Highlighting the Low Points
Usually my lowest rated coasters and worst experiences involve a painful ride. Sure coasters, especially wooden ones, should throw you around a bit and I don’t consider myself fragile or pain averse. But some rides I’ve experienced were just unforgivably rough or suffered from terrible park
operations and maintenance. Here are the Top 3 Worst Experiences I’ve ever had on a coaster:
Predator at Six Flags Darien Lake
After being greeted by a monument to theme park vandalism in Predator’s queue, I wondered whether Darien Lake cared how their park looked. Nevermind that, I thought, on to the ride. About half way up the lift hill, the train came to a stop. After the break down, I was rewarded with a rough, badly paced ride. Check out my full review.
Exterminator at Kennywood
Exterminator is a dark ride housed in a themed building at Kennywood. The ride was dark which I was excited about, but after a while we just began spinning over and over. All I remember is darkness and spinning with no or breaks, pacing, or the ability to see any theming. When we got out of the ride, we noticed a woman that rode with us that almost fell as she was getting off. It was very disorientating, and not in a good way. We looked like we were walking away from a car crash or something. I’m not sure what the designers were thinking.
Cyclone at Six Flags New England
The chipped white paint and overall aging appearance should’ve tipped me off, but nothing could prepare me for this ride. I got off this monstrosity holding my lower back. I felt more like 62 than 26. From the impersonable teens running the ride to the chipped paint to the single train operation with it’s back seat roped off. Forgive me all you hardcore woodie fans, I don’t know this coaster from its hallowed past as the ‘Riverside Cyclone’. So it gets no points from me for its rep. All I have to judge it by is the rough, painful, trim break heavy trip I took on this demolition candidate.
What was your worst coaster experience? Ever been stuck on a ride? Leave a comment below.
Coaster Critic 
56 responses to “Top 3 Worst Coaster Experiences”
Corkscrew at Cedar Point. The corkscrews gave me the WORST headache ever!
I love The Exterminator at Kennywood. I think it's really fun and I don't ever have any of the problems you're talking about.
I haven't ridden it in years, but there were way too many spins on that ride for me. Six Flags New England's Mr. Six's Pandemonium is a spinning ride too, but I feel that the spins are better executed on that ride. I'm glad that you enjoy Exterminator though. I know a lot of people do.
Dominator in the front seat at Kings Dominion. Being a B&M coaster, I was expecting an ultra-smooth ride (if it were Arrow, I would have been ready). I got boxed between the shoulder restraints so much, and the ride from other places in the train wasn't so hot either. Dominator is my least favorite B&M so far, but I haven't been on Mantis yet…
my worst expeirience on a coaster was proabaly when i rode ROAR. if it was old fashioned looking i may of suspected it but still, not as bad. once i stagered of the weird looking train i felt like someone had just repeatedly slammed my head into a wall while holding two sterios put on high with the loudest and most horrible music in existence, up to my ears, thats how bad my head hurt. honestley that was worse than the cyclone at new england and the steamin deamon (a copy of the coprkscrew) combined. The cyclone was Horrible, but Roar was absoluteley brain racking, seriosly they should shut it down, and cc, what was ROAR compared to the preadetor, i may live in new york, but i still havent been to darien lake yet, was it even comparable to ROAR
My worst expeirience on a coaster ever was vortex at californias great america. It was my second ride when I got there (behind top gun or flight deck) and when I got off my head hurt like crazy! I had a headache for three days after that. It ruined the rest of the day for me.
my worst was the suden stop on boomarang at knotts berry farm my back was sore for a week
that`s gotta suck.
my worst was the blue gwazi, and i will never do that again
Worst coaster experience ever: Mantis at Cedar Point
Perhaps it would have been an enjoyable ride, however a few things got me:
1.) I like to sit down on roller coasters. Theres nothing like taking a short sit on a coaster after a long day of walking through the park
2.) My head kept getting banged around. I love wooden coasters, and I know how to keep still on all coasters, but Mantis took me for a ride and didn't let go.
3.) G forces. The G-forces on my feet, especially during the 1st loop. The ride ops in the station told us to be careful with the bicycle seat we had to straddle too. She said that you, and anything on that bicycle seat, will be subjected to 4Gs. Ouch.
4.) It left me thinking there was something more, but there wasn't.
