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Amusement Parks that leave you feeling dissappointed

Oddly enough, only parks in Indiana have left me disappointed. Both Indiana Beach and Holiday World were a bit disappointing. Indiana Beach just seemed like a crap hole. I wasn't expecting much from it, but it looked old, and it was one jumbled cluster**** on the pier. The coasters there were okay, but hardly worth going out of the way for. I'm surprised Cornball Express ranks so high on the polls frequently. Not that it was bad, but it wasn't very memorable. Holiday World was a bit disappointing as well. Legend and Raven were average rides. I was really looking forward to Voyage though. While it was full of airtime on the way out, there were a few very rough sections on the way back, one of which made me feel like I got hit in the head with a baseball bat. It didn't help that the Holiday World leg of my trip was interrupted when my hotel's fire alarm went off at 3am for no reason.
 
Indiana Beach was a crap hole for me too. It also didn't help that two days before that I had to wait hours for single train operations at Mt. Olympus (another buch of crap). Timber Falls only had one coaster but I liked it and got to ride it five times.
 
theRock-steel said:
^ Ok, it's just that you have been almost the only person with something good to say.
Recap from here by most people: SFMM and Knotts are dissappointing because of either bad operations
or not very thrilling rides.
Recap from people that I have talked to while at WDW: California Adventure has nothing except Cars Land
and World of Color. Disneyland "has Walt" and the rides are all better than those at WDW. However, it is in
1/4 the space but with twice the crowds.
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This is all relative though and the parks on offer in California are still some of the best out there. Magic Mountain disappointed me because I expected so much, but it's still better than quite a few other parks I've been to. Personally I quite like Knott's, it lacks a bit of atmosphere, but Xcelerator, Silver Bullet, Montezooma's Revenge and Pony Express are quality rides. GhostRider is also worth it despite its roughness.

I really rated Disney as well. Disneyland has a nice, traditional feel whereas California Adventure is something a bit more modern. California Screamin' is one of my favourite coasters so definitely get a few rides in on that. The rapids are also very good. I went before Cars Land was even built and Radiator Srings looks to be a world class attraction.

TilySlo said:
I liked Magic Mountain, but opinions do differ on different people. I didn't find the staff rude, they were quite nice actually. The only thing that kept me intriguied after I left was the 'special event' (the park was still open for some peeps wearing yellow bracelets), about which none of the staff knew what was all about...
And I still don't know why wasn't I allowed to sit on the queue fences while waiting for X2
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I encountered such a situation when I went to SFMM. I'd just come off X2 and it was past closing and as I walked out of the area people were being checked for wristbands for a special event. I didn't know what it was for but I didn't see what stopped me staying in the area and continuing to ride X2...
 
To me that is Six Flags New England. Bizarro is good, but that is it. Goliath was closed, which was a disappointment. Don't even get me started with Mind Eraser. Batman was okay, but it was very short and small. Cyclone needs to be retracked and I thought it wasn't going to have enough speed to finish the ride. Flashback probably the roughest Vekoma I've been on. Thunderbolt and Pandemonium had too big of a wait. The only thing I enjoyed was Bizarro's 5 minute wait. Other than that there is nothing to do there and the food is overpriced, took a while, and wasn't very good. Also rides were constantly breaking down and had slow loading. Even still Bizarro was great and helps that park. That is probably the only park, but I'll still go back for Bizarro, just expected more from New England's "Thrill Capital".
 
Parque Warner Madrid - Huge park with plenty of money, but absolutely crap. Most disappointing park by a long shot with Liseberg a distant second.
 
Strange - I thought warner was a good park, with the potential to be great with a dark ride or two, and some family flats. Batman and superman are great coasters, and the water rides were very good, and coaster express wasn't anything like as bad as bandit at movie park!
 
Thorpe was a tad disappointing. I was most looking forward to Colossus and Saw. Saw was rough and Colossus is in my bottom 10. Swarm and Stealth were good though.
 
CoburnJason54 said:
To me that is Six Flags New England. Bizarro is good, but that is it. Goliath was closed, which was a disappointment. Don't even get me started with Mind Eraser. Batman was okay, but it was very short and small. Cyclone needs to be retracked and I thought it wasn't going to have enough speed to finish the ride. Flashback probably the roughest Vekoma I've been on. Thunderbolt and Pandemonium had too big of a wait. The only thing I enjoyed was Bizarro's 5 minute wait. Other than that there is nothing to do there and the food is overpriced, took a while, and wasn't very good. Also rides were constantly breaking down and had slow loading. Even still Bizarro was great and helps that park. That is probably the only park, but I'll still go back for Bizarro, just expected more from New England's "Thrill Capital".
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Yeah I was kind of disappointed during my trip there this summer (though it was my 3rd time there). My first two trips were actually good, but I realized this year that SFNE is kinda crap. Bizarro is still great though.
 
