Never Again?!

[DoinItForTheFame]

What is a park you visited for the first time that you never have a desire to visit again??

Mine is a toss up between Indiana Beach and Magic Springs.

[KBrylczyk]

Disneyland Paris.  That entire "resort" (if you can call it that) should be swallowed by the bowels of hell.  Same goes for the entire city of Paris.

I hate Paris.  France is lovely.  Paris is awful.

[AmyUD06]

9 minutes ago, DoinItForTheFame said:

What is a park you visited for the first time that you never have a desire to visit again??

Mine is a toss up between Indiana Beach and Magic Springs.

I feel the same about IB, but I will likely go back for Triple Loop once operational.  In fact, all of these are on my list of one-and-done parks, contingent on them not getting anything new that interests me:

Six Flags America
Adventure Park USA (MD)
Rye Playland
Quassy
Fun Spot Kissimmee

[thrillseeker4552]

I don't think there is any park that I will refuse to visit again. Some parks are very far down my priority list to visit again until something major and significant comes along (such as Six Flags America), but that doesn't mean I would *refuse* a visit if presented the opportunity. Parks are constantly changing and evolving and always deserve another chance in my opinion.

[PKI Jizzman]

Nick U/Mall of America in Jersey. 

Valleyfair (I love you Renegade) doesn't have much to offer.

Holiday World is another one that could fit. There's the coasters, a meh log flume, and a teeny S&S tower. If they coasters aren't in great shape you're going to have a very quick visit. 

[bert425]

I have zero desire to ever go back to Dorney - no good reason at all, especially when Knoebels and HersheyPark are so close.

[YoshiFan]

Clementon Park

[Electerik]

One of the weird things about this hobby is how very difficult it is to get the same experience as someone else. If we were all super-into movies, for example, even if maybe I saw it in a better theater than you did, we still basically saw the same movie. Of course we might have different reactions to it, but we wouldn't have to figure out which day the other person saw it on, what year, where they started, where they ate, what row they sat in, which employees they encountered, how the projector was running that day, their weight, height, and age, and a million other variables. We could just say, "Oh, you like different movies than I do." (And then we could have a knife fight about it.)

But I've had vastly different enjoyment levels myself at the same park on different visits, and I'm sure most of you all have too. So how do you know the next one won't be better?

Of course, I'm not advocating repeated visits to a park you hate. But I've personally never been to a park that was so bad that it couldn't possibly improve.

[Satans Hockey]

La Ronde but I blame @coasterbill because his trip reports and all his talk about the place made me curious lol I thought there's no way it could really be thatttt bad and we already had six flags season passes so it wasn't costing us anything so we figured why not go see for ourselves.

I have no problems admitting when I'm wrong. Bill was 100% correct lol

[SharkTums]

Yeah, I can't think of a place I wouldn't really go back to. I mean, even some of the worst parks I've been to I would give a second chance for one reason or another.  

[larrygator]

Places I have been to that I have no desire to revisit unless they drastically change or acquire a unique installation

Terra Mitica

Disneyland Paris

Wild Waves

Mt. Olympus

Canobie Park

Seabreeze

Frontier City

Camden Park

Magic Springs

Great Escape

Morey Piers

There are plenty of small places others might include but that I'd revisit because they have charm. 

 

[coasterbill]

Basically any park could theoretically add something cool enough that it would get me to go there but barring something amazing being a built, a few come to mind.

The first park that comes to mind is probably not what you were expecting, it’s Holiday World.

The fact that people voluntarily drive like 15 hours every year to go to Holiwood Nights actually blows my mind. If I had ERT on those wood coasters for hours I seriously don’t even know what I’d do all night. I wouldn’t get a beer because they don’t sell that. I wouldn’t buy a Christmas ornament because why would a park named Holiday World in a town named Santa Claus with an entire Christmas “themed” (lol) section sell those (maybe that’s changed lol). I guess I’d ride the okay log flume and Thunderbird for hours. I don’t know...

The park is ugly, Voyage is fine, Legend sucks and Raven is actually one of the worst wood coasters that I’ve ridden (at least that’s how everything rode a few years ago).

I hate that place. I used to be convinced that people just talked it up to justify the fact that they drove to the middle of a cornfield to ride a bunch of bad wood coasters in an ugly park but they go back every year so I guess I’m the crazy one.

