How About A Dark Ride Museum?

August

I’m sure I angered, or at least disappointed, some amusement park enthusiasts with Sundays’ column headlined: “The Thrill Has Gone From Playland’s Aging Zombie Castle.”
Westchester County which owns the venerable Playland Amusement Park in Rye wants to ditch the 73-year-old “dark Ride’ and another vintage funhouse-type attraction and replace them with modern rides. I said that wasn’t such a bad thought, considering how dated and less than thrilling the rides are.
This would understandably upset the preservationists, who believe these rides are, in their rarity, historically important and shouldn’t be scrapped. Ordinarily, I’m on the side of the history-minded. I sympathize with most causes when they make sense. For instance, I’d hate to see the demise of Playland’s merry-go-rounds—they are truly iconic works of art.
But I don’t see the same value in Zombie Castle, which was called Laff in the Dark when it opened in 1934.
Also, I don’t think it’s altogether wise to treat Playland, which annually operates in the red, as some kind of museum of amusement rides. Frankly, except for the wooden cars that carry customers through the darkened tunnel, I doubt there’s few if any features left in the attraction that’s original to its Laff in the Dark heyday.
Here’s a suggestion—Somebody ought to collect these endangered rides and put them in one big outdoor museum and charge people to get in. The history of amusement parks could be explained and patrons could enjoy the rides in the context of the time they were new.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 6th, 2007 at 1:03 pm by Phil Reisman.
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7 Responses to “How About A Dark Ride Museum?”

Richard Tjoa August 6th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
I like to think that safety standards have improved over the years, too. (Can employee hiring and training keep pace?)
Resident August 6th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
The Zombie Castle reminds me of the rides you find at a traveling fair. The Westchester County Fair had a ride that was almost an exact replica.
Phil Reisman August 6th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Exactly…It reminds me of rides at the now-defunct Danbury Fair.
Teach August 6th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
I love that idea of having a museum of older rides. I remember seeing a documentary on Coney Island’s early days and being fascinated by all the cool attractions they had then. Would be great fun to actually be able to check that all out in person.
Steve James August 6th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Any of you guys see the film “DarkRide” with the girl from the Sopranos? GREAT film!!!!
Steve C. August 7th, 2007 at 9:06 am
That would be a great theme park idea. Just returned from VA. went to Busch Gardens. The 4-D shows were quite entertaining.
But I agree to have all the old rides and attractins in one place. at a decent price. HMM. PayOnePrice???? ;-]
Phil Reisman August 7th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Yes, a blanket admission price would be best and with it maybe the issuance of some kind of ticket book for the rides.

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