coasterbill Posted September 30, 2013 Posted September 30, 2013 ^ That one has been brought up a few times already but I don't think it had the kind of hype that Hypersonic and Gwazi did. I agree that Gwazi is probably the biggest coaster fail since SOB. The only other one I can really think of that's really comparable is Hypersonic XLC (which has been mentioned). There were coasters that needed a lot of tweaking and were broken down a lot like Top Thrill Dragster, I305, Kingda Ka, Maverick... but once they were tweaked they all became good if not great rides. No amount of tweaking was going to help Hypersonic and Gwazi so they were removed which makes them much bigger failures. Rides like I just mentioned aren't even failures, they're just rides that needed a lot of tweaking. The jury is still out on Ring Racer at this point since it's STILL a work in progress.
A.J. Posted September 30, 2013 Posted September 30, 2013 Now that I think about it, what about the Screaming Squirrel coasters? Would they be considered failures?
julioot Posted September 30, 2013 Posted September 30, 2013 ^Im sorry, i missed the post on vertigo. I would also say Vertigo at Walibi World. I'm not sure I'd put Vertigo in the same category as SoB, Gwazi, or Drachen Fire. I'm not sure most people that visit the park even knew the ride existed. There have been a lot of ride "fails", but not many MAJOR fails. I'd most certainly put Hypersonic on that list, though. And if you're gonna go back that far, I'd put the The Bat on it, too. I agree, the hype around this ride was no where as big. But the general public did know about this ride. They did a big media thing for this ride when it opened and when it was anounced. There was a lot of news coverage about the rides bad reputation and its demolishing. And offcourse, it was pretty hard to miss anyway being the eyesore that it was. It did stay in the park for 2 seasons.
2012jarrett Posted September 30, 2013 Posted September 30, 2013 I'm surprised nobody's mentioned The Smiler yet. I've unfortunately not ridden it but I hear it had ridiculous amounts of downtime, plus; a bolt popping out? Really? I feel like any engineer should make extensive calculations to make sure little things like that don't have a chance of happening. It's a record breaker that in no way had a record connected to its issues, so it would be unfortunate, but fix it or close it. I hear it's really painful too. So that's the one thing I think could be a bigger fail than SoB. Though I'll fid out when I ride Gwazi here in a few weeks!
DirkFunk Posted September 30, 2013 Posted September 30, 2013 I can't blame anyone for Gwazi's state but the park. The ride was in fine shape even 4 years after opening when I first got to ride it and it didn't start to get "un-rideable" until almost a decade after construction. I imagine they bought the GCI trains to reduce maintenance costs, not to necessarily "fix" the ride. When it turned out it didn't save them that much, Busch Gardens responded not with a full re-tracking or heavy rehab of the attraction, but by closing one of the tracks and building a handicap ramp over the station brakes for it. In retrospect, why be surprised that BGT couldn't properly operate a wood coaster? This is still the same park that still demands the seatbelts get checked before lowering lapbars. If they don't want to maintain it and they prefer to get rid of it, that's outside of my control. This isn't some historic ride we're losing forever. Hopefully after they bulldoze it they build something better than Antarctica in its place. That's all I ask.
robbalvey Posted September 30, 2013 Author Posted September 30, 2013 (edited) Now that I think about it, what about the Screaming Squirrel coasters? Would they be considered failures? How can they be a "fail"??? They are all still operating! And that design led to the El Loco which has been a success. I don't see that as being a fail for either the parks or S&S at all! Edited September 30, 2013 by robbalvey
robbalvey Posted September 30, 2013 Author Posted September 30, 2013 This isn't some historic ride we're losing forever. Hopefully after they bulldoze it they build something better than Antarctica in its place. That's all I ask. Couldn't agree more.
robbalvey Posted September 30, 2013 Author Posted September 30, 2013 I'm surprised nobody's mentioned The Smiler yet. *facepalm* I'm locking this thread. People obviously aren't "getting" it and these idiotic responses are just bringing the quality of our forums to a new low... --Robb "If you're gonna post dumb...don't post at all!" Alvey
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