Last week, I asked you about the best defunct roller coasters you’ve ridden. This time let’s take a look at the other side.
Good Riddance!
Kings Dominion’s air-powered launch coaster, Hypersonic XLC wasn’t egregiously bad, but it was overhyped, way too short, and often out of commission. For those reasons I wasn’t sad at all to see it go. Hypersonic was crammed into the park (near Rebel Yell and Hurler) from 2001 until it was dismantled and put up for sale in 2007. It was never purchased and was later scrapped according to Wikipedia.
While I haven’t ridden Dorney’s Hydra – The Revenge, I cheered for this B&M looper’s vengeful victory over the massive, but sad woodie Hercules. Maybe it was better in its heyday, but by the time I rode it, I could see why it had earned its “Hurt Your Knees” nickname. Its relatively short life spanned only 14 years. It opened in 1989 and was demolished in 2003.
Six Flags Great Adventure’s Great American Scream Machine takes the proverbial cake though. That rough, old looper had very few redeeming qualities. It was a pretty much a parking lot coaster that was not only unattractive, but very punishing. Virtually none of the ride’s seven loops were fun. Upon exiting I needed an aspirin and I asked myself why I’d just ridden it. Great American Scream Machine was removed in 2010 to make room for Green Lantern.
Which roller coasters were you glad to see go? If you haven’t ridden any coasters that have been scrapped, you can include roller coasters that have been relocated to another park. Images courtesy of CoasterImage.
August 31, 2012 at 09:45
One of the worst defunct roller coasters that I've ever ridden was Psyclone at Six Flags Magic Mountain. I only rode it once, but that was one too many times. It was rough and miserable, and I was glad when it was over. Now, to be fair, I rode it during its last season of operation. It was a was a wooden coaster (Cyclone clone), and had been damaged during one of Los Angeles' more destructive earthquakes years before, which I was told had affected it greatly. I'm sure my opinion would be different if I had ridden it during its prime.
November 16, 2012 at 17:33
I rode Psyclone before and after it got damaged in the Northridge quake. Before the quake, the Psyclone was a decent ride — reasonably smooth for a woodie with a fast twisting layout. I rode it several years later, and could not believe how far the ride had deteriorated. Aside from riding much rougher than before, the Psyclone was now s-l-o-w. I don't know if Six Flags fitted new trim brakes onto the ride or did a lot of reprofiling after the quake repairs (SFMM did this on Colossus many years earlier), but the ride just sputtered in fits and starts.
But, the Psyclone was a feather bed experience compared to the punishment that the Grizzly at Great America doles out. The Grizzly has gained its own notoriety because it gets voted in as the worst roller coaster year after year. Enthusiasts will ride the Grizzly just so they can experience for themselves just how bad a coaster can be. If/when the Grizzly ever shuts down (could happen soon, given that a new GCI-designed woodie is set to open in 2013, you can hand it the "Worst Defunct Coaster" trophy and permanently retire it.
February 21, 2013 at 21:12
Are you sure that the "Grizzly" ride was at Six Flags Great America, because I live an hour from the park and I've never heard of it.
February 23, 2013 at 07:04
He's referring to a different park, California's Great America.
August 31, 2012 at 10:42
As I said in the best defunct coaster post GASM was both my best and worst for obvious reasons. Hydra's Revenge is so sweet and one of my new favorites! I wish I could have tried Hypersonic though. I cant imagine what 0 to 80 in under 2 seconds feels like! I wish Japan wasn't so far away… Dodonpa looks sick! It launches you to107mph in 1.8 seconds! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodonpa
August 31, 2012 at 11:14
My #1 worst defunct wood coaster is Hurricane Category #5 at Myrtle Beach Pavilion.
While I thought the park was very nice, nicer than nearby Family Kingdom, the coaster was terrible. Most of the ride consisted of helixes with inadequate banking. That combined with the Gerstlauer trains with no padding made it extremely uncomfortable. It was like riding a caterpillar, not a roller coaster. The station was elevated several stories in the air and you had to go up-and-down, up-and-down many flights of stairs each time you rode it, which was not fun on the very hot day that I was there.
