I got on Ultra Twister at Astroworld in the late 90s. My teenage self thought it was pretty fun but had no idea how much of a unique experience it was. I'll always be able to hold this credit over Chris' head...
My dad got to ride wildcat at idora park in 1983! He said the best part of the ride was easily the laterals. He also said it felt very similar to twister at knoebles
My buddy and I rode it in the late seventies and it was the first coaster we were ever on where the first and last seat were equally thrilling. Only bested by the great Riverview Bobs that we rode in 1966. I've never liked being beat up by a coaster more. Speaking of being beat up, the coaster I would like rebuilt would be the Rye Playland Airplane, which gave people nosebleeds. LOL
The Crystal Beach Cyclone looks like a modern Gravity Group twister layout like Mine Blower but with 1920s safety standards. That alone makes it more extreme than any coasters today
I have long wondered if someone like GCI or GravityGroup would be crazy enough to recreate the Crystal Beach Cyclone in modern times and build it to conform to the safety standards of today's coaster. It would be interesting to see and ride.
It's unnecessarily Impossible to conform the safety standard. The whole layout already on dangerous side anyway. The low to the ground turn are insanely too tight, even by Intamin Steel coaster standard. and you can't do much about it anyway since the whole layout packed like a Sardine.
Galaxyland /w Mindbender is my home park, I'm going to miss that coaster, it was wild. The trains were not the most comfortable though, but at the bottom of the second loop, i grayed out a lot of times. It was smooth though. No word on what's going to replace it. (I'm hoping for a Eurofighter)
I rode mindbender about 4 times in my life, and I wish I rode it more, the sheer scale of the coaster was enormous. It doesn’t seem very tall when indoors but once you got up there, you realize how tall it is. One tip my older brother told me was keep your head back cause if ur head is any other way it is stuck there for the whole ride. I think it held the record for the most intense indoor rollercoaster. It was pure insanity. And an icon for the mall.
I've had a "defunct coaster bucket list" idea kicking around for a while now, and most of the ones I thought of were on your list. I'd also like to have ridden a Virginia Reel, just to see what it was like.
As a pittsburgher, who was born well after West View Park closed, I would’ve loved to have ridden their wooden coasters which were apparently better than kennywood’s. I completely agree with your view on suspended coasters. While I know that XLR-8 wasn’t the best, just knowing that I missed that one too makes me sad. Seeing Drachen Fire SBNO was the worst part about my first BGW trip but I can at least say I rode hypersonic. The launch, from what I remember was ridiculously good, but I’d imagine that maxx force is pretty close (rode both but years apart) and with a more exciting layout afterwards.
I rode the Ultimate in 2019. I have never had bruises like that from a coaster before. We were the only ones on that massive train and when we got back to the station the ops asked if we wanted to go again-the response was a resounding NO! from both of us. The ops also were really interested in the fact that two people from Orlando were out in the middle of nowhere England at a tiny park.
When I became a coaster enthusiast in 2001, Kings Dominion was the gold standard for me and Hypersonic was part of that. You had XLC, Volcano, and Flight of Fear as the launch trio and those just felt like big deals at the time. I still miss Hypersonic to this day.
I did get to ride Hypersonic XLC (in 2003 and 2005) and Drachen Fire (in 1997). I first started getting into coasters in 1996 (Loch Ness Monster was my first coaster) and Drachen Fire almost made me quit the hobby because of how rough it was. Then I took a chance on Apollo's Chariot in 1999 and never looked back.
I rode Drachen Fire back in 1992 and I loved it the night ride I got was awesome! But unfortunately, I did miss out on Big Bad Wolf because nobody wanted to ride it.
@@russ4moose absolutely the best time to ride the Wolf especially in the old days when they piped mist and fog into the village and filled it with the sounds of wolf howls on speakers.
When i was young the two coasters I always wanted to ride were Batman and Robin the chiller and Volcano… i never hot a chance😂 lol. This video idea is great. Shows the nostalgia of old coasters we should appreciate
Avalanche and Hypersonic were both outstanding. Gotta mention the Bobs at Riverview. My Dad talks about it to this day. Would love to see that one rebuilt to the exact specs as the original.
