A former Six Flags intern told me that Mr. Freeze actually has an issue with dust getting on a sensor and closing the ride, so it is not really a difficult coaster to fix most of the time. As for the power issue, well as another person said, they could modernize the launch system. I really hope they don't remove Shockwave. The airtime is so good on it and if they removed it because it's a Schwarzkopf, then they'd also have to remove Silver Bullet at Frontier City and that would basically leave the park with only two small coasters that don't have inversions and the Larson loop since Diamondback was down nearly every time I visited this year.
I agree that guests need to know what is going on if a park wants to maintain a loyalty. My home park is Kennywood and they pissed us off by being shady about what is going on with Steel Curtain.
this is why i still think this breaks of cedar fair medling. i think we all know six flags would have given a proper statement saying they are deeply sad this is going, and give a time for last rides. like volcano cedar gave next to no warning(feel free to correct me if they did. i honestly don't remember.) I can definitely see why they are doing this to save money and get out of debt, but is the imense scrutiny going to be worth it in the end.
Six Flags was already planning to remove a lot of unnecessary rides just like Cedar Fair. The thing is Six Flags were targeting smaller rides instead of coasters, since they don’t have the budget to pay for big new coasters. Cedar Fair is all about the money.
It’s frustrating how little communication is coming from these parks. Kingda Ka has been on my bucket list for over a decade; had I known earlier this season that it will be closing permanently, I would’ve had a greater chance of flying out there and getting a ride in. But since the only communication we have are the markings and now a crane on site, I, like many other enthusiasts, will miss my opportunity to live out a childhood dream. It’s heartbreaking.
I hear ya there! I got to ride Ka again this summer which was great luckily. Now I’m like is there going to be a ceremony or just drone footage of it being ripped down during winter… :-/
When i saw TTD closed i went on the first opperunity wich was the year after the pandemic. Didn't want to miss it i do hope that one isn abu dabi opens up again cause i missed that one.
Dude I just went on la vibora and I was the most out of control I’ve ever felt on a rollercoaster it was insane and I was laughing when we hit the breaks. Pls keep this thing around it’s one of a kind now and six flags over Texas does not need to take out anything right now
14:41 Oh man! Taylor absolutely lays into the management here. And knowing your channel's reach, I would bet that there's at least one or two who watch your videos. 👏
Haven't got there yet, but it is well deserved though! What is going on is kind of disgusting. I've already been on the receiving end of a no notice closure with cedar fair. Geauga Lake was my home park, until those A holes closed it down with zero warning. Some kind of message needs to be sent to the high ups. This is NOT how you treat loyal guests.
Taylor ...lol..Cedar Fair management doesn't kiss his ass like SF legacy parks, that's always been his beef with Cedar Fair. He's in the wilderness and throwing a fit.
Cedar Fair has a history of doing this. I remember when they acquired Dorney Park in the early 90s they removed a lot of the parks old unique rides and facilities. They removed the history of the park. They swapped the history for a modern clean look that we expect from their parks. It seems they're now doing that to the SF parks.
EXACTLY, this was one of the reason why I didn't trust this merger, I had a feeling that once CF was in control of the six flags parks, that they were going to start taking out rides or even closing some of the six flags parks because CF never liked the competition so the merger was a great opportunity to start eliminating parks and rides within the six flags park chain.
For anyone who is confused, here's a breakdown. In the business world if one company buys another it is either to monopolize, grow or close their competition. If two strong companies merge it is in order to expand. If two struggling companies merge it is because they are afraid they'll collapse alone so they form a stronger base by merging so that they can survive while shedding assets and cutting costs. Six Flags and Cedar Fair were both struggling because of poor ticket sales and too much debt. The point of this merger wasn't to build bigger and better rides or parks. It was to get rid of stuff. It was to sell what they can and cut their costs. I think selling parks will be very likely in the next 2 to 3 years, especially in places with higher land value. And if the land is valuable, don't think the chain would pass over an offer by a developer who intends to replace a park with a housing tract.
I’ll give some inside info as a SFMM worker, viper: no they have no plan on removing anytime soon, Superman: it’s a 50/50 they’re thinking about refurbishing it first before putting it on the chop block right away, X2: it’s always up and running unless the wind is too strong so I don’t see it going soon, the one ride I oddly do see going is Wonder Woman, it suffers at least an hour of downtime every day that SFMM is open and because of that sometimes won’t get good hourly riders, plus it being a maintenance nightmare.
I know they did some major work on the one in texas lets hope they fixed the problem cause those raptors are fun. If they don't i think RMC future will be short lived wich would be a shame.
@ I really hope they do fix it, the other day some other random manufacturer (not Irvine engineering or RMC) came by to check our block check for the ride and I participated just mostly for the money lol, but also to see what was wrong with it, because they where thinking maybe the way we ran the block check in the morning was the problem, but it’s usually error 5 which is on the blocking system on panel it says there’s a ghost train in the transfer break so it goes down automatically, or another error where the seats don’t register on the panel that’s the most common, but idk I shall see how it is once I go back to work.
WOW that's crazy, wonder woman is a replica of Jersey Devil at six flags great and Jersey Devil been running pretty good for the past 2 seasons, it may open a little later after park open but it's been pretty efficient.
Over Texas regular here, and I've been calling this for a while. La Vibora always has long lines, but that's because of the terrible capacity. In theory it can handle a maximum of 600 riders per minute which is already absurdly low. It's less than half of Batman's or Giant's hourly capacity, and even the nearby family coaster Runaway Mountain can do 950. But it gets worse: the "600 per hour" figure assumes every car has six guests, which is only possible if three guests sit in the laps of the other three. Sometimes you get couples who are cool with this, but other times the ops have weirdly sized groups and have to dispatch cars with only one or two guests, so on average the trains are half-full at best, which brings the capacity down to an abysmal 300 guests per hour. When those issues are combined with the prime location, relatively large footprint, room for expansion into the parking lot, and the booming population of the DFW area, La Vibora is the obvious candidate for removal. Besides, Over Texas is landlocked, so if not La Vibora, what else could they take out? Shockwave? Too much history, and the plot of land isn't ideal. Mr. Freeze? That's a maintenance nightmare, but it's a massive draw when open and the park invested into a fresh coat of paint recently. Runaway Mine Train? Way too much history and trackwork was just done. Pandemonium? The capacity for that one also sucks, but its a more modern coaster with a similar thrill factor to La Vibora on a much more compact plot surrounded by other attractions. Judge Roy? This is probably the only other coaster that makes sense to remove, but it's the park's only true woodie, has the history factor, is fairly isolated, and has a narrow out-and-back layout that limits what a potential replacement could be. No matter how you slice it, it has to be La Vibora. It's the most disposable coaster in the lineup. Edit: they actually mention Mr. Freeze and Shockwave as closure candidates. I think it's possible for Freeze but very unlikely for Shockwave. Again, Freeze draws huge crowds, and while you could make the excuse that its maintenance problems and high operating expenses make it similar to Kingda Ka, I don't think either are as bad for Freeze. As for Shockwave, I doubt it costs much to operate, since it seems to have a fairly small crew, can get parts from Gerstlauer, and doesn't require a launch. It's also reliable, operates on a plot you can't do much with, and has those iconic loops visible off the interstate. Plus, it's the only coaster aside from Batman with multiple inversions, so until a new sit-down looper comes to the park, Shockwave is an essential part of the lineup. Even if it never draws a huge crowd, the same is true Judge Roy Scream, which also operates less frequently, has a bigger (albeit narrow) plot, and is much more maintenance intensive by virtue of being a woodie. I'd bet on the Judge getting removed over Shockwave.
I would also like to add that Shock Wave and Judge Roy scream having short waits is also attributed to the fact that they are off the beaten path at the edges of the park. Their entrances are not on main pathways. Titan proves this theory as most times when I visit I don’t have to wait very long in its line if at all; even when it’s the tallest coaster in the park. It is very ironic at SFOT as higher capacity rides like Titan, Shock Wave, and Batman are at the edges of the park, and lows capacity ones like Runaway Mountain and Pandemonium are at the center on main pathways inside the park.
