Which Park Has the Greatest Defunct Coaster Collection? 

Number 1: Geauga Lake. The whole park.

When I thought about great defunct coasters my mind immediately went to Kings Dominion, I've ridden Shockwave, Hurler & Volcano. I was also one of the lucky few to ride Twister Timbers & Volcano on the same day (I believe those two coasters operated together for a total of 5-6 operating days.) Volcano is dearly missed, I enjoyed it a lot!

I know it’s not a collection, but Dueling Dragons are still 2 of the best defunct coasters I have ever ridden

Imagine if Dorney Park kept Hercules a little longer and gave it the RMC treatment.

Over Georgia was mentioned often enough as either the source or destination for other defunct rides that it probably should have at least warranted a mention on this list with its 5 defunct coasters: Deja Vu Georgia Cyclone Mini Mine Train Viper Z-Force

Before watching, I’d just like to say that this is a cool and unique idea for a video.

The memories of my only defunct coaster, Vortex at KI. That is definitely one of the best defunct coaster collections. I mean a massive 7 inversion Arrow Looper and a Vekoma Flying Dutchman and a freaking 200 ft woodie with a loop. As they may not of been the best coasters, they were iconic and what made KI into what it is today.

Nice shout out to Flamingo Land, that's my local park! They've had a bit of luck this year with picking up an Intamin ten inversion coaster that was delivered but never built at two other parks. It's a pretty significant coaster for what is a very regional park. It also has the mixed fortunes of having both a custom layout SLC that's actually a decent ride but also a Zamperla Volare...

As a New Jerseyan, I sometimes forget how many defunct credits Great Adventure has. They have more defunct credits than any other park with 15 as stated in the video so I agree with it being number 1 on this list. A large part of that is because they closed three dueling coasters (6 credits) and had several coasters that operated in the park's early years that were part of the ride rotation program from the 80s or were short lived. The last coasters they closed were Rolling Thunder in 2013 and with the lineup they have today, I don't see them closing any coaster in the next few years. If anything, they're probably more likely to replace a flat ride with a new coaster than remove one.

Awesome video! I can't believe that you somehow left out that Great Adventure has MORE DEFUNCT COASTERS than operating ones! 🤙🏽

Great stuff Chris. A fun follow-up would be, Round 1: "Which park has the single best retired coaster", and Round 2: "Which retired coaster had the single best replacement coaster in its place?" I would vote Dueling Dragons. And then we can all debate whether Hagrids or Velocicoaster is the true replacement. Would be a really cool episode and great to hear your thoughts.

Re: Kings Island. The Demon was replaced by Congo Falls, although I believe The Demon extended a little further into the area where Drop Tower now is. I am old enough to have ridden (the original) The Bat when I was 13 years old and I thought it was incredible. Not mentioned in the video: the Ghoster Coaster was a family ride with very little capacity, but it was fun to ride with my daughter. It operated 1998-2005.

As someone with Worlds of Fun as their home park, I appreciate the mention, I wasn't expecting to hear it's name however I felt they did have a solid past lineup, glad you feel the same way.

I loved riding Galaxi at Kings Dominion as a kid. It was one of my first coasters. I heard it was removed because a kid stood up in the car and got decapitated. Probably just an urban legend.

I went to Alton Towers on Monday and I love how they still have the track from the Corkscrew at the entrance of the park as a sort of memorial

Good work on your videos. I find it very fascinating. My relationship with coasters is strange in that I love them but I'm also terrified of heights so it's always a push and pull between being too afraid to go up so high versus wanting to ride it so bad!! I'm trying to become braver and just ride all the rides..

I am honestly so glad my home park, Great Adventure, had such a diverse history of coasters that came and went. I mean, they have their own history website and forum! I wish I could ride their defunct coaster collection, but unfortunately the only defunct coaster I have ridden was Wildcat at Hershey.

I was half expecting Geauga Lake based on how much you loved that park

Astroworld absoluty belongs on this list. It had the excellent wooden coaster Texas Cyclone, one of the first shuttle loops, Greased lightning, Taz's Texas Tornado before it became Zonga, Ultratwister, Arrow suspended coaster XL-R8, an enclosed coaster called Mayan Mindbender, plus a Schwarzkopf looping star, an Arrow mine train and mini mine train, a new and smooth SLC, and Batman the Escape, which was formerly Shockwave at Magic Mountain and Great Adventure.

As a Brit I wasn’t expecting Flamingoland on here but I’ll take it. The park blew up as a Amusement park/ fairground in the 70 to the 90s with its now defunct rides all built in that time period. however when the park restructured itself to be more like a theme park in the 2000s (it’s still trying to find its footing in that front, some areas are better than others) most of the old rides were replaced with modern ones.

