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The Single Rider Line Episode 23: 2024/2025 Blood Bath
17 Plays13 days ago
Lance is back at it again with more roller coaster shenanigans. Today we recap the bloodbath of coasters lost in the 2024 /2025 off season. We also talk about an upcoming meetup!
Media mentioned in episode
Coaster101 article: https://www.coaster101.com/2024/12/30/in-memoriam-2024/
Ryan Ride Mechanic video: https://youtu.be/4jQCzRYa3gg
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Lance's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/this_is_lunarus/
Lance's Twitter: @lunarusirl
The Single Rider Line Discord: https://discord.gg/s6ADnndH5x
MEETUP COMING SOON!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Thrilling Coaster Tease
00:00:02
Speaker
um Are you ready for the highest and fastest coaster in the world? Are you ready for... This island dares you to come face to face with the beast.
Ride Experience Disrupted by Mechanical Issue
00:00:19
Speaker
The beast. 7,000 feet.
00:00:22
Speaker
um
00:00:26
Speaker
Hear my voice. The Loch Ness Monster.
00:00:32
Speaker
It's Andy K. Andy.
00:00:36
Speaker
wow Mr. Pop.
00:00:42
Speaker
da
00:01:07
Speaker
All riders waiting and on top
Off-Season Reflections and Ohio Weather
00:01:09
Speaker
of the rapture. We are currently experiencing a mechanical a issue and we do not know the length of the system. And welcome back to the single rider line.
00:01:19
Speaker
It is March 11th, 2025. Still slowly trudging our way through the offseason. We're we're getting there, though.
00:01:31
Speaker
It's starting to warm up. It's starting to feel a bit better. Baseball season is... At time of recording, little less than little more than two weeks around the corner.
00:01:43
Speaker
Spring is on the horizon. We're getting some warm weather here in and Ohio. It hits 71 today here in Ohio. Or here in Dayton, Ohio, I should specify. that Ohio is fairly large.
00:01:58
Speaker
i I forget sometimes, like landmass-wise. And depending on where you're at in the state. Temperature is going to vary just like anywhere else. um It's been a good break from the cold.
00:02:13
Speaker
Unfortunately, this this heat is not going to stick around like I want it to. But, you know we'll have it until until Saturday at least. Because right now it's, ah look at the weather app, it's 53.
00:02:27
Speaker
Tomorrow, Wednesday, it's going to be high of 69. Thursday, high 68. Friday, high of 70. Saturday, high of 70. Let me check what the feels like temperature is going to be.
00:02:39
Speaker
Feels like is only going to be in the 60s, but that's okay. still gonna It's still going to be warm. And then Saturday, we got a chance of thunderstorms. Knowing my luck, it's going to be like tornadoes or something like that. We got a 75% chance of thunderstorms.
00:02:56
Speaker
Let me see. And it's all in the evening as well. Not that that really matters. And not that that this that you guys really care about the temperatures and weather here in Dayton, Ohio. But I do. So, fuck you.
00:03:13
Speaker
um But again, welcome back to the Single Rider Line. Hope you guys are having a good week. Hope you had a good weekend. I'm still recovering from my trip a little bit wanting to go back already and just enjoy the heat and warm weather 24 seven.
00:03:29
Speaker
Unfortunately, unfortunately reality has to set in. I have bills to pay. I've got rent to pay. I've got passes to pay for and I've got
Planning Meetups at Kings Island and Cedar Point
00:03:41
Speaker
trips to plan. So speaking of trips,
00:03:44
Speaker
Nothing in the books yet. However, ah this August, I am thinking of doing the very first, the single rider line meetup trip here in Ohio.
00:03:57
Speaker
This would be a dual park trip. So this would be a Kings Island and Cedar Point trip. It would be a Thursday through a Sunday so that we'd have time to hit both parks.
00:04:09
Speaker
Just enjoy the general Cincinnati area and go hit up Cedar Point for a day or two. So if you've never been to either of these parks, we'd be going in like second or third week of August.
00:04:20
Speaker
Again, this is still in the planning phases. So just keep an ear out for that. I will be blasting it on social media as soon as I do have everything official. I'll be blasting it on the Discord. I'll be blasting it on...
