- [Narrator] A Six Flags coaster graveyard in Indiana,
an inversion abandoned by Cedar Point,
SpongeBob and Patrick left to rot in the hot Ohio Sun.
All of these Google Earth theme park discoveries and more
right here on "Theme Park Crazy."
(upbeat music)
There are plenty of fascinating things
you can find on Google Earth.
Many other YouTubers have covered this general subject,
but for this video, we're going to be talking
about theme park discoveries.
Before we get started though,
a quick reminder that voting is still underway
for my greatest animatronics of all time poll.
The link to vote will be in the description.
Anyways, let's get started
with the top 10 Google Earth theme park discoveries
as voted on by the fans.
Number 10, Ultra Twister's demise
located at Maryland Six Flags America.
Back in 1986, New Jersey Six Flag's Great Adventure
introduced a revolutionary rollercoaster
named Ultra Twister.
Built by Japanese manufacturer Togo,
this acclaimed thrill ride took guests
both forwards and backwards
on a high intensity layout with three heartline rolls
and zero standard turns.
However, constant technical issues
combined with insufficient capacity caused the coaster
to be relocated to Houston's
now defunct Astro World in 1990.
There it actually had a good run.
Lasting all the way until the park shut down in 2005.
But while that was the last year it operated,
it wasn't the end of this coaster's story.
Soon after Astro World's closure,
the track was sent back east
to be stored at Six Flags America in Maryland.
This track was stored in an area
next to the Bat Wing coaster,
and was supposedly meant to be set up at the park.
However, according to greatadventurehistory.com,
the coaster was damaged during the dismantling process.
While it wasn't impossible
to get this coaster running again,
Six Flags officials determined
that the ride's value was worth more money
than the high cost of fixing it.
In 2010, the ride was listed for sale
with its electrical and mechanical condition
being listed as fair, and its cosmetic condition
being listed as poor.
That year, the ride was reportedly sold as scrap metal,
and you can see a dumpster full of track
in an August, 2010 scan.
However, there may be one piece remaining on the property.
Over a decade later, you can still see
what looked like blue support sitting in that spot.
I can't confirm if this is actually part of the ride,
but it wouldn't be surprising at all.
By the way, don't try to enter
any of the restricted areas discussed in this video.
It's extremely dangerous and illegal.
Number nine, rollercoaster stored
on the go-kart track located at Indonesia's Atlantis Land.
Back in 1993, Expo '93 was held
in the South Korean city of Daejeon.
Part of the expo was a massive amusement park
named Kumdori Land.
This park was home to three roller coasters
by Dutch manufacturer Vekoma.
The most intense of them being a massive thrill ride
named Scream Machine.
At the time of its opening,
this was the tallest and fastest rollercoaster
ever built in South Korea with a top height of 170.6 feet,
a top speed of 59 miles per hour,
and a whopping five inversions,
it was an instant success at the Expo.
Unfortunately, after the fair,
the park was given little attention
and received no new major attractions
for the rest of its run.
By the 2010s, park attendance was reportedly extremely poor
and several guest testimonies claimed
that the place felt empty.
Likely due to poor attendance,
the park finally shut down in 2012.
Afterwards, Scream Machine,
then renamed Black Hole Express,
was relocated to an Indonesian park named Atlantis Land.
Interestingly enough, the park stored the coaster track
along an abandoned go-kart track.
It's truly fascinating to see the yellow steel
lined up with the kart track's layout.
It's unknown why the park did this,
but you could speculate it was for environmental reasons.
Storing the track on the dirt or grass
would likely make it easier for the metal to rust underneath
due to the moisture that would accumulate.
On the other hand,
despite likely wanting to preserve the track,
the park never reconstructed the coaster
and it's been on the property for around a decade.
The kart track has since been overtaken by nature,
but you could still make out the track
in the satellite imagery.
Number eight, Intimidator 305s turn being modified
located at Virginia's King's Dominion.
First opening in 2010, Intimidator 305, or I 305 for short,
is by far one of the most intense coasters on earth.
Unfortunately for the park, it was this intensity
that initially caused a major headache.
In its opening year, several people experienced
intense gray outs and blackouts.
A gray out occurs when high G-forces
push blood away from your head
and cause a temporary loss of vision.
A blackout is the same thing,
except you actually lose consciousness for a moment.
