Seriously bad theme park days

[XYZ]

I had a bad day in SFDK in October 2011. I pretty much waited in line most of the day and for six+ hours I only rode Cobra, Sky Screamer, Medusa, & Kong. Later that day, I watched the shows and afterwards I went to Roar Plaza to find that Roar & Pandemonium both had very long lines. After seeing that, I left the park (it was nighttime anyways).

[larrygator]

There was also Haunt at Dorney last year. My group waited a long time for the few attractions we got on in the beginning but towards the end of the night crowds lightened & everything was a walk on the last hour of the park so it ended up being a good night in the end.

 

Then it wasn't a seriously bad day, WAS IT?

[gisco]

I can't recall ever having a really bad day. Sure things didn't open or they broke down but I just changed my plans.

[Blind Idiot God]

Probably a ridiculously crowded day at Canobie last year that was made worse by a ton of incredibly rude, disrespectful teenagers, several of whom tried to start fights with me simply because I looked in their direction. Oh, and it was also hot as balls. No, seriously, I was just about drowning in my own sweat. The icing on the cake came when I blocked some scrawny little wigger (who had an extremely prominent lisp, which made his profanity-laden threats and homophobic insults even more hilarious) and his degenerate buddies from linejumping a group of mentally retarded kids who were out with their caregivers on an outing; if there's one thing I hate more than linejumpers, it's linejumpers who try to take advantage of people who they know won't do anything. Y'know what I got in return? Around five or six of the whitest kids I've ever seen (and by that, I mean the most stereotypical wiggers ever), including the original offender, tried to jump me in the parking lot and backed off only when a particularly massive security guard decided to make a beeline for them. I could have taken them, but that was a headache I really didn't need.

 

Oh, and as a final "**** you, dude" from the hands of fortune, I had to take a long-ass detour thanks to a water main that had blown on the main road. Yeah, that sucked.

[MissSara]

When I'm in line for over an hour for a ride, it breaks down but I still wait over 30 minutes for it to come back up because I'm next or I'm super close and then end up giving up and leaving the line only to have it start back up less than 5 minutes after I leave is a bad day. That's not seriously bad, but it ruins my day!!!

 

My sisters worst day would be when it was 90+ degrees out and having a bird poop on her head while at Darien Lake. Thats a pretty bad day!

[dominoes]

Went to Thorpe Park. Because I went to a private school, we thought it would not be crowded. But we turned up, and about 100 coaches filled with school kids turned up.

[FloridaFlyer]

My worst experience so far was during a sidetrip to Dollywood in July 2010. The night before we stayed in Gatlinburg, and having always wanted to try it, signed up for the final Gatlinburg zipline tour of the day. We took the training, boarded the minivan, rode up the mountain and got hooked on to the first line. At that very moment, a woman in line behind us said "I think I heard thunder" and the guides shook their heads, unhooked us, drove us back down the hill and refunded our money.

 

The next day, during our fun visit to Dollywood, we saw the zipline there and signed up for the 2pm run, knowing we had to leave the park by 4 to make our 7pm flight out of Knoxville. We paid our fees, took the training, suited up and were hooked onto the test line. At that precise moment a supervisor came up, said all employees needed to take a 30 minute break, disconnected us and told us to return at 3pm. We explained we had a flight, she said nothing could be done and refunded our money.

 

At 4pm we drove to Knoxville airport, wishing we had gotten on one of the ziplines. After returning the rental car and going through extremely tight security, we got to the gate only to find out our flight was delayed by 3 hours. We had no recourse but to eat in the airport and wait. Eventually, we were informed our plane wasn't coming at all, but they could put us on a flight to Chicago where we might find a Florida bound flight.

 

With all three of us having to work the next day we opted for Chicago, where we found no flights until 7am, and had to chip in for a not so nice motel room near O'Hare, where I got to sleep on the floor! [The airline said the initial delay was a weather related act of God and therefore they had no obligation to provide a place to sleep.]

 

Ah well, that was the worst... and in the big scheme of things it was more frustrating than anything else. But I've had hundreds of great amusement park days that far outweigh that weird comedy of errors I affectionately call the Earthbound Tennessee Fiasco.