From what I've been hearing from the Texas Thrill Seekers FB page, it isn't just La Vibora that's going bye-bye. El Diablo, the Larsen looper, is also closing. As Six Flags Over Texas is my home park, I have a couple of ideas in my mind: 1. Mr. Freeze shouldn't be closing. It's a signature attraction and quite beloved. What I'd do is simple..replace the LIMs with an LSM launch system. 2. Shock Wave is a gem of a ride and definitely has a nostalgic place in many guests' hearts. If it does go for some reason, I'd say let Vekoma come in with a whole new layout, perhaps a tilt coaster. Name it "Shock Wave 2.0" or something like that. 3. To replace La Vibora and El Diablo, I have a couple of ideas: either an RMC Raptor or GCI woodie, both with compact, custom layouts.
This whole movement reeks of cedar fair's side of the merger in my opinion. Say what you will about the old six flags but they understood that their rides mean something to the park goers. There's no shot in hell they would have abruptly closed kingda Ka without a proper send off pre merger. Cedar fair did the same thing with volcano
The amount of rides that you guys mentioned to possibly taken down is really sad for me. (i.e. Mr. Freeze, Shockwave, Batwing, and even my home park Six Flags America.) Although you guys are just guessing, I feel like you guys are right. It’s just a reminder for me as an enthusiast, that the world can be tough. I have been going to six flags America since I was a kid. And so many rides at Six Flags Over Texas was shocking to me😢😢😢. I physically cannot accept that these could be gone.😢 I do also really want to thank you guys for letting me know about this possibility in advance.
Hey Six Flags America is my “home” park too! I haven’t been in years though. Only this past year have I started going back to parks because my friend from SoCal loves coasters. Even when he visited me here in Maryland, he rather wanted to go to Great Adventure in New Jersey and Kings Dominion in Virginia, haha. He skipped ours. I keep hearing about the bad guest behavior thing and it did seem true when I was there in the 00s but is it _still_ really a problem? Like, what is management doing? How have they not addressee it by now?
@ Yeah, unfortunately they used to have guest behavior issues. The good news is they have fixed those problems. I’ve noticed that they have been cleaning up the park a lot more now. They just re-did the whole southwest area (where Mind eraser used to be) and called it steam town. I would argue that it competes with some of the better area of theme parks too. The area around Superman looks really good too. Another good thing is that they recently have been running two trains, which really helps with capacity. Overall there are a few places that they could improve like the whistle stop kid area. Personally that area looks pretty bad especially when they permanently closed it. All the rides are like half taken out and there are markings everywhere on the ground. Yeah they have worked a lot on the park over the past several years. You should definitely give it a try. :)
There have been zero good decisions made at the new six flags company. I have a friend who works at one of the parks, and all they’ve done recently is hire more middle management. The people who add zero or negative value to a company. Six Flags, Sea World and Disney, all dumpster fires at the moment. Thankfully we’ve got Universal and Herschend doing amazing work.
Yeah La Vibora's time is short IMO, seeing the sleds from Alpine Bobsled didn't go to TX. The updated sleds made a world of difference in better* ride quality and capacity. Sad to see it go, it's a good starter coaster because of the hight requirement. It's also an interesting ride design we will probably never see again just like the hydraulic launch.
IIRC the trains on Alpine Bobsled are a bit different from the ones on La Vibora. Might not have been compatible, but yeah the Intamin bobsleds were never the most comfortable or reliable.
My opinion on the Magic Mountain rides you mentioned. Viper, sounds ridiculous considering the rumors for years but I’m betting it stays awhile. That ride is a tank, say what you want about it, but it’s always running. Highly doubt it’s a huge money eater. If it was it would’ve probably been gone awhile ago considering the low ridership. There’s 4 rides in this park i’d consider more at risk. From least likely to most likely to go i’d guess this Scream, not a money eater, but at the same time really doesn’t do much for them. If they transferred this to another park I highly doubt magic mountain would get a drastic attendance drop, but some other parks would definitely spike even if you stuck this mid ride in there. Ninja, this ride is really showing its age sadly and they’ve had to put a good chunk of money into it recently to keep it up. One of the ops on it told me it was on its last legs. I don’t think they’d want to remove this, but there’s definitely a time and money limit on it i think. X2, if this goes I legitimately would cry. Thankfully this year it’s been running fairly good. It’s definitely a money eater and not the best uptime record and that scares me. It’s third train has been out for “refurbishment” for almost 5 years. It’s second train is getting really rough now too. There’s complaints about roughness from guests on it. It doesn’t look that good for it if this is the chain’s future. Superman seems almost doomed to get canned. It rarely runs, when it does run it’s only one side. It sticks right into the plot they just cleared out. Tons of electricity to run, and unlike X2 i doubt there would be a gigantic attendance drop for removing it. Some would be sad including me, but I think most of us could live without that literal jet engine deafening the entire park. At that it’s an Intamin, we know cedar fair is no fan of those. Ka is an intamin, la vibora is an intamin. I hope they keep superman especially the forward side up a little while to give us time to enjoy it but i wouldn’t be surprised if it goes at all. Please please leave X2 alone 🙏
The one that I wouldn't miss is Scream. I usually skip it. If I do ride it, then I do it at the end of the day because my day would pretty much be ruined if I rode it earlier. It's like that coaster was designed specifically to give me a headache and I probably wouldn't be that into it even if that weren't the case. I would also legit cry over X2.
At SFMM, I would keep my eye on Superman; perhaps the new coaster has been pushed to 2026 not so much because of any other reason other than it would be in the way of demolition for Superman.
I hope they keep Superman, even its its only available to ride during weekends or holiday events. Its too nostalgic for me to loose and it was my favorite back in my 1997 and 1999 trips and throughout the 2000s. I miss the original trains from before 2013!
@@The8BitNerdthey can keep the tower. They won’t though if Superman goes it’s going to. Both of those rides are problematic and on top of that Intamins. X2 really scares me actually. It seems unbelievable that it might be screwed but it’s also extremely expensive. One of its trains went for refurb years ago and never came back. It’s been on one train a lot. Seeing them rip KA out of Great Adventure though sets a standard, nothing is safe. I do think Superman will go first though
Bobsled (la vibora) and the Larson Loop at SFOT are closed and being removed. Shockwave will stay for the foreseeable future. It is a part of the parks identity. The park has committed to keeping the ride operating as long as possible which is why it gets re-tracked and refurbed almost every year. Freeze is an interesting take. There has been talk of upgrading the ride to a more reliable launch like LSMs, but time will tell.
I hope both Shockwave and Mr Freeze stick around for a long time! But when Six Flags is pretty ruthlessly removing rides that have been expensive or problematic within the chain, doesn't matter how well liked it is, those two do come to mind among the SFOT line up. We'll have to see what happens. Fingers crossed they stick around.
I like to look at Costco as an example of loyalty to members/guests. Why do you think the hotdog is still $1.50 or the chicken $5? (most places). Costco loses a lot of money on sales and products but what they gain is cardholders and money from these memberships which parkgoers mostly pay for memberships. what I'm getting at is if six flags ran Costco like these parks right now, they'd probably remove food court and raise chickens to like $12 because they "lose money". the people are the ones who pay to be there and just removing these historic attractions without any fanfare/last chances is going to hurt them like Sarah said.
Valley reintroduced ValleyScare this year, Valleyfair reported that it was the most attended fall event in their history. And that’s saying something because ValleyScare has always been well attended and the most profitable season for the park.
That's fantastic to hear, because removing ValleyScare the last two years is EASILY the most boneheaded decision Valleyfair has ever made. I don't know if it was because of Covid or because they were scared of the youths coming in and starting riots, but it was an extremely cowardly decision that cost the park dearly. It also ties up nicely with rumors that we _might_ get something in 2026. We have the space in the front of the park for a new coaster. As for removing problematic rides... Valleyfair really doesn't have too many. Possibly Steel Venom because of issues with Intamin Impulses. But otherwise the only other options are replacing one or two of the smaller coasters (Corkscrew, Excalibur, Mad Mouse) with newer rides. I also don't see Cedar Fair's management looking to sell off the park, one because of their history within the chain, and two because VF is in a flood plain near an industrial part of town. Won't get a lot of money trying to sell it, but isn't losing money keeping it either.
I feel like vertical velocity at discovery Kingdom is going to be getting demolished. Last time I went, which was in July, and the ground leading to vertical velocity was completely destroyed.