Magic Kingdom:-

I went when I was 14 with my parents and was expecting it to be everything they had made it out to be, I was wrong, I actively found the place boring, I enjoyed Space Mountain and Splash Mountain but that was it, the shows, parades and fireworks just didn't do it for me.

We were due to spend a second day at the park as the trip was organised by a company called Travelsphere, Instead we spent the day with the bus driver shopping, we couldn't tolerate another day of boredom.

Now I'm an adult I would like to try Disney again to see if my opinions may have changed, but it's an expensive gamble.

Europa Park:-

It's not that the park is bad, it's actually a really good park, but I had set myself up for it being the mutt's nuts and It really wasn't, I blame myself for that one.

Walibi Holland:-

AWFUL park! Take out Goliath and it's nothing. A fleet of mediocre to poor Vekoma's and crap selection of water rides. No wonder Six Flags sold this dump and got the **** out, not even they could polish this turd!
 
Don't actually think I've been disappointed by a park, the ones which have been a bit run-down I've expected them to be.

Only real one that's left a negative impression with me has been BPB and even that's mostly because of Blackpool itself rather then the park.
 
Darren B said:
Walibi Holland:-

AWFUL park! Take out Goliath and it's nothing. A fleet of mediocre to poor Vekoma's and crap selection of water rides. No wonder Six Flags sold this dump and got the **** out, not even they could polish this turd!
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I think you're overreacting a bit. I agree with the coasters being underwhelming aside from Goliath (though I find Xpress enjoyable and Robin Hood is a hit or miss depending on how it is running. I've had some great rides on it, but also some horrible rough ones), and the park is definitely not a must visit destination, but to call it awful is a bit much. The landscaping and theming might not be close to the same quality as Disney, Phantasialand, Efteling or Europa-Park, but I do think it has some pretty looking places and some alright theming. Crazy River is a really good log flume and I love how they allow you to sit backwards. The river rapid is a bit tame but unique with these boats. It also has some decent (though a bit mediocre) flat rides. Definitely nothing special but not as bad as you make it out to be. I consistently have a fun day out in the park.
 
^The think is I didn't enjoy any of the other coasters apart from Goliath, I found Robin Hood to be rather boring and when it does do something it then becomes painful, I threw up after the Boomerang, I can't even remember my experience of Xpress, that's how memorable it was, and El Condor was brutal.

The log flume was average, with no stand out features, and again I can't remember the rapids. I don't do flats except for shot/drop towers. The food was poor, and the tat shop was sub standard. I will say however that the park did have some nice bits of theming in parts, and as a whole it was very clean.

So maybe I was exaggerating by saying it was AWFUL, but there aren't many better words to describe it.
 
^Well, I agree Robin Hood is pretty boring, but if you sit in the second to last row (the row without wheels below it) it has some nice pops of air. I'd actually think Walibi's boomerang is one of the better ones (haven't ridden any other yet) because of its trains, theming and onboard audio. I agree boomerangs are not that great, but I do enjoy a ride on it occasionally.

I don't think El Condor is as painful as people say. Sure it's not smooth at all, but pain? Maybe I'm just tough when it comes to coasters :wink: , but I didn't find it painful at all. I just find the ride itself rather boring. I've never had a problem with the food.

I'd call it an alright park with one world class coaster. Not really a priority in the Netherlands with parks like Efteling and Toverland around. Maybe I just love parks so much that I'm easily amused and wouldn't call a park awful that fast :p .
 
Darren B said:
Europa Park:-

It's not that the park is bad, it's actually a really good park, but I had set myself up for it being the mutt's nuts and It really wasn't, I blame myself for that one.
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EP didn't leave me feeling disappointed as such, more confused why people rave about it. I do tend to always approach these things with a clear and open opinion, ready to be filled in by the experience itself.

I think it's a good park, there's so much to do, but so much of it just isn't very good. It makes up for it with several brilliant attractions though and I think that the theming on huge chunks of the park is great. It's all above standard :) It's an odd one I think :lol:

Thorpe always leaves me feeling disappointed. I just can't really seem to get a great day there any more. I don't know why, I think it's just so small and "meh". Only two of the rides really do anything for me, and they're not even top 20 material really. I just go, don't really enjoy riding anything and don't really enjoy the atmosphere or "park quality". Big fat meh.
 
