Major new theme park rides are big investments for the operators that pay for them. Generally speaking, they are expected to boost attendance levels in their debut year, and to continue to entertain guests for years (and possibly decades) after that. Most new rides, even the more innovative ones, build upon what has come before them. The ground-breaking Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man at Universal’s Islands of Adventure, for example, incorporated proven elements from Terminator 2 3-D and Back to the Future: The Ride. The experience gained from those existing attractions helped to ensure that the new one was a success. Inevitably, though, theme parks can’t get it right every time, particularly if they are trying to do something that really breaks the mould. Every now and then, a ride fails so catastrophically that they are forced to write off their entireinvestment and simply shut it down or rebuild it from scratch. And it can happen to the best of them – even market leaders Disney and Universal. Let’s take a look at 5 examples.
5. X (Six Flags Magic Mountain)
Image: ElisaSizzle, Wikipedia (license)
The word “prototype” probably sends shivers down the spines of theme park executives, carrying as it does notions of products that are untested and unproven. But when Six Flags Magic Mountain decided to install a prototype roller coaster from Arrow Dynamics for the 2001 season, it must have felt pretty confident. This, after all, was the company that had worked with Disney to produce the Matterhorn Bobsleds, the world’s first tubular steel coaster. The company that had built the world’s first double-looping corkscrew coaster for Knott’s Berry Farm. The company that had built the world’s first log flume ride, for the first Six Flags park in Texas. What could possibly go wrong? As it turned out, just about everything. The construction and opening of X turned out to be such a disaster that it led to the demise of Arrow as an independent company, and left Six Flags thoroughly embarrassed in the process. It’s easy to see howSix Flags was seduced into working with Arrow, which was already in severe financial distress at the time. It was offering the chain the chance to install the world’s first “fourth dimension” roller coaster, with the train’s seats able to rotate 360 degrees during the ride. As the “coaster wars” raged with rival Cedar Fair, this was a chance for Six Flags to get a leg up. Unfortunately, Arrow’s mind-blowing concept had one flaw: it didn’t work. The ride’s opening was delayed from summer 2001 until January 2002, when X did finally open to generally positive reviews. It was a false dawn, though: the coaster was closed again in June 2002 to allow Arrow to make modifications to the trains. It finally reopened in August of that year.
The delays to the opening of the prototype coaster, along with subsequent modifications that were required to its trains, were simply to much for Arrow to cope with. Combined with the failure of the company’s next prototype, the Pipeline Coaster, the fiasco led to the company filing for bankruptcy and eventually being acquired by S&S. Despite Arrow’s collapse, X does live on. The coaster underwent a major refurbishment by S&S Arrow in 2008, adding new trains, special effects and paint, and received its new name of X2.
4. Rocket Rods (Disneyland)
Tomorrowland has always been the most difficult of Disneyland’s themed areas to maintain. After all, it is meant to depict the future, and any attractions that attempt to do this are doomed to seem dated eventually. That’s why the area has undergone a number of major overhauls since the park opened in 1955. During the 1990s, Disney’s Imagineers planned perhaps the most ambitious update to Tomorrowland yet undertaken, one that would transform it into “Tomorrowland 2055”. However, the disastrous financial performance of the Euro Disney Resort following its debut in 1992 put an end to those plans. Instead, then-CEO Michael Eisner instructed the Imagineers to revive the area without breaking the bank. Ironically, in order to stay within the budgetary restraints forced upon them by the Euro Disney Resort disaster, the Imagineers decided to lift a concept from the Parisian park. Tomorrowland would be given a new “steampunk” look, inspired by the retro-futuristic Discoveryland at Euro Disneyland. The entire land was repainted in bronze, with rocks bursting from the ground. The budget didn’t stretch to adding many new rides, but an expensive update to the aging PeopleMover ride would create a new headliner ride for Tomorrowland. Or at least, that was the plan. 
The moderately-paced PeopleMover vehicles were replaced by the Rocket Rods, a high-speed thrill ride that operated on the same track. After boarding a 5-seat Rocket Rod, riders raced around the circuit at a much faster pace than the old WEDway vehicles. Unfortunately, the attempt to bolt the new attraction onto the existing PeopleMover infrastructure proved to be catastrophic. The unbanked turns weren’t suited to high speeds, so the Rocket Rods had to slow down to a crawl on each bend. Tires wore out quickly, and the entire attraction was shuttered in September 2000. It’s still standing but not operating today.