Texas Cyclone is the coaster that made me a man at the age of 8!😂 I’ll never forget sitting on a bench and watching it for what seemed like an eternity before finally getting the courage to ride it all by myself in the back row! For some reason, I thought the back row would be less scary😂 Going up the lift hill and looking at the Astrodome across the freeway is one of my favorite coaster memories
My only credit among these was the Texas Cyclone at Astroworld. Rode it multiple times on a school trip back in ‘88 and it was easily the class of the park. Memory is old, but I’d put it above the Coney Island original and Viper at SFGA. Still wild that one of the five-largest cities in the U.S. (much less one in an area that could operate year-round) has been without a full-scale park for nearly two decades.
my top defunct is probably one I already rode. I knew dueling dragons was one of the best coasters around, but as a kid I didn't truly realize how special it is. although I'd love to try SoB, volcano, big bad wolf, and moon salt scramble. the only time I year for time travel technology is thinking about those rides and crystal beach cyclone.
Sorry, but were you really into whiplash? Including kiddie coasters, I have at least 50 years of experience coaster riding and 26 years after riding Drachen-Fyre I'm still having quick stop, rough ride, flashbacks. Rough, shakey riding cars banging your head side to side coupled with the sudden, quick stops at several mis-timed braking zones was without a doubt the worst riding coaster I've been on anywhere in the world.
My list of defunct coasters I wish I rode would be crazy long. My top 5 would be: 5. Firehawk (Kings Island) 4. Vortex (Kings Island) 3. Mindbender (Galaxyland) 2. Dragon Challenge (Universal’s Islands of Adventure) 1. Volcano the Blast Coaster (Kings Dominion)
It sucks The Ultimate closed without notice due to the pandemic. Alton Towers is nearer for most people in England but I think many enthusiasts would've made the trip if they'd know it was their last chance.
As I've said before, Drachen Fire gave me such mixed feelings-- so exciting but also so painful, it put me off riding coasters for years. I didn't understand that wasn't just the way new coasters were now, in this brave new world of the 1990s.
(I'd possibly also rank it as the most intense coaster I'd ever ridden until... Wednesday, when I rode Dragon Khan. Though with Dragon Khan is not necessarily that its elements are unusually extreme, just that there are so many of them.)
Nice! I love the inclusion of Idora’s Wildcat, Stingray, and Texas Cyclone. The Ultimate and Blackpool’s Wild Mouse would be extremely high on my equivalent list.
I live in Youngstown Ohio and the Wildcat is definitely legendary around here. The fire happened when I was two years old... Surely would have loved to have ridden it too. Great video, man.
I’m from the Akron canton area of Ohio, maybe 40 ish mins from where Idora Park was and to this day both The Wildcat and the park is still talked about. You should look at The Comet at Myers Lake park. Another defunct coaster at the defunct park in Canton Ohio. That coaster looked incredible and both are still talked about today. As a person who also graduated high school in 2005, growing up hearing about all the amazing parks Ohio used to have made me love Geauga Lake even more. But that’s another story. Great video as always
I was fortunate to ride Hypersonic XLC several times while it was open. I think I got whiplash the first time and learned my lesson for when the Intamin hydraulic launch coasters were born later. Hypersonic was loud and short, and I didn’t appreciate it (or Volcano) at the time. The defunct coaster I wish I could ride now is the Cyclone at Williams Grove Amusement Park, which would have been a short detour between Six Flags America and Hersheypark. In the winter, you can see its skeleton from a local road and take pictures of it. They are very strict about the property’s security so you cannot get too close, but it looks like the kind of classic PTC that I appreciate more as less of them are around.
i grew up in youngstown, OH and so did my dad! he's always told me about wildcat at idora park and its wild airtime, and i've never heard anyone else talk about it until this video. crazy to think there used to be a roller coaster in the middle of the city now
Firehawk, Vortex, Wicked Twister, The Joker from Fiesta Texas that got shipped to SFNO... I think the ONE defunct coaster I got was that wild mouse at Animal Kingdom. Got it in 2004.
You aren’t missing anything with ultra twister . However , Texas cyclone . That was a great ride that hauled . It was as if they greased the track or something . Very fast and pretty smooth . Good air time .
It was really cool to see you talk about Youngstown as I live in a suburb about 20 minutes away, I've driven past the grounds many times. Unfortunately the park was struggling heavily economically, as was the entire city of Youngstown. It was a huge steel producing city, but when that fell so did the town. With less people and less money, the park suffered. It was probably going to close even if the fire didnt happen, in fact there's some conspiracy theories that it was intentional for insurance money. There's a family dedicated to preserving the history of the park and have turned their garage into a museum that opens once or twice per year. They have trains for both Wildcat and Jack Rabbit. It's something really cool to check out if for some strange reason you happen to be in Youngstown at the right time.
Avalanche or hellcat when I rode it was fantastic. Very fast and out of control feeling I’ve never felt on any other coaster in the world. Truly unique ride and even a standout coaster in a town known for wild wooden coasters.