I haven't been on many defunct coasters (for example, Discovery Kingdom is my home park and the only one of those I'd been on was Roar) but let me tell ya, there is a damn good reason Psyclone was taken out at SFMM. That might have been the most painful permanent coaster I've ever been on. Here's to hoping Viper will be the next SFMM defunct coaster 😈

If you do make another list, maybe give Knotts Berry Farm an honorable mention. They do have a decent collection of defunct coasters: 2 that were relocated (Corkscrew and Boomerang), a fondly remembered fan favorite steeplechase coaster (Wacky Soap Box Racers/Motorcycle Chase), and the coaster that gave Knotts the idea to file a lawsuit and caused Togo to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2001 (Windjammer Surf Racers).

I rode quite a few of these. Most in Six Flags Great Adventure. Scream Machine, Rolling Thunder, Viper and Batman and Robin. Plus The Shockwave in King's Dominion. Busch Gardens Big Bad Wolf and Dorney's Hercules.

The “rot in hell Green Lantern” at the tail end might have been my favorite part 😂😂

Fun Fact: at CGA, the station for greased lightnin’/tidal wave is still there to this day. Right next to patriot’s lifthill

My dad is in the group of 5 people, that liked Drachen Fire, me marathoned it. He loved it.

I love the representation of dorney park and Hercules!

I like how everyone forgets about Six Flags Great Americas shortest lived coaster: Gulf Coaster. Photos are extremely rare and it only operated during the parks opening year of 1976. It was an Allan Herschel Little Dipper so it was just a basic kiddie coaster but it was removed due to technical issues and it easily caught on fire.

All Right Dorney Park with an honorable mention. Hercules was very Iconic but got terribly rough at the end. Too bad it's gone though would have been perfect for the RMC Treatment. Lazer really wish was still there because it would be great for that bare plot of land and think was very unappreciated.

This is a cool video. I would love to ride Volcano if it were here today, probably one of my top picks for a defunct coaster. Batman & Robin, Firehawk, Big Bad Wolf, Vortex, Hypersonic XLC, Ring Racer, and Eagle Fortress all look great as well! Despite starting to ride coasters recently, I already have 1 defunct credit, Cheetah at Wild Adventures, and it was nothing to get excited over lol. Good layout, but rough as heck.

2:24 Wait a Arrow Lopper with standup trains!

I had no idea Nighthawk at Carowinds used to be another ride somewhere else. I've only gotten to ride it once back when it was called the Borg Assimilator when it was still owned by Paramount. And that makes total sense that it had issues because almost every time I've visited Carowinds since I rode it, it has been shut down for the day for whatever reason. It was a pretty good ride from what I remember and it's the only flying coaster I've been on.

I miss Volcano and Big Bad Wolf. Big Bad Wolf was my first ever coaster, and I rode it when I was 5ish. Apparently I screamed (I hated it at first lol, my dad lied to me saying it was a kiddy ride so I would agree to ride it lol typical dad) but my dad said I STOPPED screaming and he thought I stopped breathing! Didn’t ride coasters for years after that, but then i tried again and it wasn’t so bad. Wish I could still ride it. But Volcano… Volcano just.. hurts, man. The sound it made on its first launch is one of those sounds that scratches that itch in my brain. Just 🤌🏻✨chefs kiss✨ such a good sound. I wish there had been more suspended catapult coasters made 😭 Volcano remains one of my favorite coasters in the world. I’m very sad it’s gone, though I get it was a maintenance headache. Doesn’t make it hurt any less.

Hey Chris, I think it’d be cool to do a video on Which Ride Has the Most Prime Ride Time - Astroworld; at the time of the park’s closing. That is, if POV’s exist for every coaster.

Great video! I'm from southeastern PA, and also old, so I have a rather impressive list of defunct credits thanks to Great Adventure and Dorney.

Growing up in Richmond, Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens were an integral part of my upbringing. I miss each and every defunct coaster from both parks from the 80s through present day. I'm too young to remember the ones from the 70s, but all still bring me to a happy place when I think of them, longing for just one more ride. I can still hear the sounds of the lift hills, launches, brake runs, etc. in my head. RIP

Great video! I loved the Kings Island part!

batman and robin the chiller was my favorite coaster when they had the inline twists in them. ahh memories 😃

Northern California born and raised. I remember riding roar as a kid( back when discovery kingdom was marine world). And stealth was a faded memory since I only got to ride that once. My home park is now Busch gardens Williamsburg in va and I also remember getting to ride big bad wolf. Great video! I have serious nostalgia ❤

I’ve been on Stinger and Big Bad Wolf and Drachen Fire. I actually liked Drachen Fire, but hated Loch Ness Monster. Those 3 were the first large coasters I ever went on as a kid and I basically decided I’d never get near a rollercoaster again…which as with almost everything in my life is another promise to myself I couldn’t keep. But breaking it was the best thing I ever did.

