Playland Park (Texas)
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| Playland Park | |
|---|---|
| Location | San Antonio, Texas, United States  |
| Owner | Jimmy Johnson |
| Opened | 1940 |
| Closed | 1980 |
| Rides | 16 total
|
| Slogan | The Fun Spot of San Antonio |
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.
[edit] 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 in Houston Texas once stood. It is now a suburban and commercial development area. The park also featured Texas' first elevated mono rail 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.
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