Totally agree! If they give out announcements of closing of a specific ride it keeps us at least in the know and can enjoy it one last time as a great memory. SFNE basically tore down Goliath Towers during COVID and winter and had to go and see that it was missing one day once they opened. That was kinda awful even though it was probably time to go anyways.
i totally agree with the thing about everyone having some connection to any ride. at the start of 2023 when the ultimate (an arguably random and forgotten coaster in the uk) demolition footage started getting leaked it took me months to get over the sadness. it was the first 'major' coaster i went on and it had such personality.
Maybe superman at magic mountains possible closure was already part of the plan anyway with the Golden bear theater project, that would definitely give an expansion to that plot.
Having lived through Six Flags America being Wild World and Adventure World, even though it's not the nicest park in the chain by any means, it holds a very sentimental value to me, and my kids, so to see it go would hurt badly. There are times we will go down on a weekend for a few hours or in the summer after work during the week. It's nice to have a local park when you don't want to travel a couple hours away to one of the other bigger ones. Not to mention the local people that go there, especially during the summer are people who won't, or maybe can't, travel to the other parks that are further away. Hurricane Harbor is absolutely packed during the summer with families. And because of where the park is located a lot of the younger people that live nearby take public transportation to get there because they have no other way. Yes we have had problems there in the past with guest behavior but recently when we've gone there has been a really strong police/security presence and things have been quieter. Tyler and I have discussed the possibility of them closing the park and just leaving Hurricane Harbor so maybe if they do decide to to something that could be an option. Either way if they do decide to close it down it will be a very sad day for those of us who grew up with the park going through all it's different phases making memories with friends/families and eventually with our own children 😢
I’ve read that the land SFA is on is worth over $230 million. I would be shocked if they didn’t close it, sell the land and move rides/assets to other parks. Especially, to some of the smaller parks that are still profitable.
This is bittersweet for me because Six Flags Over Texas is my home park. I live 18 to 24 minutes away. La Vibora is an historic coaster like you guys say. It's Intamin's third oldest operating coaster; however, every time I've ridden it has hurt so bad. 🤔
I live a bit further away (europe) got the cred i wouldn't mind if they replaced it with something decent that park can really use a decent coaster a new gen vekoma would fit nicely into that park since its more family firndly then the other six flags parks.
Remember, this company (or remnants of it) closed Geauga Lake without any announcement, so it’s not really a new thing. 😞. Still, it does suck for regular visitors when something is just ripped out without any warning, so my condolences to fans of SfGAdv and SFoT.
That’s never gonna happen realistically. The boss is still a popular ride in its park and I’m confident that no six flags parks will ever get an RMC conversion ever again. If they were going to do it it would have been done at the peak of conversions during the 2010s. Since 2020 there have been 2 RMC conversions, neither of which is from a six flags park
I was upset at first but I think it’s good the parks are getting new attractions it will bring new life and more attendance plus with all the money they have now I can only see amazing things for all their properties and yes even Michigan’s adventure
You've convinced me to make my first trip to SFGA this weekend. Fortunately I live a 3 hour drive away so last minute plans were possible. I'm sad El Toro is closed for my first visit. Just hoping Kingda Ka doesn't break down before I get a try.
I literally just said to my husband “we need to plan a trip to six flags in cali so I can get another ride on x2 and say goodbye” his response: “the way you said that made it seem like something bad was about to happen”. ME: SOMETHING BAD IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN 😂😂😂
@@Themeparkanxietyyou're not wrong, X2 could be on the chopping block due its high maintenance costs, even though it's the most popular ride in the park, cedar fair wouldn't care they would still remove it. Another ride I could see go is Ninja and they could replace it with a vekoma inverted coaster, something like dragon flyer at dollywood or those 2 vekoma suspended models in Europe. But I'll be sure to keep an eye on them just in case
@@Vinsanity1521I live 10 minutes from the park. Trust me, I’m not misinformed. Oh and I didn’t even mention the audio no longer works, trains look worn, effects don’t work half the time, and it’s rough as hell? 😅
Was that before the merger or after? If it was before, its very possible that is on hold or cancelled. A lot of changes have been happening since the companies combined.
As much as I love La Víbora and seeing it and hearing the loud sounds as I walk into the park, imagine if SixFlags Corp. put a brand new coaster (whatever that might be) in that plot of land. It would create a new sense of excitement for years to come
Hopefully they close. These stupid statements from SF fanboys. Seeing you idiots spiral would be joyful. SF legacy parks suck, CF management is trying to turn around their failure, Just look at the first combined financials...111M net income in Q3 , CF legacy parks produced 108M of it, SF legacy parks produces 3M
When I went to SFOT the first time about a year and a half ago now, La Vibora was closed and I wanted to ride it, I wanted to ride at least one Intamin Bobsled.
I went to Six Flags Over Texas at the beginning of October. Rollercoasters kept closing and then the lines were insane. Even with the haunted houses open. It was so packed. Which is fine. But the Rollercoasters closing was crazy. Cause once they started running again, the lines were long
Really good analogy with the cheap boots vs more expensive boots Six Flags/Cedar Fair comparison. I can definitely see that. Glad I got on Batwing the one and only time I went to Six Flags America in 2018. It was such a unique ride experience and felt way more intense than any B&M I'd been on. It was my favorite coaster in the park that day (just ahead of Superman), and it would be a shame to lose something so different. But I'd get it, the ride operations took FOREVER, and even with a short line, we didn't attempt a re-ride because it took comically long to load that thing.
update - The Local Rumor Mill (trademark that!) says work on removing both La Vibora and El Diablo started LAST WEEK! The park is booked out for private events after today, it reopens on the 24th for Holiday In The Park. Any word on what they're replacing it with?
I know a lot of people are mad or upset with these decisions, however, they have to remember that this is a business. The only way to keep it running is to make profit and take care of their debt. Edit: Awesome video as always Taylor and Sarah!
Ok but at the same time tho they should've been Said something! So everyone could've got their last rides in! That's exactly what kennywood did with steel phantom announced in March it was gonna close! And everyone got so many rides on it before it closed
The biggest issue I have with Mind Bender going away is it is one of the few intermediate coasters at SFOGeorgia that kids can get on. Financially, that takes out a pretty big group of people willing to pay for that park. It is my home park and we have a younger child that is just now almost hitting 48 inches. If it wasnt for Mind Bender, my son would still not have his first upside down coaster, which has been a big deal in making him a lifelong customer for the whole chain and gave us a reason to pay for the park the last two years. It may not be the most immediate money in their pocket, but it will mean more consistent money over time. I get the argument for taking out older rides, but if they do it, I hope they put in similar replacements, if nothing else.
So this is my honest opinion on La Vibora from when i visited SFoT for my first time in 2022. The percentage of change of what i expected to what experience i got was the greatest over any other right in the park, I knew NTG was going to be break, Titan is good, but i went in expecting La Vibora to be boring, but i got off smiling planning on doing it again once i got around the whole park.
Maybe (as long as Great Escape remains) we will see a replacement for Steamin Demon. The were putting an emphasis on it was it’s 40th anniversary at the park on closing day…. I think a new Vekoma thrill coaster or a Raptor (a mirrored Jersey Devil) would look great at the front of the park.
Im already starting to see some of the things begin to happen, that I SO feared would happen with this merger. You are going to see park closures, you are going to see ride removals and ride relocations. I've seen it all before. I saw what Six flags did to my beloved Kentucky kingdom back in the day.
They used to close rides without warning during the ride rotation days. Including "La Vibora" when it was "Sarajevo Bobsleds" at Six Flags Magic Mountain. There might be a newsblurb on a local TV station that would usually get the name of the ride wrong about something closing at a park and that's it.
King da Ka is officially closing on Sunday permanently! They won’t make an announcement said the park employees but that’s what they have told Colliwood Studios!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭RIP (Check out Colliwoods post for more information)
I don't think they will be relocating any coasters. I think Cedar Fair came to the conclusion after moving the Geauga Lake coasters that it's more cost effective to sell them off over seas or scrap them. Or, like the Maverick heart line roll and Wicked Twister, sell the scrap for way more than scrap value as collectibles.
Aaaand guess what; as of todayt La Vibora has just closed without a proper announcement. Shame, I loved Bob at Efteling and was sad to see that close and now there's no more of this kind unless it gets relocated but I heavily doubt that.
I'm glad I've done some YOLO trips to visit some of these parks and rides. Unfortunately, I've not been to Over Texas and will probably miss out on La Vibora. Could argue it's a fake cred anyway.
