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The Most Shocking Ride Removals


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What ride removals were the most shocking to you when you heard the news that they were being removed,

 

One of the rides I found quite shocking was the Kongfrontation attraction in Universal Studios Florida only because it was a huge Icon of the park. It was one of the star attractions of the park. To my surprise there is still a parking lot themed after Kong.

 

Another ride that shocked me when I heard it was closing was The Big Bad Wolf. That was a classic Arrow attraction which thrill seekers still enjoyed. I knew it was going to get removed sometime or another, but I wasn't expecting it to be removed in 2009. The most shocking thing about it though was that the coaster was celebrating it's 25th birthday right before it was removed.

Edited by ernierocker
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The removal of Sea Ray, Sizzler, Nitro, and Patriot at Martin's Fantasy Island and also the removal of Nightmare at Phantom Cave at Darien Lake, just to make the building a show house like their Wegmans Grand Theater; I mean why couldn't Darien Lake just bulid a new show house in 1999 instead of removing Nightmare at Phantom and recycling the building for it?

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I'd say rides like Invertigo, Shockwave, GASM, BBW, Drachen Fire, etc. but the circumstances surrounding those removals weren't that mysterious/surprising, and made sense.

 

I would however nominate Stealth- only because at the time it wasn't really clear that the park had no future.

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I think there might be a similar thread, but anyway - Chiller @ GAdv and Eagle's Fortress were great losses. I'm hopeful Everland might come up with something even more amazing in 2012, shame about what GAdv put in Chiller's place.

 

I enjoyed Big Bad Wolf, but hopefully what replaces it will be even better.

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The whole Geauga Lake ordeal was shocking, despite the rumors at the time that only Dominator and Thunderhawk were going to be removed, only to have the entire park being taken away from us without warning.

 

With that in mind having the park's Villain just go for scrap was a shock. It was still a relatively young coaster (not even ten years old) and I'm sure Gravity Group could have come in and improved the ride at its new home since they helped build it while with CCI.

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I think there might be a similar thread, but anyway - Chiller @ GAdv and Eagle's Fortress were great losses. I'm hopeful Everland might come up with something even more amazing in 2012, shame about what GAdv put in Chiller's place.

 

I enjoyed Big Bad Wolf, but hopefully what replaces it will be even better.

 

I checked beforehand I couldn't find anything.

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Invertigo at CGA seems the most shocking removal. Right after it just opened from the accident, it got removed!

 

The Dania Beach Hurricane closing also came as a shock to me.

 

And after Chang got removed from SFKK, I thought the park was going to close in a year or two, but not at the time it closed.

 

Speaking of which, Chang's removal was a pretty shocking one.

Edited by StarTrekGeek
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Great American Scream Machine, it was running very well in 2010 and was one of the more reliable coasters in the park plus there was S&S and Vekoma if it ever needed new parts. It would have been nice to see Green Lantern added near the rapids like originally planned so they could have kept the coaster.

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The loss of BBW was a true shame and the whole community will lament its loss for a long time. BGW has some giant shoes to fill there but I doubt anything will ever properly replace it. I am to understand BGW recently stated that it wasn't a money issue to keep it running though. Drachen Fire was a ok ride but I still remember my head bouncing off the otsr's in the corkscrews.

 

Geauga Lake was a huge shock to the community and still is hard to believe that its gone, Villain being sold for scrap was a travesty as is the Dipper being allowed to rot. I feel the pain of everyone that loved astroworld like I loved GL, At least 6 flags had the common decency to tell people it was doomed.

 

In regards to Nightmare, when I rode it at darien years ago I thought it was a amazing ride aside from the horrific capacity. Does anyone know if the ride is in the boneyard at the Great Escape? It would be a awesome addition to a smaller park like conneaut that is less concerned about capacity if it hasn't been melted down.

 

X-Flight gets my vote as far as total shock, who expects a park to lose a headline coaster for no good reason?

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I think there might be a similar thread, but anyway - Chiller @ GAdv and Eagle's Fortress were great losses. I'm hopeful Everland might come up with something even more amazing in 2012, shame about what GAdv put in Chiller's place.

 

I enjoyed Big Bad Wolf, but hopefully what replaces it will be even better.

