolt. 

But first, another view of Thunderbolt! We opted to ride instead of taking a ton of time waiting for trains to dispatch to take photos, hence the many shots without trains in them.

Our next stop is Goliath. I rode this with an open mind, as I always do when I take in rides. The twin drops off of nearly 200 foot towers are breathtaking. This ended up being my second favorite coaster in the park to Bizarro. 

Can't wait to see this at night! Gotta love classic neon!

ACE Coaster Landmark designation. This is a classic ride and I am glad that the park has taken care of it as the centerpiece of the park. 

Now it is time for Bizarro. Intamin truly made a fantastic batch of coasters at the turn of the millennium, with this coaster, the Ride of Steel coasters at Darien Lake and Six Flags America, Millennium Force, and others. The Ride of Steel coasters up until this visit were my two favorite Intamin coasters, with Darien's getting the slight edge. These coasters have the perfect balance of large drops, extreme ejector airtime, excellent floater airtime, and cutting lateral turns that make this a well rounded ride. From start to finish, these coasters never let up. Bizarro takes a slight edge over Darien's Ride of Steel because of its slightly more twisted layout due to it being built into a more compact plot of land, and the small overbanked turn after the second drop. This layout never lets up. I generally prefer wood coasters over steel coasters, but this coaster is one of only two other steel coasters that breaks into my ten favorite overall coasters. The two of us absolutely love this ride!

The raised arms on all of the riders truly say it all about this coaster. Nonstop airtime and nonstop action.

The helix elements in the second half of the ride are stunning. They are interspersed with some excellent airtime hills, often leading to raised arms getting pulled back down, sideways, and all over the place, from all of the extreme forces. 

There I am getting a backseat ride!

We ended up riding this over and over once we got through the other rides in the park. 

Stunning airtime!

While the coaster is only 208 feet tall, the drop is actually 221 feet down, with the train dipping into a  mist filled tunnel. A great way to cool off on a 92 degree day!

The park's Batman B&M Floorless Coaster is a pretty decent ride. It has the some of the intensity of the older B&M coasters, with the smoothness of their later creations. This is a solid and compact floorless and my favorite in the genre of the ones I have ridden.

I probably look like that rider in row five when I ride on the B&M trains. I always keep my hands raised and legs out.

More Bizarro action!

The airtime seldom stops on Bizarro. The only time you get a breather from the intense airtime on Bizarro is when you are in a turn with intense lateral forces.

Thunderbolt is a fun little wood coaster that should be a great ride for the whole family. 

As I was saying earlier, I did not expect Goliath Vekoma Giant Boomerang to be as fun as it was. 

Now over to a shadowy Wicked Cyclone to start wrapping up the evening. This extremely hyped ride is very fun and a nice complement to the other coasters. My first impression upon approaching the coaster was how loud it is. The park was smart to add a weather theme to this coaster, for the trains are so loud that they sound like the spiraling and roaring winds of an approaching storm. Adding some weather decorations and some TV screens playing tapes of people reporting about an "approaching storm" is a smart way to utilize the roaring sound that those RMC trains make. 

The first drop offers a nice little pop of airtime. I prefer the back part of the train on this ride due to it offering a higher intensity ride. After the first drop you are lead into a portion of straight track that leads you into an overbanked turn that feels smooth as glass and not too extreme. All of the banked elements and inversions feel this way. After the first drop there are about four moments of nice ejector airtime. The inversions are smooth and not terribly forceful. To describe the overall feel of the ride, the coaster feels and sounds like a Miler, and some of the elements feel similar to that of a TOGO. The elements reminiscent of a TOGO are the turning elements where they seem to have attempted to create airtime, similar to that of the return run on Fujiyama. Overall, this is a ride that certainly compliments the rest of the collection of coasters at Six Flags New England. 

The inversions are smooth as glass on Wicked Cyclone. If you closed your eyes while riding, you would not even know they were there. They are visually stunning to ride through and to observe from the midways.

We closed out our day at the park with a final ride on the New England SkyScreamer. This is our second favorite ride in the park to Bizarro. At 400 feet, this is one great ride. This is a beautifully executed ride. The tower is huge, the sound system on the ride plays a soundtrack that really adds to the experience, and the tower is adorned beautifully with an awesome decorative topper and a stunning package of night lighting. The ride itself is awesome as well, offering a breathtaking view of Massachusetts and Connecticut. As I mentioned earlier, you can see this tower from miles away, up and down the Connecticut River. 

The park's boomerang alley.

And another look at SkyScreamer with the lighting starting to pop on. 

This park really comes alive at night with some really cool lighting. Thunderbolt's neon looks awesome.

I really like the park's central midway. They did a great job keeping this area intact with classic rides, hearkening back to the days when this park was known as Riverside Park and park patrons arrived on steamships and trolleys. There are certain parts of the park that this old charm still shines through. 

The park's 1909 Illions Carousel is spectacular. It is one of only eight intact carousels that remain in operation from Marcus Illions, the famed Lithuanian-American immigrant and carousel carver that settled in Coney Island. It is amazing to think about how this carousel has spent more than a century at this amusement park. 

Six Flags New England is a nice park with a solid selection of rides, and Bizarro, a world-class coaster that truly lives up to the hype, in addition to some fun coasters including the new Wicked Cyclone, the giant Goliath, the floorless Batman, and others. We had a great time wrapping up our honeymoon at the park.