Brace yourself Vancouver, the Playland barf-o-meter just got cranked up a gazillion notches. For those hard-wired for amusement park rides, carnivals and adrenaline overdoses, Playland 2015 is for you. The park has unveiled a new multi-million dollar masterpiece The Beast… but it is not for the faint of heart.
Classics like the Wooden Roller Coaster take a backseat this year. If you thought we had bid farewell to the park’s legendary classic spin ride, Crazy Beach Party, it has merely been relocated to make room for something big and extreme. Not even a carnie could have anticipated a replacement of this kind. The makers of this ride nailed it when they named it The Beast.
Insane in the membrane, imagine a pendulum peaking at 125 feet in the air at a speed of 90km/h with seats facing inward that spin 360°. You will be thankful for these seating arrangements just knowing the person across you is in the same predicament. Hands down, this is the ideal ride to rock a “chesty” GoPro harness and video the crazies freaking out across from you. This ride makes skydiving and bungee jumping look like a cakewalk.
More good news for Playland park enthusiasts, admission on The Beast is included in the price of a PlayPass, so you can ride it over and over again IF you dare. Having guts of steel and loading up on multiple Beast rides could become this summer’s most popular double dare. I recommend riding on an empty stomach, wearing runners not flip flops or open toed shoes and assigning someone to be the designated driver as the 5 Gs of force will leave you a little loopy for the rest of the day.
No such ride of this nature existed anywhere in North America until now. We have the Dutch to thank for its invention and KMG International for bringing it here. Lucky Vancouverites, we get to be the guinea pigs. Try it if you dare and may the G-force be with you.