 

I checked beforehand I couldn't find anything.

 

I must have confused it with some of the specific park threads where there has been a lot of discussion about particular rides being closed - good thread.

 

I've always been impressed by the look of Moonsault Scramble, can't say I was shocked, but I was curious about it. The name intrigues me for some reason as well.

 

While searching RCDB I found there is a park called "Barry Island Pleasure Park", no wonder he's been so quiet, I'm sure we can get Elissa a season pass as a gift.

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Also agreed, the Invertigo removal decision was quite sudden, atleast to us, especially after getting Invertigo back up and running mid summer. I remember when it was just a rumor on Screamscape, only to have a couple people share the rumor on CGA's Facebook asking if it were true. That following day, the announcement was officially made. Today, things still remain a mystery as far as what will be taking over that spot, if anything. I'm not sure how soon the Boomerang Bay addition was announced after taking out the 3-year-old Stealth.

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For me it would be the People Mover at Disneyland.

 

It was a great ride, where you could just kick back for 15 minutes and have a amazing view of tomorrowland. It didn't need any alteration, it was great the way it was. I never got tired of riding on it, and it was a fun way to just hang out with whoever you were with that day and relax.

 

I hope that they can somehow bring it back again in the future.

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In regards to Nightmare, when I rode it at darien years ago I thought it was a amazing ride aside from the horrific capacity. Does anyone know if the ride is in the boneyard at the Great Escape? It would be a awesome addition to a smaller park like conneaut that is less concerned about capacity if it hasn't been melted down.

 

 

I'm just plain P.O.ed that Darien Lake got rid of it, when I went to Darien Lake in 1999 I wanted to ride Nightmare, but it was gone and i don't know why the Great Escape has it SBNO?

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The Big Bad Wolf is clearly high up on the list but I think that closure has been pretty well explained already. Still, I have a hard time believing it was an expiration date so to speak as it was a lack of rider numbers to support maintaining such as unique ride system. As for some really sad ride closures, I think that Disney takes the cake. Here's just a few....

 

The Original Journey Into Your Imagination!!! This was a truly wonderful and rather lengthy classic Epcot attraction. The ride that they replaced it with completely down scaled the whole experience and I am unsure as to what Disney was thinking when they spent so much money for something smaller and much less immersive. The sets and props on this attraction were amazing and truly mesmerized me the only time I went on it when I was around seven. Even the return of Figment and limited appearances of Dream Finder don't pay adequate tribute to this lost attraction.

 

As others have said, the rather violent destruction of Horizons was quite a disappointment. Sure, it displayed another future that never was but it was a rather uplifting attraction and could have just as easily defined Epcot had it been placed inside its own giant golf ball. Truly, another very missed attraction. What's almost as sad is the total lack of reference to it within the modern Epcot. Atleast there's the logo inside M:S's queue.

 

Finally, the Disney loss that hurts me the most is by far 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. They took the Disney Land Submarine Voyage ride system, expanded it, and gave it a much more in depth theme. Yet, they only let it live for a bit over twenty years before silently shutting it down with little explanation. Sure, it was difficult to get into, the submarines burned through fuel, and the props were beginning to be slightly out of date but these were all fixable. This is extremely evident in the newly revamped Submarine Voyage which proved that this ride system can be brought back up to modern standards. Yet, while Disney Land made the decision to return their classic, Disney World made the decision to let theirs rot for over ten years, scrap the submarines in a landfill, and act as if the lagoon was just a prop for Fantasy Land. Check out the below link for a look at the kind of condition Disney let it fall into after closure. After all, as far as I know, this is the ONLY E Ticket Disney ever shut down!!!!

 

As it may seem, the most magical places on Earth are also the most likely to destroy what they have in the name of "progress." Of course, you could also add other attractions to the "we wish it were never replaced list," notably Alien Encounter. In fact, the Sorcery In The Sky firework show also never seemed to receive a true replacement as Fantasmic is an entirely different show but try telling Disney that. I supposes they only need one show every night. Oh well, it's still great to reminisce on these blasts from the past.

 

Here is the awesome 20K Leagues ride site. In addition to these post operating pictures, be sure to check out all this site has to offer.

 

http://www.20kride.com/photos_after.html

 

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