What's new
By:
FORUMS - COASTERFORCE

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Theme Park Failures

Kebab

Kebab

Giga Poster
Are there any moves in the Theme Park industry that you would consider a failure? Be it a model/concept of rollercoaster, or just Theme Parks in general making stupid decisions.

This, I consider to be a huge failure. It had so much potential, but just ended up being a Euro-Fighter gone wrong. Plus being as it's the only proto-type in the world, that also shows...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIRky72rXlc[/youtube]

I'm sorry but that thing looks absolutely dreadful! :x
 
Furius Baco.

It gets said over and over again, but that ride it too fast/powerful for it's own good. The launch is great, the rest of the ride is diabolical.

That's the first one that springs to mind because it's been such a failure. Especially since B&M have nailed the design and have already built four. :lol:


I think Leviathan is a massive fail, but on the part of the park. It'll be a kick-ass ride, but it'll basically destroy Behemoth's popularity. I think CW have been very short-sighted in their decision. I feels like they literally just went: "Well Behemoth is popular, lets just build another one them". I think it's really good B&M are venturing over the 300ft mark, and I think the ride itself will be quite good, however it's a stupid decision by the park. I hope it massively back-fires and no-one ever rides Behemoth again, so they realise that they just build the same ride twice.


Hard Rock Park must be up there as a massive fail, but I never really knew a lot about the nitty-gritty of that, other than it just wasn't really in the right place and wasted a lot of money.


No doubt I'll be able to think of others in time, but that's it for now. :D
 
The coaster at the top is actually a towering coaster that you can make on rct3!

My biggest fliure though-th13teen!
 
I think Leviathan is a massive fail, but on the part of the park. It'll be a kick-ass ride, but it'll basically destroy Behemoth's popularity. I think CW have been very short-sighted in their decision. I feels like they literally just went: "Well Behemoth is popular, lets just build another one them". I think it's really good B&M are venturing over the 300ft mark, and I think the ride itself will be quite good, however it's a stupid decision by the park. I hope it massively back-fires and no-one ever rides Behemoth again, so they realise that they just build the same ride twice.
Click to expand...

I'm afraid I disagree with you here. As you said, people love Behemoth, so they built another one. From an enthusiast point of view, we can raise the question "Why ride Behemoth when there is a bigger ride at the other end of the park?". Fully legit, and Leviathan would have been a stupid idea if the park had a pay-per-ride system or lived on the income from Behemoth alone.

However, it isn't. The GP see something along the lines of "Oh my god! A park with TWO massive coasters and a buttload of other small ones! When can I go there?" Leviathan and Behemoths aren't in a tug-of-war, they are pulling the rope together. The two are both world-class hypers, crowd magnets in their own right, and even more powerful together. Even though one is bigger than the other, the smallest one is still the second biggest coaster in Canada, and I don't think people will skip it just because there exists a bigger one in the same park.

My biggest fliure though-th13teen!
Click to expand...
How come? Does it break down all the time? Do nobody ever ride it? Isn't it financially viable to run? Entirely without marketing value? Is Alton regularly sued over it? Just because it's a crappy coaster doesn't mean it's not doing its job - bringing in the £s.


A failure that I can think of on the top of my head must be Hard Rock Park. Located in a place not exactly brimming with its target demographic, marketed badly and the investors didn't give it time to settle. It was a beautiful place, with a great theme, but financially, it was a huge fail.
 
Pokemaniac said:
I think Leviathan is a massive fail, but on the part of the park. It'll be a kick-ass ride, but it'll basically destroy Behemoth's popularity. I think CW have been very short-sighted in their decision. I feels like they literally just went: "Well Behemoth is popular, lets just build another one them". I think it's really good B&M are venturing over the 300ft mark, and I think the ride itself will be quite good, however it's a stupid decision by the park. I hope it massively back-fires and no-one ever rides Behemoth again, so they realise that they just build the same ride twice.
Click to expand...

I'm afraid I disagree with you here. As you said, people love Behemoth, so they built another one. From an enthusiast point of view, we can raise the question "Why ride Behemoth when there is a bigger ride at the other end of the park?". Fully legit, and Leviathan would have been a stupid idea if the park had a pay-per-ride system or lived on the income from Behemoth alone.

However, it isn't. The GP see something along the lines of "Oh my god! A park with TWO massive coasters and a buttload of other small ones! When can I go there?" Leviathan and Behemoths aren't in a tug-of-war, they are pulling the rope together. The two are both world-class hypers, crowd magnets in their own right, and even more powerful together. Even though one is bigger than the other, the smallest one is still the second biggest coaster in Canada, and I don't think people will skip it just because there exists a bigger one in the same park.
Click to expand...
I do see your point, but I still just think it's a daft decision. I know why they've put it there. Like you said, if you've got something that's popular, you make more of it. Doesn't stop me thinking it's at the wrong park.

Pokemaniac said:
My biggest fliure though-th13teen!
Click to expand...
How come? Does it break down all the time? Do nobody ever ride it? Isn't it financially viable to run? Entirely without marketing value? Is Alton regularly sued over it? Just because it's a crappy coaster doesn't mean it's not doing its job - bringing in the £s.
Click to expand...
It doesn't break down all the time, but I've never been at Alton when it hasn't broken at least once during the day. I don't know about it's re-ride-ability either, I mean I only ride it once a visit and usually that's because the group wants to ride it. I've been with friends who've never ridden the coaster (or had any idea what it did) twice and both times they got off saying it was great, but then given the option they wanted re-rides on Oblivion, not Thirteen. Once you know the trick, it's really quite a dull ride. Saying all that though, I don't think it's that much of a fail in terms of a coaster. What is a fail about the project was the marketing of it.
 