00:04:35
Speaker
Twitter, Instagram, MySpace, TikTok. I don't have MySpace or TikTok. But you know you'll know. Trust me. yeah You'll know. And I'll be talking about it on here. So...
00:04:47
Speaker
If you have any interest in going to either of these parks, if you've never been to either of these parks or you haven't been in a very long time, this is the time to do it. August, that's when most kids are going back into school.
00:04:58
Speaker
we're going to We're going before they stop daily operations. If you want to get some night rides on the Beast, you totally can. um If Top Thrill 2 and Siren's Curse go off without a hitch, you can get some rides on those.
00:05:12
Speaker
Overall, just going to be a good good time in general. So... That is currently in the works. Group housing will be available ah so far. um So far, the plans are looking like they're able to work for that.
00:05:27
Speaker
We get an Airbnb in the Cincinnati area. um And just in general, I'll hang out, have a good time, and ride some coasters together. So again, keep an ear out for that. I'll be doing some more planning.
00:05:40
Speaker
ah Expect the announcement within the next month or so if that happens.
Coaster Closures Due to Mergers
00:05:45
Speaker
I'll make sure you guys are posted. ah The only thing, the one thing I did want to talk about today for for this week's episode is the bloodbath that is the amount of coasters we lost in 2024 with this merger.
00:06:00
Speaker
I mean, this is probably, don't quote me on this because I could be wrong. I think this is the most coasters we have ever lost in a single season. Have we not?
00:06:12
Speaker
I'm trying to think of if there's been any other where we lost this many. Not counting apart closing. Because like, i mean, I guess you could count that. Like when Six Flags New Orleans closed, i mean, that was all of their coast. How many did Six Flags New Orleans have? I'm curious now.
00:06:30
Speaker
Six Flags New Orleans coasters.
00:06:40
Speaker
RCDB.
00:06:42
Speaker
They had Batman the Ride, which was an inverted. They had Jester, Megazeph. Oh, wait, no. Okay, all of these closed on the same day. So they had one, two, three, four, five, six. Okay, so they had six coasters there.
00:06:57
Speaker
um
00:07:01
Speaker
Yeah, so they had six coasters. A few of them got sent to other parks. So yeah, this is the most coasters we've lost in a single season. So I kind of want to, I kind of just want to recap it real quick.
00:07:13
Speaker
Because this has been, this has been wild and kind of historical. Coaster 101 put out a really good article on this. ah they They just kind of did a list of everything that we lost.
00:07:29
Speaker
And let's we'll go ahead and go over it. So we lost the short scoff looper ah called Scorpion at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. i I have never been on this coaster.
00:07:42
Speaker
I don't know how good it was. It looks like a short scoff. All right. um Have they announced what's going to going to replace it
00:07:55
Speaker
I don't think they have. i I also heard that this coaster is getting sold to somewhere.
00:08:02
Speaker
Probably Indiana Beach. They don't care if they have two Schwarzkopf. Just buy it. Whatever they can get to to get in there. ah Space Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland closed.
00:08:18
Speaker
I don't know if they are currently remodeling it. Um...
00:08:25
Speaker
Yeah, here we go. Okay. So the the article says it's closed in 2024 marks the end of an era as the park prepares for a new vision of the future with plans to replace the beloved attraction with a reimagined diversion. Okay. So it's just getting it's getting a top thrill to treatment, whatever that is.
00:08:43
Speaker
Um, Now technically a retired Disney classic. That's kind of surprising. I mean, I'm glad it's getting the renovation that it needs and the TLC that it needs.
00:08:56
Speaker
But that's a pretty big one down the drain. La Vibora at Over Texas. That's their bobsled. What manufacturer is that?
00:09:08
Speaker
Sargevo? Sargevo bobsled. Originally, he uses the story as Yuba bobsled at Six Flies Magic Mountain. Okay. And then moved to um over Texas and made into Laviabora.
00:09:24
Speaker
um to data to to Who manufactured this?
00:09:30
Speaker
Intamin. Okay. I thought it was an Intamin. That's kind of surprising. I feel like this coaster is not... I mean, I'm glad what they're putting there is going to be cool. The Giga Dive, I'm looking forward to that.