It operates under gravity, in a train, on wheels. Already close enough for me, but then throw in the bits on regular coaster track. Fortunately I was able to ride Screamin' Delta Demon, which had the same layout, on a family vacation in the early-'90s.
I personally find it disgusting with the unceremoniously closing Ka, and GL, and not even giving a chance at last rides. Reminds me of cedar fair treatment of Geauga Lake! This is ridiculous. Like, give people a chance at last rides! I couldnt just drop everything and take a trip to Jersey, like its nothing. Next year was out Great Adventure, Hershey, and Dorney trip. I seriously think that the parks could benefit more from running Ka next year, with a proper announcement from the park, to give people the chance. "Due to rising costs of maintenance, and unreliability, we have sadly had to decide to close down Kingda Ka. 2025 will be its last year at the park. Come to Great Adventure all year, to give this icon a proper sendoff
I think it's smart of them to stay tight lipped about closing problematic rides. Most of the rides you mentioned seem to be operating at a capacity less than desired already. I would have to imagine that if a ride has low ridership and they think they can stretch its life cycle to the end of a season, it would surely not make it if it had crowds like it did when it opened. For example imagine if they would have said at the end of the regular season or even during Freight Fest Extreme, Ka will be closing Nov 17th 2024, and they have huge crowds waiting to ride it and suddenly the last launch cable snaps the first weekend of November. Not only will they be ridiculed for potentially putting guests in danger, but now they have to deal with all the complaints of the thousand of people that made travel plans to come for the final weekend.
this is a very valid point. Kingda Ka has been consistently on one train as of lately; announcing a public closure would draw a HUGE crowd that the park can't likely handle
the thing is, closing a ride like that without warning is a gigantic slap to the face of your customer base. at least give them a few months to say goodbye! yes it's more expensive, and even moreso with an extra need of maintenance for the extra ridership. but closing a significant ride without warning is just brutal to your customers. to most park-goers this might not matter for something like la vibora which is only especial for thoosies that know it's the last of its kind, or even something like wild train (which did announce beforehand, thank you fantastiana). but something as iconic as kingda ka, volcano, etc. i guarantee many regulars at the park that are not necessarily coaster enthusiasts will be extremely frustrated it was gone before they could even know. how does that affect attendance? is the extra attendance you get for people wanting to go for a last ride worth the extra maintenance cost? is closing without announcing enough to anger your ridership to decrease attendance significantly the coming years? probably not, but building resentment with your customer base by closing beloved attractions without notice doesn't sound at all healthy to the prestiege of your brand and the enjoyment your guests can get out of a visit. if i ever go back to gadv post ka removal, i won't be able to look at that skyline and not see that 456ft monstrosity i was never able to say goodbye to. i feel like i would have a pretty miserable day there. idk, sorry for the rant. but your point about it being a finantial burden with extra maintenance needed is definitely true
Got my last rides yesterday. They had 2 trains running yesterday, the orange train was much smoother so they must of Frankensteind the teal one just to get it running.
@@michaelhigbee3826 I'm leaving in the wee hours of the morning...about a seven hour drive for me. I was there for my first ever visit on July 5th and Ka and Lantern were both down. So I'm looking forward to my first and last rides tomorrow!
It is a business, and businesses need to make money. As you stated, Cedar Fair had no ties to the original parks so if something isn't generating money or costing too much money, they will remove it and bring something in that will make them money. Also, the parks care about the bottom line, and no offense to coaster enthusiasts (i ride as well), its the public that brings in the money.
Funny how you think Mr Freeze is going to go when they have been constantly switching the trains on it for a different experience. Its also sone of the most efficient rides in the park for operations.
These coaster enthusiasts are making wild assumptions based on rumors. Why not wait until the offseason or next season to see what actually unfolds. Because as of today, none of the rumored rides has officially been removed. And if the rumors end up being true, maybe leaking the information is their way of quietly letting people know.
to me it so sad for six flags over texas to be my home park and thinking that these rides that i grew up on might close even if i dont ride them every time I go
As a ride operator at magic mountain, I’ve heard that 2025 will be its last year and that maintenance is working to run both sides one last time for guests to ride. That’s as of a few months ago after the small fire but I don’t know if things have changed.
I think if anything, Nighthawk closes and they use its parts for Batwing. Nighthawk is way too low capacity for Carowinds, and Cedar Fair would actually be interested in building something new in it's place, I can't really say the same for Six Flags America.
X2 is the type of ride where if it has to get the chop the company should really invest in replacing it with the same upgraded 4D coaster from S&S. It’s a one of a kind and massively marketable in the states
Not a guest losing a wallet/phone on the Flash: Vertical Velocity b-roll at 7:01 💀
oops lollll
I love ur channel Alex!!
this is why park operators are so against loose articles while onboard
@@sonnyperumal8430 💗💗💗
Happens too often 😂
seriously six flags, you remove flagship rides like kingda ka but you keep all the boomerangs and SLC's
Boomerangs are cheap
Because they are reliable
Dawg kingda ka has not gotten removed yet, nothing is confirmed
@@jvoges Would you expect them to keep a ride that is expensive to maintain and unreliable open indefinitely?
@@metallicnole4514 literally xcelerator:
A former Six Flags intern told me that Mr. Freeze actually has an issue with dust getting on a sensor and closing the ride, so it is not really a difficult coaster to fix most of the time. As for the power issue, well as another person said, they could modernize the launch system.
I really hope they don't remove Shockwave. The airtime is so good on it and if they removed it because it's a Schwarzkopf, then they'd also have to remove Silver Bullet at Frontier City and that would basically leave the park with only two small coasters that don't have inversions and the Larson loop since Diamondback was down nearly every time I visited this year.
I agree that guests need to know what is going on if a park wants to maintain a loyalty. My home park is Kennywood and they pissed us off by being shady about what is going on with Steel Curtain.
based home park 🤝
At least Kingda Ka could still take riders one last time. *cries in Volcano*
this is why i still think this breaks of cedar fair medling. i think we all know six flags would have given a proper statement saying they are deeply sad this is going, and give a time for last rides. like volcano cedar gave next to no warning(feel free to correct me if they did. i honestly don't remember.) I can definitely see why they are doing this to save money and get out of debt, but is the imense scrutiny going to be worth it in the end.
they announced the closing a volcano in the off-season and just removed it
@@StacyRayl oh. okay then. at least they announced it, but still with the low blow doing it in the off season.
@@EmberMcLain87Kings Doninion did say it was a tough call so they were being honest
@@StacyRayl yes, they announced it’s closure, AFTER it had already been down for most of the 2018 season…
Six Flags was already planning to remove a lot of unnecessary rides just like Cedar Fair. The thing is Six Flags were targeting smaller rides instead of coasters, since they don’t have the budget to pay for big new coasters. Cedar Fair is all about the money.
It’s frustrating how little communication is coming from these parks. Kingda Ka has been on my bucket list for over a decade; had I known earlier this season that it will be closing permanently, I would’ve had a greater chance of flying out there and getting a ride in. But since the only communication we have are the markings and now a crane on site, I, like many other enthusiasts, will miss my opportunity to live out a childhood dream. It’s heartbreaking.
I hear ya there! I got to ride Ka again this summer which was great luckily. Now I’m like is there going to be a ceremony or just drone footage of it being ripped down during winter… :-/
When i saw TTD closed i went on the first opperunity wich was the year after the pandemic. Didn't want to miss it i do hope that one isn abu dabi opens up again cause i missed that one.
SUNDAY IS THE LAST DAY KA IS OPEN! Ride it then, or never again!
Way to Speak up Guys to the Company about giving Notice. Kingda Ka thing is brutal. Thank you
2:34 Taylor looks like he's fighting some internal demons
Bro that's so real
New Six Flags bringin out all sorts of emotions
I can’t tell if he’s pissed or disappointed.
Probably both.
We all are since the merger
Dude I just went on la vibora and I was the most out of control I’ve ever felt on a rollercoaster it was insane and I was laughing when we hit the breaks. Pls keep this thing around it’s one of a kind now and six flags over Texas does not need to take out anything right now
i have bad news lol
Go visit Knoebels and ride the Flying Turns.
I swear I was like what is Lava Bora? But then I realized they’re saying La VÍBORA (VEE-bo-ra).
