Missed Opportunities

[Garet]

I was moving pictures over to my new computer and I came across these pictures from one of my trips to Japan.

I never rode this unique ride and honestly didn't pay it any attention at the time, and recently found out it's been demolished. Looking back I made lots of choices where I've missed out on a ride or park that is no longer an option. I'm wondering, with hindsight, what everyone's biggest missed opportunities/stupid mistakes have been.

 

Mine are:

 

1) My probably only trip to the Pennsylvania area, and I decided not to experience Knobels, instead opting for a second day at Cedar Point. We hadn't got everything done on the first day and so instead of driving back we got a motel and did a second day there. I didn't think too much on it at the time, and really enjoyed Cedar Point, but I blame Coasterbill's talk of the food and his pierogi map as well as many years of peoples TR's has made me really regret this.

2) The above pictured ride. It didn't look anything special but I remember they had a Zamperla Disk-O ride and I only had enough after riding the coaster for one more ride. I thought to myself 'I've never rode a Disk-O before,' and chose some boring generic ride over a historic unique ride.

3) Also on another Japan trip, I had time for one quick small park. It was either Tokyo Dome for the unique Tokyo Panic Spider-Man style ride or Aqua Stadium for their very unique Intamin Launcher. I chose the Intamin and that also got closed down, so I don't regret that one but it was still a missed opportunity for me.

Biggest Missed Opportunity: Way back, when I was younger and with my Uncle's up North in the U.K., I had the choice between Flamingo Land or Alton Towers. I chose Alton Towers and missed out on experiencing Top Gun, the Intamin Flight Trainer, and experiencing The Bullet. Considering most of Alton Tower's rides that I rode are still there and made many trips afterwards as a teenager, and the Flight Trainer rides are now extinct I wish I'd chose differently.

 

Honorable Mention: I was desperate to try out Eagle's Fortress after seeing the TPR videos but I delayed my trip to Korea by a year to get a teaching job because I figured I might as well get paid to fly here and travel here than just do a vacation and missed out on the ride due to that decision. As much as I hated seeing that ride SBNO for over 6 years of trips but the reason it's only an honorable mention is by delaying and taking that job I met my future wife, which lead to our son so seems a worthwhile trade-off.....Maybe....

 

Curious what others have missed out on.

[dankeykang]

I grew up in Aurora, OH, yet I can't seem to recall ever riding Mr. Hyde's Nasty Fall at Geauga Lake.  I have been on the one at Dorney, though, so I suppose that's redemption to a degree.

[bert425]

hmm. .. I honestly can't recall purposely skipping something that I later regretted not riding (not even that stand up coaster they removed from Kings Dominion).

 

tho I do feel sad I only got 1 ride on Steel Vengeance - and absolutely do need to get back to CP at some point in the future so I can ride it again 
(I had an injury, and tho I'm glad I forced myself to ride at least once, it was pretty excruciating, and can't really tell you anything about the ride itself).    But I *did* ride it.

 

[CaptainUnknown]

Immediately, I think of going to HersheyPark as a scared little kid and missing out on Storm Runner and Great Bear.

As many times as I've been to Wisconsin Dells, I never got on the S&S woodie in the area and coincidentally, haven't been back to the area since it went SBNO.

More recently, I skipped ZDTs on a recent trip to San Antonio due to assumed timing/crowds. I thought SeaWorld would be slammed like SFFT was the day before. SeaWorld was absolutely dead.

And of course, there are all the times I've visited a park the year before they added a new coaster and haven't been back to yet. CP's Gatekeeper and Copperhead Strike at Carowinds immediately come to mind.

[WolfBobs]

2 hours ago, dankeykang said:

I grew up in Aurora, OH, yet I can't seem to recall ever riding Mr. Hyde's Nasty Fall at Geauga Lake.  I have been on the one at Dorney, though, so I suppose that's redemption to a degree.

You only missed breaking down on the ride and being evacuated...

[Haymaker]

Not even one little letter.

Mine is not riding Skyrush. It was ungodly hot and crowded so we spent a lot of time in the waterpark and then had to hurry to get in what we got in at the end. 

[WolfBobs]

Dueling Dragons at Universal would be mine.  

I lived in Tampa from 2006-2009.  I held off going to the park so I could go when Wizarding World opened.  I ended up moving back to Ohio in 2009 before Wizarding World opened.  Never found the time to go and then BOOM ride was removed.  

[coasterbill]

I don't think that there's anything that I missed out on that I care all that much that I missed out on.

I never went to Clementon Park even though it's pretty close but I mean... eh. I've never been to Kennywood and I guess I sort of wish I went sooner as they f*ck it up more and more every year. That's basically it.

... oh! And one time I missed the opportunity to spend a day exploring Montreal because I was at La Ronde like a dipsh*t. That one hurts.

[Canobie Coaster]

For me, it was probably skipping Hypersonic XLC.  I had two days at Kings Dominion in 2006.  The first day was a busy Sunday and Hypersonic had a long line, so I figured I could ride it the next day.  It never opened the following day and the ride was gone by the time I returned to the park.

[SharkTums]

Great topic! I can't offhand think of anything, but I'm sure something will come to me.

[CedarFlags]

I missed out on getting a night ride on The Beast because it started raining.  I was driving up to Cedar Point the next day, so I didn't want to stay another full day at KI and do a 4 hour drive in the middle of the night just for one single ride.

(small regret) When I visited IOA for the one and only time, I almost walked back to Dragon Challenge for another ride before I left, but I decided to give my body a break.  I still rode it 3 or 4 times that day, but if I had known it would be gone forever, I definitely would have done one more on the red side.