I loved the fact that it was a B&M and has multiple inversions, speed, and height, but Mantis was just too painful to want to do again. I probably wouldn't of even tried it, but that would have meant watching that "Ridden Every Coaster at Cedar Point" shirt float away…
I haven't had one too bad, but my relatives were stuck on the loop on Deja Vu when it was still at Great America
The Boss at Six Flags St.Louis: NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!! That is definitely the most painful ride I have been on. It might be because the lap bar is never too tight on me, but even if it was, there is no way to prevent hitting every inch of the seat with ur hip. There is no padding in the uncomfortable seats, and its the turns that hurt the most by far. Also, Ninja at SFSTL hurts only because of the OTSRs. Since short-medium height people have their heads RIGHT between them, this Arrow/Vekoma coaster rattles your head into an instant migraine.
My worst coaster experience was on Ice Dragon (hungarian horntail) at Universal Islands of Adventure. As I boarded the amazingly themed trains in the front row, I was so ready to ride that ride. It was the ride that I was looking forward to the most. I clearly remember buckling the seat belt just before they checked my restraint and the train departed. Well, after going down the first drop and through the helix, everything was fine. Then I went through the first inversion. While going up the inversion, my restraint made a funny clicking sound and it flew up a few notches. At the time, I wasn't worried because I knew that he seat belt would hold it in from flying up more. Then I looked down. To my surprise, I saw that the seat belt had COME OUT OF THE BUCKLE. There was 4 more inversions to go. Being in the front row made it worse too. For the remainder of the ride, I was desperately trying to pull down my restraint and buckle in the seat belt. All of my attempts failed. Finally, the ride was over. AS we unloaded in the station, my crying mother begged the ride attendants to check the ride to make sure it was safe. The ride attendants would not believe my story. Apparently they thought that I unbuckled the belt myself an fooled around with the restraint to make up fly up a few notches. I do not consider myself a lucky person either because the same type of thing happened to me on another B&M coaster (Apollo's Chariot) TWICE in the front row. Maybe there is just something about the front row in B&Ms built in 1999. All I know is that I am permanently scarred from B&M Inverts.
PS: My coaster experience may seem hard to believe but I swear that it happened.
Sorry to hear you had such a stressful and traumitizing event. I think CC has addressed but the seat belts/buckles they use aren't really there to keep you in but for another reason (sensor or something). I do believe you were completely safe despite what happened to you as the way the coasters are made the restraint should never come all the way up. i know the first coasters I ever road (big bad wolf, loch ness monster and drachen fire) didn't even have a seat belt and it was just the OTSR.
Yeah, I was not really scared for my safety, I just wanted to know what the heck was going on. I still love coasters. Big Bad Wolf was one of my favorite family rides. I wonder what went on though with those restrains. I thought that it was especially weird that the seat belt came undone as well. Haha, oh well.
Maybe It dose have to whith front rows. I always ride in the back, and nothing like that has ever happened to me.
That is cool. It most be a B&M thing. I know on a lot of my rides on inverts this year (Great Bear, Alpengeist) that I had numerous occasions where the restraint was loose but during the ride when down a notch and got tighter and I have also experienced where is seemed to loosen a notch also. I never had the belt come unbuckled tho
Thunder Road @ Carowinds is my worst experience. Once this year, I was riding it, when some kid kept touching the track, causing the ride ops to stop the ride. When we finally went over the top, the 1st small hill went over so unexpectedly fast that my head slammed on the lap bar really hard. I had the lump for a week and a half.
I wonder what caused that, maybe you got ejected from the station too fast.
Maybe so, it was the only time that ever happened to me.
That definitely sucks, but yeah, I don't think it's that dangerous because even if the seatbelt unbuckles, the restraint is still locked. When I was at Great Adventure, we went on Bizarro, and my sister didn't buckle the seatbelt, but the operators were stupid enough not to check the restraints, but she was fine, and she didn't even notice the seatbelt existed until after the ride was over.
Rolling Thunder at Great Adventure, pretty much nonstop jackhammering, though I figured out if I lean forward, it minimizes the headbang somewhat
de ja vu in six flags over GA was pretty rough. they took it down because it broke down A LOT. the head guards were like suction cups and they almost burst my eardrum from being smacked between them.
the scream machine, also in Six Flags Over GA is a VERY rough wooden ride.
Ninja is among the worst and most painful coasters i have ever been on. it is also in SFOG and is a very very very rough metal coaster. the overall design is epic, but the ride itse;f sucked. in order to ride, they made a new rule: you must take out your earings, be cause people have come off with injuries to the back of their ears from the jerkiness.
You certainly shouldn't have done. When I rode Dominator, it was ultra-smooth.
