What's the worst station you've been in

[TJ27]

Another vote for Riddler's Revenge. I used to like it but then I actually had to wait in it. They should have a limit on how many people can be in there. It's way too crowded and I've never been line jumped so many times in my life. The music doesn't really bother me.

[RideofSteel]

My vote goes to B:TR at Great Adventure. That station is so hot and miserable....Mostly in the summer when they are only running one train (which is rare!)

[coastercrazy 9]

Kingda Ka is terrible because if you board for the second train, you have to wait for at least half an hour longer.

[XYZ]

Medusa (SFDK). The station is good, but the operations are horrible leading you to wait a long time for what seems to be short.

[Geauga Dog]

Put me in on the Riddler's Revenge bandwagon. I was there in 2001 and rode it at night just as California was experiencing rolling blackouts. It was dark in there and obscenely crowded. It was my one and only ride on it (which I regret as it is a fantastic stand-up and I would have liked to have ridden it again).

 

SFMM"s Viper is bad too. The queue area under the station is a mess and confusing when its full.

 

Dragster is bad when they let too many people on the platform. Can't even tell where the lines for each individual queue end.

 

SFOG's Batman station was steaming hot last June. Felt bad for the employees who had to work there and it was just as bad as we sat on the brake run waiting for the next train to dispatch.

[DOCTOR DOOM!!!]

In the "The Station Is Ok. but I don't like the 12-mile Trek to reach it category"

Flight Deck at Kings Island!!!

[MrSum1_55]

Let's see:

Riddler's Revenge, S:EFK (bent rows)

Viper- It has rails that divide the station into 3 parts that begin at the bottom of the stairs. This is pretty much the worst arrangement I have ever seen

The Beast/Trailblazer-The second worst system I have ever seen. Switchbacks in the station are bad enough, but splitting them in two just doesn't work.

Racer, Jackrabbit (KW)-Racer's station actually looks pretty good, but both of these rides suffer from a lack of air gates or rows, resulting in very slow dispatches. (About 6 minutes for Racer)

[Rocket Rodder]

Surprised not to see Xcelerator listed here. Any station that has rows for a whole car, and not for a row is dumb.

 

 

 

Yes! This so much! Especially when you're sharing a car with people you don't know!

 

Also, even though it may not seem like it should be a problem to WORK at, that station is murder on one's feet... the slight angle... for 12 hours a day... @_@

[Synshine]

 

Now I can hear people say "What does this have to do with PLATFORMS?" Well, look at it from my perspective: The handicrapped people such as myself tend to have a very different view of how a coaster's platform looks. For me, the ideal platforms are designed where there is no congestion, clutter, and places where the handicrapped can -easily- stand/roll to the side out of the way of people exiting the ride. In some cases, parks have added elevators to access the platform easily- and without the difficulty of long, drawn out or steep ramps.

 

(I do have a list of 'best platforms' myself... and both HersheyPark and Disney score -very high- on that list...)

 

I know at Hershey, from the early 90's to around when Roller Soaker was built, there seems to have been a major push to make both entrance and exit pathways handicap accessible as much as possible, because rides from that era sport extra wide queues and avoid steps all together. Given the topography and the way some rides are laid out, this makes for some CRAZY long ramps, and in most instances the near insanity is better noticed on the exit ramps. Lightning Racer, Roller Soaker, and especially Great Bear have almost tiresomely long exit ramps and switchbacks in order to stay ADA compliant.

 

Around the time Storm Runner was built, they appear to have dropped that philosophy all together on the coasters. Queues have been narrowed noticeably, and they started using stairs again to reach ride platforms, while resorting to using elevators for handicap use to stay compliant. I imagine space was a primary concern, noting both of their newer coasters are far more squeezed in than previous rides so their queues have less room to use.

[kunpc1]

I would also like to add a vote for Riddler's Revenge at SFMM. Why bother having a staff member at the bottom of the stairs if you're still going to let the station fill right up?

 

With Gold-Bot, we got "checked-in" at the bottom of the stairs and walked up into the station. It was PACKED full of people (single train operation) and we still waited 45 minutes.