Also, before someone shows up and says that Raven is running way better now and that I really need to ride Voyage on the one night out of the entire year that it runs the way that you think it should be running when I ride it:

... no, I don’t care. I’m not driving 137 hours to the middle of nowhere to go to that place ever again. Also, if I’m in the area and finally get back to Kentucky Kingdom I’m still not going. I’ll stay at Kentucky Kingdom because I like that park or go to Kings Island or go cow tipping or whatever the hell they do near Holiday World that’s not Holiday World.

Aside from that’s, let’s talk about the big one... La Ronde.

Yes, La Ronde is the worst park I’ve ever been to but if they built basically anything noteworthy I’d probably go for two reasons:

1) It’s in Montreal. I love Montreal. La Ronde got us to Montreal but we’ve since been back many times. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve driven straight over the Jacques Cartier Bridge literally within 100 feet of that dump and not gone but gone into the city for awesome food, drinks, sightseeing and whatever else. What a great place. I’ll take any excuse to go there. It’s also a lot closer than Holiday World.

2) It’s Six Flags and I get 4 line skips. I’m sure the process of picking them up will be maddening and overly complicated because it’s La Ronde but realistically I should be able to get in and out of that place in like 2 hours, ride the hypothetical new ride that’s going to get me there, ride the only other good coaster and then probably ride that Dragon thing like twice with my other line skips because it’s actually so stupid it’s fun. Then I could get the hell out of there.

I hate that place but I pass it enough that I mean... whatever, fine.

PS: Viper is not going to be that hypothetical ride. It’s the worst ride in the world so that ride and that park deserve eachother.

Honorary mentions: Conneaut Lake but that won’t be a problem for long. I won’t quite say Lake Compounce because they’re only an hour from the house but if it’s even possible to put a park one hour from the house on this list, they’re trying.

[abovethesink]

6 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

Basically any park could theoretically add something cool enough that it would get me to go there but barring something amazing being a built, a few come to mind.

The first park that comes to mind is probably not what you were expecting, it’s Holiday World.

The fact that people voluntarily drive like 15 hours every year to go to Holiwood Nights actually blows my mind. If I had ERT on those wood coasters for hours I seriously don’t even know what I’d do all night. I wouldn’t get a beer because they don’t sell that. I wouldn’t buy a Christmas ornament because why would a park named Holiday World with a Christmas section sell those (maybe that’s changed lol). I guess I’d ride the okay log flume and Thunderbird for hours. I don’t know...

The park is ugly, Voyage is fine, Legend sucks and Raven is actually one of the worst wood coasters that I’ve ridden (at least that’s how everything rode a few years ago).

I hate that place. I used to be convinced that people just talked it up to justify the fact that they drove to the middle of a cornfield to ride a bunch of bad wood coasters in an ugly park but they go back every year so I guess I’m the crazy one.

Also, before someone shows up and says that Raven is running way better now and that I really need to ride Voyage on the one night out of the entire year that it runs the way that you think it should be running when I ride it:

... no, I don’t care. I’m not driving 137 hours to the middle of nowhere to go to that place ever again. Also, if I’m in the area and finally get back to Kentucky Kingdom I’m still not going. I’ll stay at Kentucky Kingdom because I like that park or go to Kings Island or go cow tipping or whatever the hell they do near Holiday World that’s not Holiday World.

Aside from that’s, let’s talk about the big one... La Ronde.

Yes, La Ronde is the worst park I’ve ever been to but if they built basically anything noteworthy I’d probably go for two reasons:

1) It’s in Montreal. I love Montreal. La Ronde got us to Montreal but we’ve since been back many times. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve driven straight over the Jacques Cartier Bridge literally within 100 feet of that dump and not gone but gone into the city for awesome food, drinks, sightseeing and whatever else. What a great place. I’ll take any excuse to go there. It’s also a lot closer than Holiday World.

2) It’s Six Flags and I get 4 line skips. I’m sure the process of picking them up will be maddening and overly complicated because it’s La Ronde but realistically I should be able to get in and out of that place in like 2 hours, ride the hypothetical new ride that’s going to get me there, ride the only other good coaster and then probably ride that Dragon thing like twice with my other line skips because it’s actually so stupid it’s fun. Then I could get the hell out of there.

I hate that place but I pass it enough that I mean... whatever, fine.