X:/ No way out, at Thorpe Park (a backwards rollercoaster) absoloutley sucked for me. It was the only coaster I've ever been on that made me feel sick and gave me a headache at the same time. Going backwards on a rollercoaster can be fun (Vekoma Boomerang, Reverse Freefall etc. ) but this was certainly an exception.
I have just recently ridden the green lantern coaster at great adventure before the public can since i am a season pass holder. I was glad to get exclusive ride time and thought it would be a good ride. In layout, it was. However, several factors contributed to it being a bad ride. First and most noticeably was it was raining. When we got in line it was hardly a drizzle, but when we left to go up the hill it was pouring hard. Going throughout the course was really painful with the rain hitting my face feeling like needles. Another factor was that it was a standup coaster, and it put alot of pressure on my legs and the bicycle seat hurt my groin. It was one of the only coasters that i have been on that i was wishing for it to be over. The rain wasnt six flags fault, but the pain of my legs might have been the ride employees fault because you had to stand up straight and all the way back, so it was hard to bend my knees and it hurt my legs. Without the rain and with some knee bending it would have been a great ride.
I rode Dominator in the front seat. . .there were no probelms for me. Watchu talm bout?
My 2 worst coaster experiences were both at Six Flags Over Georgia. 1st: I rode Scream Machine in the back row. I had severe back pains for days. Thankfully, its was my last ride of the day, so I didn't have to walk around the park with back pains very much. 2nd: I was riding Superman – Ultimate Flight and the ride operator stopped our train at the top of the lift hill, causing us to have to stare at the ground 115ft in the air for about 5 minutes. Once we arrived in the boarding platform the operator said he was just having fun. This wasn't fun at all.
Worst coaster experiences: Ninja (STL), Son of Beast, and the Boomerand clones, especially Sidewinder. OUCH!
I was lucky many times. I've seen people stuck on Flight Deck/Top Gun and Delirium numerous times. Though, they were only stuck for a few minutes.
Of course, everyone is thinking about people being stuck on Invertigo for hours while reading my post.
I rode the Cyclone in SFNE in may, and part of it was very rough, the other part was refurbished with what looked like the new Rocky Mountain topper track and that part was really excellent!
Hopefuly they'll fix up the other part as well. I love old woodies, but The SFNE Cyclone was way too rough.
Ninja at Six Flags Over Georgia. Don't ever care to ride that again.
Say that again.
I hate Ninja.
Rolling Thunder @ Six Flags Great Adventure: This Is probably the worst Roller Coaster in America if not the world. i just rode it for the 4th time last week, and let me tell you it was down right painfull, irritating, and not fun at all. first of all its hard to know which track you're gonna end up on because the entrance isnt marked at all, and if you have a flash pass you cant even choose they just put you on the right track. Anyway the trains are extremely uncomfortable and the "buzz" bar does nothing to keep you secure and the seatbelt is so hard to get to close. The ride stars of with a mild non banked turn out of the exit which make a slight screaching sound and then you go up the small lift hill which takes what seems like forever to get to the top, and then you finally go down the hill which starts shaking and rattling you like a magic #8 ball. it doesent even feel like the trains are attached to the track. on the turn even though there is a seat seperater between the two seats it doesn't do anything to keep you seperated. and after a bunch of uncomfortable hills you reach what i call the banchi turn which literally sounds like banchis screaching in your ears and is extremely rough. Finally you hit the brakes and this awfull ride ends overall if i could rate this ride it would be in the negatives. i pray that they will demolish this ride within the next 3 years.
I've got 3.
A few years ago, when i was 9, I was at BG williamsburg. I'd already done Griffon in the back, and it was great, but in line the next time, my dad went to the front. He said he'd let me walk through, he pushed me in my seat and my mom slammed the restrains shut. I begged them to let me off, but the ride started. I ended loving it, but the lift hill was torture, I was crying the whole way.
Mean Streak is crazy rough, when I got off of that, my back was killing me. I can't believe that hasn't been said yet.
One time, I was on a El Toro, and half-way up the list, the train stalled. It stayed there for a second, than dropped. We went down. The anti-rollback kicked in, and we just kept going like nothing happened
That Griffon story is horrible. It's a good thing that you ended up liking the ride. I can't imagine doing that to my kids. Ever.
Corkscrew at Cedar Point was the first looping coaster I ever rode – probably 1979. I rode it about 20 times that day and loved it. But the Corkscrew at Geauga Lake banged my head back and forth into the shoulder harness like a pinball. That was either the same year or the year after – can't really remember.