14:41 Oh man! Taylor absolutely lays into the management here. And knowing your channel's reach, I would bet that there's at least one or two who watch your videos. 👏
Haven't got there yet, but it is well deserved though! What is going on is kind of disgusting. I've already been on the receiving end of a no notice closure with cedar fair. Geauga Lake was my home park, until those A holes closed it down with zero warning. Some kind of message needs to be sent to the high ups. This is NOT how you treat loyal guests.
Taylor ...lol..Cedar Fair management doesn't kiss his ass like SF legacy parks, that's always been his beef with Cedar Fair. He's in the wilderness and throwing a fit.
Cedar Fair has a history of doing this. I remember when they acquired Dorney Park in the early 90s they removed a lot of the parks old unique rides and facilities. They removed the history of the park. They swapped the history for a modern clean look that we expect from their parks. It seems they're now doing that to the SF parks.
EXACTLY, this was one of the reason why I didn't trust this merger, I had a feeling that once CF was in control of the six flags parks, that they were going to start taking out rides or even closing some of the six flags parks because CF never liked the competition so the merger was a great opportunity to start eliminating parks and rides within the six flags park chain.
Imagine that, a newly created monopoly stabbing customers in the back. Go figure.
For anyone who is confused, here's a breakdown. In the business world if one company buys another it is either to monopolize, grow or close their competition. If two strong companies merge it is in order to expand. If two struggling companies merge it is because they are afraid they'll collapse alone so they form a stronger base by merging so that they can survive while shedding assets and cutting costs.
Six Flags and Cedar Fair were both struggling because of poor ticket sales and too much debt. The point of this merger wasn't to build bigger and better rides or parks. It was to get rid of stuff. It was to sell what they can and cut their costs. I think selling parks will be very likely in the next 2 to 3 years, especially in places with higher land value. And if the land is valuable, don't think the chain would pass over an offer by a developer who intends to replace a park with a housing tract.
Or a parking lot next to a football stadium.
I’ll give some inside info as a SFMM worker, viper: no they have no plan on removing anytime soon, Superman: it’s a 50/50 they’re thinking about refurbishing it first before putting it on the chop block right away, X2: it’s always up and running unless the wind is too strong so I don’t see it going soon, the one ride I oddly do see going is Wonder Woman, it suffers at least an hour of downtime every day that SFMM is open and because of that sometimes won’t get good hourly riders, plus it being a maintenance nightmare.
I know they did some major work on the one in texas lets hope they fixed the problem cause those raptors are fun. If they don't i think RMC future will be short lived wich would be a shame.
@ I really hope they do fix it, the other day some other random manufacturer (not Irvine engineering or RMC) came by to check our block check for the ride and I participated just mostly for the money lol, but also to see what was wrong with it, because they where thinking maybe the way we ran the block check in the morning was the problem, but it’s usually error 5 which is on the blocking system on panel it says there’s a ghost train in the transfer break so it goes down automatically, or another error where the seats don’t register on the panel that’s the most common, but idk I shall see how it is once I go back to work.
WOW that's crazy, wonder woman is a replica of Jersey Devil at six flags great and Jersey Devil been running pretty good for the past 2 seasons, it may open a little later after park open but it's been pretty efficient.
@@anthonyantoniohughes1184 A yes i was talking about the one in texas. Got me coasters mixed up.
SFOT closing and removing La Vibora and El Diablo. Another silent removal
Markers spotted in the area near those attractions as well
A garbage superloop & a 40 yr old defunct model..no big loss.
Over Texas regular here, and I've been calling this for a while. La Vibora always has long lines, but that's because of the terrible capacity. In theory it can handle a maximum of 600 riders per minute which is already absurdly low. It's less than half of Batman's or Giant's hourly capacity, and even the nearby family coaster Runaway Mountain can do 950. But it gets worse: the "600 per hour" figure assumes every car has six guests, which is only possible if three guests sit in the laps of the other three. Sometimes you get couples who are cool with this, but other times the ops have weirdly sized groups and have to dispatch cars with only one or two guests, so on average the trains are half-full at best, which brings the capacity down to an abysmal 300 guests per hour. When those issues are combined with the prime location, relatively large footprint, room for expansion into the parking lot, and the booming population of the DFW area, La Vibora is the obvious candidate for removal.
Besides, Over Texas is landlocked, so if not La Vibora, what else could they take out? Shockwave? Too much history, and the plot of land isn't ideal. Mr. Freeze? That's a maintenance nightmare, but it's a massive draw when open and the park invested into a fresh coat of paint recently. Runaway Mine Train? Way too much history and trackwork was just done. Pandemonium? The capacity for that one also sucks, but its a more modern coaster with a similar thrill factor to La Vibora on a much more compact plot surrounded by other attractions. Judge Roy? This is probably the only other coaster that makes sense to remove, but it's the park's only true woodie, has the history factor, is fairly isolated, and has a narrow out-and-back layout that limits what a potential replacement could be. No matter how you slice it, it has to be La Vibora. It's the most disposable coaster in the lineup.
Edit: they actually mention Mr. Freeze and Shockwave as closure candidates. I think it's possible for Freeze but very unlikely for Shockwave. Again, Freeze draws huge crowds, and while you could make the excuse that its maintenance problems and high operating expenses make it similar to Kingda Ka, I don't think either are as bad for Freeze. As for Shockwave, I doubt it costs much to operate, since it seems to have a fairly small crew, can get parts from Gerstlauer, and doesn't require a launch. It's also reliable, operates on a plot you can't do much with, and has those iconic loops visible off the interstate. Plus, it's the only coaster aside from Batman with multiple inversions, so until a new sit-down looper comes to the park, Shockwave is an essential part of the lineup. Even if it never draws a huge crowd, the same is true Judge Roy Scream, which also operates less frequently, has a bigger (albeit narrow) plot, and is much more maintenance intensive by virtue of being a woodie. I'd bet on the Judge getting removed over Shockwave.
I would also like to add that Shock Wave and Judge Roy scream having short waits is also attributed to the fact that they are off the beaten path at the edges of the park. Their entrances are not on main pathways. Titan proves this theory as most times when I visit I don’t have to wait very long in its line if at all; even when it’s the tallest coaster in the park. It is very ironic at SFOT as higher capacity rides like Titan, Shock Wave, and Batman are at the edges of the park, and lows capacity ones like Runaway Mountain and Pandemonium are at the center on main pathways inside the park.
Love the thumbnail 😂
From what I've been hearing from the Texas Thrill Seekers FB page, it isn't just La Vibora that's going bye-bye. El Diablo, the Larsen looper, is also closing. As Six Flags Over Texas is my home park, I have a couple of ideas in my mind:
1. Mr. Freeze shouldn't be closing. It's a signature attraction and quite beloved. What I'd do is simple..replace the LIMs with an LSM launch system.
2. Shock Wave is a gem of a ride and definitely has a nostalgic place in many guests' hearts. If it does go for some reason, I'd say let Vekoma come in with a whole new layout, perhaps a tilt coaster. Name it "Shock Wave 2.0" or something like that.
3. To replace La Vibora and El Diablo, I have a couple of ideas: either an RMC Raptor or GCI woodie, both with compact, custom layouts.
This whole movement reeks of cedar fair's side of the merger in my opinion. Say what you will about the old six flags but they understood that their rides mean something to the park goers. There's no shot in hell they would have abruptly closed kingda Ka without a proper send off pre merger. Cedar fair did the same thing with volcano
The amount of rides that you guys mentioned to possibly taken down is really sad for me. (i.e. Mr. Freeze, Shockwave, Batwing, and even my home park Six Flags America.) Although you guys are just guessing, I feel like you guys are right. It’s just a reminder for me as an enthusiast, that the world can be tough. I have been going to six flags America since I was a kid. And so many rides at Six Flags Over Texas was shocking to me😢😢😢. I physically cannot accept that these could be gone.😢 I do also really want to thank you guys for letting me know about this possibility in advance.
Hey Six Flags America is my “home” park too! I haven’t been in years though. Only this past year have I started going back to parks because my friend from SoCal loves coasters. Even when he visited me here in Maryland, he rather wanted to go to Great Adventure in New Jersey and Kings Dominion in Virginia, haha. He skipped ours. I keep hearing about the bad guest behavior thing and it did seem true when I was there in the 00s but is it _still_ really a problem? Like, what is management doing? How have they not addressee it by now?