PS: Viper is not going to be that hypothetical ride. It’s the worst ride in the world so that ride and that park deserve eachother.

Honorary mentions: Conneaut Lake but that won’t be a problem for long. I won’t quite say Lake Compounce because they’re only an hour from the house but if it’s even possible to put a park one hour from the house on this list, they’re trying.

Haha this thread was made for you. 

I'm sorry you had that experience at Holiday World though. I rode Voyage for the first time last summer after all the extensive retracking it had and it was absolutely incredible. What an amazing ride. Easily top 5 for me (though I am barely over 150 overall for reference). I also enjoyed Raven, but share your hate for Legend. I just don't really get laterals. They aren't fun for me.

Anyway, as for the topic at hand, I don't have an answer. I would go back to any park I have been to. If I tried to pick the park that I have been to that I would be least likely to return to, I guess it would be Canobie Lake? Yankee Cannonball was pretty good, but the other two coasters were bad. While the park was adorable and I loved the atmosphere, there isn't enough there for me in particular to go back to given that it is just far enough out of the way to be a difficult day trip and equally difficult to pair with any other parks. But even then, I could swing by on the way too and from Maine again someday. And I would gladly go back if they added something new in the coaster department.

 

[KarlaKoaster]

I had a terrible visit to Parc Asterix once, but then my next visit was amazing. I'm not sure I would have the confidence to ever say 'never again' unless I felt the park was genuinely dangerous, but I've never had that experience. 

[coreyb]

Mt. Olympus. I went once and didn't die - why push my luck?

[hoppedup]

Darien Lake. I didn't think it could be as bad as described here on TPR. It was worse. I might change my mind if they ever add a giga coaster. 

[cfc]

30 minutes ago, coreyb said:

Mt. Olympus. I went once and didn't die - why push my luck?

Same--about the only thing that might bring me back to that place is Hades getting the RMC treatment. 

[wildcattb5]

It pains me to say this because it was my original home park growing up in Upstate NY, but I really don't have any desire to return to Darien Lake anytime soon. There was a time where I would've defended the park against anyone who would try to slander it, where I would've talked about all its quirky features and how despite all the challenges being thrown it at from constant financial and ownership changes, it was holding its own. And I still feel it has the best Intamin hyper in the US and one of the most cared-for (aka least rough) Arrows in Viper. 

But as time has passed and as I've become more traveled with visiting parks elsewhere, I really cannot defend the park anymore. Even after the recent re-acquisition it really is kind of a joke how they try to pass it off under the "Six Flags" banner, like I'd have more respect if it was treated like Great Escape or Frontier City and at least admit it's not up to the "standards" of other SF parks. Now you may be thinking: "wait, Six Flags has standards?" Well at most of their parks you can except multi-train ops, incremental improvements each year, basically a good faith effort to retain pass-holders and grow overall attendance. Darien Lake has always had this attitude of "we're the only large park around, where else are you gonna go" and as such they have deemed it "acceptable" to make you wait longer with one-train ops, remove more attractions than they install, and even by Six Flags standards the park has always felt worn and faded. You would think additions like Tantrum and the SkyScreamer would be net positives, but ultimately I look at the park today versus going there on school trips 15 years ago and honestly I feel the park was a much more well-rounded experience back then even with the impending sell-off. The late 90s/early 2000s additions were still recent enough, you still had classics like the Arrow log flume, Grizzly Rapids, the UFO, and now the Ferris Wheel. So aside from sentimentality, there's really no reason to go out of my way to return. Even with family/friends still in Buffalo I'm more excited to see what Gene Staples will do with Fantasy Island/Niagara Park and would be eager to check that out before returning to Darien Lake. Of course a new breakthrough attraction would make me return but I don't see that happening soon.

On a side note, if I ever went to Marineland that would probably be my answer instead based off of everything I've read and seen, but I can't bring myself to pay that ridiculous admission for a park that offers so little and also has a history of mistreating animals.

[BotanicalStig]

I would be willing to go back, but the closest for me is BGW. Too much walking and not enough to do. Went.. 5 years ago? It isn't very far from us but we've had no desire to go back. 

[hoppedup]

10 minutes ago, BotanicalStig said:

I would be willing to go back, but the closest for me is BGW. Too much walking and not enough to do. Went.. 5 years ago? It isn't very far from us but we've had no desire to go back. 