[caffeine_demon]

LOL to getting two cars towed!!!! Seriously, come on, if you don't know the rules, park them in a garage!!!! And if you're in NYC why the fudge would you go to Dunkin Donuts for a bagel!?!?!?!?

 

We arrived late, and didn't really think to look for anything that meant "no parking!"

 

and as for DD - it was just where everyone else headed when we were greeted by a closed coney island!

 

 

On a similar point - see if you can guess what spited us by being down for maintenance at SFGAd the next day??

 

(clue - it wasn't kingda ka)

 

(although it was still a pretty good day...)

[caffeine_demon]

On a similar point - see if you can guess what spited us by being down for maintenance at SFGAd the next day??

 

 

No guesses yet - so I'll tell you it was El Toro - hence the 15 or so disappointed people around new jersey a couple of weeks ago!

 

We tried to get back later in the week but were spited by a dodgy satnav and traffic!!

 

still - got some good reasons to head back!

[LinaSkye]

Hmmm...worst visit had to be Great Adventure last year. I didn't know discounts advertised on TV were online only, so even though I had a season pass, I still ended up paying full price for my nephew. We rode one ride (thank god for flashpass for green lantern), and then the power went out. Couldn't get food, drinks, anything, and it was hot as hell outside. The power came back on fully about three hours later, and while it got less crowded because of the power outage, it was still packed. We did everything we could do in terms of rides, and then we went back on Green Lantern. I hyperextended my knee and had to be carted off on an emergency vehicle to the shady little med station, and then I had to leave the park. Then it poured down raining the whole way home to the point where I couldn't see, got lost, and ended up driving around on back roads with my nephew, who had eaten too much and was feeling sick. Fantastic.

[Movieguy]

While it was still a good day, I was kinda miffed at the last time I was at Hersheypark, mainly because of how they were running Storm Runner. It took forever to actually get on the ride, because of this silly rule that makes them wait until one train has made the complete circuit before sending out the next one...kinda defeats the whole purpose of having extra trains...then on my second wait, the ride broke down...I thought "f*** this, I'm going to lightning racer" and then left the line. I shudder to think of how crowded and slow this park is going to get these days, now that Skyrush is open.

 

Another rough time was when we went to WDW in 99, and my Mom got food poisoning. She was able to enjoy the final day with us at Epcot, but still, that really sucked.

[Angry_Gumball]

Not that I really had any bad days, I did have what I'd call a 'we could have planned better on our behalf' experience. This was back in 2000 at SFDK. We decided that we would go on a Saturday during October/Fright Fest. Only kicker was that we didn't get out there until way later in the afternoon. Lines were huge and I think the only coasters we got on were maybe a couple on Medusa, 1 Kong, 1 Boomerang, and 1 Roar. The rest of the time (which improved the day and added more meat to the visit) was checking out the animals in the back (where it was much quieter and relaxing). I think we did however end the night riding Monsoon Falls. Yup, we were crazy for wanting to ride a water ride at night but it was fun! Was still a fun visit but our planning was last minute and we weren't season pass holders that season. Following season we all had passes.

 

In 2001, we decided to chance the wet weather after calling up to the park to see if they were even running any rides which they were. We had season passes so even if the day was cut short it wouldn't be a loss. This visit is more of a 'cut short' visit due to the weather and attendance. When we got there, we had off and on showers and light sprinkles. SFDK was making their best efforts to operate the rides even when the rain was coming down. Of course it was only single train operation but that's better than none. So we headed to Kong and got a ride on that, over to Medusa where it cut out twice while in the station (by then it was pouring buckets). When the rain let up we were next in line and got our ride. After we headed over to the Roar side of the park where my parents took shelter in the little arcade buildings next to Roar while we rode that the rest of the day. We got several rides on that and just as the clouds begin to clear for the day we hear the message "May we have your attention please: Six Flags is now closed...we hope you had a wonderful day!" Yup, barely into the afternoon and was time to close up shop. We were pretty soaked and freezing by then as it got suddenly cold. Wasn't a huge loss as we had gone to SFDK just a few days before with light crowds and excellent weather.

