What's new

If you could change history in a certain park, what park would you choose and what would you change?

TLARides

Hyper Poster
I was thinking, what if you could go back in time and change history for only one certain park?

I'd probably go back and try to make Oblivion at ATR more exciting. Instead of just a dive (that's not even 90 degrees) and a quick turn into the brakes.

Or maybe try to prevent Mean Streak from being built. So that no one had to suffer.

What would you do?
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
I'd probably go back and try to make Oblivion at ATR more exciting. Instead of just a dive (that's not even 90 degrees) and a quick turn into the brakes.
I disagree. Oblivion is one of the best dive machines as it's all about that drop. As you enter X-Sector all you can see is the track disappearing vertically (if you can notice the difference between 87° and 90° then you've got some sort of savant level attention to detail). The trains just disappear through a hole, followed by the whoosh of the air and the screams of the riders. It's a really, really well designed first drop. It's so well designed, in fact, that that's all it needs. The focus is on the drop, and only the drop. You end up on the brake run faster than you could believe, and the whole thing just leaves you stunned. The bigger dive machines do more stuff, sure, but their drops are never as good. Oblivion has, by far, the best dive machine drop.

Or maybe try to prevent Mean Streak from being built. So that no one had to suffer.
Even though I hated Mean Streak back in 2010, I'm glad it exists so that it can be RMC'd. ;)
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Or maybe try to prevent Mean Streak from being trimmed.
Fixed. :p

I would change Six Flags' development strategy for Geauga Lake to not be as aggressive. After acquiring the former SeaWorld Ohio property, Six Flags bet big by installing 5 roller coasters, a wildlife park, and new water park during the initial opening of Six Flags Worlds of Adventure (Geauga Lake's rebranded name) - yet the new additions were lost to the bigger hype Cedar Point had generated around opening Millennium Force at the same time (with Wicked Twister and TTD to quickly follow in 2002 and 2003, respectively).


Because Six Flags expanded the park so quickly, they found themselves in a gap of attendance; yet this needed influx of patrons never materialized (again, they were going to Cedar Point), which led to the park being sold to Cedar Fair in 2004. Cedar Fair was hardly able to right the ship however, which forced the park closure in 2007. (The water park continued to operate until 2016, and rides/equipment was redistributed to other Cedar Fair parks) The biggest loss in all of this? The Big Dipper, which was torn down last year (video below). This was the second oldest John A Miller roller coaster left standing (Jack Rabbit at Kennywood is the oldest), and the oldest roller coaster in Ohio.


Six Flags would have been more wise to slowly build up the park - letting each roller coaster stand on it's own merit for drawing in crowds. Maybe then we would
 

TLARides

Hyper Poster
if you can notice the difference between 87° and 90° then you've got some sort of savant level attention to detail
I wouldn't say I'm big on attention to detail. I just always noticed that the dive wasn't 90 degrees.
 

TLARides

Hyper Poster
Fixed. :p

I would change Six Flags' development strategy for Geauga Lake to not be as aggressive. After acquiring the former SeaWorld Ohio property, Six Flags bet big by installing 5 roller coasters, a wildlife park, and new water park during the initial opening of Six Flags Worlds of Adventure (Geauga Lake's rebranded name) - yet the new additions were lost to the bigger hype Cedar Point had generated around opening Millennium Force at the same time (with Wicked Twister and TTD to quickly follow in 2002 and 2003, respectively).


Because Six Flags expanded the park so quickly, they found themselves in a gap of attendance; yet this needed influx of patrons never materialized (again, they were going to Cedar Point), which led to the park being sold to Cedar Fair in 2004. Cedar Fair was hardly able to right the ship however, which forced the park closure in 2007. (The water park continued to operate until 2016, and rides/equipment was redistributed to other Cedar Fair parks) The biggest loss in all of this? The Big Dipper, which was torn down last year (video below). This was the second oldest John A Miller roller coaster left standing (Jack Rabbit at Kennywood is the oldest), and the oldest roller coaster in Ohio.


Six Flags would have been more wise to slowly build up the park - letting each roller coaster stand on it's own merit for drawing in crowds. Maybe then we would
I probably would've tried to save the park entirely. Big Dipper seemed like a fun ride.

Now the oldest coaster in Ohio is Sea Dragon at the Columbus Zoo.
 

TLARides

Hyper Poster
I would prevent Six Dlags Great America from removing Iron Wolf. Sorry Goliath
I mean, you can still ride Iron Wolf, just under a new name (Apocalypse) and at a different park entirely.

I look at POVs for Goliath and look at it from above on Google Maps and I'm not really impressed (then again, I'm not impressed with a lot of Six Flags parks in general. Too many clones) with it. People always hype it up to be this big huge exciting ride. But it doesn't seem all that thrilling.
 