Another interesting one you should look into is Bobs at Riverside Park in Chicago. From what people who rode it have said, it was one of the best coasters ever.
Someone made a NL2 version of Cyclone at Crystal Beach you can find on youtube and the first half looks good but the second half is literally insane. I don't understand how that can be real. Definitely I305 level but more like a planet coaster creation. Absolutely bonkers.
Never in my life did I think I’d ever see Zingo referenced in a coaster enthusiast video! I rode it as a kid and really enjoyed it, but I’m sure it was just a basic out and back woodie. Thanks for taking me back in time!
We we’re a Cedar Point family growing up so I always kick myself for never going to Kings Island before 2008. I can claim Son of Beast but I wish I could have gotten the loop credit.
I was fortunate enough to ride Ultra Twister at Astroworld. It's one of my all-time favorite coasters. There was NOTHING else even remotely like it at the time. Super fun! I also rode my first & only suspended coaster on the same trip. Ones I wish I'd gotten the chance to ride: Big Bad Wolf, Volcano, & Roller Soaker (just b/c I love the idea of the coaster / water ride combo).
In this video, the only two I've ridden were Drachen Fire and Hypersonic XLC. I personally didn't think DF was that rough but I also rode it after the infamous corkscrew was removed. As for HS XLC, that ride was awesome for its time. I think that was my first launch coaster if I can remember correctly.
The tbars are why it's my number two overall, at 5'2 I had to hold on for my life on superman. The front on the red train is the closest I've gotten to a tbar ride feel
the Crystal Beach Cyclone was one of three similar rides that were apparently all insane, including Revere Beach Lightning and the Palisades Park Cyclone, and i'm not positive but i think they were less "intense" than just "insanely, painfully rough" but i guess we'll never know
As someone who is both a car and coaster enthusiast I know some thing about the Nurburgring. Right around the time the ride open the place went bankrupt and went into financial limbo like six flags for years the current owners commented that they really want to bring back Ringwerk and Ringracer but they said there a lot to be fixed and troubleshooting before they can get to it they said they plan to reopen it someday but said it will be a few years before it will open again that was back in late 2018 I heard this
Absolutely agree with your no 1. I read about that ride in the 90s in high school and I was very intrigued by it, and the other 1920s coasters tore down during the depression
If still open today, Geauga Lake would have been my home park. I never made it on any of the rides there but if I could get a time machine, I would spend a day there and really take in the park for what its worth, especially since whenever I drive past it now, its just an empty plot of land 😭😭
Roar was an absolute speed demon in the back row. It wasn't that rough if you sat towards the back of the train. It was the best ride in the park hands down.
Avalanche is still in my top 25 out of 230. One of those rides that was so rough, out of control, and intense that you couldn’t help but hysterically laugh the entire ride as you’re falling on top of the person next to you 😂
Hypersonic was pretty much like the rest of them. Bat was an absolute blast -- the closest thing to flying. The front car was a must. As for the 1946 Cycleone, I never rode it but I always felt that the moderne costers don;t take advantage of twists and turns that are available toward the end -- instead they"brake " the ride to slow it down.
What a superb video! I'm fortunate to have ridden most defunct wood coasters of the 80s. Idora Wildcat was unreal. Rib-cracking laterals, out of control speed & ejector airtime with a stationary grab bar. Mr. Twister kicked ass and Wildcat was superb and they intertwined. Mtn. Flyer is a favorite of mine with insane airtime & a collapsing turnaround that was almost as good as Idora Wildcat's second turn. Zingo was magnificent, smooth & constantly floating out of your seat. Great you mentioned my all-time favorite roller coaster, far better than anything I've ridden, defunct or running, is Texas Cyclone before it began getting neutered, starting in 85 with Morgan trains. Nothing can touch it. I rode it hundreds of times with 4 bench PTCs & buzz bars. Local enthusiast events there yearly featured comparisons of bruises and occasional cracked ribs. Many that rode it pre-85 will likely say it's the ultimate roller coaster.
On your list I rode Ultra Twister, Hypersonic XLC, Texas Cyclone, and Avalanche. Avalanche was the best, but you had to get it while it was new. Perfect airtime on every hill. Crazy laterals on every turn. Just way too fast but hilarious not painful. XLC was one of my favorites too. The hill was so close to the launch it looked like you were launching into a wall of steel. Every train you could see terror in the faces of some riders. I think Ultra Twister was the first coaster with a 90 degree drop I rode, but by today's standards, it isn't much. I rode Texas Cyclone once as a teen before engaging in the enthusiast community, so I did not know what exactly to watch for. What I remember was the trains had high sides and you could not see much from the middle. It seemed like they had clearance issues and wanted to keep your arms inside the car.
