^ I'd call that a success. :wink:
I have a tie: Kings Island and Six Flags.
Kings Island - While it is one of my top amusement park picks in the U.S., Kings Island has had a riddled history of great successes and awful failures. While they have coaster classics like The Racer, Vortex, and the Beast, they also built the Bat and Son of Beast. When this park opened in 1972, it was the top amusement park of the nation (larger than Cedar Point) - marking the golden age of roller coasters with the construction of The Racer. Growth however was hampered by failed projects, and the park fell behind over the next 30 years. Kings Island could very have been an equal to Cedar Point had wiser investments been made.
Six Flags - While the chain seems to be on better ground now, their trail has been rocky. In the 90s then owner Premier Parks Inc. began gobbling up small amusement parks around the nation and across the pond in Europe. The 90s were a great time for tourism, and Premier believed that they could buy smaller parks for cheap, ramp them up with huge thrills, and come out with a huge success. This plan obviously backfired, Six Flags declared bankruptcy, and had to sell off many of their parks. It went to show that the amusement park industry has a certain organic nature that cannot be rushed - successful parks grow and prosper over time.