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Why do enthusiasts suddenly love an attraction once it's closure was announced?

T

Trax

Hyper Poster
The recent announcement of the closure of Rip Ride Rockit just made me realise something:
Once the closure of a rollercoaster has been announced, most people start praising the ride and stating their love for it. However, before said announcement, people either didn't care about it, or even dispise the ride.

Want examples?

Volcano - the Blast coaster. The things I heard were usually along the likes of "boring, but ok" and "nothing special". No one really cared about it.
Once the closure was announced, it was the most beloved attraction of the park, it would be a shame to tear it down and it was elevated to THE iconic ride of Kings Dominion.

Kingda Ka: Always considered the bad Strata coaster, a try to top TTD but failing in multiple ways. Everyone said that TTD is the better attraction.
Closure announced/strongly rumored: Best ride in the world, long live the King, how dare they?

Rip Ride Rockit: Unpleasant and rough, MCBR - the ride.
Closure announced: Wonderful attraction, best at the park, the most iconic ride of Universal

Feel free to share more examples that you can think of.

So that poses the question: Why does the opinion shift so hard once it is clear that an attraction will close? Do the people just start to apreciate the ride once they know that it will be closed for good, or do people simply like to trashtalk the B-tier rides?
 
RRR is actually a great ride! The airtime is some of the best in the state of Florida. I've always been a RRR fan and always try to ride it at least once per visit. Its definitely one of the most underrated coasters out there.

I liked KK for what it was. Yeah it was rough and its not even the best launch coaster in the state, but its fun for what it was (basically a one trick pony). Volcano was the same way but the capacity was garbage. I always thought Volcano was just ok (basically another one trick pony) and it was never really worth the wait it always got. Both coasters are pretty iconic in their own right. Volcano was visually stunning when it was operational and the fire effects on top were operational. KK is a unique 400+ ft record breaker.

Maybe people do get an appreciation for these rides when they go away. Sometimes the writing is on the wall though. Volcano was almost never operational late in its lifespan and RRR doesn't track very well and is basically a maintenance headache for the park.
 
Did the opinions shift though?

Re: Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, I enjoyed it, but didn't rate it highly. It was never at the forefront of my mind, and I'd have no reason to mention it unless...

...it were to close down.

I will generally feel a bit sad about the demise of most coasters I've liked at least a small amount. Only the most abhorrent rides would I celebrate their demise.

What I'm trying to say is that people will come out to note that they will miss a ride even if it's not their absolute favourite. This is probably amplified when a ride is unique (e.g. Volcano) or noteworthy in terms of world records (e.g. KK).
 
Got good and bad rides on RRR. I'd like another go if I can but not gonna to miss it too much. The park went over and above to keep it going, should have been scrapped a long ago if the maintenance nightmare is half true. The skyline is greatly improved with it standing and fills a savage gap in the Studios park line-up. While I never cared about the music choice it sounds like most love it, possibly even if indifferent about the ride. The studios park is lacking so a hell of a replacement will be on many wish lists. Plenty of notice, good on Universal, I just hope the social team had the right info.

Ka will be iconic for the foreseeable future because 👀 look at it & those stats. Many will be gutted they didn't get to ride. So what it was open for nearly 20 years, not everyone can get to everything with other life priorities and limits, maybe it was almost on the cards. Was rough and TTD was loads better but that has its own baggage. Still a memorable experience and the best sort of ridiculous. The chains decision to handle like we all witnessed came of to me as appalling.

My heart is a little disappointed there isn't an online riot about Nighthawk and don't remember one from Firehawk. But my head gets it. When the day comes for Vortex I wont take anyone missing it seriously.

People did love Volcano for a long time prior demise although as a one time visitor to the park not entirely sure why. One of the worse looking coaster support structures making a shoddy mountain look bad at any distance. Was possibly more elusive than fun but did some neat things. Intamin never really outdid a simple Impulse. Does anyone miss KD's stand-up Togo? I remember that fondly, admittedly also no idea why.

Blackpool's Wild Mouse is rightfully missed and park scorned.