Flamingo Land. Went a few days ago, and they just don't seem to "care". Rode Hero, fun ride, but it feels tacky. Two rides were enough for me. Waited half an hour for Mumbo Jumbo because they only ran two cars (and one had test dummies in the back). Kumali's second train was gone (not even on the transfer track), and it was missing its station music and commentary.

A couple of nice staff, the rest looked really bored. Hero crew were good, however on Kumali, they didn't use the air-gates, and I ended up without a seat.

The rides were fun, however you feel like they've gone for quantity over quality. Next time, I'll go to Lightwater Valley, or maybe try Drayton Manor instead.
 
^ I never understand why some parks insist on artificially creating long waits for their rides on "quiet" days by blocking off seats and using less trains.

Sure, it might save the park a bit of money, but it also creates a load of pissed off guests who'd think twice about visiting the park again? :?

Flamingo Land is just crap though, and they clearly don't care what the public or enthusiasts think of them. I don't understand this attitude.
 
Two words: KINGS ISLAND

I honestly find this park almost as bad as Carowinds. Diamondback and Beast are awesome rides, but they're not very rerideable. The thing with Intimidator is that you could ride it multiple times and enjoy it, but Diamondback gets stale after two or three times. Same with The Beast, and it's not even fun if the track is cold. The only other two coasters there that are decent are Flight Deck (really out of the way and down half the time) and Flight of Fear (awful capacity and you have to get a locker to ride). It's an enormous park but you can't spend a day there and have fun the entire time. I feel sad driving away from Cedar Point, I just feel like I'm done and want to get home driving away from Kings Island. Unfortunately it's my home park.

The thing is I feel like Banshee is going to turn that around. Big coaster that has the insanity element that would come with something that long, seven inversions (the park seriously needs good inversions), and it'll look great and completely change the ride experience for Flight Deck and Adventure Express, as well as maybe Delirium. Any renovation to the dying park section that is Action Zone with only two decent things to do (Delirium and Flight Deck, maybe try your hand at stomaching an entire Banshee twist :p). I really hope this addition makes your visit to Kings Island.

The only really fun local thing the park has going for it would be the little night ride rivalry between Beast and Diamondback. Once the sun goes down, people pick one and the lines fill up insanely. Some people think Diamondback is the better night ride, some thing Beast is the better night ride (me!). The ride ops address this rivalry while loading the trains by talking about the other ride over the intercom (he joked about throwing me out of The Beast's station for saying that Diamondback was the better ride overall) and they even addressed this in the Banshee announcement. Though I expect to jump to Team Banshee from Team Beast once it opens.
 
Mike said:
^ I never understand why some parks insist on artificially creating long waits for their rides on "quiet" days by blocking off seats and using less trains.

Sure, it might save the park a bit of money, but it also creates a load of pissed off guests who'd think twice about visiting the park again? :?
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Just thinking about this, and I'm not sure I can work out the logic. I'd have to actually see figures and operations guides and stuff, but for me...

If you run one train on a ride on a quiet day, and have a constant queue of 100 people, that train must cycle constantly all day. Let's say it does 2,000 cycles a day.

You have 100 guests tied up in a queue all day, feeling bitter and annoyed (though it's difficult to really quantify the affect that has on profit margins, but let's assume they're more likely to leave early, or feel resentful about spending in your gift shop).

If you ran 2 trains, then each would have 1,000 cycles in the day - the same number. Only now you just have 50 people in the queue, so 50 others are in your park, not standing around, buying coffee, doughnuts, etc. They think more of the ride because it's less of a queue and may be more likely to buy an ORP. They're positive about your brand so are more likely to spend.

Okay, you don't want to reach a point where you're cycling empty trains, so there is a balancing act - but it can't be that hard to work out?
 
I've had a 50 minute queue for Joris en de Draak and they only used 1 train, well 2 if you count both tracks, but 1 train for each side. I've also had a 10 minute queue where they used 2 trains each. Where's the logic?
 
furie said:
If you run one train on a ride on a quiet day, and have a constant queue of 100 people, that train must cycle constantly all day. Let's say it does 2,000 cycles a day.

If you ran 2 trains, then each would have 1,000 cycles in the day - the same number.
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My guess is that by only running one train, you could save your maintenance crew the time of checking the 2nd train at the end of the day. If your maintenance crew is paid by the hour, that would save some money.
 
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