OCEAN CITY, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — For Brian Hartley, vice president of Playland’s Castaway Cove, the goal was simple.
“Getting open on time with our normal hours and letting people know we’re still here,” he said.
The amusement park, located at 10th Street and the Boardwalk in Ocean City, usually reopens part of the park around Palm Sunday. This weekend, 22 rides will be open on time, despite a four-alarm fire that tore through a portion of the park less than two months ago.
“Basically, we lost the building which housed our arcade, our main offices and a couple of tenants that were in there,” Hartley said. “We’ve been trying to get the permits for demolition and everything going on with that, so that started last Tuesday.”
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Castaway Cove’s arcade is closed for the year. Hartley said it’s tough to get the supplies they would need to rebuild it during the summer when crowds are larger.
The entrance to that area, where the massive pirate ship and parrot used to sit, is also gone.
“They are completely destroyed, so there’s no salvaging them,” Hartley continued. “They will be back. We do have plans, we’re working on everything now.”
When they do return, Hartley said you can expect some new surprises up there with them. For now, visitors should use the entrance between 10th and 11th streets near the Ferris wheel.
Hartley also emphasized that only some of the park was destroyed in the Jan. 30 fire.
“There’s still a lot of people that think we had a fire, we were completely destroyed when obviously that wasn’t the case,” he said. “Yes, part of our business was disrupted and destroyed, but the main part, which is the rides, really remained unaffected outside of some electrical issues and some minor issues.”
Mini golf and go-karts at Castway Cove have already resumed. Hartley expects more rides will open in the coming weeks.
After dealing with a summer of COVID-19 restrictions and then a massive fire, Hartley has tried to remain positive.
“There’s no doubt last year was not the greatest year,” he said. “We’re not going anywhere. We’re going to get everything up as quickly as possible and hope people are willing to come out for 2021 and get their rides in and get their fill of Ocean City.”