In 2024, the amusement industry announced a more significant number of thrill ride and attraction closures than usual. Unfortunately, many of these closures came as a complete and unexpected surprise to the fans of the parks affected.
There have been a few cases when parks have warned their fans ahead of time that an attraction is leaving. Whether it is just a couple of weeks’ notice or something extremely long-range, guests always appreciate this. A warning allows fans to try and make one last trip to the park to experience the departing attraction. And in some cases, the promotion of a final season can also serve as a highly successful marketing campaign.
A final season
A great example was when Silver Dollar City announced in early February 2023 that that season would be the last for the classic dark ride/coaster Blazing Fury. It had been working secretly for several years to develop, design and build a modern replacement for the attraction. However, this project was secret until August 2023, when the park announced an all-new version for 2024.
By then, the park had enjoyed almost an entire season of guests visiting and getting their last ride on the old classic attraction with their families before it retired for good.
The Oriental Land Company used a similar tactic during the 2024 season. This was regarding the retirement of the classic Space Mountain attraction at Tokyo Disneyland.
The company surprised everyone with an early announcement about this project in April 2022. It confirmed that the original Space Mountain would retire from service sometime in 2024. Plus, it revealed that an all-new version with an entirely new design, unique to Tokyo Disney, would open as a replacement in 2027.
Giving fans a chance to say goodbye
Ground clearing and site preparation for the new version of Space Mountain behind the original attraction began in early 2023. By the end of that year, the park confirmed that it would host a four-month celebration event for guests. This would allow them to officially say goodbye to the departing Space Mountain, which would blast off for the last time on 31 July 2024.
This kind of lengthy send-off for a departing attraction is extremely rare. However, the park’s fanbase appreciated the openness and transparent nature of the entire process. The 28-month warning period before the final closure gave ample time for park guests to visit if they wished.
Many attractions have either closed during 2024 or parks have announced ride closures for the near future. The majority of the attractions were from Disney and Universal theme parks. In addition to Space Mountain at Tokyo Disney, 2024 also saw the closure of The Amazing Adventure of Spider-Man at Universal Studios Japan on 22 January. For this, the park gave guests a nearly year-long warning. To date, there have been no announcements about a possible replacement.
Universal and Disney ride closures in 2024 and beyond
Walt Disney World also announced plans in 2023 to shut down the popular Test Track attraction at Epcot in 2024. This is to perform a complete technical renovation to the ride. The park will also upgrade the theme and storyline of the attraction for the third time. It will reopen sometime in 2025.
Several attractions from both companies have also announced upcoming closures in either 2025 or early 2026. This includes the pending closures of both sections of the Dinoland USA area of Disney’s Animal Kingdom park. The first phase saw the Dino-Rama-themed section just close this month. The park has also confirmed that guests can enjoy rides on the remaining Dinosaur dark ride for the rest of 2025 before it shuts down for good the following year.
Disney has also said that by the end of 2025, a new attraction will replace the park’s opening day attraction, It’s Tough to be a Bug. This will be themed to Disney’s Zootopia film characters.
Walt Disney World also announced a large-scale renovation program for the Disney Hollywood Studios theme park in late 2024. This will affect several attractions in 2025 and beyond.
The existing MuppetVision 3D attraction will close sometime during the coming year. The surrounding land will transform into a new Disney/Pixar Monsters Inc.-themed land, along with a new Monster ‘s-themed anchor attraction. The Muppet characters would not remain homeless for long, however. That’s because changes are also coming for the park’s Rock ‘n Roller-Coaster Starring Aerosmith attraction.
These changes will see the iconic rockers Aerosmith departing for good. The entire attraction will be closing soon to undergo a complete overhaul, retheming the experience as a new Muppets-themed attraction. The music portion will come from the Muppets’ branded Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem band, featuring fan favorite character, Animal.
Walt Disney World also announced plans to build a new land and attraction(s) themed to the Disney/Pixar Cars-themed franchise at the Magic Kingdom park at the annual D23 convention in August 2024.
These plans will see the park’s classic Tom Sawyer’s Island and Rivers of America attraction space removed entirely. As part of this project, the park’s Big Thunder Mountain attraction also closed down this month for a complete renovation and track replacement along with other upgrades. This means it won’t reopen until sometime in 2026.
Meanwhile, Universal Orlando, which has been very busy preparing the new Epic Universe theme park, announced some ride closures of its own in 2024. It confirmed recently that the park’s Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit musical roller coaster would retire in early September 2025.