00:09:44
Speaker
But I feel like this coaster may have still had some life to it. ah They didn't really give a distinct reason as to it left...
00:09:55
Speaker
as to wyat left Aside from the dive. I mean, you probably could have moved it somewhere else. I would be surprised if it does get moved somewhere else. Well, else watch this get moved to Kings Island. Well, watch them put that in this, in the Skyflyer plot.
00:10:09
Speaker
Oh, speaking of of more rides that are gone, Skyflyer at Kings Island is getting taken out. The supports and stuff are being removed. Uh, I got pictures sent to it of me today. Yeah. Pictures of it sent to me today.
00:10:25
Speaker
um They're taking out the top ever so slowly. And that's real sad. Just from like a personal standpoint, I and worked for that ride.
00:10:36
Speaker
And that it's one of those, like I didn't sign up to work for that ride. I joined like middle of the season. And i technically did work, signed up for that ride. But they kind of gave me different options. All the big rides were taken for the most part.
00:10:53
Speaker
I got to work Orion and Dimeback and Banshee on days where they needed people there, but that wasn't my home ride. My home ride was Skyflyer. And inside, i don't know if you've rode one of those, but they have a shed there where they keep all of the flight suits.
00:11:09
Speaker
And everybody writes their name down on the inside of the shed. And there's a year put above. That's it's like a year. And, you know, it's what year, what season you worked there. So I worked there for the 2022 season.
00:11:22
Speaker
And apparently that shed is gone now. So that's that's really sad. Because that's where me and a lot of my friends put their names at for. I mean, you're encouraged to do it by the park. So unfortunately, wasn't able to.
00:11:39
Speaker
get uh wasn't able to get to keep a piece of that wood or anything like that from the from the shed because i totally would have if got to keep the 2022 just like put a saws off through it and cut out the 2022 section give it to me i'll hang it on my wall but that didn't happen so uh rest in peace sky flyer I'm glad you were here. i hope whatever they replace you with is something that's worth its time.
00:12:09
Speaker
so Green Lantern at magic not magic garden my Great Adventure from 1997 to 2024. The B&M stand-up. So glad this thing is gone.
00:12:21
Speaker
What a piece of shit ride. This thing fucking sucked. um It originally debuted as Chan at Kentucky Kingdom in 97. And it was relocated...
00:12:34
Speaker
and rethemed it doesn't say what year it was rethemed but it was relocated rethemed it does what's what was chang's color scheme i'm curious now all right rcdb help me chang kentucky kingdom
00:12:56
Speaker
what was this color scheme that color scheme is kind of atrocious
00:13:04
Speaker
It's like a lime green and a purple.
00:13:09
Speaker
What were they were they going for here? I don't know. i'm glad I'm glad it's gone, though. I don't think anybody was really missing this coaster.
00:13:21
Speaker
It's very ah
00:13:27
Speaker
sucky. We'll put it that way. It's not good. It's just not a good coaster overall. Also, the front entrance...
00:13:36
Speaker
Is this like the front entrance to Chang? was that Is that kind of racist? I mean...
00:13:46
Speaker
Maybe? i don't know. It's very interesting to say the least, but it is a it is long gone now.
00:13:56
Speaker
It is now in a scrapyard, and they are definitely not selling ah slices of track of that.
00:14:05
Speaker
And
Impact and Implications of Coaster Closures
00:14:06
Speaker
they're also not selling slices of track of Kingda Ka from 2005 to 2024. Rest in peace, Sir Kingda Ka. I'm so glad I got to ride you before you bit the dust.
00:14:19
Speaker
i was I was talking to my girlfriend yesterday or earlier today, one of the two. And I said to her that this time last year, i had zero plans of going to New York City and getting on Kingda Ka.
00:14:34
Speaker
And then it kind of just happened. And I'm glad I went last year for obvious reasons. And i vividly remember looking, i was in the parking lot.
00:14:46
Speaker
of great adventure, looking at Kingda Ka while waiting for my Uber to take me back to the train station and thinking, it's okay, I'll be back. They're not going to get rid of Kingda Ka. It's, you know, the tallest. It was formerly the the fastest coaster and is still the tallest coaster in the world.