Seeing pictures of the relocated Black Hole from Alton Towers now out in the open makes me miss it a lot less. I'd like any enclosed coaster with a simple starfield effect. But I treasure the memory.

The Ultimate was marmite before it closed but I miss its craziness and my few rides dearly.

Some random person posted on CF to protest Blue Streak closing at the now defunct Conneaut Lake Park. They were so furious that they were gonna do something. I don't remember what because of the reveal they had never actually ridden it. Still hilarious to this day.

Space World in Japan gave anyone paying attention they had one year left - for an entire park. Any coaster operator should take note and do this, with notice period comparable to its impact. Give people a fair chance. It wont make everyone happy but will help some.

And yes you often hear the loudest opinion from many and people love a moan.
 
I think we can critique coasters from a place of love. Enthusiasts will moan about a ride being bad, but will go on it every time they visit the park, so they must of liked it a little, surely? We know their potential and their pitfalls. We appreciate very specific things about the ride and will bash things that most people will not notice - because we care!
I think we also take coasters for granted, not fully realising how soon they will be gone forever. And once it's announced that something is closing, the reality sinks in that we will never ride this again and that can change your perspective of the ride. You start to overlook it's faults and relish the memories you made.
 
I think a ride dying does bring out an appreciation and respect for it in some cases, even if it wasn't always the most revered in operation. It's like that old saying "don't speak ill of the dead", but for coasters; a ride being removed will always make you a little more misty-eyed and nostalgic for it than you were when it operated, and you might appreciate things that you didn't when it was still open.

With Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, for example (to provide an example I've personally ridden); it's far from my favourite coaster, and I was not a massive fan last time I rode it, but I do have somewhat of a sentimental connection to it in that it was the first coaster I ever remember audibly feeling the sensation of airtime on, and among the earliest "properly big thrill coasters" I ever remember riding and loving when I first rode it at only 11 years old. As an 11 year old fledgling enthusiast, Rockit definitely left its mark on me (I'd have easily declared it one of my top coasters when I first rode it back in 2014!), and while my opinion of the ride unfortunately diminished greatly the more I rode, that love I had for it on the first go, that first memorable experience of airtime it gave me, and the impact it had on me as a young enthusiast are still things I will never forget and things I can never take away from it. The Universal Orlando parks are two of my most visited parks, and places where I've had many happy family holiday memories over the years, so a major coaster like Rockit being removed will make me feel almost as sentimental as the removal of a major coaster from one of my two "home" parks, Alton or Thorpe, even if I was not the greatest fan of the actual ride experience on my most recent visit in 2023.

I also don't think it's necessarily every ride, either; Nighthawk and Anaconda did not exactly have an outpouring of love for them when they were announced to be gone.
 
Honestly I feel this has always been a thing. Every time some crappy ride closes suddenly it's everyone's favorite. Yet when they were open, nobody seemed to care. And as soon as you try to call people out on it they act like they always loved it but if you go back and read people's trip reports all you see is complaints. Like Son of Beast was literally the worst roller coaster I've ever been on.... but years after it closed suddenly everyone loved it? Nobody ever spoke positively about it!! KI Vortex is a ride I liked, not loved. Was pretty well hated, and now everyone saying how much they miss it...yet it rarely had a line..... and I'm sure Anaconda will have the same post-fanfare. I always gave it a pitty ride but in my +20 visits to KD, I've never seen it even have a full train,let alone a full Station/queue 🙃

In fact, a few days ago I posted this on Twitter about the same issue, ha
https://twitter.com/x/status/1872346029460484458

Back in April when the Rockit rumors started
https://twitter.com/x/status/1782794193305244041

In 2019 -
https://twitter.com/x/status/1177532496818462720

2020
https://twitter.com/x/status/1283904863966056448

2021 🤷‍♂️
https://twitter.com/x/status/1380878760229109762
 
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I'd say Kingda Ka is the most justified because of the records that the rollercoaster has. For a lot of rollercoaster fans, it's like a holy grail for rollercoasters.

The others seem to be coasters that aren't extraordinary but there's a lot of people that enjoy those.

