Best & Worst Coaster Theming

[richards.adam]

After looking, I couldn't see a dedicated topic for this. Apologies if I missed one.

 

What would you regard as the best ride theming, and why not add in the worst as well!?

 

Best theming really speaks for itself and very much a personal preference. But worst theming shouldn't be considered as a kiddie coaster on a travelling fair as theming here is not present. But instead a ride that has been themed but completely missed the point of how theming works, or just done it so badly it detracts from the ride experience.

 

Personally, the best theming on any ride I've ridden is probably Mystery Tower at Phantasialand Germany. I even preferred it to all the Disney's Tower of Terror's all over the world. I know to expect that from Disney. However I was young at the time at Phantasialand, but the dressed up staff, speaking German (scary) with the detailed queue line and at the time having no idea what to expect, just blew me away.

 

Worst attempt at some sort of theming would probably lie with the re-vamp of Rita Queen of Speed at Alton Towers UK. A poor ride made worse by sitting in a supposed race, that has been haunted. What on earth? Maybe Alton Towers had no choice but it still makes no sense.

 

It would be good to hear other good/bad comparisons!

[Diamondbacker27]

Adventure Express has some pretty cheesy theming.

[coasterbill]

I think Revenge of the Mummy is probably the best theming I've seen on a coaster. I want to give Mystery Mine an honorable mention though since they don't have nearly the budget that Universal and Disney have.

 

Following your guidelines of "worst theming" I'd say Disaster Transport if the worst I've seen. While it was actually pretty good when compared to rides like the pirate coaster at Seaside heights, you specified theming that sucked because it made absolutely no sense and I'll never understand how Disaster Transport had anything to do with traveling to Alaska which apparently was the whole point of the ride.

[richards.adam]

Please feel free to use the worst theming "theme" of the topic, as you wish as long as it's justified.

 

The dog looked at me funny on Pirates of the Caribbean is not justified.

[coasterbill]

Just to clarify, the title says "coaster" but you mentioned drop rides in your post. We're only taking about coasters right?

[XYZ]

Best Coaster Theming: Basically most of Disney's coasters

 

Worst Coaster Theming: Full Throttle

[KingRCT3]

At least they tried...

 

[yay101]

Crystal Wings and Expedition Everest have fantastic theming! I also really like Verbolten's scenery and the Flight of Fear coasters, although I don't think they're the best.

 

The worst scenery is Pirate's Hideaway at Casino Pier, haha! It's just a building with some cheesy graphics, which is not very smart.

[gerstlaueringvar]

Best: Every coaster in SDC excluding the kiddie coaster.

Worst: 10 Inversion Coaster. Seems like they want to theme the ride but they ruined it. Also, Crystal Wing looks terrible on the new color scheme.

[DanM64]

I've never ridden Expedition Everest, so I'm going to say Revenge of the Mummy at USO. I really love Montu's theming, too. Everest would be my pick hands down once I finally ride it.

 

I might catch a lot of flack for this, but my choice for worst theming is X Flight at SFGAm. The "hangar" you fly through is the most cheesy thing I have ever seen on a coaster. I don't get it at all. Either build a real hangar and go all out, or just don't spend ANY money on theming. The flat hangar probably cost about $300 in supplies purchased at Loews. It looks embarassing.

[tribar]

Best- Expedition Everest, RnR Coaster, Big Thunder Mountian

 

Worse- Superman: UF they tried but they failed. Billboards arnt scenery

[Cyrbuzz]

Don't forget Dragon Challenge at Islands of Adventure. The dragon themed trains are some of the best I've seen. Sadly the building going into the station lost a lot of the themeing when it was redone for Potter.

 

As for worst I need a little more time to think about this.

[goatdan]

I pay a LOT of attention to theming. A really well themed ride can double the awesomeness factor for me, a poorly themed one can ruin it. But, I am hyper critical of theming - I dislike the actual ride portion of Expedition Everest in large part because you can see light through the tracks in some places. To me, good theming MUST tell a story that has a climax at the ride itself.

 

I'm also okay with theming if it makes sense for the ride, even if the ride is relatively unthemed. See honorable mentions

 

Best theming - I love the Flight of Fear rides, their tongue in cheek theme is really funny to me. I wish the theme was kept up better (a running issue that I had with all Paramount parks, when Paramount owned them), but especially originally, it was great.

 

Honorable mentions go to Big Thunder Mountain, Oblivion, Batman: The Ride (originally, far less so now, true of every one but the one that was in SFNO which had no theming), Hulk, and Adventure Express in it's original configuration.