00:15:03
Speaker
It's not going anywhere. And lo and behold... Four months later, it's like, yeah, guys, this thing is going to be gone. ah We're not going to tell you. Altura Ryan has to tell you. But yeah, this thing is going to be is going to be ah just just destroyed.
00:15:19
Speaker
So formerly the tallest and fastest, 456 feet, 128 in 3.5 seconds. more
00:15:29
Speaker
one nineteen eighteen it was it did not hit ah hundred and twenty eight miles an hour But that's okay. That height was still accurate. 456 feet.
00:15:41
Speaker
And 418 degree. I'm sorry. in a 418 foot drop.
00:15:50
Speaker
Man. What a ride. um i wish I wish it was still around. I wish they got to keep it. But oh well. That's in the scrap yard now as well. Wild Train um at Fantasialand in Austria.
00:16:08
Speaker
Lasted from 2005 to 2024. I believe this is a know this is not a boomerang. This is a, this is a family coaster.
00:16:18
Speaker
Nothing intense. I've never heard of this coaster until now, to be honest with you. It's manufactured by PAX. I've heard of PAX.
00:16:29
Speaker
I don't really know what they make aside from this. um Apparently it had some good laterals and good ah and good airtime for a family coaster, according to this article. But again, I can't i can't speak for that.
00:16:46
Speaker
We also lost Nighthawk at Carowinds. I don't think anybody was really seeing this one coming. I mean, I get why it's taken out. Firehawk was not too far behind it So it was probably just using parts from Firehawk. But I'm surprised this um surprise this got taken out without announcement.
00:17:08
Speaker
i mean I mean, this is like as soon as you walk in the front gate, you see this coaster. So I don't know. I was never a big fan of this coaster.
00:17:19
Speaker
I'm not a fan of the Flying Dutchman in the first place. I like the B&M Flyers far more. ah feel a lot more secure on B&M Flyers compared to Flying Dutchman. So I'm not too terribly sad to see this thing go.
00:17:32
Speaker
But, you know, you you could have given an announcement. That's that's with a lot of these coasters. All of these most of these coasters were taken out or without announcement, which I think is part of the reason why this past year has been such a shitty year for roller coasters.
00:17:46
Speaker
I mean, if rides weren't breaking down and not working, things were being taken out. I mean, this has been a serious transition period, and and Six Flags is going scorched earth with their... i think they're just trying to get rid of as of much of Legacy Six Flags stuff that they have to as soon as possible, because they just don't want to have to deal with it anymore.
00:18:12
Speaker
But even then, that makes me... Like, this was added... Was Nighthawk added prior to...
00:18:21
Speaker
Was this added before or after ah Cedar Fair bought Carowinds? When did Cedar fire Fair buy Carowinds? All right, Google, help me. When did
00:18:34
Speaker
Cedar Fair buy Carowinds?
00:18:44
Speaker
June 30th, 2006. Okay, 2006... okay so two thousand and six um
00:18:57
Speaker
Okay, so it's been been there. Okay, so this was a Cedar Fair thing. I don't know then. i really don't know. Maybe it was just like they were running out of parts and they didn't want to have to pay for more. I really don't know.
00:19:14
Speaker
And then Anaconda at Kingston Minion from 1991 to 2024. This one I'm not surprised about. This one has been on the chopping block for forever. Everybody has always said, yeah, this one's going to be gone here soon. This one's going to be gone here soon. This one's going gone here soon.
00:19:29
Speaker
And it finally happened. I don't think anybody's too terribly sad about this. I'm glad they're getting Raptera. This ride was old. It sucked. um It wasn't fun.
00:19:41
Speaker
I wrote it for the credit, and that was about it. that spot over the lake is going to be beautiful and it's a great place for a new coaster. So if you want to try and compete with Bush Gardens, be my guest.
00:19:54
Speaker
I would love to see that. I'm glad that King's Dominion is getting something in its place though, or something to hold you over until you can replace ah the Anaconda plot.