I had not thought of Hercules, but it deserves a dis-honorable mention. My memory of it was that it was boring, not necessarily uncomfortable except maybe for the curve at the bottom of the first drop. When I rode it, trim brakes on the drop stopped us almost completely like a dive machine, before letting us go down the drop. It was just a stupid ride.
Probably my #1 worst defunct steel is the Z-Force/Flashback Intamin Space Diver. I rode it the first year it was at Six Flags Over Georgia. While I remember the sudden twist and drop of each dive was kind of thrilling, it was a head-banger. The cars were too "cocooning" with both a lap bar and shoulder harness and they were hard to see out of because the car sides were so high. In between the dives were long stretches of flat, boring track. I remember there was a little hill and helix at the end that were decent. Overall it was just an ill-conceived ride.
I had not thought of Hypersonic. It was another "stupid" ride, but I did like the launch and hang-time over the top of the hill. I only rode it once because I was lucky and caught a "window" in between shut downs.
For some reason it's harder to come up with bad defunct rides. I don't know if others do this, but I think I tend to repress and forget the negatives of most park visits over time and just remember the positives.
September 2, 2012 at 17:32
I\’ve always wondered how the Hurricane was. The fact that it wasn\’t \’with us\’ very long seemed weird to me.
August 31, 2012 at 15:21
Roller Soaker at Hersheypark. Technically, it's not defunct, yet.
August 31, 2012 at 16:07
The majority of defunct coasters I have ridden were pretty bad by today's standards. I say the worst was Psyclone at Magic Mountain – a body banger. The top 5 worst include Flashback at Magic Mountain, Villian at Geauga Lake/Six Flags Worlds, Pre 2002 Batman & Robin Chiller at Great Adventure, Viper at Great Adventure, Batman the Escape at Astroworld. Other horrible ones included Ultra Twister, Great Adventure's Scream Machine, Cyclone at Astroworld Houston, Drachen Fire at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, as well.
The best defunct coaster was Hypersonic at Kings Dominion. My hope is that they would have moved that to Dorney but instead never did sell it. Some reports say its in storage somewhere – others say it was scrapped. Someone should have picked that one up. Other good ones include Deja Vou from magic Mountain but that one is now at Silverwood while anotrher close of DejaVou is strill at 6 Flags IN New England
August 31, 2012 at 18:46
Others have already mentioned SFMM's Flashback and Psyclone and I wholeheartedly agree. Psyclone was my second ever woodie and it put a horrible taste in my mouth for the wooden experience as a result. The worst part is I distinctly remember waiting somewhere between 45 minutes to an hour in 100 plus degree heat to get bashed around by that monster and to make matters worse the turnstiles at the exit snapped my back on the way out. A few years later a friend of mine dragged me onto it and Flashback one last time and reminded me why I hated them, the weird thing is he enjoyed them both. Good riddance. Another ride that was very short lived but aggravated me to no end with it's combination of head banging and just plain slow, boring layout was the ride that replaced the Wacky Soap Box Racers at Knott's, Windjammer. The racing looper only lasted from '97 to 2000 then just sat there for a year and a half until Cedar Fair decided to rip them out for Xcelerator. I believe they attempted to sue Togo for a faulty design but I don't think they won. High Roller on top of the Stratosphere Tower in Vegas was never a favorite of mine either, very gimmicky. Also, even though it lives on in New York, I'm so very glad Elitch Gardens got rid of the Flying Coaster. Zamperla Volare's are straight up a torture device.
August 31, 2012 at 19:35
Oh for me, it's Serial Thriller at Geauga Lake (now Thunderhawk at Michigan's great escape?). I remember when I was young and naive and thought it looked so cool after it was installed. The problem was, the only inverted coaster I'd been on before that was the Raptor @ cedar point, a smooth B&M. I thought to myself, hey, what a cool layout, and it's going to be as nice and cozy as Raptor was back in 94. Yeah, my expectations were raised, and I got myself pummeled. Was not sad to see that one go.