 

Worst theming - I'm only considering rides where an attempt was made at theming (no 'billboard' rides, that's not theming to me as the ride isn't the "climax" of the experience), and this is an easy one for me:

 

The Dark Knight Coaster in it's original configuration. The lead up was great, and I thought it could easily be one of my favorite rides in the Six Flags chain due to it's theming even with it being a mouse. Everything went wrong when you got on the ride. Someone on here I think once referred to it as a "Batman themed acid trip" which was the perfect definition of the ride originally. You got on to escape the Joker, rode through stuff where the last thing you saw / heard was a van that 'exploded' or something without Batman being around, and then got off "safe" on the same place you started. If you were really running, why not cross over the train and exit?

 

It's been fixed somewhat by Batman saying something like, "Don't worry, you're safe now." at the end, but for all the work that was put into the preshow and lead up, the actual payoff was a disaster.

[coasterbill]

The Dark Knight Coaster in it's original configuration. The lead up was great, and I thought it could easily be one of my favorite rides in the Six Flags chain due to it's theming even with it being a mouse. Everything went wrong when you got on the ride. Someone on here I think once referred to it as a "Batman themed acid trip" which was the perfect definition of the ride originally. You got on to escape the Joker, rode through stuff where the last thing you saw / heard was a van that 'exploded' or something without Batman being around, and then got off "safe" on the same place you started. If you were really running, why not cross over the train and exit?]

 

I never really thought about it because it's Six Flags and I just expect their theming to suck, but you're right... this ride makes no sense. The truck at the end of the ride ruins the whole "happy ending" thing, Gotham was just as screwed up when you left as when the ride started. Kudos to you for noticing this... now it will bother me every time I ride it.

[goatdan]

I never really thought about it because it's Six Flags and I just expect their theming to suck, but you're right... this ride makes no sense. The truck at the end of the ride ruins the whole "happy ending" thing, Gotham was just as screwed up when you left as when the ride started. Kudos to you for noticing this... now it will bother me every time I ride it.

 

Ha! You're welcome!

 

Like I said, at least on the Great America one, after the truck exploding stuff, they at least added the flashing lights and Batman saying something about how everything's better, so I'll give whomever there credit for bringing that up and at least somewhat fixing it

 

But yeah, sadly, I was so excited for that ride because I'm a huge Batman fan and a huge theming fan and a huge coaster fan, and it was a complete disappointment. It's a decent family ride still, and the 'fix' at the end at least somewhat appeases me, but it's relatively clear that someone took the idea of scenes and forgot the idea of story.

[larrygator]

Best theming - I love the Flight of Fear rides, their tongue in cheek theme is really funny to me. I wish the theme was kept up better (a running issue that I had with all Paramount parks, when Paramount owned them), but especially originally, it was great.

 

I thought the execution on this was very good during the Paramount days. I was really taken a back the first time I went through the queue and was focused on the video throughout. Unfortunately it wore out after having to watch it so many times in a row.

[cfc]

^They don't even run the video at Kings Dominion anymore, and most of the indoor queue is taken up with a Haunt maze.

[3Mutts]

Best: I did like Atlantis Adventure's theming at Lotte World, the castle and the robotic dragon are pretty impressive. And even though not a coaster, the haunted house at Knoebels just sends out a old time vibe I like.

 

Worst: Disaster Transport at Cedar Point mainly due to nothing working (a bobsled in the dark going to Alaska with no clue how you got there? Oh Cedar Fair ).

[coreysaysyo]

Best Coaster Theme : Rockin' Roller Coaster (WDW : HS)

 

Worst Theme : I know its not a coaster but Giraffica (Holiday World Indiana) has to be the worst name I have ever seen. I get they are trying to theme it with the water park now, but its just a horrible name -_-

[soldier148]

I had no idea what was going on with Disaster Transport. I heard there used to be some kind of pre-show or something, but it was down there with the worst.

 

I also loved Flight of Fear back in the Paramount days, Kings Dominion in general back then was more "theme" than "park".

 

The best would be anything at DollyWood, SDC, and Verbolten at BGW. I would say Disney or Universal, but I guess we all expect that now.

[goatdan]

I thought the execution on this was very good during the Paramount days. I was really taken a back the first time I went through the queue and was focused on the video throughout. Unfortunately it wore out after having to watch it so many times in a row.

 

It doesn't help that when it opened, it could (and would) run four trains so the queue was silly fast, but then they dropped it to two, which is one of the silliest things to do. With separate load and unload platforms, there is SO much waiting on that thing just for it to cycle back to where it is supposed to be, and you see the video way too often now.

 

Does anyone remember when the ride would make fun of you pre-launch before taking off? My favorite line was, "Intelligent life on earth? Then why are you the ones strapped in the harnesses" followed instantly by the launch. It was an actual effect, not a ride op saying it, and from what I know it lasted almost no time at all, but I definitely remember it on my first visit.

