With Kingda Ka's Top Hat scheduled for demolition pretty much as soon as the New Jersey weather clears, I though that I would ask which roller coasters fans should make a priority to ride this year or next, before it's too late.
It might already by too late for some coasters, such as Superman at Six Flags Magic Mountain and TMNT Shellraiser at Nickelodeon Universe in New Jersey, which have been closed for a while and have uncertain potential to be repaired.
Also at SFMM, it seems that Viper has been on the endangered list forever, but with the current round of cost-cutting at the new Six Flags, my concern for that Arrow coaster's future is growing. Throw Arrow's Bat from Kings Island on my "ride it now" list, too. If nothing else, maybe seeing more demand for classic Arrow coasters might help ensure their future at the Six Flags parks.
I feel the same about Xcelerator at Knott's Berry Farm, too. It's a bad time to be a fan for Intamin Accelerators.
Given how swiftly Top Thrill 2 closed after opening last year, I would not plan until late in the season to ride that Zamperla rebuild of the former Top Thrill Dragster, either. Let's hope that everything there is good to go for a long time, but until that's shown to be the case, I think you have to consider TT2 an endangered coaster.
Do a series of recent maintenance woes also put Six Flags Great Adventure's El Toro on this list? I suspect Kingda Ka died to help El Toro live, but if El Toro is on your bucket list, I would not delay in grabbing that credit, given its recent history.
Coming in from left field, I also worry about the long-term viability of ArieForce One at Fun Spot America Atlanta. I do not worry because of the quality of the coaster or its maintenance. I'm just worried that Fun Spot isn't making enough money on this coaster to ensure its future there. More riders for this highly ranked coaster can only help preserve its future, so many we should treat it like it's endangered to help boost those rider counts?
Finally, we know that the days are numbered for pretty much everything at Denver's Elitch Gardens and California's Great America in the Bay Area, since those parks are slated to close for real estate development. CGA has the better coaster line-up - by far - but if you are interested in riding anything at those parks, get a move on. One never should count a relocation to happen.
What would you add to this list?
If we look at all the coasters that have been removed over the last few years, they generally fall into at least one of three categories...
-Older rides that are either no longer popular enough to justify their maintenance costs or have become obsolete within their park's offerings.
-Rides that are no longer supported by the manufacturer, either because the manufacturer is defunct or because they no longer sell that model.
-Rides that are a prototype or one-off creation and simply are no longer performing up to par.
Based on those criteria, here are the rides I currently consider at highest risk of closure within the next three to five years...
-Larger Wood Coasters: While wood coasters can generally be kept alive indefinitely, they are not cheap to retrack regularly and are sometimes seen as a bit simplistic by today's audience. While this one is more case by case, I do feel that we'll see a lot of the bigger woodies left that don't employ modern track preservation techniques fall victim to either a RMC conversion or simply retirement, especially at parks with multiple wood coasters.
-LIM Coasters: LSMs have pretty much become the universal standard for launch coasters, and most coasters that use older LIM technology are very energy intensive and reaching the end of their useful lifespans. This category would cover the remaining impulse coasters (Flash, Possessed, and Steel Venom), as well as the early Premier rides (Flight of Fear, Joker's Jinx, Mr. Freeze, and Possessed), all of which date back to the late 90s/early 00s.
-Older Arrows/Schwarzkopfs: Both of these companies have been defunct for over two decades at this point, and while others still supply the parts, the coasters are simply wearing out. Some have received major refurbishments in the past few years (such as Loch Ness Monster and Riddler Mindbender), but the time is getting closer and closer where parks will need to make the call on refurbishing vs. replacing. Among Schwarzkopfs, Shock Wave at SFOT is probably the most at risk, and when it comes to Arrows, I'd worry most about the loopers (especially at parks that have another inversion-centric sitdown ride) and suspendeds (which seem the most prone to tearing themselves apart).
That massive Arrow Hypercoaster at that random casino in the middle of the desert on the border of California/Nevada. I'm sure the only reason its still there is because they don't want to spend the money to take it out, but my god its such an eyesore. TBH having a massive abandoned old roller coaster wrapping around a hotel makes me not want to stay at that hotel...its just depressing to look at, and if they are neglecting their biggest and most iconic thing, what else are they neglecting? IDK if they will take it out anytime soon but they should.
