Highlighting the Low Points
Usually my lowest rated coasters and worst experiences involve a painful ride. Sure coasters, especially wooden ones, should throw you around a bit and I don’t consider myself fragile or pain averse. But some rides I’ve experienced were just unforgivably rough or suffered from terrible park
operations and maintenance. Here are the Top 3 Worst Experiences I’ve ever had on a coaster:
Predator at Six Flags Darien Lake
After being greeted by a monument to theme park vandalism in Predator’s queue, I wondered whether Darien Lake cared how their park looked. Nevermind that, I thought, on to the ride. About half way up the lift hill, the train came to a stop. After the break down, I was rewarded with a rough, badly paced ride. Check out my full review.
Exterminator at Kennywood
Exterminator is a dark ride housed in a themed building at Kennywood. The ride was dark which I was excited about, but after a while we just began spinning over and over. All I remember is darkness and spinning with no or breaks, pacing, or the ability to see any theming. When we got out of the ride, we noticed a woman that rode with us that almost fell as she was getting off. It was very disorientating, and not in a good way. We looked like we were walking away from a car crash or something. I’m not sure what the designers were thinking.
Cyclone at Six Flags New England
The chipped white paint and overall aging appearance should’ve tipped me off, but nothing could prepare me for this ride. I got off this monstrosity holding my lower back. I felt more like 62 than 26. From the impersonable teens running the ride to the chipped paint to the single train operation with it’s back seat roped off. Forgive me all you hardcore woodie fans, I don’t know this coaster from its hallowed past as the ‘Riverside Cyclone’. So it gets no points from me for its rep. All I have to judge it by is the rough, painful, trim break heavy trip I took on this demolition candidate.
What was your worst coaster experience? Ever been stuck on a ride? Leave a comment below.
April 20, 2009 at 14:07
Corkscrew at Cedar Point. The corkscrews gave me the WORST headache ever!
April 5, 2013 at 09:04
So true!
April 21, 2009 at 11:46
I love The Exterminator at Kennywood. I think it's really fun and I don't ever have any of the problems you're talking about.
April 21, 2009 at 15:18
I haven't ridden it in years, but there were way too many spins on that ride for me. Six Flags New England's Mr. Six's Pandemonium is a spinning ride too, but I feel that the spins are better executed on that ride. I'm glad that you enjoy Exterminator though. I know a lot of people do.
July 24, 2009 at 08:17
Dominator in the front seat at Kings Dominion. Being a B&M coaster, I was expecting an ultra-smooth ride (if it were Arrow, I would have been ready). I got boxed between the shoulder restraints so much, and the ride from other places in the train wasn't so hot either. Dominator is my least favorite B&M so far, but I haven't been on Mantis yet…
May 7, 2011 at 06:37
You certainly shouldn't have done. When I rode Dominator, it was ultra-smooth.
May 31, 2011 at 10:12
I rode Dominator in the front seat. . .there were no probelms for me. Watchu talm bout?
September 5, 2009 at 12:08
my worst expeirience on a coaster was proabaly when i rode ROAR. if it was old fashioned looking i may of suspected it but still, not as bad. once i stagered of the weird looking train i felt like someone had just repeatedly slammed my head into a wall while holding two sterios put on high with the loudest and most horrible music in existence, up to my ears, thats how bad my head hurt. honestley that was worse than the cyclone at new england and the steamin deamon (a copy of the coprkscrew) combined. The cyclone was Horrible, but Roar was absoluteley brain racking, seriosly they should shut it down, and cc, what was ROAR compared to the preadetor, i may live in new york, but i still havent been to darien lake yet, was it even comparable to ROAR
October 31, 2009 at 14:37
My worst expeirience on a coaster ever was vortex at californias great america. It was my second ride when I got there (behind top gun or flight deck) and when I got off my head hurt like crazy! I had a headache for three days after that. It ruined the rest of the day for me.
March 27, 2010 at 19:01
my worst was the suden stop on boomarang at knotts berry farm my back was sore for a week
March 28, 2010 at 03:55
that`s gotta suck.