I'm pretty sure those were manufactured by the same company – same trains, same track, same over the shoulder harnesses. At least that I how remember it. Not sure why one was so much rougher than the other.
The Texas Cyclone at (RIP) Astroworld was a very rough ride as well, but I still loved it.
Definitely Mean Streak at Cedar Point. I've never felt so beaten up by a coaster. It tosses you around like a rag doll. I don't mind a rough ride, but this was ridiculous. It gave me aches in my back, neck, chest, and shoulders. Ouch! While there was an hour-long line to get on the nearby Maverick, there was NO LINE for Mean Streak in the middle of the day. Gee, I wonder why?
The Exterminator is fun, but I'm wondering why they bothered with all the theming when you are spinning through most of it. You can't see anything. Oh, and the dip right before the station? Very dumb. I went over that sideways. That hurt a bit as I got slammed into the side of the car.
My worst coaster experience was Flight Deck at Canada's Wonderland. It hurts every time I go on.
I think my worst experience on a ride was the Dare Devil Dive at six flags,Georgia. It takes you up so slow and you're completely sideways and it hits your back to the seat for like 2 minutes on the way up.
I agree about Ninja! It's a pile of junk and should be closed, but I loved the scream machine. As a member of the Theme Park Junkies, I have visited over 16 parks in the USA and I give the "thumbs up" to this great woodie. It ain't no Beast, but then, what is ?
Wow, I rode that today and loved it. The lift hill takes about 15 secs…the rest of the ride is very average, but not a bad experience.
The closest I've come to being stuck was a few weeks ago on the kiddie Polar Coaster at Story Land: some kid dropped his hat on the track immediately after boarding the train, so we sat in the station while they got a guy who was authorized to fish it out.
Hades most painful coaster ever
Anaconda at Kings Dominion would probably be my choice among the coasters I rode during the past year. The ride got off to a good enough start with a drop into an underwater tunnel but the first two inversions were painfully rough. I got knocked about mercilessly and who needs it?
So true!
My worst roller coaster experience was on the Grizzly at Kings Dominion. After the drop of the first hill, my seatbelt came undone. On the slow turn I tried to buckle it back up, I did but right after the next drop it came undone AGAIN. At this point I just resorted to clinging around the lap bar with 1 hand and trying to buckle my seatbelt with another hand. I told the operator what happend and he refused to check my seatbelt because he thought I was jerking on my seatbelt to make it become undone. I will never do any roller coaster without a seatbelt or a coaster that has a seatbelt like the ones on Grizzly and Hurler.
NO MORE ROLLING THUNDER!!!!!!!!!!!!
Worst coaster experience: Wildcat at Hersheypark
Got a HUGE bruise on my hip!
My worst coaster experience happened on Mind Eraser at Six Flags New England. This coaster was so rough – on my head, neck and shoulders – that I couldn’t wait for the ride to end. I actually had no problem at all with Cyclone at the same park. My second worst coaster experience was on Maverick because I got stuck on the lift hill for almost 45 minutes and became ill as a result, in addition to getting a severe sunburn. Ironically, once Maverick was back up and running, it turned out to be one of my best coaster experiences.
The blue streak at Cedar Point because the lap bar doesn’t seem to work and the ride is uncomfortable.
Worst coaster experiences:
1. Wildcat Hersheypark
2. Corkscrew Canobie Lake Park
Sometimes women forget painful things, like childirth ;), so I made a special mental note that the following were on the BOTTOM of my list for painful reasons: Predator, Darien Lake; Timber Wolf, Worlds of Fun (comes with a warning sign at the entrance and a “chicken exit” on the platform); Gwazi, Busch Gardens, Tampa (Tiger and Lion sides were both so bad that I rode multiple times in different seats, convinced that it HAD to get better. It didn’t,) Ninja and Carolina Cyclone, both at Six Flags over Georgia; SkyRush at HersheyPark, which left documented bruises on my thighs, along with Wildcat; Wild Beast, Canada’s Wonderland; Hyperonic XLC at King’s Dominion (headache!); and the 2014 addition to the list, Hellcat at Clementon Park where the maintenance crew told us “we only ride in the FRONT. Front was bad, back was worse and middle was excruciatingly painful!
The Voyage is incredibly intense and beat the crap out of me 2 years ago, but there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to believe that.
No “bottom” list would be complete without Mean Streak, Cedar Point.