More ride closures in 2024
A few attractions at smaller parks were able to give some sort of advance notice in 2024 about attraction closings. This includes the closure of the Scorpion roller coaster, Schwarzkopf, at Busch Gardens Tampa, the closure of Snake River Falls, Arrow, at Cedar Point, the removal of the Grand Prix at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and the kid-friendly Huff & Puff attraction at Knott’s Berry Farm.
However, operators can’t present every attraction closure in a way that allows guests to celebrate their closing. Especially when technical or safety issues arise.
Such was the case with Do-Dodonpa at Fuji-Q Highland in Japan. Do-Dodonpa took the record for having the fastest acceleration on the roller coaster in the world, hitting a top speed of 111.8mph in just 1.56 seconds after undergoing a renovation in 2017. Unfortunately, Do-Dodonpa was shut down during the pandemic in 2021 due to a rising series of complaints from park guests about injuries possibly sustained by the experience.
After a lengthy investigation, Fuji-Q Highland announced it would dismantle and remove the ride from the park for good.
The Six Flags conundrum
The other side of the coin has come to light over the past couple of months when an ever-growing number of rides and attractions from the newly merged Six Flags Entertainment Corporation have suddenly and, in many cases, unexpectedly, been confirmed as being closed and to be removed.
In every case, all of these ride closures or closure announcements only came after the attractions were closed for good for the remainder of the 2024 season or once the parks themselves had closed for the winter. This tactic has not sat well with the various fans of these parks, who wished they had an opportunity for a last ride. Fans wanted to participate in some kind of farewell celebration event or even the chance to purchase commemorative merchandise.
So far, the following attractions from the Six Flags chain of parks have been closed without any official warning:
- Anaconda – Arrow Dynamics Looping Coaster (1991) at Kings Dominion (Virginia)
- Drop Tower – Intamin Giant Drop (1996) at Carowinds (North Carolina)
- El Diablo – Larson International Giga Loop (2019) at Six Flags over Texas (Texas)
- Green Lantern – B&M Stand-Up Coaster (1997) at Six Flags Great Adventure (New Jersey)
- Kingda Ka – Intamin Accelerator Coaster (2005) at Six Flags Great Adventure
- La Vibora – Intamin Swiss Bob (1984) at Six Flags over Texas
- Nighthawk – Vekoma Flying Coaster (2000) at Carowinds
- Scream Weaver – Schwarzkopf Enterprise (1979) at Carowinds
- Skyride – Von Roll Dual Gondola Lift – (1974) at Six Flags Great Adventure
- Twister – Huss Top Spin – (1999) at Six Flags Great Adventure
- Zumanjaro – Intamin Giant Drop (2014) at Six Flags Great Adventure
Ride closures in the UK in 2024
The unexpected closures haven’t just been happening in the United States.
Alton Towers closed three attractions for good during the 2024 season. This includes the Alton Towers Dungeon (2019), The Blade/Pirate Ship (1980) and Flavio’s Fabulous Fandango (2021).
The attraction mix at Alton Towers has been somewhat in flux since the pandemic anyway, causing a good bit of guest confusion between attractions that may have been kept closed during the pandemic, like Nemesis: Sub-Terra, the temporary closure and rebuild of the attractions like Nemesis and Duel/The Curse, along with the sudden arrival and departure of five temporary attractions between 2021 and 2023 known as The Retro Squad (Mixtape, Roller Disco, Funk’nFly, Spinjam and Twistatron).
What else could we lose?
Peering into the crystal ball is a tricky act. However, looking into the murky future, I can already see several attractions that have been sitting closed for quite some time. Their respective parks have yet to announce their fates.
Following on from the above ride closures in 2024, my list of endangered attractions at this time would include:
Montezooma’s Revenge – Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop (1978) at Knott’s Berry Farm (California)
This coaster closed in early 2022. The plan was to reopen it in 2023 with a new magnetic launch system, all-new theming, and special features such as Montezuma: The Forbidden Fortress.
Contractor problems left the beloved ride in shambles, with elements removed and scrapped, and it failed to reopen in 2023. The date was pushed back to 2024. Once again, the situation failed to improve, and rumors of possible legal action have caused everyone involved to remain silent about the status of the attraction.
New efforts and unknown new contractors keep everyone hoping that we might see some progress in 2025. But there is always the chance that Knott’s Berry Farm (now part of Six Flags) may have thrown in the towel on the project that was meant to restore and keep one of the park’s most famous roller coasters alive for generations to come.