I did get rides on Ultra Twister and Texas Cyclone when I visited in the 90s. I don't remember Texas Cyclone being too memorable, but Ultra Twister was probably the most unique coaster I've been on. The defunct coaster I miss the most from my childhood is probably Orient Express at Worlds of Fun.
The one that haunts me the most is Dueling Dragons. I went to IoA when it still had the original theme and was dueling in 2009. Sadly I wasn't very into roller coasters yet, I had only ridden the Disney ones at the time so I was too intimidated and decided not to ride. I at least got to see the original entrance and the offride dueling in person though so that was cool. Just wish I pushed myself to ride it. Only positive from that experience is that whenever I get nervous for a coaster now, I'll imagine that it will suddenly close down the next year if I don't ride it.
4:20 I actually have a very similar experience with Kings Island’s Racer. They stopped having one side go backwards in 2007 and my first trip to Kings Island was early 2008 so I only missed it by half a year. I hope one day Cedar Fair brings that gimmick back, but after 15 years without it I doubt they ever will
The Bat was, amusingly, fun because we didn't realize that bit of being slammed sideways (not quite head banging on restraints, but a solid bump) was the train destroying the track. 🤣🤣 But you could actually feel a bit of _springiness_ when you went all the way to one side, which it's now obvious was the track and supports flexing far more than they should.
Although there is a much better one in Sweeden at Grona Lund, we just misssed out on Green Lantern at Magic Mountain in 2017. I know the ride was absolute trash but still would have been cool to experience it
My manager (who is a fellow enthusiast) was just talking about Avalanche today. He said the pacing was amazing, but it was pretty rough. It looks like it was a good coaster... For me, I really wish I could've ridden Volcano at KD. But living on the other side of the country, I didn't have an opportunity to get to KD until last year. But man that thing looked awesome!
Idora burned on my birthday April 26th 1984. Almost 40 yrs. ago. Chernobyl another disaster on my birthday, but Carol Burnett share the same birthday + she's from San Antonio (I'm from Houston) Too bad you missed the AstroWorld coasters. I loved Texas Cyclones PTCs. The trains were pained to resemble the Texas flag with a white star on the side of the lead car. I Loooooved the sound the old brakes made + the compressor kicking on after the train stopped. Morgans had to be "beefed UP" to handle that punishing track. That "crooked" station had a LOT of energy in it. It was a fast paced fun ride to work + ride. Schwarzkopf came close to a Traver (only in steel) I would have loved riding the Bat. It was funny seeing XLR-8 in adverts b4 the ride opened. I told my friends it was a model. They didn't believe me. I'd pass the park on Loop 610 on the way to school. I pointed to the track that still had a lot of gaps in it during construction and asked them "How could you make a commercial when the ride isn't even finished?"
Wow I can't believe I've been on one you haven't: Drachen Fire. You're still ahead like 500-0 though, lol. My top 5: 5. Mega Zeph - SF New Orleans 4. The Chiller - SF Great Adventure 3. Duelling Dragons - Islands of Adventure 2. Volcano - Kings Dominion 1. The Bobs - Riverview Park, Illinois (I'm surprised this wasn't on the list.)
The top of my list is Son of Beast with loop. Ive talked to people that have ridden it and they tell me all the time to be glad i didnt, but I just cant get over that I didnt get the chance to ride something so special. I doubt we will ever see a park attempt something that extreme again.
Got to ride The Ultimate, original Dodonpa en Hypersonci XLC. All three were just insane rides. The ultimate was extremely rough in some places, but pure insanity going through the woods. Dodonpa simply had the best launch in the world and that top hat gave you extreme ejector airtime (and possibly a hernia when going up the top hat due to the extreme forces). Hypersonic XLC, I got to ride in 2007. I remember me and my friends just standing in awe when looking at the launch. We came from Cedar Point and were impressed by TTD. Then we saw this thing and didn't think much of it, until we saw that insanely short and forceful launch. I had more nerves for Hypersonic XLC than for TTD to be honest. Crazy part was that everybody on the internet said the ride was extremely rough, but our rides that day were surprisingly smooth. I really liked it. Too bad both S&S airthrust coasters are defunct. Crazy to see those trains with rubber Pirelli tires 😄
Drachenfire and Shockwave were the beginnings of my spinal issues.. those rides banged me up pretty thoroughly, as did the Great American Scream Machine at Great Adventure….OUCH!!!