I'm quite livid that Kingda Ka closed the way that it did but with a lot of the others, I don't feel the same way because a lot of them aren't groundbreaking in the same way.
 
I suppose every coaster has its fans, even if you don't notice them at the time. I can't say I miss a great many of the defunct coasters I've ridden; however, there are exceptions. I'm adamant that the Southport Cyclone was a great ride. I used to enjoy it more than Grand National and Big Dipper, and always said so in my TRs (not sure if it was better than Roller Coaster/Streak though), but that was never the general consensus. Like everything else in life, you just have to enjoy it while you can.
 
CanobieFan said:
Honestly I feel this has always been a thing. Every time some crappy ride closes suddenly it's everyone's favorite. Yet when they were open, nobody seemed to care. And as soon as you try to call people out on it they act like they always loved it but if you go back and read people's trip reports all you see is complaints. Like Son of Beast was literally the worst roller coaster I've ever been on.... but years after it closed suddenly everyone loved it? Nobody ever spoke positively about it!! KI Vortex is a ride I liked, not loved. Was pretty well hated, and now everyone saying how much they miss it...yet it rarely had a line..... and I'm sure Anaconda will have the same post-fanfare. I always gave it a pitty ride but in my +20 visits to KD, I've never seen it even have a full train,let alone a full Station/queue 🙃

In fact, a few says ago I posted this on Twitter about the same issue, ha
https://twitter.com/x/status/1872346029460484458

Back in April when the Rockit rumors started
https://twitter.com/x/status/1782794193305244041

In 2019 -
https://twitter.com/x/status/1177532496818462720

2020
https://twitter.com/x/status/1283904863966056448

2021 🤷‍♂️
https://twitter.com/x/status/1380878760229109762
Click to expand...
Agreed with this general sentiment. There's a concept in behavioral economics called "loss aversion", built on a simple premise that people tend to prefer avoiding losses rather than acquiring equivalent gains. The fear of losing something is psychologically more impactful than the prospect of gaining something, and can lead individuals to feel a strong sense of regret or wanting for something intensely when they realize it is going away or being removed.

It's a weird quirk of humanity; we overvalue things that we will no longer have access to. Several great examples dropped here (Mean Streak, Vortex, Kingda Ka, RRR, etc.) of objectively bad/lower-regarded roller coasters, that all saw a weird spike in popularity right at the tail-end of life. In these days of having even more curated social media feed (aka the Algorithm shall feed you want you want fed/create illusion of more sensational headline that may not actually exist), I fear it becomes an even more acute case of sensationalist pearl-clutching response when any roller coaster or attraction removal is announced. This, despite a pretty simple track record that amusement parks, more often than not, do have to remove attractions to make way for the new guard/better attractions.

I remember John Hildebrand, former President of Cedar Point, making a remark at Gatekeeper's Media Day when the park not only announced the removal of Disaster Transport, but Space Spiral too, despite not needing the immediate real estate for the new coaster addition (it was rather a calculus of time opportunity to tear down a 300 ft. spire while they had the room to let it fall). Reflecting on "why" the removal of these rides, he said something to the effect of: "When I was working at Cedar Point as a teenager, Gemini, Corkscrew, and Mine Ride were the most popular rides in the park. But over the decades, park-goer opinions and appetites have shifted to different experiences. We are grateful for the time we have these roller coasters and attractions, but it's important to recognize the removal of attractions not an end, but a beginning to a new ride experience for the next generation." I appreciate that sentiment, creating room for new memories for decades beyond. :)
 
I can imagine there is a bit of anyone who got to ride the now closed attraction now want to hype it up a bit too as they got the cred and you can’t.

A bit like how Olympia Looping was so hyped up when it was quite hard to get on the thing, now it’s at Winter Wonderland every year it’s “meh” to a lot of people.
 
To be fair, there are different kind of hypes.

