Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Hi guys. Last year was an interesting year for ride closures in the theme park industry, with quite a few notable names departing for that big theme park in the sky in 2024. Kingda Ka was probably the crown jewel of these notable closures, but there were some other notable ones in the USA, such as Green Lantern, Anaconda and Nighthawk, and closer to home (albeit not particularly comparable in terms of scale), The Blade also operated for the final time at Alton Towers in 2024 after over 40 years in the lineup. Over my time socialising in theme park enthusiast circles, I’ve noticed that the closure of a ride can tend to bring out… extremes of emotion regarding it. When a ride closes, general opinion often pivots towards either idolising it and making it out to be a “lost legend” of sorts or severely criticising it and expressing words to the effect of “good riddance to bad rubbish”. With this in mind, I’d be intrigued to know; are there any defunct attractions where you differ from the common consensus that’s developed around them in death? Is there a defunct ride that goes down in legend that you didn’t think was all that? Or is there a defunct ride that history doesn’t look back kindly on that you actually really liked?
I’ll get the ball rolling with a couple of my own answers.
In terms of a defunct ride that goes down in legend that I didn’t think was all that, I’d firstly bring Dragon Challenge at Universal’s Islands of Adventure into the conversation. A lot of people seem to look back on this duo of duelling B&M inverts really fondly, I’ve sometimes heard Hagrid’s compared unfavourably to them, and they generally seem to be perceived as legends of the defunct coaster world. But personally, I didn’t massively rate either side. While I admittedly only rode either side once and did not get to experience them duelling, I thought they were easily the two weakest B&M inverts I’ve ridden by some distance. I didn’t think they were bad rides per se, but I wouldn’t really extend my praise beyond “average”. I don’t particularly miss them, I infinitely prefer Hagrid’s, and I don’t think they personally lived up to their legendary posthumous reputation for me.
I’m going to go quite Alton Towers centric for my next two answers; with it being my most visited park and the park I’ve been going to annually since I was 6, it’s the park where I’ve seen the most attractions come and go by some distance.
Maybe “goes down in legend” is a bit of an exaggeration for this one, but a warmly remembered defunct ride at Alton Towers that I didn’t think was all that, perhaps controversially, was The Flume. I never got the point of the section in the woods that seemed never-ending, and I never found it anything overly remarkable as log flumes go. I definitely thought its time had come by the time it went, and I infinitely prefer Wicker Man. I didn’t ride it very much (my last ride on The Flume was in 2014, and I seem to remember that being my first ride on it for a couple of years at the time), whereas Congo River Rapids used to be a staple every visit when we went to Alton for weekends when I was a child, which I think says it all, really!
On the flip side of this, a defunct Alton ride that was panned both posthumously and in life that I actually have very fond childhood memories of is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This seems to be utterly panned by enthusiasts, but I absolutely loved it as a child and always found it such a magical ride, with great theming and an awesome elevator section! It was one of the key rides me and my mum used to love riding together when I wasn’t big enough for the big rides and my sister was off riding those with my dad, and of all the rides I did as a child at Alton, Charlie is one of the ones I have some of the fondest memories from. Enthusiasts might pan it, but I’ll always have a soft spot for it, personally.
But I’d be keen to know; what are some defunct attractions that you differ from the common consensus on? Are there any defunct rides that you loved and everyone else hated? Or are there any that everyone else loved and you didn’t overly rate?
I’ll get the ball rolling with a couple of my own answers.
In terms of a defunct ride that goes down in legend that I didn’t think was all that, I’d firstly bring Dragon Challenge at Universal’s Islands of Adventure into the conversation. A lot of people seem to look back on this duo of duelling B&M inverts really fondly, I’ve sometimes heard Hagrid’s compared unfavourably to them, and they generally seem to be perceived as legends of the defunct coaster world. But personally, I didn’t massively rate either side. While I admittedly only rode either side once and did not get to experience them duelling, I thought they were easily the two weakest B&M inverts I’ve ridden by some distance. I didn’t think they were bad rides per se, but I wouldn’t really extend my praise beyond “average”. I don’t particularly miss them, I infinitely prefer Hagrid’s, and I don’t think they personally lived up to their legendary posthumous reputation for me.
I’m going to go quite Alton Towers centric for my next two answers; with it being my most visited park and the park I’ve been going to annually since I was 6, it’s the park where I’ve seen the most attractions come and go by some distance.
Maybe “goes down in legend” is a bit of an exaggeration for this one, but a warmly remembered defunct ride at Alton Towers that I didn’t think was all that, perhaps controversially, was The Flume. I never got the point of the section in the woods that seemed never-ending, and I never found it anything overly remarkable as log flumes go. I definitely thought its time had come by the time it went, and I infinitely prefer Wicker Man. I didn’t ride it very much (my last ride on The Flume was in 2014, and I seem to remember that being my first ride on it for a couple of years at the time), whereas Congo River Rapids used to be a staple every visit when we went to Alton for weekends when I was a child, which I think says it all, really!
On the flip side of this, a defunct Alton ride that was panned both posthumously and in life that I actually have very fond childhood memories of is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This seems to be utterly panned by enthusiasts, but I absolutely loved it as a child and always found it such a magical ride, with great theming and an awesome elevator section! It was one of the key rides me and my mum used to love riding together when I wasn’t big enough for the big rides and my sister was off riding those with my dad, and of all the rides I did as a child at Alton, Charlie is one of the ones I have some of the fondest memories from. Enthusiasts might pan it, but I’ll always have a soft spot for it, personally.
But I’d be keen to know; what are some defunct attractions that you differ from the common consensus on? Are there any defunct rides that you loved and everyone else hated? Or are there any that everyone else loved and you didn’t overly rate?
I think a Retrosquad coaster could be fantastic too 