 

A lot of Paramount rides were like that though. Adventure Express was mind-blowingly awesome when it opened, but when I went on it this year none of the effects were working except the drummers at the end. I don't get why Paramount bothered investing all the money in theming when they would turn off so much of it before opening year was even over.

[soldier148]

^What was Kings Island like during Paramount? I've never been there before.

 

I remember running into the Flight of Fear queue at KD one evening (it was Halloween actually), and had no idea they turned the whole thing into a maze which I ran through behind my younger brother anyway. We went through the whole crappy maze and I couldn't even ride. I think this was the first year CF took over.

[Golddisk]

People always complain about The Ride of Steel at Darien Lake being poorly themed and named because it was done haphazardly after Six Flags pulled out. Personally, I think the name could fit in possibly with paint change, especially with the way HFC is trying to theme the park after the area around it and New York State. There was a time when steel was a major industry in Buffalo so with some adjustments it could definitely fit in.

[Midgetman82]

^They don't even run the video at Kings Dominion anymore, and most of the indoor queue is taken up with a Haunt maze.

You mean it wasn't temporary? It's always there? I was pretty surprised when I saw it, and a little disappointed the giant wooden wall blocked the view of the spaceship.

 

It doesn't help that when it opened, it could (and would) run four trains so the queue was silly fast, but then they dropped it to two, which is one of the silliest things to do. With separate load and unload platforms, there is SO much waiting on that thing just for it to cycle back to where it is supposed to be, and you see the video way too often now.

 

Does anyone remember when the ride would make fun of you pre-launch before taking off? My favorite line was, "Intelligent life on earth? Then why are you the ones strapped in the harnesses" followed instantly by the launch. It was an actual effect, not a ride op saying it, and from what I know it lasted almost no time at all, but I definitely remember it on my first visit.

I'm sure they lowered the amount of trains so there's less maintenance and cost. It's a little annoying, but not too bothersome to someone who doesn't visit the KI or KD often. But all the stuff you mentioned, I've never even heard of! I love the coaster now, but all that just makes me wish that I had gotten to experience many of KI's rides in the Paramount days, because they all sound so awesome!

 

My vote for best theming would go towards many Disney coasters, but outside of this, a lot of what Paramount left behind wins my vote too; like Flight of Fear. I'm not really sure about worst theming on coasters off the top of my head. Maybe with Six Flags's way of giving coasters a specific theme but never truly following it through entirely for the rest of the ride, but that's something you'd expect from a chain. From observations, I can only think of YoloCoaster.

[goatdan]

I'm sure they lowered the amount of trains so there's less maintenance and cost. It's a little annoying, but not too bothersome to someone who doesn't visit the KI or KD often. But all the stuff you mentioned, I've never even heard of! I love the coaster now, but all that just makes me wish that I had gotten to experience many of KI's rides in the Paramount days, because they all sound so awesome!

 

I get that it's probably for maintenance, but it just seems odd. Keeping three trains around on a ride that can run four and now consistently has some of the longest lines in the park just seems like a better idea.

 

Anyway, if you never got to experience them during the Paramount years, they were similar to the Cedar Fair years except that every couple years you would get some ridiculously amazingly well done theming for a new ride. King's Island always seemed to get the best.

 

Adventure Express had all this crazy stuff like arrows that "flew" above your head and whatnot as you went by, but you flew past so quickly you could just barely notice it. The story is the theming company was told the ride would be going at about half the speed, so they made the theming so it would be seen on that sort of thing, and it just instead ended up being this ridiculous details you'd see throughout the ride. Top Gun had a ton of awesome stuff under the station, with different radars pinging away and whatnot, talking about how you were going to be 'flight tested' on this ride or whatever. Phantom whatever-it-was was a very neat dark ride.

 

The problem is Paramount built whatever theming there was and then just basically started it on day one and when it broke, it was done. I rode the Phantom Theater (??) the year it opened shortly after opening, and it was a real standout ride. I then rode it a couple years later, and 3/4ths of it wasn't working right.

 

Outer Limits: Flight of Fear had effects that worked for only a few weeks before they stopped and as far as I know were never fixed.

 

I always just found it weird that they cared that much about theming the rides, only to basically go, "Well, hey, now it doesn't matter, right?!" as soon as they opened them. I LOVE a well themed coaster (even stupid ones rank way higher than they would if they were unthemed for me), and Paramount was always a tease by opening stuff mind blowing and then letting it rot.

 

Six Flags, at the time owned by Time Warner, for the most part actually kept up with their theming. With few exceptions (Batman: The Ride at where ever, Southwest Territory at Great America) their theming wasn't on par with Paramount, but they at least kept what they did working for a long time.

 

Silver Dollar City is high on the list of parks I want to attend because their theming looks top notch, and their rides don't look bad either!