[sdcfan88]

Not going to Kings Island before Vortex was removed. I know many said Vortex became painful in its final years but I always had a soft spot for the old Arrow coasters.

[DBru]

I was riding with friends back to work at Cedar Point from Canada's Wonderland/Niagara Falls in 2013. We passed right by Martin's Fantasy Island and I asked the driver if we could stop for a hot sec so I could ride Silver Comet. But everyone was exhausted from the trip so they turned me down.

In hindsight, I should've knocked a b*tch out and gotten my credit.

Along the same lines, I lived 2.5 hours from Waldameer for 3 summers and didn't take the day trip to ride Ravine Flyer II. Now I live in Los Angeles...when am I ever going to get Erie, Pennsylvania?

[VaCoasters]

Not visiting Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach.  My family used to take yearly trips to the Myrtle Beach area and my dad wouldn't take me to Hard Rock Park when it opened. I figured no big deal, I can try again next year.  Well, next year never came.

[anonymouscactus]

Luckily got to ride Lightning Rod exactly once. It was closed down almost the entire day but reopened 20 before close. We were half way between LR and Wild Eagle (which was closed all day due to bees) and had also just opened. This would be my one and only visit to Dollywood but I hadn't gotten the Wild Eagle credit yet. Only time left was to ride one or the other, the others in my party wanted to ride Wild Eagle. I almost ditched them to run to LR but opted not to.

The only ride on LR was such a blur I wish I had opted for a another ride.

Still regret not ditching them

[Haymaker]

2 hours ago, sdcfan88 said:

Not going to Kings Island before Vortex was removed. I know many said Vortex became painful in its final years but I always had a soft spot for the old Arrow coasters.

I rode it at Haunt just before they removed it, I didnt think it was that bad. 

[coasterbill]

I feel like I missed out by going to Kings Island before Vortex was removed.

[CoasterGuy06]

Only thing that really comes to mind is Viper/Greezed Lightnin'. Didn't ride "big" coasters when I visited SFOG in 96 and 99 and had a tentative Labor Day Weekend trip that would have included SFKK in 2009 but decided against it after getting back from football game so late that Saturday. Still need a shuttle loop credit.

[thrillseeker4552]

The only one that comes to mind is Flash/V2 at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. I visited the park for the first time in July 2018, and it was closed as it was being transformed and repainted into the Flash. I visited the park again in July 2019, and it was closed. The frustrating part is that according to that Queue Times website, it was operating the day before AND after. Just not the day I was there.

We were at CGA the day after, when it reopened. We were tempted to leave CGA and drive up to ride it (since I knew I wouldn't be back in NorCal for a while), but it was during rush hour and ultimately not worth it.

Harley Quinn was also closed during both visits in '18 and '19 but I literally didn't care at all.

On the flip side, a "lucky opportunity" for me was being able to ride Volcano. We had a 1.5 days at Kings Dominion in 2017, our first time at the park, and the weather was not looking too good. We had heard the ride was experiencing issues that season. We got incredibly lucky and snagged four rides on it that day, and the weather cleared up afterwards. When its removal was announced, I became SO thankful it opened that day.

[WolfBobs]

14 hours ago, DBru said:

I was riding with friends back to work at Cedar Point from Canada's Wonderland/Niagara Falls in 2013. We passed right by Martin's Fantasy Island and I asked the driver if we could stop for a hot sec so I could ride Silver Comet. But everyone was exhausted from the trip so they turned me down.

In hindsight, I should've knocked a b*tch out and gotten my credit.

Same experience in 2019 just with my brother and his now ex-wife.  She was the reason we didn't stop.  

I was planning to go in 2020, starting making trip plans (pre-covid in February) and kept checking the calendar for their opening date and then the announced closure.  siiiigh

 

[A.J.]

Missed out on Big Bad Wolf. Such is life.

[mary.pesik]

I missed out on Snow White's Scary Adventures back in early 09. Really wish I went on it.

[swfan1988]

Not riding Looping Thunder at Oaks Park. Another one of those "They'll never remove it!! It'll be there next year, to punish me! Oak's hasn't got a new coaster in like a thousand years!"...well...that winter Oak's called my bluff and got rid of it...although the replacement seems to be much better.

[joelwee]

14 hours ago, thrillseeker4552 said:

The only one that comes to mind is Flash/V2 at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. I visited the park for the first time in July 2018, and it was closed as it was being transformed and repainted into the Flash. I visited the park again in July 2019, and it was closed. The frustrating part is that according to that Queue Times website, it was operating the day before AND after. Just not the day I was there.

We were at CGA the day after, when it reopened. We were tempted to leave CGA and drive up to ride it (since I knew I wouldn't be back in NorCal for a while), but it was during rush hour and ultimately not worth it.

Harley Quinn was also closed during both visits in '18 and '19 but I literally didn't care at all.

+1 on The Flash. I also visited in July 2018 and it was closed. Harley Quinn was open when I visited and I had no desire to ride it.

[AmyUD06]

55 minutes ago, swfan1988 said:

Not riding Looping Thunder at Oaks Park. Another one of those "They'll never remove it!! It'll be there next year, to punish me! Oak's hasn't got a new coaster in like a thousand years!"...well...that winter Oak's called my bluff and got rid of it...although the replacement seems to be much better.

If it makes you feel better, the same model still operates at Keansburg Amusement Park in NJ, Jolly Roger at the Pier in Ocean City MD, and CJ Barrymore's Family Entertainment Center in Clinton, Michigan.