Biggest Amusement Industry Mess Up(s) of the Decade

[ECG]

BBW probably did have to go, so hopefully the new coaster for 2012 will make up for the loss.
Corkscrew Hill wasn't even the best sim in the park tbh, but that Flight Over Europe, or whatever it's called, is just crap.
As far as the Sesame Street stuff, well it didn't replace anything & was needed.
They got rid of Pirate theater & are also adding a drop tower, so other than the

that replaced Corkscrew I think BGW has its act together.

 

[Nic]

That Morwenna woman.

 

[bezzzzzer]

I take your DCA Marc and raise you Paris' Walt Disney Studios...

Least DCA (no matter how crap it was) had a look at of a decent try (Grizzly Rapids and Soarin)... Also it has Muppets, which is awesome...

Granted though, any park that is going through a restoration phase that DCA is going through shows some really terrible planning...

That was part of Mr Eisner's decision that every Disney Resort should have at least two parks wasn't it? Which worked tremendously well for Tokyo, but failed epically in Paris and California.

On the Disney front, Mr Eisner was the fail of the decade. After so much initial promise the decade before, he just collapsed into failure.

 

[STC]

Surely it has to be Dive to Atlantic at Mt. Olympus...?

Opened in 2004. Apparently suffered colossal numbers of construction failures and then operational failures. Ripped down in 2007 and replaced with nothing.

 

[Rush]

I'm surprised only one person's mentioned Vertigo at Walibi Belgium!

Opening was delayed a year. FINALLY opened in 2007, closed after about two weeks for technical problems. The entire track was reworked for 2008. Opened in 2008, closed 11 days later. Ripped down that year. It looked like a fun ride but for a ride which cost millions to fix and only opened for about 30 days total, a complete and utter flop.

 

[jjjjustin]

^^ that ride looks epic

 

[Nic]

Definitely Vertigo! What a cock up. Just sad that I never got to ride it. I've got another one in a similar vein though. OK, so it wasn't built in the last decade, but it was torn down less than 10 years ago, so I'm going to go with it.

The Batflyer at Duinrell

It was built in '97, as far as I can tell, never completed a circuit. They looked at ways to power it, and were going to re-open it for 2002, but instead tore it down. The track went straight to the scrap yard (apparently the cars are still kicking about somewhere)

At least Vertigo was a completely new concept, so they kinda had an excuse. Now, I don't know if this was the first of its kind or not. The AWESOME Clone Zone at Milky Way was also apparently built in '97, and that works OK. But anyway, it's not really anything revolutionary, so I can't really see why they had a problem. I don't know who took the blame, if it was the park or the manufacturer or what...

All I know is that Duinrell is an amazing park, but has been through less development than it deserves. Yes, they've had reasonable new rides since, but you get the feeling they've been playing catchup since this set back. Plus, a batflyer would be perfect for that park, so it's a shame this didn't work out.

 

[Lofty]

At least Vertigo was a completely new concept, so they kinda had an excuse. Now, I don't know if this was the first of its kind or not. The AWESOME Clone Zone at Milky Way was also apparently built in '97, and that works OK. But anyway, it's not really anything revolutionary, so I can't really see why they had a problem. I don't know who took the blame, if it was the park or the manufacturer or what...

Really? Awesome Clone Zone. Now, there's 3 words you rarely hear together lol. I find it EXTREMELY dull. The overall experience of the walk through part mixed with the coaster is fun. But it's nothing special, in m eyes anyway.

 

[Brookes]

^Yeah I agree, I found it very boring.

 

[Ben]

At least Vertigo was a completely new concept, so they kinda had an excuse. Now, I don't know if this was the first of its kind or not. The AWESOME Clone Zone at Milky Way was also apparently built in '97, and that works OK. But anyway, it's not really anything revolutionary, so I can't really see why they had a problem. I don't know who took the blame, if it was the park or the manufacturer or what...

Really? Awesome Clone Zone. Now, there's 3 words you rarely hear together lol. I find it EXTREMELY dull. The overall experience of the walk through part mixed with the coaster is fun. But it's nothing special, in m eyes anyway.

:O

Clone Zone is SO fab! It's so random and just launches its little way around the circuit so obscenely! It's actually amazing <3

 

[Nic]

Just occasionally, I love you, Ben <3

 

[s15c]

Anyone? The Deja Vu saga? I mean, [correction from they] it works. But it breaks down like crazy and get stucks and two of them got torn down and they sent Vekoma into bankruptcy but Vekoma is too much of a pain in the butt to just go away and stop giving us clones.

Anyway, apart from run-on sentences, Hard Rock Park was my only other thought for utter failures.

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

and they sent Vekoma into bankruptcy

Lol wut?

 

[s15c]

Vekoma filed for some sort of chapter something or other bankruptcy^

Well, that, or my sources are rather untrustworthy.

 

[Hixee]

^Well where are you sources? I don't remember hearing anything about this...

 

[furie]

Furie to the rescue:
http://coasterbuzz.com/Forums/Thread/50347.aspx?page=2

Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to none payment for their GIBS and Flying Dutchman coasters at Six Flags (due to delays and installation issues).

Unlike the UK, most of the civilised world gives a company with cash flow issues a chance. Chapter 11 (and there are other equivalents, Huss filed under the German version) allows for a company to stop paying its creditors while it works out a plan of action to get enough cash together to keep functioning AND pay it's creditors. If they can't manage to come up with a plan, then it goes into liquidation and then bits are sold off in force and company is taken down.

So yeah, it's very serious having it happen, but it does give a company breathing room, and as we've seen with Huss and Vekoma, the company can carry on well.

 

[rollermonkey]

I'm pretty sure Vekoma has been through more than one bankruptcy.

 

[Hixee]

I take it back then. Guess I just missed it!

:lol:

 

[furie]

You were only eight at the time, but I don't know if that's a good enough excuse...

 

[Hixee]

^Yeah... I think I was still eating mud back then...