Ultra Twister was a fun unique ride. Very short though. The SFAW Cyclone was great fun but I rode during the era of the coffin cars. Still, the front seat ride was awesome. Dracon Fire, by contrast, was terrible. It beat you up start to finish. Before and after the corkscrew removal it was a bad ride from a good manufacturer. 3 out of 15, not too bad.
My top defunct coaster I haven’t ridden is easily Big Bad Wolf! My first visit to BGW came two years after it closed. Honorable mentions would be the original Dueling Dragons (I rode it in 2017 but I wish I could’ve ridden the OG with the dueling, OG entrance, and OG queue), Hypersonic XLC, Son of Beast, Drachen Fire, Orient Express, Great American Scream Machine (SFGAdv), Shockwave (SFGAm), and The OG Bat.
I can say that avalanche was a fantastic ride, if warmed up. A little underwhelming my first few rides early in the day, but by night it was amazing. The staff there definitely did not staple, so airtime was the most physical travel I've experienced(haven't done any buzz bar woodies yet). Fairly smooth too. Miss that ride and the log flume which used to accompany it at Timber Falls.
Did you ever ride an original Togo stand-up like King Cobra at Kings Island? As an ten-year-old it was one of my favorites. No one seems to like Stand-Ups through. Backwards Racer with the buzz bars would've been a good honorable mention too.
I got to ride Zingo many times over those years. I don't remember how the forces were, but I loved it. I got one ride on Ultra Twister at Astroworld, and it was so fun & unique. I even liked it more than Texas Cyclone. But I'm still so bummed about Texas Tornado (later Zonga) being closed on me that day. Volcano will probably always top my list of defunct coasters I never got to ride, made even more difficult to take by seeing it just standing there on my 2018 visit.
I don’t know why but when I grew up in Virginia, I remember going to kings dominion once and going to planet snoopy, soak city, and that’s it. (I have no memory of any rides so no credits) I remember seeing shockwave and volcano back then and thinking it looked awesome but never got to ride them. Unfortunately my moms family never liked amusement parks so we never went back. I wish I could’ve ridden both as volcano looked intense and weird, and shockwave looked like a lot of fun despite everyone hating it.
... the other relatively famous defunct coaster I have ridden is Mr. Twister at Elitch Gardens (original). Great ride but it was the first big coaster I ever rode and was way too much for me then. I appreciated it later. Oh, that and Big Bad Wolf. But you got to ride that one.
I guess I'm thankful I got to ride the rides at Astroworld...well most of them. I cried when the news came of it being torn down(will admit still do sometimes when think about it). Was a childhood park I grew up with, along with the other Texas parks. That CEO was an idiot! I wish Houston could have stepped in and designated some things as historic and not to be torn down. So many firsts in that park. The river rapids for one was a first in the world. I think the mine train was too. Had indoor and outdoor airconditioning through out the park. The guy who built it got ideas from Disnyland. I am still trying to find detail maps of the park and layouts of the rides to maybe see if I can recreate the park in a sim. But hard to find anything detailed enough. I really enjoy your videos. Thank you.
I haven't ridden any of these defunct coasters but one I have ridden is Dueling Dragons a year before it was torn down. Even without the coasters dueling the 2 different coaster layouts were a unique experience.
Some of the ones I would have loved to ride were Flashback at Magic Mountain (I know people have said it was rough- I would have loved gone on it just to say I've been on it), Wicked Twister at Cedar Point, Dueling Dragons at Islands of Adventure (I went on it as Dragon Challenge back in 2015 but the dueling aspect was removed by that point), and Tower of Terror II at Dreamworld (Superman: Escape From Krypton is my 5th favorite ride at Magic Mountain and it would been cool to ride it's Australian cousin).
Idora park never reopened after the wildcat fire. I believe it caught fire twice. In the mid 90’s we used to sneak in a hole in the fence and climbed the burnt frame of wildcat and the other wood coaster that was still functional when the park closed, jack rabbit. I remember going to the auction with my mom, and I guess their kid coaster was my first coaster.
Idora Park!! My grandma got to ride Wildcat in 1962- she said it was the scariest moment of her life. I'm still jealous I never got to ride it, as the park would've not been that far away from me.
I only got to go on Mindbender in Edmonton (we spent part of our honeymoon in Edmonton…we took the ViaRail across Canada from Toronto to Vancouver stopping in cities along the way)…It was an Extremely intense ride (I would grey out constantly) but I must’ve gotten to ride it thirty plus times..
Only defunct coaster at Canada's Wonderland was Skyrider. I never rode it. Too bad these coasters closed. Bat at Kings Island is the same ride as Vortex. Love Vortex, it's a very fast ride, getting a nice bright red paint job too. Enjoyed the video.