Wow. That is definitely not a park I thought would pop up in this thread. Crazy talk. 

[rcjp]

I wouldn't exactly refuse to go there again, but I recently had a pretty bad good experience at Walygator (France) and no interest in going back anytime soon.

The park had some nice rides (such as "MCBRless" clone of raptor at CP which is probably my favourite coaster in the country) but the operations were literally the worst I have ever seen. The lines were only 2-3 trains wait but 30 mins long.

While running one train on the big coasters, the operators would wait for the train to be back to the station AND empty of riders to let guests on the station and they sure took their sweet time to distribute them across the different rows. It would be 2-3 mins since the trains stopped and restraints opened until the air-gates were open. Dispatches would be between 4 and 6 mins. I really thought that they were literally doing on purpose to slow the queues down and make the fast pass more appealing but then I stood in line (a big one) to get food for quite some minutes and it didn't move at all. Seriously, it was quite surreal. Has anyone had such an experience there before? Is this normal?

[SharkTums]

^You just described the operations at half the parks in this country the last year!  I'm still trying to give parks a pass this summer, but I will not continue to ignore all of the problems next year. They have to find a way to improve staffing, operations, maintenance, supply chain, EVERYTHING!

[joelwee]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Elitch Gardens. Their whole mindset seems to be, "We're closing and getting bulldozed in a few years, so.... why bother?"

[coasterbill]

The reason that nobody mentioned Elitch Gardens is because they all have to go back to ride the other 3-4 coasters that were closed when they went there the first time.

[Haymaker]

2 hours ago, wildcattb5 said:

It pains me to say this because it was my original home park growing up in Upstate NY, but I really don't have any desire to return to Darien Lake anytime soon. There was a time where I would've defended the park against anyone who would try to slander it, where I would've talked about all its quirky features and how despite all the challenges being thrown it at from constant financial and ownership changes, it was holding its own. And I still feel it has the best Intamin hyper in the US and one of the most cared-for (aka least rough) Arrows in Viper. 

But as time has passed and as I've become more traveled with visiting parks elsewhere, I really cannot defend the park anymore. Even after the recent re-acquisition it really is kind of a joke how they try to pass it off under the "Six Flags" banner, like I'd have more respect if it was treated like Great Escape or Frontier City and at least admit it's not up to the "standards" of other SF parks. Now you may be thinking: "wait, Six Flags has standards?" Well at most of their parks you can except multi-train ops, incremental improvements each year, basically a good faith effort to retain pass-holders and grow overall attendance. Darien Lake has always had this attitude of "we're the only large park around, where else are you gonna go" and as such they have deemed it "acceptable" to make you wait longer with one-train ops, remove more attractions than they install, and even by Six Flags standards the park has always felt worn and faded. You would think additions like Tantrum and the SkyScreamer would be net positives, but ultimately I look at the park today versus going there on school trips 15 years ago and honestly I feel the park was a much more well-rounded experience back then even with the impending sell-off. The late 90s/early 2000s additions were still recent enough, you still had classics like the Arrow log flume, Grizzly Rapids, the UFO, and now the Ferris Wheel. So aside from sentimentality, there's really no reason to go out of my way to return. Even with family/friends still in Buffalo I'm more excited to see what Gene Staples will do with Fantasy Island/Niagara Park and would be eager to check that out before returning to Darien Lake. Of course a new breakthrough attraction would make me return but I don't see that happening soon.

On a side note, if I ever went to Marineland that would probably be my answer instead based off of everything I've read and seen, but I can't bring myself to pay that ridiculous admission for a park that offers so little and also has a history of mistreating animals.

I would say cut SF some slack for now... they took over mid 2018, added SkyScreamer for 2019 and were due to re-brand the waterpark to Hurricane Harbor and add a new slide until Covid hit. Had that not happened, who knows where theyd be right now. As it is, the park has steadily improved in appearance during this season, and some long closed things like Pirate and the covered bridge re-opened. Sleigh Ride was completely refurbished. Im told the Giant Wheel is getting pulled because it has a crack in the axle saddle and isnt financially feasible for repair. Grizzly Run, like all similar raft rides, is a high maintenance & labor expensive ride. Thunder Rapids was high maintenance and just stopped being repairable. Is it a great park? No, but it has its perks and we'll see if SF takes better care of it this round.