March 29, 2010 at 14:12
my worst was the blue gwazi, and i will never do that again
March 31, 2010 at 10:29
Worst coaster experience ever: Mantis at Cedar Point
Perhaps it would have been an enjoyable ride, however a few things got me:
1.) I like to sit down on roller coasters. Theres nothing like taking a short sit on a coaster after a long day of walking through the park
2.) My head kept getting banged around. I love wooden coasters, and I know how to keep still on all coasters, but Mantis took me for a ride and didn't let go.
3.) G forces. The G-forces on my feet, especially during the 1st loop. The ride ops in the station told us to be careful with the bicycle seat we had to straddle too. She said that you, and anything on that bicycle seat, will be subjected to 4Gs. Ouch.
4.) It left me thinking there was something more, but there wasn't.
I loved the fact that it was a B&M and has multiple inversions, speed, and height, but Mantis was just too painful to want to do again. I probably wouldn't of even tried it, but that would have meant watching that "Ridden Every Coaster at Cedar Point" shirt float away…
October 4, 2010 at 12:19
I haven't had one too bad, but my relatives were stuck on the loop on Deja Vu when it was still at Great America
October 4, 2010 at 13:39
The Boss at Six Flags St.Louis: NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!! That is definitely the most painful ride I have been on. It might be because the lap bar is never too tight on me, but even if it was, there is no way to prevent hitting every inch of the seat with ur hip. There is no padding in the uncomfortable seats, and its the turns that hurt the most by far. Also, Ninja at SFSTL hurts only because of the OTSRs. Since short-medium height people have their heads RIGHT between them, this Arrow/Vekoma coaster rattles your head into an instant migraine.
November 14, 2010 at 10:00
My worst coaster experience was on Ice Dragon (hungarian horntail) at Universal Islands of Adventure. As I boarded the amazingly themed trains in the front row, I was so ready to ride that ride. It was the ride that I was looking forward to the most. I clearly remember buckling the seat belt just before they checked my restraint and the train departed. Well, after going down the first drop and through the helix, everything was fine. Then I went through the first inversion. While going up the inversion, my restraint made a funny clicking sound and it flew up a few notches. At the time, I wasn't worried because I knew that he seat belt would hold it in from flying up more. Then I looked down. To my surprise, I saw that the seat belt had COME OUT OF THE BUCKLE. There was 4 more inversions to go. Being in the front row made it worse too. For the remainder of the ride, I was desperately trying to pull down my restraint and buckle in the seat belt. All of my attempts failed. Finally, the ride was over. AS we unloaded in the station, my crying mother begged the ride attendants to check the ride to make sure it was safe. The ride attendants would not believe my story. Apparently they thought that I unbuckled the belt myself an fooled around with the restraint to make up fly up a few notches. I do not consider myself a lucky person either because the same type of thing happened to me on another B&M coaster (Apollo's Chariot) TWICE in the front row. Maybe there is just something about the front row in B&Ms built in 1999. All I know is that I am permanently scarred from B&M Inverts.
PS: My coaster experience may seem hard to believe but I swear that it happened.
November 14, 2010 at 22:07
Sorry to hear you had such a stressful and traumitizing event. I think CC has addressed but the seat belts/buckles they use aren't really there to keep you in but for another reason (sensor or something). I do believe you were completely safe despite what happened to you as the way the coasters are made the restraint should never come all the way up. i know the first coasters I ever road (big bad wolf, loch ness monster and drachen fire) didn't even have a seat belt and it was just the OTSR.
November 15, 2010 at 12:03
Yeah, I was not really scared for my safety, I just wanted to know what the heck was going on. I still love coasters. Big Bad Wolf was one of my favorite family rides. I wonder what went on though with those restrains. I thought that it was especially weird that the seat belt came undone as well. Haha, oh well.
November 16, 2010 at 12:30
Maybe It dose have to whith front rows. I always ride in the back, and nothing like that has ever happened to me.