Hilarious when you sighed at 8:40, mentioning Vampire moving over to Six Flags New England to become Flashback

The Hypersonic XLC was the first, perhaps only, magnetic launch coaster I have experienced. The recent consideration to the queue, beyond mere switchbacks, is a welcome and constructive development. 🦉

Awesome video Airtime Thrills! I really love your videos!

Great Vid!! Always looking forward to them. Thanks.

You are my favorite RU-vidr great vid keep it up!

Always the best ideas. Your channel is amazing.

Great insights here! Growing up going to Six Flags Great Adventure, but having spent time at a few of the others on your list (RIP Volcano, and of course Big Bad Wolf which was my first non-kiddie coaster as a kid), I can see why that was #1.

Will you ever do a video on defunct parks, Mr. Chris? If you do, I can name 4 here in Florida. Cypress Gardens, Wild Waters, Six Gun Territory and Boardwalk and Baseball.

Rip Disaster Transport. May the memory of your heavenly Air Conditioning live on forever.

Dorney Park had a great line up back in the day

I really enjoyed this idea! Keep up the good work on here as well as on Home Run Productions!

This was an awesome video! Trip down memory lane! Maybe a top 10 coaster collection for parks that are no longer operating? Like astro world etc

My home park only removed Skyrider. There are plenty of flat rides that were removed. I loved some of them. Enjoyed your video.

I think Fuji-Q highland also had some pretty interesting defunct coasters, moonsault scramble probably being the most notable. Great video!

Mountain Express was fun , also you could check to see if your car was being messed with from the lift hill so it always came in handy to check on your car lol.

The Hurricane Coaster that used to operated at Adventureland Long Island from 1991 to 2014 is one of Adventureland's defunct roller coasters from Long Island. And I also remembered riding on that coaster when I was young. So in my opinion, Hurricane is one of the greatest Defunct roller coasters of the collection!

Carowinds doesnt have enough to be on herr but id give it up just for Thunder Road. It was an icon of the Carolinas.

Was not expecting Great Adventure to be #1! I knew it had a lot but 15! Jeez! Great video!

US Park: * Wants to remove coaster * Mexico: "let me take that off your hands for you"

I’m glad Kentucky Kingdom got recognized for it’s Defunct greatness!

Now a video with the worst defunct coaster collection

So happy to my former home park on top! Soooo many memories from my childhood!

I'll never forget my front row night ride on volcano in 2017. I miss it so much.

This was a different, but very welcome idea for a video. Thanks for that!

"They also had Green Lantern, but we don't talk about that one" 😂😂😂😂

Loved your video and the list, in fact it was so good you should do a sequel keep up the good work!!!

suggestion? how about a video of the defunct coasters you believe are better than their successors?

I remember one of the nicknames for Hercules was Hurt-your-knees, making fun of the coasters roughness.

Thanks for the video. Always a fan of content about defunct coasters. I definitely agree with your #1 pick (Spoiler, sorry) being Great Adventure. I went there for the first time in 2007 and the coaster lineup was absolutely amazing. My bro and I were most excited about Kingda Ka but we were completely blindsided by El Toro which had only been open for 1 year and we knew nothing about it. It was immediately my 2nd favorite overall coaster. I was also thrilled to be able to ride Great American Scream Machine which was a clone of the then recently removed Shockwave (Still in my top 15 to this day) from my home park-not as intense as Shockwave but still a long, tall, wild, beautiful looking ride. Right next to El Toro was Rolling Thunder which was a blast. It was awesome to see an old school woodie sharing space with a brand new one. Batman and Robin was an insane launch coaster that was in it's last season of operation. The variety of rides was endless and was like a cross section of roller coaster history from the 1970's until that point. Add to that an amazing B&M hyper, the first floorless coaster I'd ever ridden which a perfect companion to Great American Scream Machine since they were both massive 7 inversion monsters but built 10 years apart and with totally different tech. Runaway Mine Train is one of the better mine trains out there. And Skull Mountain is a bizarre but really fun indoor family coaster. I came away from that park thinking that there lineup was nearly equal to Cedar Point's at the time. I never would have expected them to close SO MANY coasters and in general replace them with less interesting ones. You guys had a perfect line up! Why couldn't you just leave it alone? I get closing Batman and Robin but put Great American Scream Machine and Rolling Thunder into SBNO for a while and do some serious maintenance on those things. You DID NOT need to tear them down. Viper is still running in Magic Mountain. Racer and Rebel Yell are still running in King's Island and King's Dominion. You're telling me they could maintain those nearly identical rides but you guys were unable to? Sorry went on a rant there. Defunct coasters man...always get me riled up, lol.