00:20:06
Speaker
As soon as you replace the volcano plot, the Anaconda plot just gets decimated. ah Anaconda was the first looping coaster built entirely over water.
00:20:17
Speaker
That's kind of cool. I didn't know that. I mean, I knew it was over water the whole time, but I didn't know it was the first one to do that. So ah good job, Anaconda. And whatever replaces it is probably going to be a million times better.
00:20:31
Speaker
Dota Dampa. We lost that as well at Fuji Q Highland. This was one of my bucket list coasters, and I wish I got to be able to ride this. But unfortunately... Unfortunately not.
00:20:43
Speaker
i ah I mean, just that launch acceleration as a whole is is awesome. Zero to 107 in 1.8 seconds. That is nuts, dude. 1.8 seconds to reach 107 miles an hour.
00:21:01
Speaker
I feel like Dota Dampa very easily could have been saved, but for some reason it wasn't. I know that there was rumors of it like for like giving people fractures, which I'm not saying that that wasn't true. it definitely i mean probably was.
00:21:16
Speaker
But I mean, that's just a track section sort of thing. You can't you can fix that. You don't have to tear out the entire ride. That's such an iconic coaster.
00:21:28
Speaker
I mean, that's what I said about King Naka, too, to be fair. And here we are. Both Dota Dampa and King Naka are gone. So... I mean, just this whole just this whole year has been a has been a bloodbath. And there's still more that are up in the air.
00:21:46
Speaker
Timberwolf at Worlds of Fun, it's not going to operate in 2025. ah It wasn't clear if it's getting a retrack or if it's becoming a hybrid or if it's getting Titan track or...
00:22:01
Speaker
ah Yeah, Worlds of Fun has not said anything aside from it's not going operate this year, which I don't know why. Why don't you just say, you know, hey, here's what we're doing with it.
00:22:14
Speaker
If you're going to RMC, just say it's closing. Say it's closing and that something else is coming. If you're just going to retract it, make that public. I think that's a lot more understandable than just not giving any sort of answer.
00:22:28
Speaker
Tell us, hey, were we love Timberwolf. We want to keep it around for a while. So we're going to put a bunch of money into having the Gravity Group put their pre-cut track on there. You know?
00:22:44
Speaker
Ejunika, Fuji-Q Highland. A maintenance worker was killed on it on February 28th. There's a great video by... Ryan the Rai mechanic that kind of goes into depth as to what might have happened on this situation.
00:22:58
Speaker
ah But Eugenica, for those of you who don't know, is a almost exact clone of X2 with some minor upgrades and a slight layout difference. But go check out his video.
00:23:13
Speaker
unfortunate It's really unfortunate that this happened, but we'll we'll see if this coaster continues to operate or not. ah Superman, Escape from Krypton at Magic Mountain. I walked past this many a times this whenever I was on my California trip.
00:23:31
Speaker
That thing just looks like it's sitting and rotting. ah The drop tower works on it. That was a good time. But the the coaster itself is SBNO. It's been SBNO since September of 2024.
00:23:47
Speaker
My guess is that it's probably to come back around. i don't know. I think that they may have it down just because they're working on that new coaster right next to it. Again, I could be wrong, but that's just that's just my guess.
00:24:01
Speaker
I can't say one way or the other for Superman. ah This one still has Kumba listed on here. you guys think Kumba's going anywhere?
00:24:14
Speaker
i don't know. It's not SBNO, but it's definitely getting up there in age.
00:24:21
Speaker
i really I really don't know. But it's listed on this Coaster 101 page. So I'll just leave it at that. Dragon Mountain at Marineland. The coaster has been SBNO.
00:24:33
Speaker
And the park is said to be transitioning to new ownership. I'm curious if Dragon Mountain is going to is going to reopen. I think it will. It's a very unique coaster that I wish i hope I get to ride.
00:24:48
Speaker
But we'll see. I i mean, it's an aero. Getting parts for aero can't be that expensive, right? Right? Or is it just like the welding that you have to do? because there's a lot of welds on aero track. I don't know.
00:25:00
Speaker
That's such a toss-up. I'm going to say 60% reopens, 40% it doesn't reopen. is is is is my guess. um Oh, we also lost the flash the Kid Flash S&S dueling coasters.
