Huck Finn’s Playland

We brought the kids there three times this season. The four year-​old son loves it, declaring that he would like to live there. Older sister likes it but starts to get bored after an hour or so, which is all one needs to go through a 25 ticket book.
Overall, I think this is a great addition to Albany. It offers a true family-​friendly experience within easy range of restaurants and other attractions, like the bike path along the Hudson. Each time we visited, the crowd was large enough to make you think you’re not a freak for being there but there was never more than a two minute wait for a ride. While that felt perfect to me as a customer, I hope they did well enough to keep it going.
The staff are generally indifferent but if you engage them they respond in a friendly manner. Should one expect more from a group of teens running amusement park rides for young children?
I like this better than the old Latham location. While one reviewer laments the highway view, I think the scenery is much more interesting than the strip malls surrounding the old place. From the top of the ferris wheel one gets a nice view of the Albany skyline and the cars zipping past on 787. The skyline is even viewable from ground level at certain places in the park, giving it a bit of an urban feel despite being on the edge of town in a warehouse district.
The train ride is great for young children but bores the heck out of me. One lap takes nearly six minutes, which I think is long enough. Two laps seems like an eternity, but I remind myself of the target audience: it’s for the kids, not the adults.
It would be great if it was in more of a park-​like setting. There’s lots of asphalt and the plantings are still small so it seems very stark. Hopefully, after a few years of growth, trees will provide shade and atmosphere.

It’s impossible to review the current incarnation of the former Hoffman’s Playland without the taint of the experience of that beloved place coloring said review. So I won’t try.
I will charitably start out with what’s better: the bathrooms are cleaner.
What’s the same: ticket prices (for now). All the rides are there, except the bumper cars.
OK, now that that’s done with, here’s what’s worse.
Everything’s tucked into a square; there’s no charm in the layout or chance to ramble a little.
The location is charmless. Highway, warehouses, a tiny little wet spot. Yes, it’s true Hoffman’s had lost a lot of its own charm with the development around it in on Route 9, but it still had a little open space in the back and some marshes. Here you get a view of…787.
You could point to the fresh coat of paint on everything as an improvement, but it seems a little half-​hearted, and again, in the cool factor department, the old school wear and tear of the old place made it a bit quaint. Now the rides just seem… well, like a carnival has set up in a vacant lot next door to Huck Finn’s.
Particularly sad is the train ride, which we always used to start out with. It just goes in a circle around the perimeter, but you’re completely separated by a fence from everything except at the two crossings. The «tunnel» is even more lame, just a big piece of corrugated sewer pipe. So, yes, you can scope out the park and the rides from the train as before, but without meandering a bit and going out of sight, it’s just a kiddy ride now.
They’ve attempted to landscape the place, but all the plantings are so new it feels, well, sort of horribly empty right now.
They left behind the bumper cars, although one of the employees told me they’re trying to get them back for next year. Cross your fingers.
The «arcade» was always cheesy at the old place, but you basically have to walk around to the entrance of Huck Finn’s proper to get to the arcade games now, not worth the diversion. (There’s also a Subway, like the old place, only this one is the old one that’s always been in Huck Finn.)
Rather surprisingly, they seem to have exactly the same concessions as the old place. The quality was poor to middling there, and the same is true here. I was hoping they’d take the opportunity of having new facilities to improve this a little, but no such luck.
I could go on, but it doesn’t matter. If you take your average pre-​schooler, they’re not going to care or notice, which is why this still gets three stars. It’s not a huge bargain as far as carnival rides go — we used up our book of tickets in less than an hour, same as we ever did — but it’s always there. It’s not going to get the casual traffic the old location did on Route 9, so we’ll see how it grows up.
In any event, we probably won’t be back — the kids might have had a few more years in them, but they both thought it was disappointing. You just can’t go home again. Best of luck to them, truly, but we can’t help but remember Hoffman’s a little more fondly.

I took my daughter to the «it’s new» but «it’s old» Huck Finn’s Playland today. All the rides from Hoffman’s are there, with the notable exception of the bumper cars.
That’s a bummer. I loved the bumper cars!
Other than a fresh coat of paint on maybe one or two rides, they are exactly as they were at Hoffman’s, warts and all. It’s uncanny. It’s as if they literally picked the rides up, and dropped them at Huck Finn’s.
The train is there of course, and Huck’s has even gone so far as to create a tunnel out of corrugated metal. I loved it when everyone yelled «BOOOOO!» in the tunnel, just like they used to at Hoffman’s. The train still goes too slow (even for my 7 year old), and you still get two laps on each ride.
The roller coaster looks great, and it’s one heck of a bone shaking little ride, just as it always was.
The ferris wheel now gives you a great view of downtown Albany at it’s apex.
They’ve even brought over the old diner-​car like concession stand from Hoffman’s. And just as I did to my father more than 40 years ago, my daughter spies the bags of cotton candy hanging in there and starts nagging me to buy her one.
The new Playland doesn’t quite have the charm of Hoffman’s, but maybe that’s just because of 45 years of nostalgia on my part. The park is laid out in a big rectangle, and there’s no shade or trees in the main part of the park. They do have two tents set up though, with quite a few picnic tables under each, so you do have a place to get out of the sun, and rest your feet while you lick a cone or eat something from the concession stand.
Unless I’m mistaken, the ticket prices are the same as they were at Hoffman’s.
Congratulations to Huck Finn’s for doing their best to keep the spirit of Hoffman’s alive. I think they’ve done a fantastic job. Bringing my daughter out to the new Playland brought back a ton of memories for me. Here’s hoping one day, my daughter will bring her son or daughter to Huck’s Playland and relive her childhood memories as I did mine today.

Same rides as Hoffman’s Playland. Rides are 1 – 2 tickets per person. We came around 6pm on a Thursday and it wasn’t busy, at all. Try not to go when the sun is high as there is no place for shade and it gets hot.
My concern is that the old rides don’t look like they have been serviced, or any pieces replaced, and as a mom it makes me nervous.
Employees are ok. Looks like HS/​college kids. One thing I enjoyed at Hoffman’s was that the ferris wheel stopped at the top, now it just keeps going around until your turn is over. Bummer!
There is one stand for food in the middle by the carosel and a booth by the train. Nothing fancy (burgers, fries, fried dough, etc). Subway is located inside the Huck Finns store along with an arcade. There are two picnic areas to eat, each covered so there’s shade from the sun. There are also tables and park benches along the way to eat or rest.
There is room for improvements and upgrades but all in all, it’s an ok place to bring the offspring.