There are rides that look great and are located in a country with not that many great coasters. Naturally, this ride will be hyped up by the local community as they know just a few rides that come even close to it. Once someone from overseas gets there, they are disappointed as the ride just couldn't live up to the hype. (I feel like German and UK thoosies are most guilty of this)

Then, there are rides that are just very hard to get to. Take DC Rivals or Olympia Looping (until 2018) as an example. Especially the latter one was overhyped by a lot of people because it was the largest travelling coaster, completely forgetting that it was still "just" a Schwarzkopf. But this is also a proof that any kind of record will work

And up once a closure is announced. I blame no one who wants to get in a few more rides before it's gone forever, that is totally fine and in my opinion natural.

The only thing I am "complaining" about is that those rides are suddenly beloved by a lot of people, usually the same that called it bad or boring, and maybe even wanted them to be torn down. Glad to see that I am not the only one who made this observation.

spicy said:
I can imagine there is a bit of anyone who got to ride the now closed attraction now want to hype it up a bit too as they got the cred and you can’t.
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As much as I despise this kind of people, I sometimes catch myself thinking the same when some rides are due for closure. In the end, every coaster lost, is one cred less to get for the other enthusiasts.
 
There's a lot of good points raised about it simply being human nature.

I think another thing to add is that there are very few actively "bad" rides around. Yes, there's rides people don't enjoy, avoid, etc, but most have at least one redeeming quality.

But naturally, when there's a ride you don't like, you put less effort into riding it. But then when it closes, because it wasn't actively a bad ride, there will naturally be a level of sadness because something enjoyable is being taking away. Of the 400+ coasters I've ridden, there's probably about 10-20 major rides I would feel nothing but joy about seeing demolished. Everything else, even rides I don't like, I would be able to put on some rose-tinted specs and miss something about it.


And of course, this phenomenon doesn't just apply to major rides too. I remember when Rocky Express at Thorpe was closing, to make way for Hyperia. Many people were up in arms over it, despite the fact they never rode it / hadn't ridden it in years. It's last day was probably the only day in its history where it consistently had a queue for a sustained period of time.
 
There's also a certain amount of bias here.

The majority of people only ever post about rides they really love or really hate.
For example I don't think I've ever posted my feelings on Vortex at Carowinds or Silver Bullet at Knotts. I like both rides a lot but they aren't the best in class by any means and I've never felt the need to rave about them.

But if tomorrow both rides were announced to be closing then sure I'd voice my sadness that they were going.

On top of that the percentage of topics made about older rides outside a select record breaking few is very very low so you simply don't see much discussion about rides like Anaconda at KD or Green Lantern at GAdv until announcements like these (also both rides I didn't mind at all) I imagine I haven't posted anything about these rides at all in my decades here but a closure announcement is a good time as any to post.
 
JoshC. said:
I think another thing to add is that there are very few actively "bad" rides around. Yes, there's rides people don't enjoy, avoid, etc, but most have at least one redeeming quality.

But naturally, when there's a ride you don't like, you put less effort into riding it. But then when it closes, because it wasn't actively a bad ride, there will naturally be a level of sadness because something enjoyable is being taking away. Of the 400+ coasters I've ridden, there's probably about 10-20 major rides I would feel nothing but joy about seeing demolished. Everything else, even rides I don't like, I would be able to put on some rose-tinted specs and miss something about it.
Click to expand...

Great point.

Many enthusiasts seem to actively hate a large % of coasters.

But I'm like you, the number of coasters I actively dislike is quite small.

Take the recent closure announcement of Anaconda at KD. It's by no means a great coaster, but it's still a fun ride IMO, and yeah, I'm a little sad to see it go. Not heart-broken and sobbing about it or anything, just a little wistful in that sad nostalgic way.

For me, there's also a historical aspect to my coaster enthusiasm that goes beyond just riding the rides. So when a particular ride has some special or unique quality about it, even if it's generally kind of meh overall, it's even a touch sadder to see it coast off to that great big amusement park in the sky.

Anaconda, while not some brilliant, OMG!!!, "Top 25" headliner, was still the world's only arrow multi-looper built over a lake with an underwater tunnel. The world will never have another one of those ever again.

That's a far cry from the end of the world, but it's still a moment that will make me pause and say "awwww, bummer".

And then life goes on.
 
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