November 16, 2010 at 19:06
That is cool. It most be a B&M thing. I know on a lot of my rides on inverts this year (Great Bear, Alpengeist) that I had numerous occasions where the restraint was loose but during the ride when down a notch and got tighter and I have also experienced where is seemed to loosen a notch also. I never had the belt come unbuckled tho
November 19, 2010 at 10:20
That definitely sucks, but yeah, I don't think it's that dangerous because even if the seatbelt unbuckles, the restraint is still locked. When I was at Great Adventure, we went on Bizarro, and my sister didn't buckle the seatbelt, but the operators were stupid enough not to check the restraints, but she was fine, and she didn't even notice the seatbelt existed until after the ride was over.
November 17, 2010 at 02:32
Thunder Road @ Carowinds is my worst experience. Once this year, I was riding it, when some kid kept touching the track, causing the ride ops to stop the ride. When we finally went over the top, the 1st small hill went over so unexpectedly fast that my head slammed on the lap bar really hard. I had the lump for a week and a half.
November 18, 2010 at 02:48
I wonder what caused that, maybe you got ejected from the station too fast.
November 18, 2010 at 12:28
Maybe so, it was the only time that ever happened to me.
November 19, 2010 at 10:27
Rolling Thunder at Great Adventure, pretty much nonstop jackhammering, though I figured out if I lean forward, it minimizes the headbang somewhat
April 4, 2011 at 14:30
de ja vu in six flags over GA was pretty rough. they took it down because it broke down A LOT. the head guards were like suction cups and they almost burst my eardrum from being smacked between them.
the scream machine, also in Six Flags Over GA is a VERY rough wooden ride.
Ninja is among the worst and most painful coasters i have ever been on. it is also in SFOG and is a very very very rough metal coaster. the overall design is epic, but the ride itse;f sucked. in order to ride, they made a new rule: you must take out your earings, be cause people have come off with injuries to the back of their ears from the jerkiness.
June 22, 2012 at 19:20
I agree about Ninja! It's a pile of junk and should be closed, but I loved the scream machine. As a member of the Theme Park Junkies, I have visited over 16 parks in the USA and I give the "thumbs up" to this great woodie. It ain't no Beast, but then, what is ?
May 7, 2011 at 06:40
X:/ No way out, at Thorpe Park (a backwards rollercoaster) absoloutley sucked for me. It was the only coaster I've ever been on that made me feel sick and gave me a headache at the same time. Going backwards on a rollercoaster can be fun (Vekoma Boomerang, Reverse Freefall etc. ) but this was certainly an exception.
May 22, 2011 at 15:17
I have just recently ridden the green lantern coaster at great adventure before the public can since i am a season pass holder. I was glad to get exclusive ride time and thought it would be a good ride. In layout, it was. However, several factors contributed to it being a bad ride. First and most noticeably was it was raining. When we got in line it was hardly a drizzle, but when we left to go up the hill it was pouring hard. Going throughout the course was really painful with the rain hitting my face feeling like needles. Another factor was that it was a standup coaster, and it put alot of pressure on my legs and the bicycle seat hurt my groin. It was one of the only coasters that i have been on that i was wishing for it to be over. The rain wasnt six flags fault, but the pain of my legs might have been the ride employees fault because you had to stand up straight and all the way back, so it was hard to bend my knees and it hurt my legs. Without the rain and with some knee bending it would have been a great ride.
June 10, 2011 at 17:10
My 2 worst coaster experiences were both at Six Flags Over Georgia. 1st: I rode Scream Machine in the back row. I had severe back pains for days. Thankfully, its was my last ride of the day, so I didn't have to walk around the park with back pains very much. 2nd: I was riding Superman – Ultimate Flight and the ride operator stopped our train at the top of the lift hill, causing us to have to stare at the ground 115ft in the air for about 5 minutes. Once we arrived in the boarding platform the operator said he was just having fun. This wasn't fun at all.
June 16, 2011 at 07:35
Worst coaster experiences: Ninja (STL), Son of Beast, and the Boomerand clones, especially Sidewinder. OUCH!