Dragon Mountain – Arrow Dynamics Looping Coaster (1983) at Marineland (Canada)
Amid a reported change in ownership for the troubled park, all rides were kept closed for the 2024 season. This included the park’s most interesting asset, Dragon Mountain. No reports have come from the park about what to expect for the 2025 season. Yet keeping a roller coaster closed for too long is never a good sign.
The Flash: Vertical Velocity – Intamin Impulse Coaster (2001) at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
The park strangely closed the roller coaster about a year ago. And it has not looked like it is attempting to reopen it. In fact, on-site reports from guests claim that it looks like the park has removed the train entirely and is using the station building as a storage area.
Kid Flash: Cosmic Coaster – Skyline Attractions P’Sghetti Bowl (2023). Identical versions built for Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags over Georgia
Technical problems have plagued these new prototype single-rail family coasters since the start. This resulted in a very late 2023 opening date. Both rides have been reported as closed nearly all of 2024, which doesn’t paint a good picture of their longevity.
Leap The Dips & Skyliner at Lakemont Park (Pennsylvania)
In an unexpected move, Lakemont Park announced that it would not run any of their rides for the entire 2024 season. This included the classic Leap the Dips side friction wooden coaster (1902) or the Skyliner wooden coaster (1987). Their status for 2025 is still unknown. However, as the park appeared to be removing and selling off some of its other attractions during 2024, the future is not bright.
While Leap the Dips is technically safe from removal as a National Historic Landmark, this status has limitations. The park cannot remove it, but it also does not have to operate it. It is required to try and maintain its basic structure. Yet, with enough time, if the structure was deemed damaged to the point where it was felt to be in danger of collapse, even a protested landmark could be removed.
Mind Eraser – Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster (1997) at Six Flags Darien Lake
While the coaster closed in 2023, the park did promote a plan to restore and reopen it in 2025. This was before the completion of the merger between Six Flags and Cedar Fair, however. So, the final date of Mind Eraser remains unknown until we learn more about the park’s current plans for 2025.
Rampage – CCI Wooden Coaster (1998) at Alabama Adventure & Splash Adventure
This wooden coaster has had a rough life, having been closed twice before. It opened in 1998 and then sat closed for the 2002 season before reopening in 2003. Once again, it closed at the end of the 2011 season and failed to reopen until 2015.
Rampage closed again in August of 2023 when the announcement came that it needed extensive maintenance and retracking. In 2024, an apparent plan was in place to upgrade sections of the track with new hybrid-style track sections to reopen it for the 2025 season. Unfortunately, no reports about progress on this project emerged over the past year. This puts the ride’s 2025 season into the unknown category.
Superman: Escape from Krypton – Intamin Reverse Freefall Coaster (1997) at Six Flags Magic Mountain
One of the more visually unique rides in the world today, it first opened in 1997 as Superman: The Escape, taking the world speed record for a roller coaster. It has a top launched speed of 100mph on the side-by-side racing tracks.
Unfortunately, Superman has been suffering from some performance issues over the past few years. This means that one or both tracks have been closed for extended periods of time. Given the trend we’ve seen where so many other Six Flags parks have been looking to retire rides that are expensive or troublesome to maintain, Superman may be up on the block as another potential sacrificial lamb.
TMNT Shellraiser – Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter (2019) at Nickelodeon Universe (New Jersey)
Installed as the world record holder for having the steepest drop at 121.5º, the TMNT Shellraiser coaster has been sitting closed and unused since January 2024. One year later, without any sign of activity, many wonder what is happening.
Park closures
Sadly, at some locations, it is more than an individual ride that saw unexpected closures in 2024. We have also lost a couple of small parks in the US over the past few months. This includes the Funplex in Myrtle Beach (South Carolina) and Gillian’s Wonderland Pier (New Jersey).
Elsewhere, the clock is ticking on a couple of other parks where the land was sold out from under them to developers, such as California’s Great America (Santa Clara, CA) and Elitch Gardens (Denver, Colorado), leaving the parks with only a few years left to operate.
While there will never be a way to replace those lost parks, at least their fans will have had time to visit and make some lasting memories during the time they have left. Unfortunately, for fans of the rides being removed this winter by Six Flags, most of their fans were unable to say goodbye, especially at Six Flags Great Adventure, which shuttered a large number of attractions all at once, including the record holder for fastest roller coaster in North America, Kingda Ka.
