Coasters that Didn't Live Up to their Hype

As we all know, parks arrange a lot of media publicity to hype their new coasters. This can create high expectations of a coaster before it is opened to the GP. Which coasters did you find were a disappointment on your first ride and didn't live up to their hyped-up image?

Hype is created by yourself.

-----------------
If the shoe fits, find another one.

Stealth didn't live up to the hype. One it wasn't the world's first only flying coaster and didn't live over Medusa as publicized(the Bay Area had a great year getting Stealth and Medusa and review were flying to see which were better. There was a comparison of the two parks everyday in the press from the San Jose Mercury, Daily Review, San Fransisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune, Vacaville Press ETC. The usual winner was Six Flags Marine World which finally recieved the crown over PGA since it opened in 89', but for the coaster they kept raving about Stealth. Well, first of, can Paramount make a queline? If I gonna' wait 3.5 hours for this ride do more than just loop it over a block of concrete, could at least put some flowers, or another big block of concrete(which is what they're good at) to block the view. It's strange at PGA how the worst coasters have stunning ques and entrances(the tamed Grizzly and Demon) and the best coasters have the worst(Stealth, Top Gun, and the poorly maintained Invertigo).

After the world's slowest dispatch and the usual process: seat go down, seat go up, seat go down two inches then breakdown for 20 minutes, then comeback up, load passengers, big guy can't get in properly, finally down, up lift. The speed got really pathetic thru parts of the ride, and the roughness was awful especially on the corkscrews. Then we get to the first brake run where we lye in the trains, on our backs, face up under the blazing California sun for another 20 mintues while waiting for another trian to come out of the sta tion. They should f let us out there and walk the rest of the ride, sold some umbrellas, lemonade, or visors. That wait on my back at only the firsst brake run was pitiful, but then we slid down to the second braake run where there was a train in the station that wouldn't go down into flying position. At that point I was so furious that I said that I am not riding this thing again ever. Top Gun was good enough a flying coaster for me. From the turn into the first brake run to the station when we were let out was almost an hour. Should have put a bigscreen tv there so we had something to do. Stealth is probably breaking down as wee speak or mabye it just went mad andthe trains blew up so they had to evacuate the park. I'm sorry, but on its third running day this ride really ut down a let of people(or should I say wouldn't let the trains down.) Medusa is now on my top 10 and where is Stealth, #32 thanks to a wonderful trip to Japan and 16 coaster to push it further down my list where it belongs.

IMO, I would have to say Goliath and Incredible Hulk. After seeing and hearing sooo much about both of these rides, I thought I would be blown away. I thought both were just *slightly* above average.

-------------
So many coasters, so little vacation time....

Nitro, I heard the helix was extremely intense, it wasn't. Also, the ride was supposed to be one to reckon with SRoS, it wasn't

-----------------
Why ride rough coasters when you can ride smooth ones?
1.Medusa-SFGAdv 1.Batman:The Chiller 1.Mo

so far i havent been on anything that was really hyped about. but batwing was my first flyer and i didnt find it to be any more than a few turn-arounds. as much as i like the ride idea...the layout may have been an intense one(especially the loop)but wasnt very exciting to me. the flip over was nice though.

Nitro actually suprised me cause that was my first hyper, believe it or not. I thought "this coaster might not be that great cause it has no loops." But WOW! Nitro was great! Notice my name.

But a coaster that didn't live up to the hype was Air. I hear it's really slow and lacks thrill. But I have never been on it so I can't really judge.

Stealth did live up to it. There was almost no flying time and it was slow, I could have walked faster

-----------------
"The opposite of war isn't peace, its creation," Rent.

TALON!dear jesus that piece of crap never lived up to the hype. all it was was recycled junk hyped up.course, thats my opinion.

-----------------
If your really evil in this life, do you come back as toilet paper????
ladies and gentlemen, due to an increase in line jumping, people caught cutting in line will no longer be ejected from the park. u will be ejected from the ride

Millennium Force, OMG that was so bland! The drop was just as good as it was hyped, but the rest of the ride was a bunch of weak, boring turns. Another ride that was overhyped was Spiderman, it was fun, but not very amazing.

However thr rides i think were better than their hype were Hurler @ PKD, that was one of the best woodies ive ever been on.

HurricaneGeauga-101 Coasters and still going

AIR at alton towers has to be the winner here

I WOULD say MF, but the sheer size of it makes it a good ride. The drop was awesome. The layout was a tad boring, but since your going soo fast, and its just soo big, you can enjoy it.