@ Yeah, unfortunately they used to have guest behavior issues. The good news is they have fixed those problems. I’ve noticed that they have been cleaning up the park a lot more now. They just re-did the whole southwest area (where Mind eraser used to be) and called it steam town. I would argue that it competes with some of the better area of theme parks too. The area around Superman looks really good too. Another good thing is that they recently have been running two trains, which really helps with capacity. Overall there are a few places that they could improve like the whistle stop kid area. Personally that area looks pretty bad especially when they permanently closed it. All the rides are like half taken out and there are markings everywhere on the ground.
Yeah they have worked a lot on the park over the past several years. You should definitely give it a try. :)
Love the analogy at the end about the cheap boots vs. the expensive ones- lol spot on
It’s soooooo rough and my home park(Thorpe park) has colossus and that almost pales under on the rough scale. Big fans across the pond btw!!!!
There have been zero good decisions made at the new six flags company. I have a friend who works at one of the parks, and all they’ve done recently is hire more middle management. The people who add zero or negative value to a company.
Six Flags, Sea World and Disney, all dumpster fires at the moment.
Thankfully we’ve got Universal and Herschend doing amazing work.
Yeah La Vibora's time is short IMO, seeing the sleds from Alpine Bobsled didn't go to TX. The updated sleds made a world of difference in better* ride quality and capacity. Sad to see it go, it's a good starter coaster because of the hight requirement. It's also an interesting ride design we will probably never see again just like the hydraulic launch.
The line is always long on it too
Well it just closed permanently with no announcement, so short was an understatement.
IIRC the trains on Alpine Bobsled are a bit different from the ones on La Vibora. Might not have been compatible, but yeah the Intamin bobsleds were never the most comfortable or reliable.
My opinion on the Magic Mountain rides you mentioned.
Viper, sounds ridiculous considering the rumors for years but I’m betting it stays awhile. That ride is a tank, say what you want about it, but it’s always running. Highly doubt it’s a huge money eater. If it was it would’ve probably been gone awhile ago considering the low ridership. There’s 4 rides in this park i’d consider more at risk. From least likely to most likely to go i’d guess this
Scream, not a money eater, but at the same time really doesn’t do much for them. If they transferred this to another park I highly doubt magic mountain would get a drastic attendance drop, but some other parks would definitely spike even if you stuck this mid ride in there.
Ninja, this ride is really showing its age sadly and they’ve had to put a good chunk of money into it recently to keep it up. One of the ops on it told me it was on its last legs. I don’t think they’d want to remove this, but there’s definitely a time and money limit on it i think.
X2, if this goes I legitimately would cry. Thankfully this year it’s been running fairly good. It’s definitely a money eater and not the best uptime record and that scares me. It’s third train has been out for “refurbishment” for almost 5 years. It’s second train is getting really rough now too. There’s complaints about roughness from guests on it. It doesn’t look that good for it if this is the chain’s future.
Superman seems almost doomed to get canned. It rarely runs, when it does run it’s only one side. It sticks right into the plot they just cleared out. Tons of electricity to run, and unlike X2 i doubt there would be a gigantic attendance drop for removing it. Some would be sad including me, but I think most of us could live without that literal jet engine deafening the entire park. At that it’s an Intamin, we know cedar fair is no fan of those. Ka is an intamin, la vibora is an intamin. I hope they keep superman especially the forward side up a little while to give us time to enjoy it but i wouldn’t be surprised if it goes at all.
Please please leave X2 alone 🙏
The one that I wouldn't miss is Scream. I usually skip it. If I do ride it, then I do it at the end of the day because my day would pretty much be ruined if I rode it earlier. It's like that coaster was designed specifically to give me a headache and I probably wouldn't be that into it even if that weren't the case.
I would also legit cry over X2.
Personally more sentimental about Green Lantern than any of the others. As Chang at Kentucky Kingdom, it was the coaster that got me hooked.
At SFMM, I would keep my eye on Superman; perhaps the new coaster has been pushed to 2026 not so much because of any other reason other than it would be in the way of demolition for Superman.
Please keep drop of doom.
Indeed. Superman's days are numbered
@@DanielAgustin-z7oWell, if one comes down, they both have to.
I hope they keep Superman, even its its only available to ride during weekends or holiday events. Its too nostalgic for me to loose and it was my favorite back in my 1997 and 1999 trips and throughout the 2000s. I miss the original trains from before 2013!
@@The8BitNerdthey can keep the tower. They won’t though if Superman goes it’s going to. Both of those rides are problematic and on top of that Intamins.
X2 really scares me actually. It seems unbelievable that it might be screwed but it’s also extremely expensive. One of its trains went for refurb years ago and never came back. It’s been on one train a lot. Seeing them rip KA out of Great Adventure though sets a standard, nothing is safe. I do think Superman will go first though
Bobsled (la vibora) and the Larson Loop at SFOT are closed and being removed. Shockwave will stay for the foreseeable future. It is a part of the parks identity. The park has committed to keeping the ride operating as long as possible which is why it gets re-tracked and refurbed almost every year. Freeze is an interesting take. There has been talk of upgrading the ride to a more reliable launch like LSMs, but time will tell.
I hope both Shockwave and Mr Freeze stick around for a long time! But when Six Flags is pretty ruthlessly removing rides that have been expensive or problematic within the chain, doesn't matter how well liked it is, those two do come to mind among the SFOT line up. We'll have to see what happens. Fingers crossed they stick around.
I like to look at Costco as an example of loyalty to members/guests. Why do you think the hotdog is still $1.50 or the chicken $5? (most places). Costco loses a lot of money on sales and products but what they gain is cardholders and money from these memberships which parkgoers mostly pay for memberships. what I'm getting at is if six flags ran Costco like these parks right now, they'd probably remove food court and raise chickens to like $12 because they "lose money". the people are the ones who pay to be there and just removing these historic attractions without any fanfare/last chances is going to hurt them like Sarah said.
I agree. Kingda Ka gives them World Wide bragging rights. Without KDK, SFGAd is just another "me too" park... but with El Toro.
Valley reintroduced ValleyScare this year, Valleyfair reported that it was the most attended fall event in their history. And that’s saying something because ValleyScare has always been well attended and the most profitable season for the park.
That's fantastic to hear, because removing ValleyScare the last two years is EASILY the most boneheaded decision Valleyfair has ever made. I don't know if it was because of Covid or because they were scared of the youths coming in and starting riots, but it was an extremely cowardly decision that cost the park dearly.
It also ties up nicely with rumors that we _might_ get something in 2026. We have the space in the front of the park for a new coaster. As for removing problematic rides... Valleyfair really doesn't have too many. Possibly Steel Venom because of issues with Intamin Impulses. But otherwise the only other options are replacing one or two of the smaller coasters (Corkscrew, Excalibur, Mad Mouse) with newer rides.
I also don't see Cedar Fair's management looking to sell off the park, one because of their history within the chain, and two because VF is in a flood plain near an industrial part of town. Won't get a lot of money trying to sell it, but isn't losing money keeping it either.
La Viboras days have got to be numbered
It’s already closed
I feel like vertical velocity at discovery Kingdom is going to be getting demolished. Last time I went, which was in July, and the ground leading to vertical velocity was completely destroyed.
Never thought I would see the potential day where Ka closes before Demon at my home park does.
Totally agree! If they give out announcements of closing of a specific ride it keeps us at least in the know and can enjoy it one last time as a great memory. SFNE basically tore down Goliath Towers during COVID and winter and had to go and see that it was missing one day once they opened. That was kinda awful even though it was probably time to go anyways.
Liability insurance seems like the aspect of the Ka closure that went overlooked in discourse.
Old Six Flags Great Escape Ride Op employee here. If a single leaf fell on the trough it would shut down. Not even joking (Alpine Bobsled)
oof. thats brutal.
at least great escape got their replacement damn near immediately. Also flashback repaint plus new trains is giving me hope for my home park
I feel grateful to have ridden La Vibora back on October 27. Not the smoothest, but quite the experience
i totally agree with the thing about everyone having some connection to any ride. at the start of 2023 when the ultimate (an arguably random and forgotten coaster in the uk) demolition footage started getting leaked it took me months to get over the sadness. it was the first 'major' coaster i went on and it had such personality.
Maybe superman at magic mountains possible closure was already part of the plan anyway with the Golden bear theater project, that would definitely give an expansion to that plot.
