Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Hi guys. When new rides open and come into the mainstream news, you may notice that the designers of said attractions are often portrayed as sadists who love seeing people scream and seeing what people will take. Sometimes, the designers themselves even lean into this; around its opening, John Wardley said regarding Nemesis “For the technically minded, this is a multi-inversion suspended roller coaster. But for the rest of you, it’s just designed to scare you s***less!”. There’s often been that angle in media related to roller coasters and other theme park attractions of their designers having an ever so slightly sadistic streak! With this in mind, I’d be intrigued to know; in your view, what is the most sadistic (for lack of a better term) theme park attraction? What attraction do you come off feeling as if the designers might have had an ever so slightly sadistic streak?
I’ll get the ball rolling with two suggestions.
After spending the day at Blackpool Pleasure Beach yesterday, I honestly think Valhalla at Blackpool Pleasure Beach might be a good candidate for “most sadistic theme park attraction”. It has some awesome special effects, but it is so phenomenally wet quite unlike anything else that you do wonder whether the designers had an ever so slight sadistic streak. The numerous dumpings of icy cold water over the boat during the ride must have been dreamed up by someone who had an ever so slight urge to see how much people could handle!
The other suggestion I’d provide is Pop-Eye and Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges at Islands of Adventure. Like Valhalla, the ride is phenomenally wet, and certain effects like the way it effectively dumps an entire bucket of water on unlucky riders at one point do rank high on the sadism scale, as theme park attractions go!
There’s quite a common thread of water rides here for me…
But I’d be interested to know; what do you think is the most sadistic theme park attraction (for lack of a better term)? What attraction makes you wonder whether the designers had an ever so slightly sadistic streak about them? (In case it wasn’t clear, I’m being quite light hearted with the definition of “sadistic” here)
I’ll get the ball rolling with two suggestions.
After spending the day at Blackpool Pleasure Beach yesterday, I honestly think Valhalla at Blackpool Pleasure Beach might be a good candidate for “most sadistic theme park attraction”. It has some awesome special effects, but it is so phenomenally wet quite unlike anything else that you do wonder whether the designers had an ever so slight sadistic streak. The numerous dumpings of icy cold water over the boat during the ride must have been dreamed up by someone who had an ever so slight urge to see how much people could handle!
The other suggestion I’d provide is Pop-Eye and Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges at Islands of Adventure. Like Valhalla, the ride is phenomenally wet, and certain effects like the way it effectively dumps an entire bucket of water on unlucky riders at one point do rank high on the sadism scale, as theme park attractions go!
There’s quite a common thread of water rides here for me…
But I’d be interested to know; what do you think is the most sadistic theme park attraction (for lack of a better term)? What attraction makes you wonder whether the designers had an ever so slightly sadistic streak about them? (In case it wasn’t clear, I’m being quite light hearted with the definition of “sadistic” here)