For a while and actually still now, Kumbak's takeover of Stampida is a MASSIVE fail. Basically, when it first started, they couldn't align the trains, meaning that the trains would go up the lifthill at approximately 1 mph, then align, the start again. It was pathetic. Not to mention the actual comfort of the ride. Yeah, in my opinion. FAIlL.
 
It didn't have any coasters, but when I hear the words "Theme Park Failures" I immediately think of Crinkly Bottom at Morecambe, which was a lot of nicely-made houses and very little else. Perhaps they should have had a coaster...?
 
Thing is Pokemaniac, the rest of the coasters in CW were built in the 80s, and the only recent stuff was smaller things like the Fly, Italian Job and Tomb Raider, so of course the first big thing in ages is going to spark a lot of interest and be a success.

But what if, in 2008 they had built a 7 inversion B&M Floorless? Pretty sure that would have been a success too, for the reasons above.
So for 2012, should they then have been aiming to build Dragon Khan or something?....to 1-up themselves, and to boast "Two of the best"?

Furthermore, should KI and Carowinds be following up Diamondback/Timmy with gigas in future years, as a transferral of the strategy....If you're defending the stratergy in this case, then no reason to say why you wouldn't do it again right?
 
I would say X along rides, it essentially put Arrow out of business. Park wise, it would be the massive purchases Six Flags did when they took on all the Walibi properties and the countless other places, or Hard Rock Park. It set Six Flags back a decade and HRP was just a giant fail.
 
Hixee said:
Furius Baco.
Click to expand...

Only to stupid enthusiasts is Baco a fail... To the Public, its the biggest hit in Port Aventura. Always has the biggest lines, and it has the best staff in the park. Love the ride, and its the only ride in PA I hear clapping and encore's.

Baco <3

So really, in a parks eyes, its a huge success.
 
Screaming Coasters said:
Hixee said:
Furius Baco.
Click to expand...

Only to stupid enthusiasts is Baco a fail... To the Public, its the biggest hit in Port Aventura. Always has the biggest lines, and it has the best staff in the park. Love the ride, and its the only ride in PA I hear clapping and encore's.

Baco <3

So really, in a parks eyes, its a huge success.
Click to expand...
To the park maybe. To the industry... yeah... it's still a fail. Haven't seen Intamin build another one, and PA had enough grief with Baco's supports. So even though it's popular and (possibly) alright for the park, it's still been a fail. You can't deny that! :D
 
But what Intamin HASNT been adjusted for some reason or another? I305 springs to mind, Maverick and so on LOL :P Baco is win and I'm sure Intamin would have forked out for the adjustments. B&M's don't put their coasters through enough stress to warrant such major changes, Intamin do and for some reason, they under compensate all the time.
 
^You can't possibly say that Furius Baco has been a success for the industry. Sure, there's not been another coaster like I305, but it's not been a failure as such and it's only been open two seasons. The same is true with Maverick, although Cheetah Hunt would/could be considered the same. Both of those coaster had correction, yes, but they've at least worked and looked likely to have further versions.

Baco opened in... what? 2007? Five years down the like (because we're not getting one for 2012) and there's still not even a hint of Intamin having another go? You can't say that's a success... surely...? :?
 
Well I guess its like VHS and BetaMAX. VHS was a newer, efficient model, however BetaMAX had the balls and the making of something even better, but VHS won because they had thier **** in place from day 1.

Kinda like Intamin and B&M.

Baco, the original Wing-Rider is the gutsy version of the ride type, but the toned-down Raptor won due to its efficiency.

Have to admit that it was a very gutsy move by Intamin to do something as extreme as Baco. Hats off to them.
 
Screaming Coasters said:
Well I guess its like VHS and BetaMAX. VHS was a newer, efficient model, however BetaMAX had the balls and the making of something even better, but VHS won because they had thier **** in place from day 1.

Kinda like Intamin and B&M.

Baco, the original Wing-Rider is the gutsy version of the ride type, but the toned-down Raptor won due to its efficiency.

Have to admit that it was a very gutsy move by Intamin to do something as extreme as Baco. Hats off to them.
Click to expand...
Oh absolutely. I think it's a very bold idea to have your prototype to be as intense as Baco. Doesn't stop it not working though.

There is something to be said for the different manufacturer's styles, B&M is a lot more controlled, whereas Intamin are a bit more 'out-there', but Baco has been such a big failure. Intamin's other gambles have paid off (again, see I305 and Maverick), but Baco didn't.
 
One of the most notable failures in my eyes in recent times was the entire marketing strategy of 13.

They hyped it out like it was going to be the most terrifying thing in the world, the new element would be world class and absolutely one of the most thrilling segments ever, and then we got... well...

I don't think I will ever ride it again, the only reason I went on for a second time was because there was no queue. A waste of time to ride it in my opinion!
 
It's amazing what impact marketing can really have on a ride. Thirteen is not that bad, in fact I think it's pretty decent, but the absolute failure of enthusiasts to see past the marketing really does show just how important such an aspect is if even we are effected by it so drastically. I find it hard to believe that most enthusiasts would genuinely think Thirteen is worthless if it weren't for the marketing.

What I want to know is how the GP react to Thirteen. Did it's marketing have the opposite effect? The only non-enthusiast I know the opinion of enjoyed Thirteen, but one opinion isn't much to go on.

Anyone doubting how marketing, theming and the whole package effects ride experience should really take a look at the Thirteen fiasco.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top