Rye Playland is set for its grand opening this Saturday, May 23rd, 2026. Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins and First Deputy Commissioner of Westchester County Parks Peter Tartaglia gave a preview to local media on Thursday afternoon.
When the park opens on Saturday, 90% of the 20 rides in Kiddyland are expected to be open and 80% of the adult rides are expected to be open across the park, according to Tartaglia. Those numbers are in stark contrast with last summer, when in the wake of a transition from the private operator Standard Amusements, the Parks Department struggled to open much more than 50% of the rides.
“Last year we couldn’t get some things open, and the biggest problem was the maintenance of those rides were let to go for a way long time,” Tartaglia told local media in a walk-through Thursday. “and getting ride parts was really, really hard to come by. We even struggled early this year.”
Tartaglia said it would be one to two more weeks before the Kitty train opened. He recounted that the tracks for the train had to be rebuilt from scratch as well as the locomotive and some of the other parts.
“There’s only a certain amount of rides in the United States, or even in Europe. It’s not like going to Honda and getting a part for a car,” continued Tartaglia. “It’s not like going to Home Depot and getting wood for the coaster. The wood for the coaster has no knots in it, so you have only certain companies in the world will fabricate that kind of wood, will actually cut that kind of wood and have it fabricated.”
The Dragon Coaster
County Executive Ken Jenkins has beat a steady drum around the reopening of the Dragon Coaster after its dormancy last summer including weaving the wooden roller coaster into his State of the County address and attending the kickoff of the Friends of Playland group run by Robin Latimer. Jenkins said he’ll be on the first Dragon Coaster ride this Saturday, sitting in the front car.
The dragon’s head, tail and other dragon body parts were renovated by upstate firm Adirondack Studios. The carpentry work was done by a combination of staff and contractors.
“Every day this ride has to be inspected, the track has to be walked every single day. A piece of wood is loose or missing, it gets replaced or put down properly,” said Tartaglia about the historic Dragon Coaster. “This is part of our permit. When we get our permit, we have to do that every day.”
Food Concessions
Food concessions in the park will also open after being closed last summer. Nathan’s Hot Dogs, Dippin’ Dots and cotton candy vendors are all back in the park. There will be burgers and officials said they’re also introducing chicken options.
Attendance Expectations
In 2025, about 215,000 people came to Playland. Officials say that count is a combination of rider wristbands and people who walk through the gates. As far as expectations for this year, County officials demurred, explaining that last year was a struggle and that there are no good recent benchmarks for attendance. Prior to that it was Standard Amusements, the private operator, and prior to that was COVID.
This year, Westchester Parks has a new system that will monitor people’s mobile phones as a way to track attendance in the park. Rye Playland, as well as other parks in the county system, are being geo-fenced and cell phone usage will be tracked to let them understand park usage.
Mobile phone usage will track overall attendance in the park and, for Rye Playland, park officials will also be looking at parking usage and ticket sales to determine the success of the season.
Jenkin’s Favorite
County Executive Ken Jenkins, who enjoyed a Nathan’s hot dog and fries during the media walkthrough, shared that his favorite in the game area is Whac-A-Mole. But more than anything, he was focused on the Dragon Coaster.
“I’m going to open up the [Dragon Coaster] ride on Saturday, so I’m going to be there. I’m going in the first car.”
Watch the Full Media Walk Through
Any news on the racing derby being operational this year?