Playland Park (Texas)

Infobox Amusement park
name=Playland Park


caption =
location=San Antonio
location2 = Texas
location3 = United States flagicon|USA
area=
opening_date=1940
closing_date=1980
previous_names=
rides = 16
coasters=1
water_rides=0
owner=Jimmy Johnson
slogan=The Fun Spot of San Antonio
homepage=
footnotes=

Playland Park, a defunct amusement park formerly located in San Antonio, Texas, is most notable for being the former home of "The Rocket", a wooden roller coaster which now operates as The Phoenix at Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. Ed Gaida, who lived at Playland Park, has written a book about the park.

The Rocket

The San Antonio park was designed and built by Herb Schmeck and the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, the roller coaster operated from 1947 until the park's closure in 1980. Knoebels purchased the ride in 1984 and dismantled it during the winter of 1985. As there were no blueprints to work with, each individual board was numbered and cataloged on site. The restored roller coaster opened at Knoebels on June 15 1985. It is named after the mythical phoenix bird which rises, reborn from its own ashes.

The first Playland Park was originally located in Houston, Texas in the mid 1940's and lasted through to mid 1960's. It was Texas' first amusement park and it stood near the site where the famed AstroWorld once stood. It is now a suburban and commercial development area. The park also featured Texas' first elevated monorail train (1956- Skyway Monorail

Astroworld replaced Playland Park as Houston's and Texas' largest amusement park attraction from the 1960's up until the 1990's when new 'theme' parks where built in Dallas and San Antonio.

ee also

*List of abandoned amusement parks

External links

* [http://www.playlandparkbook.com/ Detailed book on history of Playland Park]
* [http://www.coasterphotos.com/Playland/history.htm History of Playland Park]
* [http://user.intersatx.net/psy/rocket.htm The Playland Rocket]