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Park News - (1/31/2025) While Standard Amusements is exiting their role in running Playland Park, a local county official states that the park will still be ready to open on time for the 2025 season. However, since the whole reason Standard Amusements was brought in to run the park was because the county really had not been doing a very good job of it for the years they had control, many are hesitant to believe that they can launch the 2025 season without a hitch.
    So it may be best to limit your expectations until we get a bit closer to opening day, which the current website calendar has listed as May 17th, 2025. 
 
    (1/23/2025) All is not well between Rye Playland and Standard Amusements it seems. According to an article at Lohud, Standard Amusements has sent a letter to Westchester Country only 3 years into the 30-year deal for Standard to run the Playland amusement park stating that they want to bring the deal to an end.
    According to the article, Standard seems to terminate the contract on Feb. 20, 2025 (about 3 months before the 2025 season should start) and is now seeking $57 million in damages and repayment for their investment into the park. Much like a early divorce from a bad marriage, one way or another, Standard is leaving and if Playland is to operate at all for the 2025 season, it will be up to the county to run it once again.
    According to the letter from Standard Amusements, the county has failed to complete 70% of their promised capital improvements by an April 24, 2024 date that was required in the contract. As a result of this failure, apparently it entitled Standard Amusements “to $11 million in liquidated damages plus the repayment of funds invested by Standard, with 12% interest”.
    In total… $57 million.
    Even before the deal with signed, there was a lot of bad blood and arguments between various political groups about how the park should be run, who should be doing it, and go on. Once the deal was signed the political power struggles didn’t end, which briefly saw the park’s “tax exempt” status revoked for a time, and it was only restored by a ruling by the state supreme court, while an appeal is still waiting to be heard. So unfortunate that things couldn’t have worked out for the betterment of the park, so we’ll have to wait to see how things turn out next.
 
    (5/20/2024) Playland Park announced a couple of days ago that the park’s Gondola Wheel attraction is now “closed until further notice”, but you won’t believe why. This isn’t a maintenance issue, rather the park had come to notice that the top of one of the gondolas was being used as a Osprey next. So to protect the birds, they are leaving the ride closed for the time being.

 

2025 - Nothing is known at this time...