(Also I rode it like 20 years ago and my god...rough POS)
Speaking of huge roller coasters wrapping around hotels in Vegas, I think you all know what i'm going to mention next. From what i've heard Manhattan Express is very profitable so they probably won't take it out, but they should. $25 for one ride on one of the worst coasters in the country. $25!
Okay enough of my wishlist...now onto the coasters that I think actually are the most endangered.
Viper at SFMM. While admittedly a better design than Shockwave and GASM, never would have thought it would still be operating 23 years after Shockwave was removed and 15 years after GASM was removed. I think while it might be a novelty for the ACE crowd its just a massive ride on a massive plot of land that isn't popular.
Top Gun/The Bat at KI and Ninja at SFMM.
Yea...to say these are past their prime would be putting it modestly.
Adventure Express at KI and Goldrusher at SFMM
I mean does anybody even ride Goldrusher? There are some family coasters that are classics that absolutely should never be taken out, like Whizzer at SFGAm, and then there are janky old POS's like Goldrusher. Adventure Express I think is a little more on the popular side than Goldrusher, but still a rough old POS (at least to someone like me who has no historical sentiment to KI).
Corkscrew at CP, Michigans Adventure, Valleyfair, Cyclone at Carowinds, Dragon Fyre at Canada's Wonderland, and Viper at Darien Lake
Just like Top Gun and Ninja these are just past their prime and probably going the way of the dodo bird. I think its safer at MIA and VF more than the other parks because they are so neglected and have so few other big rides, but the ones at CP/Carowinds/Canada's Wonderland are probably as good as dead.
I don't think the classic midway look of the ride at CP saves it...nobody really cares about that anymore, the ride sucks compared to pretty much every coaster they have built since then.
Face Off / Invertigo at KI
Why the hell is this ride still operating lol. I think the other ones have both been removed, PGA's has been removed twice. SFA's is long gone. Just another junky rust bucket no one really cares for anymore.
Hurler at Carowinds
While I mostly respect CF's recent history with not cloning rides, I will make an exception here. Hurler is a terrible coaster and Twisted Timbers is one of the best coasters in the country. This is CF's home park, they made such a big deal about how Charlotte is the fastest growing market and needs lots of investment (to the point where they moved their corporate HQ there) blah blah. This ride sucks...RMC it and move on.
V2 at SFMW, SFGAm, and Possessed at Dorney Park.
I can't believe these rides are 24 years old now (Possesed 25, it was Six Flags Ohio's right?). Yea anyway these rides were plagued with design flaws that they seem to have patched over many times now and IDK how long they are going to find it worth the money to keep doing that. Oddly enough I think the one at Valleyfair is safe because its such a big popular ride there...I think the same may be for Dorney as well, but we will see, its pretty old.
Vortex at Carowinds, Iron Wolf/Apocalypse/Firebird at SFA, Vortex/Patriot at CGA
Yea...I mean...no one cares about these rides. I think the only reason they are still there is because these parks lack in the "good big rides" category.
and last but not least
Tomb Raider/Time Warp and Top Gun/Flight Deck at Canada's Wonderland. How in the HELL have they not taken these out yet? CF has owned this park for almost 20 years and replacing these rides with something good should have been priority #1. They are right next to each other and take a large plot of land that could be used for a good ride...or literally anything else. A grass field would be a huge improvement. Time Warp may just be the worst coaster I have ever ridden.
Can't believe I forgot Kumba, which has got to be the most unpopular big coaster in the country at this point. Haven't ridden it in years.
Six Flags announced a couple of weeks ago that they are planning to replace 20 track pieces on El Toro in 2025, and will continue to perform upgrades and track replacements through 2027. The specificity of this announcement leads me to believe El Toro is pretty safe at least for the next 10 years. The only downside is that it's possible that since it sounds like work will be occurring over the next 2+ years, there could be stretches of the season where El Toro is down and not available for weeks at a time.
I would be worried about any Arrow suspended coaster right now given the costs of maintaining these coasters. Iron Dragon, Ninja, and the Bat are all on their last legs IMHO, and the most endangered coasters right now. I'd also say Arrow loopers are also endangered, especially with Six Flags already announcing the closure of Anaconda and reports that Carolina Cyclone could be closing later this year.
The first generation of B&M loopers could also be on the chopping block with Kumba at the top of the list. There have been rumors that the coaster is running on fumes, and nothing short of a full track replacement (a la Hulk), could save one of B&M's first coasters from the scrap yard.