Complete Flops?

Charles Nungester said:
Lets just say VOYAGE WAS LIMITED BY WHY WHAT THE TRAINS COULD DO, NOT THE DESIGNERS and The Skys the limit now.

[Citation needed]

Jeff said:I think you're talking out of your rear, Chuck. Every park hasn't bought a Gravity Group ride because they either aren't looking for a wood ride or they're not looking for a ride that "agrissive." If it's a "maintainaince headache," they must get Aleve in by the truck load because it sure runs pretty well every time I get on it.And seriously dude, get Firefox, it has spell check. No caps lock warning though.

I'll try firefox again since I reformated my coputer. It wouldn't work at all before.If Im so wrong Jeff, Please explain to me why both CF and SF have jumped on GCIIs bandwagon. Its not because they don't want agressive rides (EL TORO) its the combination of cost and maintainence cost. Speaking to a former park head at SFGADV in 2001 He told me point blank they already had a maintainence nightmare with Rotting lumber.I honestly believe if you can build voyage, Ravine Flyer, Hades and remove the overhead or maintainence by 2/3rds your going to have em knocking your door down 9 million vs 18 million is quite a factor between Voyage and El Toro.

I can tell you exactly why CF bought two rides from GCI (which hardly constitutes a "bandwagon"), but I'm not going to post it here. It has nothing to do with rides and everything to do with people. That GCI has built four rides in two years and Gravity Group has done two hardly seems like a "bandwagon" of any kind, considering that TGG is a young company that frankly is still establishing its reputation.

And as someone else mentioned, we'd love for you to cite your wealth of information on maintenance costs.

Vertigo would most certainly be a flop. I had actually forgotten about it until PhantomTails brought it up. Also someone mentioned Orphan Rocker, definitely another complete flop. Both really look like they could have been awesome rides, but it just seems like the technology was not there yet.

^I totally agree about Vertigo, probably one of the biggest flops as of recent. I read through the whole forum prior to this and was thinking why hasnt anyone mentioned this yet, then I saw the date and realized that it was from 2005 and by the time I posted I had forgotten to mention Vertigo.

Batman and Robin:The Chiller at SFGAdv can probably be added to that list.

Beat me to it. What makes matters worse is the piece of crap replacement that they put there in its place. The Dark Knight??? C'mon. That has got to be the worst! When we got off the ride, my ride photo actually had me yawning. It spoke volumes.

I'll add one though. The recently removed Two Face: The Flip Side at Six Flags America was down more than it wasn't. I know I got on it, but I think it was only once.

Dark Knight isn't built with enthusiasts in mind. I bet if you ask families riding it they'll say they enjoy it quite a lot.

I don't know about that mamoosh.

The concensus from the exit of the ride was not good....enthusiasts and regular people as well.

People were saying things like "thats it", or "that ride sucked".

I think the problem with TDK is that the ride-in-a-box and preshow lead you to expect something greater than a mouse.

I personally thought it was a great little ride.

Then again, I expected a mouse in a box with a bit of theme strewn about. At worst, it beats a mouse in the open, I suppose.

I rode Dark Knight at Great Adventure last summer.

My impression? For what it was, it was a great ride. It's a brakeless Mack mouse, which is a good start, with a theming package on par with Exterminator.

Of course, one of the things we did was to know in advance that it was a Mack mouse, and so we waited until everybody else in the park waited in line to ride it; then we went there in the evening and waited for a far more reasonable length of time for the ride.

I think the problem with the Dark Knight is that it is built up to be what it isn't, it's not got sufficient capacity for the crowd, and people get off disappointed. Not because it was a bad ride, but because it did not live up to expectations.

It's kind of like when Tomb Raider: The Big Secret opened at Kings Island. People got off complaining that it was too short, when in fact I think the only ride in the park with a longer ride time was The Beast. The problem wasn't that the ride was too short, the problem was that it was BORING!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

People were saying things like "thats it", or "that ride sucked".

Yes, but just because it didn't live up to some people's expectations doesn't make it a flop.

Okay, how about thr biggest "Disaster" of all: Disaster Transport. Even Kinzel admits it was a mistake.

I've heard a rumor that Son of Beast is down again, possibly for the season. Can anyone confirm? I think that would qualify it as a flop.

DT was certainly a mistake, but I list it as a lemon due to the sheer number of kids 46" tall that ride it over and over all summer. It caters to that demographic quite well. :)

^DT certainly isn't a flop with my daughter.

Audioslaved said:

Back on subject, I think that the Mr Freezes would qualify as Lemons.

I've ridden a Mr. Freeze, but am not familiar with their history. Why a lemon?

I love Snowy's Cones - always have, always will. IIRC, there were some issues with one of them support-wise that maybe ended a season prematurely (StL verion I think?). Nonetheless, inverted tophats completely RULE! :)

Mr Freeze certainly got a new lease on life when they figured out the improved restraint system, and i didnt think it was a bad ride (rode StL's and Dallas). Besides weird placement (Six Flags for ya), and a queue that splits way too early (essentially changing 2-train operation into 1) it was ok, I would not put it in the total flop category.

Wasn't there also some sort of a delay in getting the Freezes operating in the first place. Upon further reflection (without actually looking anything up), I seem to recall a problem with the launch mechanisms. It was more than just Chiller that had those issues, right? Nonetheless, I'd call the Freeze coasters problematic at worst. A "flop" is a term I'd reserve for something more like Wild Wind or Windjammer, or maybe even CP's Vertigone, since it literallly flopped...

Amnesiac said:
I've heard a rumor that Son of Beast is down again, possibly for the season. Can anyone confirm? I think that would qualify it as a flop.

I can confirm. My buddy Jay, was there on Monday evening when it apparently went down. He was in the station when whatever it was happened. Not sure what happened. I wounder if it has anything to do with the supports again...
SON OF BEAST is a FLOP!