Most overrated- Mantis

-----------------
Women was god's second mistake.

My choice is not one that didn't live up to the hype so much but rather one that I find highly overrated:

Hulk at IOA.

I first rode it a few months after IOA opened and at the time still wasn't a coaster diehard. I didn't think it was anything special.

Over the next couple of years I got more and more into the online coaster communities and I still can't understand why so many people think so highly of the ride. It's a good ride, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't even put it on my top ten list. It would probably land around the bottom of my top 20 (if I were anal enough to rank coasters I"ve ridden).

I think the original question refers more to hearing things about a ride before you ride and being disappointed. In that sense my pick has to be the vekoma flyers (Stealth, X-Flight, Batwing) - not even close to as good as buzz surrounding them. I suspect the B&M flyers will be about the same. It's a novel idea but it doesn't seem to work in practice. I still equate them with Stand-ups. Yes they're unique, yes you need to try it once, but after a bunch of initial hype the novelty wears off quick and less and less get built. According to RCDB there are only 17 stand-ups in the world and there hasn't been one built since 1999. Look for the flying coaster design to follow this trend.

-----------------
www.coasterimage.com

---

ravenguy98 said:
Hype is created by yourself.

---

So true. It seems there's far to many rides that are dubbed "over-hyped" because somebody set their expectations way to high in the first place. Just ride 'em and enjoy 'em.

I know, it's been brought up too many times before. I'll shut up now.

-----------------
Without the chaindog, you'd never get up the lifthill...

Also, I have a hard time saying something is "over hyped" or "over rated" just because I personally didn't like it as much as other people. Its just a matter of taste, and I feel like my opinion is no more valid than anybody else's, so I really don't think that me saying something is "over rated" really means anything. It doesn't.

-----------------
If the shoe fits, find another one.

I've got to agree with both Chaindog and Ravenguy here. You create the hype yourself so don't get all mad about coasters not living up to your expectations.

For some of you people, you should really rethink how you voice your opinions as some statements may make you come across as more of a jerk then you attended. (Of course 2Hostyl always measures his words carefully so that he can come across to sound like the jerk he intended to sound like. J/K Jeremy :) )

-----------------
Excalibur Crew for 2002!

Superman The Escape was the biggest dissapointment of my coaster riding history. But I gotta admit I did build up a huge about of hype for the ride myself. I remember when it was finished being built and it was'nt open yet, I would go to Magic and just look at the structure thinking its gonna be awesome. Six seconds of weightlessness and 100 miles per hour. I was hyped. The more I went to Magic and looked at the ride the more I finally wanted to ride it. When it finally opened I got to ride it during my middle school gradnight. I remember getting in line and seeing people get off saying "that was awesome" or "that was so scary". So I was even more hyped. Then I was some kids who backed out at the last minute because they were scared. So the anticipation was unbearable. When I finally got on I was sweating, I was so scared. When the ride was over I was so pissed it sucked. I've had more fun on Goldrusher. I did'nt feel weightless. I was mad as hell!!!! I've never been on it again nor do I plan to ride it again unless its a walk-on.

*** This post was edited by SFMM 4 Ever on 4/21/2002. ***

SFMM 4 Ever, maybe you should loosen up your lap bar. When you're completely vertical, there is intense airtime. I've never been on it, but I see the shows and people just rise up outta there seat, it looks crazy.

-----------------
Why ride rough coasters when you can ride smooth ones?
1.Medusa-SFGAdv 1.Batman:The Chiller 1.Mo

---

Lord Gonchar said:
"Hulk at IOA."

---

I dont think I have anything else to add :)

Now, before RGW asks (and I know he will ;)), I will here note that I do NOT share the same "Didnt live up to the hype" feeling for Raptor. I had heard nothing of the ride before I rode it and when I saw it, I expected it to be "like Batman". And that it was, not as good as Batman, but it was similar is some respects.

Now if we were to talk overrated, I think it would rank right up there with the 2000 Washington Redskins....
jeremy
-------------
Besides, if we were really shutting down people we disagreed with, would Jeremy (2Hostyl) still be around? :) I think not. - Jeff 1/24/02

I'd say MF. The first drop is crazy. It was better than I expected but the rest of the ride lacked creativity IMO. Granted the 'space problem' while it was being designed, I feel more could have been done. After the first drop, the ride is too predictable and not intense at all. The overbanked turns are boring to me and the tunnels are too short.