3. Sylvester McMonkey McBean’s Very Unusual Driving Machines (Islands of Adventure)
Image: Universal
As it planned the Universal Orlando Resort’s second theme park, Islands of Adventure, Universal was determined to include attractions that would appeal to younger children. “In the early days of this project,” recalls Universal Creative’s Mark Woodbury, “we were looking for something that would appeal to kids. You’re nowhere without Dr. Seuss. So very early on we looked at bringing to life the works and writings of Dr. Seuss.” The result was Seuss Landing, a whimsical land that does not feature a single straight line. To create the curvy, Seussian facades, Universal employed a material more usually employed for thermal insulation purposes: Styrofoam. Almost everything was made of the material, with artists taking large chunks, attaching them to the fronts of the buildings, and then carving them with chainsaws initially and then with dull knives to create the final image. To offer an aerial tour of the area, allowing guests to really appreciate the theming, Universal installed the monorail-style Sylvester McMonkey McBean’s Very Unusual Driving Machines. In a park filled with prototype, cutting-edge attractions, this would surely be one of the simplest to get up-and-running, right? Wrong. The monorail was the only one of the park’s attractions not ready for its opening day.
In the original design for Sylvester McMonkey McBean’s Very Unusual Driving Machines, riders would be able to control the speed of their vehicles, to the extent that they could even gently bump the other cars. Universal refused to be drawn on the reasons for the delayed opening, with some reports suggesting that the ride lacked a convenient escape route in the event of a breakdown. As a result, its 15-foot-high track stood empty for some seven years. When it did finally open as the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride, the bumper-car effect was no more.
2. Son of Beast (Kings Island)
Image: Chris Hagerman , Wikipedia (license)
After opening in 1979, The Beast became one Kings Island’s most iconic attractions. At the time, it was the longest, tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster in the world. It was only natural then, for the park to attempt to repeat its success with a “sequel” ride two decade later. Announced on May 11, 1999, Son of Beast would become the world’s first wooden hypercoaster, boasting a 214-foot first drop. It would also become the world’s fastest wooden roller coaster, hitting a top speed of more than 78 miles per hour. On top of that, it would be the only wooden roller coaster in the world to feature a vertical loop. Kings Island planned to spend more than $20 million working with the Roller Coaster Corporation of America to build this truly monstrous creation. Things started to go wrong even before Son of Beast opened, with Kings Island’s then-owner, Paramount Parks, firing RCCA before construction was completed. It did open in May 2000, though, complete with its 118-foot loop – making it the first modern wooden coaster to incorporate such an inversion. Unfortunately, guests were discovering that riding Son of Beast was more painful than fun, and it soon built a fearsome reputation. Kings Island was forced to make several design corrections during its opening year – but much worse was to come. The ride was closed in July 2006 when a part of its structure failed, creating a fault in the track that led to a train coming to a sudden stop. As a result, the ride’s trains were replaced with lighter versions to reduce stress on the track, and the loop – one of Son of Beast’s signature elements – was removed.
In 2009, a second incident led to Son of Beast closing once again. A woman claimed that the intensity of the coaster had caused a blood vessel in her brain to burst. Ohio state investigators later ruled that the ride design was not at fault for the injury, but Kings Island opted to keep the ride closed while it considered options for its future. In the end, it decided that Son of Beast hadno future. Instead, it was finally dismantled and removed from the park in 2012.
1. Jaws (Universal Studios Florida)
With the original movie having pulled in an incredible $470 million at the box office and being one of Universal Pictures’ best-known productions, the decision to bring Jaws to Universal Studios Florida for its opening in 1990 was not a difficult one. However, even before work started, it was recognized that developing the Jaws attraction would be a hugely complicated undertaking – perhaps more so than any other attraction at Universal Studios Florida. True to Universal’s aim of placing guests “inside the movies”, Jaws would feature a live actor playing the role of the boat’s skipper (leading many to compare it to a white-knuckle version of Disney’s famous Jungle Cruise attraction). After boarding their tour boats, guests would be whisked around the waterfront in the town of Amity (seen in the Jaws movies) to explore the sites where the shark had previously attacked. Of course, things would soon go awry, with the shark appearing on the scene, menacing riders and even grabbing the boat with its razor-sharp teeth. In total, MCA spent more than $30 million to produce the Jaws ride, making it one of Universal Studios Florida’s most expensive attractions. However, persuading its mechanical predators to perform for guests on a day-by-day basis was to prove to be an even bigger challenge than the ride’s initial construction. On the park’s opening day, Jaws operated sporadically for just two hours before thunderstorms in the afternoon forced it to be shut down for the day. Director Steven Spielberg and his family were reported to have been among those trapped on the ride. It reopened for “technical rehearsals” a few days later. At one point, a boat’s skipper was forced to say: “Imagine explosions over there.” Timing the gyrations of the pontoon boats such that they matched the shark’s actions was proving to be immensely difficult. If the timing was off, Jaws simply appeared to be thrashing around in the water for no reason – making the experience unintentionally hilarious, rather than terrifying. Making adjustments was complicated by the location of the ride’s machinery, much of which was 20 feet below the surface of the lagoon. 
By mid-August – just two-and-half months after opening – Universal Studios Florida admitted defeat. Jaws was closed completely to undergo an overhaul that took three years to complete and essentially involved rebuilding the entire attraction from scratch. The rebuild cost even more than the original construction, at an eye-watering $40 million.
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