Having lived through Six Flags America being Wild World and Adventure World, even though it's not the nicest park in the chain by any means, it holds a very sentimental value to me, and my kids, so to see it go would hurt badly. There are times we will go down on a weekend for a few hours or in the summer after work during the week. It's nice to have a local park when you don't want to travel a couple hours away to one of the other bigger ones. Not to mention the local people that go there, especially during the summer are people who won't, or maybe can't, travel to the other parks that are further away.
Hurricane Harbor is absolutely packed during the summer with families. And because of where the park is located a lot of the younger people that live nearby take public transportation to get there because they have no other way. Yes we have had problems there in the past with guest behavior but recently when we've gone there has been a really strong police/security presence and things have been quieter. Tyler and I have discussed the possibility of them closing the park and just leaving Hurricane Harbor so maybe if they do decide to to something that could be an option. Either way if they do decide to close it down it will be a very sad day for those of us who grew up with the park going through all it's different phases making memories with friends/families and eventually with our own children 😢
I’ve read that the land SFA is on is worth over $230 million. I would be shocked if they didn’t close it, sell the land and move rides/assets to other parks. Especially, to some of the smaller parks that are still profitable.
This is bittersweet for me because Six Flags Over Texas is my home park. I live 18 to 24 minutes away. La Vibora is an historic coaster like you guys say. It's Intamin's third oldest operating coaster; however, every time I've ridden it has hurt so bad. 🤔
I live a bit further away (europe) got the cred i wouldn't mind if they replaced it with something decent that park can really use a decent coaster a new gen vekoma would fit nicely into that park since its more family firndly then the other six flags parks.
Remember, this company (or remnants of it) closed Geauga Lake without any announcement, so it’s not really a new thing. 😞. Still, it does suck for regular visitors when something is just ripped out without any warning, so my condolences to fans of SfGAdv and SFoT.
Thank god I managed to ride Kingda Ka 2 years ago, sadly I never got to top thrill dragster before it closed.
Oh man, I always wanted to try one of those bobsled coasters. They look fun!
RMC the boss! Probs never will cause St. Louis population is going but dang that layout has so much potential.
That’s never gonna happen realistically. The boss is still a popular ride in its park and I’m confident that no six flags parks will ever get an RMC conversion ever again. If they were going to do it it would have been done at the peak of conversions during the 2010s. Since 2020 there have been 2 RMC conversions, neither of which is from a six flags park
La Vibora has apparently closed permanently and is already listed as “removed” on RCDB.
Glad to get good coaster news. You and brandon are probably top two on the internet
I was upset at first but I think it’s good the parks are getting new attractions it will bring new life and more attendance plus with all the money they have now I can only see amazing things for all their properties and yes even Michigan’s adventure
I'm surprised the Six Flags of then never turned La Vibora into an indoor coaster like how Avalanche Run at Cedar Point became Disaster Transport.
You've convinced me to make my first trip to SFGA this weekend. Fortunately I live a 3 hour drive away so last minute plans were possible. I'm sad El Toro is closed for my first visit. Just hoping Kingda Ka doesn't break down before I get a try.
I literally just said to my husband “we need to plan a trip to six flags in cali so I can get another ride on x2 and say goodbye” his response: “the way you said that made it seem like something bad was about to happen”. ME: SOMETHING BAD IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN 😂😂😂
X2 isn’t going anywhere…
@@Vinsanity1521that’s what people said about Ka. X2 is down half the year, never opens with the park, and costs a fortune in upkeep.
@@Themeparkanxietyyou're not wrong, X2 could be on the chopping block due its high maintenance costs, even though it's the most popular ride in the park, cedar fair wouldn't care they would still remove it. Another ride I could see go is Ninja and they could replace it with a vekoma inverted coaster, something like dragon flyer at dollywood or those 2 vekoma suspended models in Europe. But I'll be sure to keep an eye on them just in case
@@Themeparkanxietydown half the year?! I think you’re misinformed…either way, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon…
@@Vinsanity1521I live 10 minutes from the park. Trust me, I’m not misinformed.
Oh and I didn’t even mention the audio no longer works, trains look worn, effects don’t work half the time, and it’s rough as hell? 😅
The local rumor mill says that Shockwave is next in line for a repaint.
Was that before the merger or after? If it was before, its very possible that is on hold or cancelled. A lot of changes have been happening since the companies combined.
It was just a couple days ago. I came across it on Facebook, I believe in the “Texas Thrill Seekers” group.
As much as I love La Víbora and seeing it and hearing the loud sounds as I walk into the park, imagine if SixFlags Corp. put a brand new coaster (whatever that might be) in that plot of land. It would create a new sense of excitement for years to come
If they close Mind Bender I would absolutely lose it.
Hopefully they close. These stupid statements from SF fanboys. Seeing you idiots spiral would be joyful. SF legacy parks suck, CF management is trying to turn around their failure, Just look at the first combined financials...111M net income in Q3 , CF legacy parks produced 108M of it, SF legacy parks produces 3M
10:52 Batwing is also in the legacy Six Flags park that is by far the most likely to get CGAed.
When I went to SFOT the first time about a year and a half ago now, La Vibora was closed and I wanted to ride it, I wanted to ride at least one Intamin Bobsled.
same ive never been on one either they look so fun
I went to Six Flags Over Texas at the beginning of October. Rollercoasters kept closing and then the lines were insane. Even with the haunted houses open. It was so packed. Which is fine. But the Rollercoasters closing was crazy. Cause once they started running again, the lines were long
Really good analogy with the cheap boots vs more expensive boots Six Flags/Cedar Fair comparison. I can definitely see that. Glad I got on Batwing the one and only time I went to Six Flags America in 2018. It was such a unique ride experience and felt way more intense than any B&M I'd been on. It was my favorite coaster in the park that day (just ahead of Superman), and it would be a shame to lose something so different. But I'd get it, the ride operations took FOREVER, and even with a short line, we didn't attempt a re-ride because it took comically long to load that thing.
For SFOT I could see Judge Roy Scream leaving before Shockwave, but I could realistically see Mr. Freeze being first along with La Vibora.
I believe Six Flags America will sell off the unused land surrounding the parks.
Wow. I just built a copy of La Vibora in RCT2 yesterday. I had no idea that ride actually exists (for now).
Yea still exists. I road it last year. Sure its rough but its a classic
update - The Local Rumor Mill (trademark that!) says work on removing both La Vibora and El Diablo started LAST WEEK! The park is booked out for private events after today, it reopens on the 24th for Holiday In The Park.
Any word on what they're replacing it with?
I know a lot of people are mad or upset with these decisions, however, they have to remember that this is a business. The only way to keep it running is to make profit and take care of their debt.
Edit: Awesome video as always Taylor and Sarah!
Ok but at the same time tho they should've been Said something! So everyone could've got their last rides in! That's exactly what kennywood did with steel phantom announced in March it was gonna close! And everyone got so many rides on it before it closed
Its not the closures its the announcements or the lack there off.
Riding Kingda Ka was on our bucketlist, but guess it wasn’t meant to be….
True:(
The biggest issue I have with Mind Bender going away is it is one of the few intermediate coasters at SFOGeorgia that kids can get on. Financially, that takes out a pretty big group of people willing to pay for that park. It is my home park and we have a younger child that is just now almost hitting 48 inches. If it wasnt for Mind Bender, my son would still not have his first upside down coaster, which has been a big deal in making him a lifelong customer for the whole chain and gave us a reason to pay for the park the last two years. It may not be the most immediate money in their pocket, but it will mean more consistent money over time. I get the argument for taking out older rides, but if they do it, I hope they put in similar replacements, if nothing else.
Flash V2 at sfdk has to be on the chopping block because I can’t remember the last I went and it was open
its very unreliable
It was open in May when I went but I think it closed a week later I always get lucky with that ride I always seem to go when it’s running
So this is my honest opinion on La Vibora from when i visited SFoT for my first time in 2022. The percentage of change of what i expected to what experience i got was the greatest over any other right in the park, I knew NTG was going to be break, Titan is good, but i went in expecting La Vibora to be boring, but i got off smiling planning on doing it again once i got around the whole park.
Maybe (as long as Great Escape remains) we will see a replacement for Steamin Demon. The were putting an emphasis on it was it’s 40th anniversary at the park on closing day…. I think a new Vekoma thrill coaster or a Raptor (a mirrored Jersey Devil) would look great at the front of the park.
