Columbia Gardens, Butte, MT
Roller Coaster

Council Crest, Portland, OR
Scenic Railway

Fun Forest, Seattle, WA
Galaxy and Wild Mouse

Happyland, Vancouver, BC
Giant Dipper

Jantzen Beach, Portland, OR
Big Dipper

Luna Park, Seattle, WA
Figure 8

Nat Park, Spokane, WA
Scenic Railway & Jack Rabbit

Oaks Park, Portland, OR
Monster Mouse and Zip coaster

Playland, Coeur d' Alene, ID
Playland Pier amusement rides

Playland, Seattle, WA
Giant Dipper

Playland, Vancouver, BC
Super Big Gulp

White City, Bellingham, WA
Roller Coaster

White City, Seattle, WA
Roller Coaster

Super Big Gulp, Playland, Vancouver, BC

Super Big Gulp

Playland opened its doors in 1958, a year after Happyland had been torn down. Robert Bollinger and Burrard Amusement, Ltd. built Playland including the wooden roller coaster that was designed by Northwest coaster designer, Carl Phare.

In 1978, Bollinger then sold Playland to the PNE and Burrard Amusements was no longer. However, Bollinger still owned Funtastic Rides which remained the provider for the portable rides.

The Super Big Gulp coaster came directly from Germany prior to its run at Playland around 1972. This was a typical Jet Star 2 coaster model designed by the late German coaster designer Anton Schwartzkopf. The ride ran for over 20 years at the park (1972-1994).

Ironically, I hadn't known of this coaster's existence until 1990. Unfortunately, during a visit to Playland in the summer of 1994, I almost had a chance to ride this coaster but learned it had been torn down earlier that day. The Vekoma Corkscrew now resides as the park's major "big" steel coaster.

In the late 1990's, two other coasters had also operated at Playland, the Zillerator (1996-99) and the Dragon coaster (1999-2003). The latter was a junior coaster which I rode in 2002. Both ran for about two years. Now the wooden Coaster, Corkscrew, Kettle Creek Mine Coaster, and the Wild Mouse are the four roller coasters that operate at the park and PNE.