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.
June 17, 2011 at 13:25
I was lucky many times. I've seen people stuck on Flight Deck/Top Gun and Delirium numerous times. Though, they were only stuck for a few minutes.
Of course, everyone is thinking about people being stuck on Invertigo for hours while reading my post.
July 7, 2011 at 11:58
I rode the Cyclone in SFNE in may, and part of it was very rough, the other part was refurbished with what looked like the new Rocky Mountain topper track and that part was really excellent!
July 7, 2011 at 14:48
Hopefuly they'll fix up the other part as well. I love old woodies, but The SFNE Cyclone was way too rough.
July 17, 2011 at 17:51
Ninja at Six Flags Over Georgia. Don't ever care to ride that again.
July 17, 2011 at 19:40
Say that again.
July 25, 2011 at 12:57
I hate Ninja.
October 7, 2011 at 11:58
Rolling Thunder @ Six Flags Great Adventure: This Is probably the worst Roller Coaster in America if not the world. i just rode it for the 4th time last week, and let me tell you it was down right painfull, irritating, and not fun at all. first of all its hard to know which track you're gonna end up on because the entrance isnt marked at all, and if you have a flash pass you cant even choose they just put you on the right track. Anyway the trains are extremely uncomfortable and the "buzz" bar does nothing to keep you secure and the seatbelt is so hard to get to close. The ride stars of with a mild non banked turn out of the exit which make a slight screaching sound and then you go up the small lift hill which takes what seems like forever to get to the top, and then you finally go down the hill which starts shaking and rattling you like a magic #8 ball. it doesent even feel like the trains are attached to the track. on the turn even though there is a seat seperater between the two seats it doesn't do anything to keep you seperated. and after a bunch of uncomfortable hills you reach what i call the banchi turn which literally sounds like banchis screaching in your ears and is extremely rough. Finally you hit the brakes and this awfull ride ends overall if i could rate this ride it would be in the negatives. i pray that they will demolish this ride within the next 3 years.
October 17, 2011 at 12:18
I've got 3.
A few years ago, when i was 9, I was at BG williamsburg. I'd already done Griffon in the back, and it was great, but in line the next time, my dad went to the front. He said he'd let me walk through, he pushed me in my seat and my mom slammed the restrains shut. I begged them to let me off, but the ride started. I ended loving it, but the lift hill was torture, I was crying the whole way.
Mean Streak is crazy rough, when I got off of that, my back was killing me. I can't believe that hasn't been said yet.
One time, I was on a El Toro, and half-way up the list, the train stalled. It stayed there for a second, than dropped. We went down. The anti-rollback kicked in, and we just kept going like nothing happened
October 19, 2011 at 00:59
That Griffon story is horrible. It's a good thing that you ended up liking the ride. I can't imagine doing that to my kids. Ever.
November 26, 2011 at 12:33
Corkscrew at Cedar Point was the first looping coaster I ever rode – probably 1979. I rode it about 20 times that day and loved it. But the Corkscrew at Geauga Lake banged my head back and forth into the shoulder harness like a pinball. That was either the same year or the year after – can't really remember.
I'm pretty sure those were manufactured by the same company – same trains, same track, same over the shoulder harnesses. At least that I how remember it. Not sure why one was so much rougher than the other.
The Texas Cyclone at (RIP) Astroworld was a very rough ride as well, but I still loved it.
February 24, 2012 at 16:50
Definitely Mean Streak at Cedar Point. I've never felt so beaten up by a coaster. It tosses you around like a rag doll. I don't mind a rough ride, but this was ridiculous. It gave me aches in my back, neck, chest, and shoulders. Ouch! While there was an hour-long line to get on the nearby Maverick, there was NO LINE for Mean Streak in the middle of the day. Gee, I wonder why?
April 6, 2012 at 19:09
The Exterminator is fun, but I'm wondering why they bothered with all the theming when you are spinning through most of it. You can't see anything. Oh, and the dip right before the station? Very dumb. I went over that sideways. That hurt a bit as I got slammed into the side of the car.
May 26, 2012 at 11:14
My worst coaster experience was Flight Deck at Canada's Wonderland. It hurts every time I go on.
June 11, 2012 at 07:22
I think my worst experience on a ride was the Dare Devil Dive at six flags,Georgia. It takes you up so slow and you're completely sideways and it hits your back to the seat for like 2 minutes on the way up.
June 22, 2012 at 19:27
Wow, I rode that today and loved it. The lift hill takes about 15 secs…the rest of the ride is very average, but not a bad experience.
July 13, 2012 at 16:08
The closest I've come to being stuck was a few weeks ago on the kiddie Polar Coaster at Story Land: some kid dropped his hat on the track immediately after boarding the train, so we sat in the station while they got a guy who was authorized to fish it out.
September 9, 2012 at 10:03
Hades most painful coaster ever
December 26, 2012 at 21:24
Anaconda at Kings Dominion would probably be my choice among the coasters I rode during the past year. The ride got off to a good enough start with a drop into an underwater tunnel but the first two inversions were painfully rough. I got knocked about mercilessly and who needs it?