Worst Moves Ever Made by Theme Parks and their Owners

[Darren B]

-Saw at Thorpe Park. It should have been a Dive Machine along the lines of Krake.
-UK Merlin. None of the parks in the UK come close to the standards at Heide Park. Why do they feel that just because they hold the monopoly in the UK that they shouldn't strive to be as good as their European counterparts.
-The Smiler. Another average coaster when they could have installed something much better for the price they paid.
-Drayton Manor park. Why can't they invest a few quid on cleaning the place up? It's turning into a complete dump.
-Amanda Thompson for installing Wallace and Gromit. As Dan said, Goldmine was better and that's now 2 large investments in a row that have targeted the younger audience.

 

[Serena]

Hmm, I disagree about Saw. It's been a hit with the general public for years now; some people at my work went the other day and still all they would talk about was how much they liked Saw.

Whilst a DM would have been smoother and more reliable, beyond vertical and claiming the 'world's steepest drop' title (albeit for just 3 months) were great for marketing the ride as a unique, intimidating experience. This definitely helped to cement the 'adult' reputation the park was aiming for at the time.

The Smiler was a pretty bad decision though. Squeezing that much track into such a small space was ambitious from the get go. The down time it had in 2013 reflected so badly on the park; and the coaster was gathering attention not for being a record beater, but for falling apart whilst people were riding it.

But it's not just the fact that Merlin placed gimmicks above quality with The Smiler that makes it a bad decision; it's the way they went about themeing it.

The name is stupid, it doesn't sound cool to say, it doesn't sound like a roller coaster, it doesn't sound like an experience. The screens are too bright and busy for X-Sector. The staff uniform is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek tacky, but it just looks silly - as soon as you walk past the clown-like staff on the gate, the mystery of Dr. Kelman and the ride has been lost. The narrative of the theme is not told effectively - it's unclear whether it's supposed to be sinister or silly.

Plus, the amount of inversions makes the The Smiler un-re-rideable. It's a total omni-shambles of a roller coaster - considering the amount of money they spent.

 

[Tomatron]

Lightwater Valley installing that awful shopping village that nearly killed them off.

And another mention for Vertigo at Walibi Belgium.

 

[CoasterCrazy]

Love the idea of the topic by the way :--D

I suppose I'll join the rest in heavy criticism of Merlin/late Tussaud's. Here are my thoughts in order of most nonsensical.

Th13teen - I guess I'll have to restrain myself on this one. After the extremely marketable, yet in terms of ride experience (which should take a paramount status in my books) disappointing series of additions, notably Rita, Air and even oblivion, Alton was sorely in need of a solid, long, forceful ride experience. Admittedly, they nailed the concept, which had the potential to be incredible, but Th13teen was ultimately an apathy. Marketing the ride as a psychoaster deterred its target audience and the layout, whilst enjoyable, makes no use of terrain like its best predecessors and is frankly dull, with albeit some nice pops of airtime. Just why? This is honestly one of those instances where I genuinely believe Enthusiasts would have done it better, coupled with its continued and chronic downtime. Hell, it's down more than the Smiler is.

Rita- Was nothing more than a 'filler attraction'. Again, like Th13teen, the ride was simply not maximised to its potential. If that's what the PR team believe to be 'Alton's greatest ride ever', I dread to think what they believe to be the worst. It offered nothing compared to other launchers from the moment it opened. Plus, it hasn't aged well.

Not properly maintaining Colossus and friends - I'm sure we'll all agree on that one.

Marketing the Smiler as anything other than the coaster which inverts more times than any other in the world - Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the Smiler, with its force, length and surprising amount of airtime. Maybe they shouldn't have opted for a Gerst, but I stick to the fact they made the right decision to break a record and draw interest in the international market. It's the second best ride at Alton, in my opinion. Just why didn't they point out that it breaks a world record? 'The world's first 14 looping roller coaster' means very little to GP. The theming was a decent effort, but it just wasn't contiguous enough to work, as has been said above.

Nemesis Sub-Terra - Alton needs another flat ride/drop tower. Let's give them yet another gimmick!

 

[njn63]

Dark Knight at Six Flags parks. $7.5 million dollars on a wild mouse... I hope Warner Bros. paid for the majority of that.

 

[davidm]

Premier Parks 10 year business plan of the late 90s.

...expand like crazy, buy Six Flags (rename yourself Six Flags), buy every US park you can find, dump a boomer and SLC in every park you can find, expand into Europe, go into administration...

 

[silenthillXD]

The entirety of the Dark Forest at Alton Towers.

First RITA never fitted in well with UG Land, and is equally sticking out in Dark Forest. Add to that the layout is poor and not entirely exciting. Also add on the fact that Stealth effectively one upped it a year after it opened. Then look at the state it's in now with all the scaffolding beneath it's launch track. They really should have waited till corkscrew was gone and added in a terrain hugging launched coaster or an Intamin blitz like Maverick (Obviously on a smaller scale)

Then Thirteen, which is effectively a mini mine train with a rather dull drop section. I think everyone will agree with me a Mega Lite would have been perfect in place of it.

 

[KristofWB]

Walibi Belgium proudly presented their new ride for 2014: Walibi's Secret 3D! Ugly!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4mQHZa5qpc[/youtube]

 

[Darren B]

Hmm, I disagree about Saw. It's been a hit with the general public for years now; some people at my work went the other day and still all they would talk about was how much they liked Saw.

Whilst a DM would have been smoother and more reliable, beyond vertical and claiming the 'world's steepest drop' title (albeit for just 3 months) were great for marketing the ride as a unique, intimidating experience. This definitely helped to cement the 'adult' reputation the park was aiming for at the time

I expected you to jump in and defend Saw and I actually don't mind Saw, but in comparison to any DM it doesn't hold a torch. A lot of non-enthusiasts I talk to actually do compliment Saw and enjoy riding it (just as you mentioned). However, all they ever mention is the drop inside the station building. It actually makes the ride enjoyable. Take that away and you have a basic Eurofighter with a nasty rattle. That's why I stick to my argument that something similar to Krake would have been more popular in the long run. You'll see my point when you ride Krake next year, Serena It's uncomparable to Oblivion; it's so much better <3

 

[Intamin to Win]

Whoever put "YOLO" in that one ad for Full Throttle. Doesn't help that it's a gimmicky dumb ride