Worst Moves Ever Made by Theme Parks and their Owners

[PeskyTrimBrake]

We can all agree, some theme parks make decisions that make us goons mad. Sometimes being to avoid spending too much money and avoid going bankrupt. What are the worst moves (publicity stunts, awful ride additions, prices, controversies, etc) ever made by theme parks or theme park companies that made coaster enthusiasts/fans mad? Were they beneficial or just bad ideas?

 

[CanobieFan]

Hard Rock Park

 

[marc]

Disney for building a park in Paris

 

[bmac]

Putting in Mark Shapiro as president of Six Flags, Red Zone had little idea about what they were doing and the majority of Six Flags' board was Red Zone cronies from 2005-2010.

 

[Hyde]

The Cedar Point Girl Onesy Uniform. Turns out one size doesn't fit all.

 

[CPSFMMCW]

The Vekoma SLC
'Nuff said

 

[njn63]

Son of Beast

 

[OfficialReplay]

When Richard Kinzel retired from Cedar Fair & Matt Ouimet took over, he took out Hot Summer Lights & added Illuminosity. I've thought Hot Summer Lights was the best night time show.. maybe because I've had ideas of maybe turning that big screen area into a huge Rock Festival like Download. lol.

 

[rollermonkey]

Hard Rock Park

The park itself wasn't a bad idea.

The timing sucked, and the lack of marketing was definitely stupid.

 

[tomahawk]

Full Throttle because of what it should have been. Also every decision at KBF for the last seven years.

 

[Hyde]

When Richard Kinzel retired from Cedar Fair & Matt Ouimet took over, he took out Hot Summer Lights & added Illuminosity. I've thought Hot Summer Lights was the best night time show.. maybe because I've had ideas of maybe turning that big screen area into a huge Rock Festival like Download. lol.

To be fair - Illumosity began its planning underneath Kinzel, and just happened to finish under Ouimet.

Anyways, Hot Summer Lights itself was a watered down version of the original Laser Light Show when Cedar Point first ventured into nighttime shows in the late 90s. Everyone loved the novelty of the lasers, instead of the standard film projections that later replaced in the form of Hot Summer Lights.

 

[rtotheizzo17]

Verbolten is a great ride but...Big Bad Wolf
OTSR on Revolution @ SFMM
Colossus re-profile @ SFMM
Disney not putting up the $$$$ for Harry Potter IP
Seatbelts on a B&M hyper :/

 

[KristofWB]

What about Walibi -CDA refuses to invest in new rides for us, so you should be happy with a 13 year old rollercoaster - Belgium?

 

[FaceYourNemesis]

Tussauds installing Rita, when the future was looking uncertain for Alton Towers (or so I'm told).

 

[Hyde]

Vertigo at Walibi Belgium

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bKnRzwSjWU[/youtube]

Delays and technical problems forced the roller coaster to officially open two years behind schedule, to only close for demolition 7 months later.

 

[CoburnJason54]

Son of beast is probably one of the worst. Full throttle seems like a waste. The ride is way too short. The backwards launch gives you a stall but you can just go ride a pirate ship if you want that. I like the ride but I think it disappointed most. Though it is not a bad ride, I think X2 was also not very smart. The $46 million price tag and the amount of issues with the design was not good. From what I know (I think) it put arrow out of business. The ride is closed a lot with issues and is a nightmare to keep running. That ride has had to cost Magic Mountain so much money. It is not a bad ride, but a bad move by the park to risk that.

 

[Smithy]

I'll go out on a limb and say Wallace and Grommit at BPB. Massively expensive for what it is and an odd decision to invest so heavily on a ride that surely will struggle to show a decent return for it.

 

[cjbrandy]

/\ How much did it cost?

 

[Smithy]

I've seen between 5 and 7 million quoted depending on how reliable you like your sources to be. Enough to install a decent sized coaster at least.

 

[caffeine_demon]

I'll go out on a limb and say Wallace and Grommit at BPB. Massively expensive for what it is and an odd decision to invest so heavily on a ride that surely will struggle to show a decent return for it.

Plus the fact it's a terrible ride! Gold mine was tonnes better!!