00:25:20
Speaker
the family The family kids coasters at I believe Fiesta Texas and ah over Georgia. So there's four more coasters I got on the chopping block. Those are like brand new too.
00:25:36
Speaker
I don't know why those
00:25:39
Speaker
Oh, just had to fix my my mic cage real quick.
00:25:46
Speaker
What are you doing?
00:25:49
Speaker
oh I was going at it wrong. Okay. Yeah. I don't know what's up with those ones or like why those failed so hard. Probably because it's SNS and SNS doesn't know what the fuck they're doing. um So there's more for there's four more coasters just gone.
00:26:03
Speaker
and then flash vertical velocity at Discovery Kingdom. Apparently that's been Espino since January of 2024. I'm glad I rode that in September of 23 when I did because if that's been Espino for over a year, that's probably...
00:26:18
Speaker
paleo on chopping block as well what would you put in its place though because they already have a free spin and they already have a skyrocket too that's a very narrow plot of land you can't do a whole lot with that unless you want to just completely redo the front entrance that's a very unique uh impulse coaster so i hope that one stays around but Oh, well.
00:26:44
Speaker
it's been a It's been a bloody year for the theme park industry. I mean, we've lost coaster after coaster after coaster, and we got stuff that's SBNO. It's a very transitional period right now.
00:26:58
Speaker
I really, really hope that... Okay, I have faith in New Six Flags that they know what they're doing and that they have plenty of replacements lined up. I know they do. They announced all of those coasters that are coming couple years or earlier last year.
00:27:18
Speaker
And they didn't specify what, but it's just that something is coming. So... Whatever each part gets, I hope it's good.
00:27:29
Speaker
I hope it's worth our time. And I hope that all these ride removals are going to be something we think about in the future and say, hey, this was absolutely 110% worth it. Because right now, it doesn't feel that way.
00:27:42
Speaker
But, you know, they had ah they got to rip the bandaid off, I guess. or That's how they want to go about it. I don't think it's the right way to go about it. If you're going to close all these rides, tell us, like, hey,
00:27:55
Speaker
We're closing this ride. We're going to be doing so on this date. Here is your last day to ride it. If you don't show up too bad, so sad. And please buy merchandise. Because they very easily could have profited off all these rides closing.
00:28:10
Speaker
Like if you said, hey, we got something big planned. But to do that, we got to close these coasters. Come ride one last time. And we'll tell you what's in the works.
00:28:21
Speaker
So.
00:28:24
Speaker
I don't know.
Communication Issues with Coaster Companies
00:28:25
Speaker
Why that didn't happen. Thank you Zimmerman. For fucking us all over. And not telling anybody.
00:28:33
Speaker
The fact we have to like. Do our own research. To get this like. Even off the ground. Or not off the ground. To do our own research. And have. Insider sources. Just to know. Some of this stuff. Before it's gone. Is ridiculous. Oh one last coaster. That nobody cares about. Time Warp. That one's getting taken apart. As of now.
00:28:52
Speaker
So. Say goodbye at to time warp at Canada's wonderland. I don't think anybody was too sad about that one, though. Apparently that one was ass. I kind of wish I got to wrote it just because of how bad everybody says it is.
00:29:05
Speaker
But oh, well, one less credit I can get.
Episode Conclusion and Meetup Reminder
00:29:11
Speaker
And that is going to do it for this week's episode of the single rider line. i just really wanted to talk about that. it's been such a prevailing topic throughout the past six months or so. And I wanted to come to kind of do a recap of it. And I don't think it's over yet. i think there's still some that that we haven't found out that are being taken out that we just haven't noticed yet, but we will see.
00:29:35
Speaker
So I will keep you guys posted on the meetup slash trip again, Kings Island and Cedar point. if you have never been at either of these parks, this is the time to go. You'll have people there with you ah who can make ah attending these parks cheaper.
00:29:54
Speaker
They can make driving there cheaper. They can make staying in the park area cheaper all because of and group housing and you'll just have friends to hang out with while going to a park and that is so much more is all i got for you i hope you have a great rest of your week and we will see you next time the secret rider line peace