Any coaster/attraction that was a mistake from day one?

[DarienLaker]

Darien Lake had the Nightmare at Phantom Cave indoor coaster for only three season after the coaster was moved from Kentucky Kingdom to Darien Lake and then The Great Escape where it finally died off. After N@PC left Darien Lake for Great Escape, Darien Lake used the coaster's house as theater for the Batman Thrill Spectacular during Six Flags ownership and various other shows including Sea Lion Splash and Nik Wallenda: Beyond the Falls, but since 2012 the building stood empty.

 

P.S. Who knows what plans DL has for that old building in 2016?

[Yubstep101]

Any of the Larson Loop rides at Six Flags parks because they market them as "coasters" but they're actually flat rides.

[DoinItForTheFame]

I'd consider Pilgrims Plunge a mistake. Obviously the park felt the same way.

[TheoB]

Possibly The Smiler could fit into this category, even if it is a great coaster.

The Smiler at Alton Towers. That ride costed more than it was worth.

I'm not sure why people keep bringing up The Smiler. The accident was NOT the ride's fault and had nothing to do with the quality of the ride or the ride being a "mistake." The "mistake" was on the part of the operations. From what I understand, Smiler has been VERY popular up until that incident.

 

It is very popular with the GP the queues are always huge however I feel there aren't enough trains on it and it definitely needs duel loading/seperate unload area. Not like Oblivion overkill but just something to improve the capacity. The 2 hour queue for it every time I have been (2013+2014) on weekends is very annoying as its not that good and I heard theres this B&M world class Invert at the other side of the park with a walk on queue! The thing with smiler is that its queue is triple most of the other rides queues (double Ritas) so its not really worth riding as it isn't really that great. Until the accident while it wasn't that good the GP absolutely loved it despite the problems but after the newspapers I would expect a 30 minute queue tops for the whole of 2016 probably.

[ajc47]

Son Of Beast has to be the biggest mistake when you consider the margin of error beginning right from its conception. It's almost like everyone involved with the idea and design of the ride knew absolutely nothing about roller coasters. Not only was it a traditional wooden coaster that obviously would have greater operating costs, but to make almost no innovation as to how the trains would interact with the track is quite impressive when it comes to poor planning. But.... they didn't stop there. They also managed to create the most boring profile that a high-thrill coaster can possibly have, and that was in a time when firms were making leaps and bounds with designing things like airtime into their creations. Some other coasters were busts, but it's hard to compare any of them to the level of SOB.

 

I'd have to agree. Just doomed from the start. Never read one positive review of it and my own experience was no good.

[snapfordakids]

This thing..

 

Source: Gary Slade @ http://www.amusementtoday.com/

[Rill'o'beily]

This thing..

 

Source: Gary Slade @ http://www.amusementtoday.com/

 

 

why?

[Henry M]

Thirteen at Alton towers, a complete wast of money!

[palmerleeberry]

As I will be loath to admit it, it was the HYPERSONIC XLC at Kings Dominion. First mistake was the station design: they built two sets of lines and only used the left side. Second mistake was the low ridership ( up to eight riders per train). Third mistake was the fact that this ride kept breaking down all the time. After Cedar Fair bought the park and decided to scrap this coaster, it lead to the fourth mistake: the old station and storage shop are still on site, reminding everyone about an awesome coaster that once roam though here and will never blast again.

[A.J.]

If I'm not mistaken, didn't Swat / Catapult have a lot of downtime? Those of you from the UK, how's Slammer doing?

 

Swat was supposed to have an over two-minute spinning cycle when it opened, but recently Sky Swatters have only done three spins one way, three spins the other.