With flamingo land being my home park I was very happy to have seen this on an airtime thrills list.

Six flags great America .. Iron wolf, shockwave , tidal wave, rolling thunder, dejavu. Went on all those growing up.

*This video is sponsored by the Six Flags ride rotation program*

I wish I couldve gone to Hard Rock Park, Six Flags New Orleans, and Geauga Lake

Agreed except for defunct parks. Chicago's Riverview, Geauga Lake, Astroworld, the lost coasters of Coney Island, etc

I think you come up with the best topics for videos

Come on Virginia! Glad to know I'm not alone...I often get nostalgic yet frustrated at the defunct collection we have here. I wish I could have just one ride on these defunct coasters!

So lucky I’ve ridden all the BGW defunct coasters! Glissade was one of my firsts in 1979!!

It's just amazing how many coasters SFGA has had over the years ... I've been on several of those, and have fond memories (even for Viper).

This is such a cool idea, this is really cool

Heyyyyy it’s another video I adore!! What’s the next best thing to talk about besides coasters? Defunct coasters! I almost enjoy talking more about what was once was than what is. Almost.

Ik that Carowinds hasn’t removed a lot of coasters over the years but you have to admit that there are great rides that have been removed. The biggest two I’m thinking of are Thunder Road (a PTC dueling woodie which was spilt between the borders of North and South Carolina) and Wild Thornberry’s Adventure (a log flume that I used to ride every summer). Both of these two rides are really close to my heart ❤️ I’m sure that there are others but those are the most two important in my opinion

Great list!

I was lucky to ride a few of these like Firehawk and Vortex at Kings Island, Volcano and Shockwave at Kings Dominion and The Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Fuji-Q Highland also had Birdmen which operated for only a few yrs in the early 2000s... I was lucky enough to ride it before it was converted.

Kinds Dominion should have a special shout out to Racer 75 when it was called Rebel Yell. They used to have the one side running backwards and it was one of the best coasters in the park imo besides being pretty unique. Miss that backwards woodie.

Great video-I was sort of surprised at how many of these coasters I’ve ridden. 1. Because I’m older. 2. Because they actually got relocated.

Never thought I'd see Flamingo Land above Magic Mountain in an Airtime Thrills list... whatever the subject. Lol

Were it up to me, I would have fixed all the bugs on Drachen Fire and then went on to make Dragon's Revenge. The theme of the ride would be about a slayed dragon with teal and white scales being avenged by his broken hearted wife, whom you get a glimpse of protecting her egglings. The ride would start and stop, kind of like a hybrid between a dark ride and a coaster, and the finale shows a little seen where the egglings are looking down at the people in the cars...Mama has brought something home for them to eat..... PS- Yes, I have too much time on my hands. But hey, nobody spends a penny on theming these days.

Wait hold on NIGHTMARE, THE GREAT ESCAPE BUILDING I WANTED TO GET INTO EVERY TIME I WAS THERE WAS JUST A JETSTAR? I’m disappointed in 7 year old me.

Great video!

... no pressure but I would also LOVE to see a "Worst Defunct Coaster Collection" done of the parks who... really took some time to get into the swing of things. If you have time for that someday. Anyways, this is a great vid!!

Awesome video concept. I think Disneyland also has a great collection, Space Mountain 1.0 and Big Thunder 1.0, haha if those count. The Chiller is probably my favorite defunct coaster, I’d probably put it above Volcano and definitely above Hypersonic XLC. I don’t remember Batman but I did go on it once or twice, but Robin side had such a good launch, made the headbanging with the original OSTRs worth it.

I feel BBW is by far the most loved defunct coaster ever 25 seasons was a great run though trains were not easily acquired anymore

Honestly? Islands of Adventure: Hulk 1.0 (I count both hulks as 2 credits - so maybe this puts it in honorable mention status instead) and dueling dragons fire and ice. 3 spectacular B&Ms that carried the park that are all gone*

I knew it would be Great Adventure, Great American Scream Machine was a great loss to all of us who grew up with that as our home park. Rolling Thunder was a solid workhorse of a woodie, big soft spot for that old girl. Most of those other coasters were trash or from before my time, nobody misses the Chiller, less than nobody misses Viper.

My home park taking the cake but I was expecting it to be worlds of adventure cause you know the whole park

My 5th ever coaster and my first one outside of the Homepark was Blue Streak at Conneaut Lake - I was so Heartbroken when it Demolished via Control Burn this January (2022)

Chang at Kentucky kingdom was my first coaster ever just wish I road it with my eyes open, I missed out 😂

I rode aftershock at Silverwood for my 18th birthday. I wanted to ride it purely for the reason of riding a piece of Six Flags history.

Very cool video idea, was kind of surprised to see KD wasn't #1, but I can certainly see the argument for Great Adventure at the top spot.