 

Lastly, the first time I remember actually going to Disneyland (I had gone when I was 2 but was too young to even remember and appreciate anything) back in 1997. Keep in mind none of us had cell phones during this time. My cousins and I had gotten seperated from the rest of the group when we were told they would be waiting by the exit for us at the Subs. Deciding to bail out of line and reunite to do something else, they weren't there. We searched for a bit and finally said 'forget it, let's ride!' While we were stressing out not being able to find them and it's already night time, we decided to make the best of our visit and go on the rides we really wanted to go on...2 trips on Space Mountain, onto Star Tours, Autopia, over to Splash Mountain and then Toon Town. Then we hear it's almost midnight, park closing time. Panicked we scramble to find everyone and decide to head back up to Main Street and hope we'd eventually see them pass by. Sure enough, we actually spotted them as we got towards the front of Main Street and they were not happy...though they too made the best of their visit. And we could only thank my dad for not being at the spot he said he was going to be at (or he misunderstood what was going on). Makes me glad cell phones exist these days...finding friends in parks is a ton easier.

[Geauga Dog]

It's always been a rule that if it's a beautiful Saturday in October you DO NOT go to a theme park for their Haunt. Last year I decided to hit Kings Island to get some final rides in plus renew my Gold Pass at the reduced rate so that I would be ready for next season. Despite the three to four hour drive to get down there I always try to arrive at the park before the gates open. I got my pass renewed, got my early rides on Beast and Diamondback (which would be the only rides I'd get on both that day) and then tried to ride as much as I could before the masses arrived.

 

I did get to ride most of what I wanted but by 3:00 PM the park was slammed with huge waits everywhere and it was hard to walk around without bumping into people. Decided to call it a day and drove back home.

[australianalex]

Today at Pleasure Beach Blackpool. Not at all the park or it's staff's fault, simply because of the horrendous weather (and the horrendous Blackpool public). We only had one day at Pleasure Beach, and it just so happened to be an extremely cold, rainy and windy one. This contributed to many rides being closed (PMBO, Wild Mouse and later the Avalanche after a test train almost didn't make it through the circuit), and the ones that were left open were less than enjoyable in the harsh conditions.

I felt like I was going to freeze to death and/or be blown off the structure on Revolution's station. This wasn't helped by the fact that a girl and her pig faced brother in the bay next to be decided to change to my row, making me miss my ride and try to stand another 5 minutes in the rain and wind.

In the end I only got a total of 4 rides in, once on Big Dipper, once on Nickelodeon Streak, once on Grand National and once on Revolution before me and my mum were soaked to the bone and had had enough. It's a shame, because the park really did look very cool and had a great classic feel to it. Hopefully we'll be able to visit in a couple of weeks on our way down from Glasgow to London if the weather's better.

[QueerRudie]

Back in 2008, I can say I had the worst single day in a theme park at SFA:

 

1.) All the rides were 'down' due to power issues, but all the food buildings, games, and pay-up attractions 'magically' were running JUST fine.

2.) Employees, trained oh so well, were not doing their jobs, and BSing with their friends; one of these fine employees threw a half-full drink on me, claiming they were aiming at a 'friend' that was nowhere to be found.

3.) Guest Relations was 'oh well, that's the way things work here' and TOTALLY unsympathetic towards any of the issues.

 

Total rides ridden: 0. Times I've been back to SFA since? 0.

[andybarnes84]

I would probably say my visit to SFA last week, the first and last time. I'm glad I've got a season pass but still frustrated that they charged 17 bucks for parking. I wouldn't say there was a specific terrible event that made it my worst day at a theme park but just a general reason, this park really really sucks. It's only redeeming feature is Superman which in all honesty is a good coaster.

 

Biggest collection of rough coasters at any Six Flags park? Unfathomable gangsta talk between staff inbetween 5 minute dispatches. Don't even get me started on Apocalypse, what a pointless relocation of a ride, if you want to lose all feeling in your ears then please go ahead, this ride did nothing for me. I think it should have been scrapped. Batwing made me nauseous, roar beat the crap out of me and mind eraser did exactly as it suggests.

 

I've had good days at various Six Flags parks but this one truly sticks out as the one to drop from the chain.