Playland's Castaway Cove Construction Delayed Pending Decision on New Roller Coaster

• Playland’s Castaway Cove is aiming to build a family-friendly roller coaster atop its entrance

• The rebuild of the park is being hindered by a zoning question related to a proposed control room for the new coaster, stalling construction on the arcade for the last 6-8 weeks

• Arcade will likely not be completed before the end of the summer

• Brian Hartley, Playland’s VP, is optimistic for upcoming zoning board meeting on Wednesday to get some clarity

• Delay impacts arcade opening for this summer

• Roller coaster construction, if approved, may not be completed until 2025

So quite the update here on Playland’s Castaway Cove and its proposed new roller coaster atop its arcade on the Boardwalk.

Playland’s VP, Brian Hartley, explained to me on Monday that rebuilding plans have stalled over the last couple months as the amusement operator awaits clarity on whether it can proceed to build a family-friendly coaster.

The new ride, which is still in the early design phase, would be behind a new version of the park’s iconic pirate ship, which was burned down in a January, 2021 fire.

Zoning Issues

The primary issue revolves around the construction of a control room for the proposed ride. It would need to be placed at the top of the coaster so operators can keep an eye on everything going on.

If considered part of the building, it would extend beyond current local zoning ordinances and Playland would need to receive a variance from the city.

In New Jersey, there is no limit on how high coasters can extend into the air, and, according to Hartley, cities have little say on the matter. But the control room's classification remains a gray area (is it part of the building, is it part of the ride?).

"Our issue is that we want to obviously put the [control room] on the roof of a building,” Hartley said. “We view it as part of the ride, whereas some other people view it as part of the building."

Hartley told me that the park has been working to gather information and satisfy all requirements, but the process has taken longer than anticipated. The park will present its case to the zoning board on Wednesday night, hoping to resolve the issue and move forward with construction.

Delays

Delays have not only impacted the park but also neighboring businesses.

"The reality of it is we had really hoped to have this building, the arcade and our other storefronts up and running sometime this summer, but with the delays, it really is a long shot to get anything done before Labor Day at this point," Hartley said, as he would have to coordinate construction crews which have moved on to other jobs.

Playland needs clarity for whether they can or can not build the coaster before continuing construction on the arcade and rest of the first floor, which serves as the primary entrance to the park.

Even if they get some answers on Wednesday, development of the coaster could take quite a bit of time.

“We don't really know where we're at as far as the coaster,” Hartley said. “At this point we'd probably be looking at 2025 by the time we can get something designed and into the manufacturing stage.”

“There's a whole process just aside from that, dealing with the state of New Jersey… it has to go up to the Department of Community Affairs. They have their own engineers that will review all the paperwork and design specs and everything else.”

The Roller Coaster Sounds Awesome

The ride sounds like it would be a welcome addition to the Boardwalk.

“It's gonna be something that, you know, hopefully has a smaller height limit that's good for kids and parents and families of all ages— something kind of like our Wild Waves rollercoaster with just some dips and some valleys. But we hope to incorporate some things that maybe, you know, you go through some tunnels and things like that and make some sharp turns that kind of whip you around the front of the boardwalk. So you go through something that's dark and then you come out in the light.”

UPDATE: Playland’s received approval to move ahead with its new coaster.

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