TLARides

Hyper Poster
Even though I hated Mean Streak back in 2010, I'm glad it exists so that it can be RMC'd. ;)
I can agree (in a way). When I first went to Cedar Point I thought it'd be big huge and exciting.

Well, it was big at least. Big and painful.

I'm excited to see what RMC does with it now that it's being converted. I've never ridden an RMC before. So when I go back, I have to make sure that it's the first ride I ride.
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Hard Rock Park might be the biggest one. It needed extensive marketing, and better cooperation with the other Myrtle Beach attractions. It had neither, and it belly-flopped spectacularly as a result. Who knows what it could have been today if managed better.

Perhaps I'd even be so bold as to change Disneyland's history. Walt Disney had planned to purchase land around his park for future expansion, but decided to wait and see whether the park was a success first. It was a roaring success, and hotel owners quickly purchased land around it, driving prices too high for Disney to acquire it. As a result, Disneyland California has no room to expand. Then again, the blunder in California made Disney set his eyes on Florida, and taught him valuable lessons that made Walt Disney World what it is today, so perhaps that bit of history shouldn't be tampered with too much.

I'd also prevent Walibi Belgium from building Vertigo, as that failure seems to have put the entire chain completely off the idea of full-circuit coasters ever since.
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Hard Rock Park might be the biggest one. It needed extensive marketing, and better cooperation with the other Myrtle Beach attractions. It had neither, and it belly-flopped spectacularly as a result. Who knows what it could have been today if managed better.
At least CoasterForce landed a billboard out of their marketing - a quote from CP6's review wound up as part of their adverts! :p
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
At least CoasterForce landed a billboard out of their marketing - a quote from CP6's review wound up as part of their adverts! :p

If CP6 had been quoted on billboards around the country, and on posters in every Hard Rock Café, the park might have been in operation today.
 

tomahawk

Strata Poster
This one is going to sound a bit weird, but hang with me on it.

X/X2

Let's be honest, the technology wasn't there and the price tag on this ballooned. Originally supposed to open in 2001 with Deja Vu (the entire 2001 season for the park was a trainwreck) but was delayed until 2002. Then, after 2 weeks it closed for another 6 months after an incident with one of the trains not being able to handle the forces. It caused Arrow to go bankrupt, right as they were embracing new technology and turning out quality rides.

Am I thankful it's around? **** yes, it's the coaster that turned me into a goon and is still one of best coaster I've ever ridden. We have to realize how terrible of an investment it was and how much it truly cost.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
This one is going to sound a bit weird, but hang with me on it.

X/X2

Let's be honest, the technology wasn't there and the price tag on this ballooned. Originally supposed to open in 2001 with Deja Vu (the entire 2001 season for the park was a trainwreck) but was delayed until 2002. Then, after 2 weeks it closed for another 6 months after an incident with one of the trains not being able to handle the forces. It caused Arrow to go bankrupt, right as they were embracing new technology and turning out quality rides.

Am I thankful it's around? :emoji_zipper_mouth: yes, it's the coaster that turned me into a goon and is still one of best coaster I've ever ridden. We have to realize how terrible of an investment it was and how much it truly cost.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
In the same turn, I would not go back on the money-pit that was TTD. It had growth spurts, but hardly experienced the same hardships as Kingda Ka. I know Cedar Point unofficially regrets the addition in terms of total capital that was spent - but it certainly remains one of the most famous roller coasters in the world.
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
Epcot. I would be sure they wouldn't close Horizons or Imagination. It would improve the park immensely. I would say the same about Disneyland as well. I would try to get them to build WestCOT or possibly the DisneySea park at Long Beach. While I'm happy with California Adventure and Tokyo getting DisneySea, I wish I could see the concepts they came up with in real life. This goes with a large amount of Disney concepts. Especially Beastly Kingdom at Animal Kingdom. What I would give to see that in real life!
 

mouse

Giga Poster
I wouldn't say I'm big on attention to detail. I just always noticed that the dive wasn't 90 degrees.
It has always felt fully vertical to me. I don't even notice a massive difference between Oblivion and Saw, despite the latter being 13 degrees steeper. I guess having a fully 90 degree drop would legitimise the 'words first vertical drop' marketing a bit more, but I certainly don't notice it when riding.

As for what I would change, I'm not sure which point of history is more significant - Tussauds group buying Thorpe and Alton or Merlin combining with Tussauds. Basically I would like Chessington, Alton and Thorpe to have different owners. I think the overall quality of UK parks would be better if there was more competition between the 3 major players, and small and new parks would have more of a chance to break through if there was less of a Merlin monopoly.
 

Thekingin64

Strata Poster
^The houses predate the park. Same goes for the couple. Not trying to defend them but they didn't exactly move in then complain about something they knew was there already.
 
Top