Rye Playland Opening Day for 2013 is May 11! Special rates and a PARADE!!

Rye Playland is one of my favorite vintage parks, period.  If you're in the greater NYC area, DO plan on attending their 2013 season opening day on May 11!  It sure looks to be like a swell time!  There's a parade and entertainment and special rates!!

http://cortlandt.dailyvoice.com/news/rye-playland-opens-may-11-parade-and-entertainment

Here's a snap of yours truly with Ms. Zoltar, taken back in 2011 when Ben and I visited the park (and I fell completely in love with it):

Rye Playland: playing a "Big" game!

Getting my wish from Ms. Zoltar (apparently Mr. Zoltar was out fishing - you can do that off the pier at Rye)

My hubby is always on the lookout for movies that have amusement parks as a backdrop; he knows I like them and it gives me things to blog about.  One of his most favorite films is "Big" and, when we visited Rye Playland in 2011, I learned that the beautiful park was used in the iconic Tom Hanks film.

So recently, "Big" was on TV again and Ben DVR'd a little for me, only the section when the little boy, who's denied access to a ride because he's too small, walks over to the Zoltar fortune teller (a really scary one - and I've seen plenty of those mechanical fortune tellers.  The way his eyes light up red and his mouth does that peculiar yawning open and shutting close = nightmares!) and makes his wish, "to be big".  If you're familiar with the film, you know he gets his wish, gets to be a 30-something Tom Hanks, with a grown-up girlfriend to boot, but is still a  kid on the inside.

It's pretty clear why Ben and I love this film: in some ways, we've never grown up, nor do we have any plans to do so in the foreseeable future.  Yes, we're met with grown-up challenges every single day, but when the dust settles, we look forward to playing board games, planning our next trip to Disneyland, or reflecting on our collections (Barbies for me, comic books for my boy).

Original car from the Dragon Coaster

The entrance to Rye, towering trees greeting you and providing a pleasant respite from the sun.

Here's a little photo tribute to the wonderful Rye Playland.  I ranked it in the Top 5 Parks in my book, and I recommend everyone in the greater NYC area take a day to visit this national treasure.  Due to the economy, there's talk that the park may "change" - and part of the change may have to do with rethinking it, and tearing out the rides.  If that were to happen, I may have to lead the charge, head up there, and chain myself to the Derby Racer so they'd have to bodily remove me before taking it out.

The amazing vintage carousel at Rye, my favorite of the entire Road Trip.

Back end of the Dragon (coaster)

One of the park's three, count 'em, THREE dark rides.  Did I mention I got rid of my fear of dark rides here?  Yes, I did!

Background history sign for the Derby Racer, a very rare and exciting ride, that recreates the experience of an actual horse race!

Vintage Fortune Teller Machines: Face Time with Zoltar.

My hubby is 43 years old. Going on about 11. And he's the absolute best partner to have with me on my Roadtrips.

Whenever we come across the mechanical fortune tellers at vintage parks, I always have my picture taken with them, plunking in my quarter to receive my reading for the day. A few times the machine greedily eats up my coin and I never receive the fortune, even after shaking the aforementioned fortune teller, which probably doesn't set up the very best vintage amusement park karma. I picture a secret society of mechanical fortune tellers, with an annual fortune teller ball where they all meet up and swap stories. A throng of Estrellas, Esmereldas and Grandma Fortune Tellers converge on some seaside amusement park, settling into tight little groups, and chat about which tarot cards show up in their never-changing displays, how their mechanical parts need oiling and maintenance (but seldom get it), and compare notes on that peculiar woman with the cat eyeglasses and vintage sweaters who is at once thoroughly respectful of their history and supremely irritable when she doesn't receive her fortune card, shaking the whole fortune teller booth before walking away with a scowl.

Santa Monica's Pacific Park has an actual Zoltar machine.Although it was a slickery cold day, I made sure Ben had some alone time with the mystical seer, much like Tom Hanks' character in "Big" - a film which is not only one of Ben's favorites, but one Ben can often relate to, being a Very Tall Boy. For those of you who are curious, the amusement aprk used for the film is New York's Rye Playland, a park which will be visited later on for my Cotton Candy Roadtrip.

Oh -- I'm fortysomething going on 12 or so. A Very Tall Girl.