I definitely agree with this and honestly it could use it. This ride hurts and the park needs more great rides like Bobcat.
Im already starting to see some of the things begin to happen, that I SO feared would happen with this merger. You are going to see park closures, you are going to see ride removals and ride relocations. I've seen it all before. I saw what Six flags did to my beloved Kentucky kingdom back in the day.
As a matter of fact... Green lantern is one of the rides that was stolen from Kentucky kingdom
SFOT is my homework and we have been needing a good coaster for YEARS! Please get rid of those 3 mentioned and give us something worth a ride.
Of course this is all going down when I’ve started to become an enthusiast this year.
My kids and I really got into things this year too. Next year we planned Cedar Fair or Great Adventure. 😢
Kingda ka is not going anywhere and I can’t believe people think markings mean it’s done. Clearly nobody remembers tt2 getting marked up
They used to close rides without warning during the ride rotation days. Including "La Vibora" when it was "Sarajevo Bobsleds" at Six Flags Magic Mountain. There might be a newsblurb on a local TV station that would usually get the name of the ride wrong about something closing at a park and that's it.
And yet... disaster transport was a thing. But that was fully enclosed bobsled. That one was super fun!!!
this thumbnail is pretty hilarious
10:55 Sarah: TOODLES
Taylor: ignores
Oh nooooo I actually love La Vibora! I’m thankful I’ve gotten to ride it many times at least. I knew it was inevitable though.
King da Ka is officially closing on Sunday permanently! They won’t make an announcement said the park employees but that’s what they have told Colliwood Studios!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭RIP (Check out Colliwoods post for more information)
How do you know this?
@@maxhagenauer24 I haven't watched the colliwood video, but according to OP u can find it on Colliwood Studios TH-cam
Zumanjaro will close too then
@@maxhagenauer24 Colliwood Studios made a post
i was there yesterday and the ride operator told me the same. rode it 6 times as a farewell
I’m sad La Vibora is probably closing, but I’m happy I got to ride it once before it does. I felt like it was trying to kill me, great fun!
I don't think they will be relocating any coasters. I think Cedar Fair came to the conclusion after moving the Geauga Lake coasters that it's more cost effective to sell them off over seas or scrap them. Or, like the Maverick heart line roll and Wicked Twister, sell the scrap for way more than scrap value as collectibles.
Aaaand guess what; as of todayt La Vibora has just closed without a proper announcement. Shame, I loved Bob at Efteling and was sad to see that close and now there's no more of this kind unless it gets relocated but I heavily doubt that.
I'm glad I've done some YOLO trips to visit some of these parks and rides. Unfortunately, I've not been to Over Texas and will probably miss out on La Vibora. Could argue it's a fake cred anyway.
It operates under gravity, in a train, on wheels. Already close enough for me, but then throw in the bits on regular coaster track.
Fortunately I was able to ride Screamin' Delta Demon, which had the same layout, on a family vacation in the early-'90s.
@@toddjones1480 yeah was just joking. I've done the other operating bobsleds except Bobbahn at Heide Park in Germany. They're still great fun!
I personally find it disgusting with the unceremoniously closing Ka, and GL, and not even giving a chance at last rides. Reminds me of cedar fair treatment of Geauga Lake! This is ridiculous. Like, give people a chance at last rides! I couldnt just drop everything and take a trip to Jersey, like its nothing. Next year was out Great Adventure, Hershey, and Dorney trip. I seriously think that the parks could benefit more from running Ka next year, with a proper announcement from the park, to give people the chance.
"Due to rising costs of maintenance, and unreliability, we have sadly had to decide to close down Kingda Ka. 2025 will be its last year at the park. Come to Great Adventure all year, to give this icon a proper sendoff
I think it's smart of them to stay tight lipped about closing problematic rides. Most of the rides you mentioned seem to be operating at a capacity less than desired already. I would have to imagine that if a ride has low ridership and they think they can stretch its life cycle to the end of a season, it would surely not make it if it had crowds like it did when it opened. For example imagine if they would have said at the end of the regular season or even during Freight Fest Extreme, Ka will be closing Nov 17th 2024, and they have huge crowds waiting to ride it and suddenly the last launch cable snaps the first weekend of November. Not only will they be ridiculed for potentially putting guests in danger, but now they have to deal with all the complaints of the thousand of people that made travel plans to come for the final weekend.
this is a very valid point. Kingda Ka has been consistently on one train as of lately; announcing a public closure would draw a HUGE crowd that the park can't likely handle
This is the best point made yet. You are exactly correct. Imagine the ride breaks down after telling guests to come for their last rides.
the thing is, closing a ride like that without warning is a gigantic slap to the face of your customer base. at least give them a few months to say goodbye! yes it's more expensive, and even moreso with an extra need of maintenance for the extra ridership. but closing a significant ride without warning is just brutal to your customers. to most park-goers this might not matter for something like la vibora which is only especial for thoosies that know it's the last of its kind, or even something like wild train (which did announce beforehand, thank you fantastiana). but something as iconic as kingda ka, volcano, etc. i guarantee many regulars at the park that are not necessarily coaster enthusiasts will be extremely frustrated it was gone before they could even know. how does that affect attendance? is the extra attendance you get for people wanting to go for a last ride worth the extra maintenance cost? is closing without announcing enough to anger your ridership to decrease attendance significantly the coming years? probably not, but building resentment with your customer base by closing beloved attractions without notice doesn't sound at all healthy to the prestiege of your brand and the enjoyment your guests can get out of a visit. if i ever go back to gadv post ka removal, i won't be able to look at that skyline and not see that 456ft monstrosity i was never able to say goodbye to. i feel like i would have a pretty miserable day there. idk, sorry for the rant. but your point about it being a finantial burden with extra maintenance needed is definitely true
Got my last rides yesterday. They had 2 trains running yesterday, the orange train was much smoother so they must of Frankensteind the teal one just to get it running.
@@michaelhigbee3826 I'm leaving in the wee hours of the morning...about a seven hour drive for me. I was there for my first ever visit on July 5th and Ka and Lantern were both down. So I'm looking forward to my first and last rides tomorrow!
Closing La Vibora would make the Intamin Bobsled (which are imo better than the Mack ones) go extinct, so that's really sad.
Just got my last rides on KA. 10 in a row! A personal best! I will miss it a ton! 😢🤘
Just rode it today too! Such an amazing ride I will miss it so much aswell😢, RIP King 💔
It is a business, and businesses need to make money. As you stated, Cedar Fair had no ties to the original parks so if something isn't generating money or costing too much money, they will remove it and bring something in that will make them money. Also, the parks care about the bottom line, and no offense to coaster enthusiasts (i ride as well), its the public that brings in the money.
So glad i got to say hi to you behind the skyline at kings island! That was a great day to be at the park
American Eagle isn’t going to survive. Brutal. But it’s definitely lived a good life
Funny how you think Mr Freeze is going to go when they have been constantly switching the trains on it for a different experience. Its also sone of the most efficient rides in the park for operations.
These coaster enthusiasts are making wild assumptions based on rumors. Why not wait until the offseason or next season to see what actually unfolds. Because as of today, none of the rumored rides has officially been removed. And if the rumors end up being true, maybe leaking the information is their way of quietly letting people know.
“As of today” La Vibora is indeed closed forever 💁♂️
to me it so sad for six flags over texas to be my home park and thinking that these rides that i grew up on might close even if i dont ride them every time I go
Many of you forgot about the parachutes removal back in 2022 and nothing besides the tower is up and that’s been confirmed
I'll really muss La Vibora when it goes because it was the first Six Flags coaster that I ever rode and it led me to becoming an enthusiast!
Knew about it closing last week, but was told not to say anything. Keep your eyes peeled for other news regarding what's coming after la vibora.
Six Flags better be putting some real money into attractions if they’re gonna keep axing rides at this rate.
As a ride operator at magic mountain, I’ve heard that 2025 will be its last year and that maintenance is working to run both sides one last time for guests to ride. That’s as of a few months ago after the small fire but I don’t know if things have changed.
I think if anything, Nighthawk closes and they use its parts for Batwing. Nighthawk is way too low capacity for Carowinds, and Cedar Fair would actually be interested in building something new in it's place, I can't really say the same for Six Flags America.
X2 is the type of ride where if it has to get the chop the company should really invest in replacing it with the same upgraded 4D coaster from S&S. It’s a one of a kind and massively marketable in the states