Just recently I’ve been reflecting on some of the many rides and rollercoasters I’ve been fortunate enough to experience over the years. I am incredibly lucky to have been able to ride 235 different rollercoasters across several different countries. Most of them I’ve really enjoyed and would happily do them multiple times. However, there are a small number which have made it onto my ‘never again’ list. Rollercoasters which, for one reason or another, I never ever want to ride again. Below I discuss a few members of this club and explain just why I never want to do them again.
Goudurix – Parc Asterix
I had some reasonable expectations for this rollercoaster. Having seen so many photos of it in the lead up to my visit to Pac Asterix (the shot of Goudurix from across the lake is probably one of the most recognisable photos from the park), and heard many good things about it, I was hopeful that it would be a decent ride. Oh, how wrong I was! The ride was so incredibly rough and bashed me around so much that I got off barely able to see straight. To date, it is also the only rollercoaster to bring me to the verge of tears, it was that bad! Needless to say, I have no desire to put myself through it ever again.
Nighthawk – Carowinds
Nighthawk is a rollercoaster I was a little curious about when I visited Carowinds for the first time in 2018. I’d heard people talk about the Vekoma flying coaster models, and how they were some of the most uncomfortable rides out there. But I thought they couldn’t really be that bad could they? Well, the answer is yes, yes they could be that bad. The ride just seemed to throw me around within the restraints like a ragdoll and was incredibly painful. When I returned to Carowinds in 2019 I steered well clear of the ride! In my opinion Carowinds really need to look at replacing the ride in the near future, even if it is for one of the newer style Vekoma rollercoasters which, although I’ve not yet had chance to experience them, are meant to offer a much better ride experience.
El Condor – Walibi Holland
Prior to my visit to Walibi Holland I hadn’t ridden any Vekoma SLC rollercoasters so went in with zero expectations for the ride. I was simply excited to be trying a new kind of rollercoaster. Little did I realise just how painful the ride would turn out to be. The entire ride experience was simply rough and unpleasant. In places it was jerky, and the transitions between elements were very harsh. Since my first experience on El Condor, I have ridden several other Vekoma SLC rollercoasters and am yet to find a single one that I would want to ride again.
Wildcat – Hersheypark
I’ve been lucky enough to ride a range of wooden rollercoasters over the years, some amazing, some so painful that they’re almost unrideable. Unfortunately, Hersheypark’s Wildcat falls into the latter category. Throughout the ride I seemed to feel every bump and vibration on the track and it seemed to reverberate right down to my bones! It very much felt more like an endurance test as opposed to a theme park ride that is there for people to enjoy. Fortunately, Hersheypark has a second wooden rollercoaster, Lightning Racer, which is the exact opposite of Wildcat, so if you ever visit Hersheypark I’d definitely recommend riding Lightning Racer twice over doing Wildcat even once.
Anaconda – Kings Dominion
Anaconda is a ride that I hadn’t really looked up before my visit to Kings Dominion so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from it. However, when I saw it in person I realised it probably wasn’t going to be one of my favourite rides. Despite this, I tried to remain optimistic, but sadly I was ultimately disappointed. The ride had not aged well, and at almost 30 years old was just rough, painful, and is a ride Kings Dominion should probably look at replacing sooner rather than later.
So, there we have it. Five rollercoasters that I will never ride again. There are others on this not so illustrious list, some of which have been closed since I got to experience them, perhaps most notably Vortex and Firehawk at Kings Island, and others which are similar ride types to ones that I’ve mentioned above such as Mind Eraser at Six Flags America and Riddler Revenge at Six Flags New England. However, I will almost always try a rollercoaster at least once. After all, part of the fun of this hobby is getting to try a huge range of different rides – even if I do end up saying after riding some of them, “never again”.
Once Upon a Coaster 
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