Theme parks are then able to add new major attractions. Often the removal of these flumes and water rides came with the opportunity to redevelop a large piece of property. Video can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Copperhead Strike at Carowinds – Official POV video () They include Rim Runner at Circus Circus Adventuredome, the formerly mentioned White Water Falls at Carowinds, Diamond Falls at Kings Dominion as well as a majority of them that are now closed at the various Six Flags theme parks (Movietown Water Effect, Splashwater Falls, etc…) Bigger, better and newer In addition to the log flumes, a large number of the compact Shoot the Chutes big-boat-splash style rides also closed down. Furthermore, Six Flags Magic Mountain‘s Log Jammer and just last year Kennywood‘s Log Jammer were also removed. Here we saw the removal of rides like Dollywood‘s Log Flume, Cedar Point‘s White Water Landing (and later Shoot the Rapids), and SeaWorld San Antonio‘s The Texas Splashdown. In fact in some cases they may have actually become a bit of an eyesore for the parks. Many of them were built in the 70’s and had begun showing extreme signs of age. It started with the smaller rides, mostly older style log flumes that may have never been themed at all. It has been slowly happening to theme parks across the Americas and even Europe for much of the past decade. That said, the removal of water rides is nothing new. Nevertheless, I find it very difficult to think of any other major theme park in the US market that doesn’t offer at least one major water ride attraction to cool guests off on a hot summer day. This left the park without a single water ride left in its lineup. This was followed by White Water Falls, which was closed a few years ago to make way for this year’s Copperhead Strike coaster.įurthermore, the announcement about the park’s popular Rip Roarin’ Rapids attraction being closed for good was made a few weeks ago. This started with their log ride back in 2009. Over the past decade, Carowinds has removed all three of these types of attractions from the park’s line up. They can be log flumes, big splash shoot-the-chutes, and even river rapids rides. I’m talking about theme park style water rides in general. I’m not talking about waterslides of course, those couldn’t be more popular. Yet it was Carowinds that inspired me to highlight what may be the latest attraction style in decline, the water ride. Video can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Carowinds County Fair – 2017 () Particularly, by creating feel-good family memory themed areas around them when added in groups such as the Carowinds County Fair that opened in 2017. Marketing has been able to capitalise on these as well. Rides such as the Scrambler and Tilt-A-Whirl. This is evident with a nostalgia-themed focus on some classic older rides enjoyed by multi-generational family groups. Thankfully, I think we are now seeing flat rides begin a successful return to the marketplace. They had to contain some kind of “EST” style label – biggEST, fastEST, tallEST, etc.

This was where marketing teams felt everything needed to be a “world’s first”. A reason could be that modern management felt they were difficult to market as major new additions in the coaster-wars era. Meanwhile, fewer rides were being purchased in general. In addition, some newer ones were also removed due to troublesome maintenance issues. Older ones were removed as they reached their end-of-life cycle. For example, “flat rides” have been declining in many parks. Attractions can lose their popularity over time and start to vanish from many parks over the course of several years. Sometimes these trends are more negative. Video can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: FlyOver Las Vegas | The Ultimate Flying Ride ()

Puyallup fair 2015 log flume ride