August 31, 2012 at 22:31
My head only recently stopped hurting from flashback at sfmm. Just plain bloody bad.
August 31, 2012 at 23:49
Loop Coaster at Riverside (now Six Flags New England) was great when a loop coaster was a new thing. I rode it many years later and it was miserable. It was an old Arrow shuttle coaster and when I rode it (1990?) I didn't want to ride it backwards when it reached the reverse launch. If they'd let me out so I could walk down the stairs I would have said yes. It was the worst coaster ride I've ever had. It was scrapped many years ago, not sure if it was by Six Flags or the old management. Rust in peace.
September 1, 2012 at 19:05
Drachen Fire. Had ERT one morning ruined my whole day! And that's when it was brand new. Scream Machine #2 and Steel Phantom #3.
September 1, 2012 at 20:08
It'd have to be Drachen Fire by default, even though there have been times when I described it as my favorite coaster!
I actually enjoyed riding it quite a lot, but it knocked me around so much that it had me thinking that riding big modern coasters wasn't something I'd want to do more than about once a decade. It was only much later that I realized it was really quite atypical.
September 1, 2012 at 21:46
I don't have too much to choose from as far as defunct ride goes, so I'll have to go with one of the one's from Six Flags Astroworld. Ultra Twister probably gets my vote now that someone mentioned it. I remember i rode it with my older brother at the time. He wanted to flirt with the ride operator (Astroworld was surprisingly full of young hot ride operators lol), so after the ride when she asked us "how was the ride", he got me to respond "I hurt my neck trying to look at you". The hurt my neck part wasn't an exaggeration…
September 2, 2012 at 14:56
Herclues wasn’t too bad when I visited Dorney in the early 2000′s. But Hyrda is a much better coaster, and one of my current favorites! Also, Hurricane Category 5 was a rough ride, with its awful curved banking and horribly padded seats, it really could have been a better coaster.
September 2, 2012 at 15:25
Hydra was a huge surprise. It is also a new top 10 favorite for me!
September 3, 2012 at 22:28
My worst is definitely GASM at Great Adventure because of the same reasons that it was very rough and unpleasant. Although Green Lantern isn't much better as its leg pain is untolerable and it has some headbanging. Disaster Transport is in the running as well simply because it was boring, pointless, and had cheesy theming. If anyone misses it then Gatekeeper will change their minds probably as it looks like a very good coaster.
September 4, 2012 at 08:08
The Rattler at Fiesta Texas. It’s the only coaster that I actually feared for my life on.
September 9, 2012 at 00:39
T2 is the worst roller coaster I have ever ridden! It is not opperating and I doubt it ever will again, so thats my pick. Ive ridden two SLC's, T2 and Mind Eraser and SFNE. T2 was much worse for some reason. That ride literally felt like torture. Iron Wolf im glad to see gone as well.
September 11, 2012 at 01:38
I absolutely loved Scream Machine. It was my first looping coaster and it didn't hurt me. I dearly miss it. As for worst defunct coaster, I have to pick Jumbo Jet at Coney Island. It was kind of fun, but it hurt. I remember my sister hit her mouth on the harness once and her lip swelled so much she couldn't open her mouth.
October 11, 2012 at 16:12
The worst was flying festation Dog patch USA
December 20, 2012 at 11:55
Oh, this is a tough one! By this point in my career, I've been on over a dozen defunct coasters, MOST of which were torn down because they were ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS. Great American Scream Machine is a close second, I think, but if I had to choose the absolute worst defunct coaster I've been on it would be Viper at SFGAdv. In fact, I think that's the worst coaster I've ever been on, period. Talk about a ride with absolutely no redeeming qualities, other than maybe its appearance… but the appearance no longer matters when your head hit the metal OTSR (oh, they weren't metal?) so many times that your optical nerve detached.