 

Why not have that staff member at the top of the stairs only letting in a couple trains worth of people. It took a bit but we figured out that the lines were on an angle so we moved towards the back of the train for a shorter wait. I couldn't imagine how long it would have taken to get our rides in if we had waited for one of the front few rows...

[Screamin_Eagle]

I will have to agree with the rest of the people that said Iron wolf, I hated that fact of the front seat queue being right at the top of the stairs, the line would get messy waiting at that point. another bad station in my opinion is right here at my home park, and it's the Boss, it gets too congested in there and some people have no clue as to which seat they are in line for. and as far as that one is considered, the queue line makes it even worse by being so extremely long...

[gisco]

T-Express was a huge dissapointment for me. It wasn't the layout but the fact that I visited with in a year of opening and it was covered in graffiti.

[Sunfire]

I'm gonna have to say Riddler's, like a good chunk of you have said. It's particularly awful if they're only running one train. I got stuck in there during one train operation and waited over 45 minutes, and it was ONLY a station wait.

[154bmag]

Riddler

The 45 degree lines are so annoying.

[Lamoure]

I would say: Jaguar at Knott's!

It was only a smelly, long, wet, hot caveway For me, it was horrible!

[Meteornotes]

Riddler's is pretty terrible.

 

Comet at Hersheypark is also bad.

 

dt

[Rydel]

The absolute worst I've been in is Mind Eraser at Darien Lake. The main queue continues into the station, complete with switchbacks. However, it has "breakaways" where you can choose your seat, or continue in the switchback. Not that you'll find me in line for an SLC though.

 

Also at Darien Lake, the line for the front car of Ride of Steel splits into the line for the front row and the second row. Most people waiting for the front car always go for the first row, so the line for the second row is usually empty.

[Sir Clinksalot]

Surprised not to see Xcelerator listed here. Any station that has rows for a whole car, and not for a row is dumb.

 

Apparently they didn't learn their lesson because they did the same thing with Sierra Sidewinder.

 

Add in another Knott's ride ... Jaguar.

 

Another one that just opened this year, SkyRush. Thankfully they group you but that's out of necessity.

[andybarnes84]

^ As much as I love Skyrush, the station design is disastrous (as has been discussed to death on here so I'll leave it there).

[cfc]

I guess for me it would be Riddler's Revenge at SFMM. The little space they have is very poorly used, and it's hard to tell what line is for what row. Dominator's station at Kings Dominion isn't much better, and Volcano's is a mess, too.

Edited December 1, 2012 by cfc

[Oryp]

The stations at Dorney are pretty bad, with those stupid magnetic-release gates instead of air gates. None of the GP have any idea when to push the gates open. Another one that comes to mind is S:ROS at SFA. You enter at the back of the train, then they have one walkway going all the way to the front, but there's room one both sides of the railing, so lots of people jump under and nab the empty rows.

[coasterbill]

Kingda Ka is terrible because if you board for the second train, you have to wait for at least half an hour longer.

 

We went to Great Adventure about 10 times this year and I think they only use one boarding area now (the one closest to the operator panel near where the queue enters). I actually kind of like this system.

 

The station is poorly designed though because the second car goes out empty a lot of the time. You have to fight through the people waiting for the front to get to that line and most people don't realize it. Personally I always wait for the front because I think the ride is kind of mediocre in the rest of the train but amazing in the front.

[ArundelHigh Coasters]

Probably Two-Face at SFA. All the stations at SFA has some form of decoration, but Two-Face had nothing but a blue roof, although the umbrella's were nice on a hot day when the line got long. The station looks even worse today:

 

 

 

I took that photo recently at the ride's old exit.

 

 

Another boring one is Possessed at Dorney.

[Voxelmatic]

^I agree about Two Face. They need to tear it down, or at least use it again.

[6flagsbrad]

The answer to this question is every single coaster at California's Great America.

I absolutely hated every station at Great America when I went. And there's just something about not having roofs on stations that just really bothers me.