The very idea of a ride being so intense
that you lose your vision and pass out,
while exciting for the more extreme coaster enthusiasts,
is considered viscerally terrifying by most.
So while the ride was praised by coaster enthusiasts,
much of the public was turned off.
In fact, in I 305's opening year,
it drew less riders than Dominator.
A relocated floor less coaster from the defunct Geauga Lake.
The biggest culprit of rider blackouts
was by far the first turn.
Since the turn is right after the giant 300 foot drop,
the positive Gs of the turn pressed hard on riders' heads.
This caused blackouts for riders
with lower intensity thresholds and lower blood pressure.
As a response, King's Dominion initially put trim breaks
on the first drop to slow the descent.
But because trims on the first drop are total buzz kills,
a more permanent solution was needed.
So the park opted to modify the first turn
to lessen the positive G-Forces.
This process, while largely out of view to the public,
was revealed on Google Earth.
Here you can see a good chunk of the turn
removed from its footers
with a construction crew on the scene.
The ride opened with its new turn
which didn't look too different
from the original from a bird's eye view.
However, even a small difference in profiling
can greatly change the ride experience.
Since then, the coaster has been said to run smoothly,
and it remains a top draw for adrenaline seeking maniacs.
And yes, I still grade out on it.
Number seven, Togo's Old Subsidiary
located in Middletown, Ohio.
After building the aforementioned Ultra Twister
as well as King Cobra for Ohio's Kings Island,
Toga wanted to better serve their clients outside of Japan.
So in 1991, the company set up a subsidiary
in Middletown, Ohio.
Here they would test and manufacture
a number of new coasters from the North American market.
Perhaps the most infamous project, however,
was the mega coaster model.
Photographs of this coaster are rare,
and not many of them were taken.
The only one I could find of the completed layout
was an extremely low resolution image
from the steel fabricator's archived website.
Believe it or not though,
you could actually see this prototype
in an old black and white satellite shot from March of 1994.
Attempting to colorize the image gave mixed results,
but you could still see where
the outline of the coaster was.
Six Flags eventually purchased this coaster
off the testing grounds, and it went on to be
the widely reviled Viper at Six Flags Great Adventure.
You can learn more about that disaster
in my failed coasters episode on it.
Also worth noting, the mega coaster was advertised by Togo
with what is, without a doubt,
the worst roller coaster advertisement I have ever seen.
Somebody actually sat down and thought this was a good way
to sell a multi-million dollar
prototype rollercoaster to a park.
Number six, the DK Coaster prototype
located at Petersen Inc in Ogden, Utah.
One of the biggest theme park stories in the past few years
is the opening of Super Nintendo World
at Universal Studios Japan.
However, this is all only the tip of the iceberg.
In 2024, the park is set to open a brand new
prototype rollercoaster themed to the Donkey Kong franchise.
This attraction will utilize
an extremely immersive ride system.
Here the ride vehicles will be attached to a boom arm,
which will then be attached to a wheel assembly
that runs on a track underneath the vehicle.
Between the wheel assembly and the guest vehicle
will be a theme track that doesn't actually function
as the real track.
This will allow guests to imitate the Donkey Kong games
and seemingly jump the track
without actually jumping the track.
This concept immediately generated buzz,
and it wouldn't be long
before a fully functioning prototype was discovered.
In Ogden, Utah, metal fabrication company,
Petersen Incorporated, will construct the prototype
on its grounds.
This model was first spotted on Google Earth
in a satellite view from September, 2018.
In 2019, a much clearer view of the coaster can be seen
with several vehicles on site.
Then in 2020, you can actually see what looked like
yellow and brown supports on site.
By 2021 though, the testing was completed
and deconstruction of the prototype began.
This thrilling new coaster is not only set to be installed
at Universal Studios Japan,
but Florida's upcoming Epic Universe as well.
Look for both of these coasters
to be must ride attractions when they open.
Quick note, we are about halfway through now
and if you like what you see so far, feel free to subscribe
and hit the bell to turn on notifications.
Number five, the partially drained Jaws Ride
located at Florida's Universal Studios, Orlando.
The old Jaws Ride was without a doubt
one of the greatest theme park attractions of all time,
and it remains a major source of nostalgia
for 1990s tourists.
The ride story involve passengers boarding a boat
for a cruise around Amity Island.
However, after another tour boat
is viciously attacked by a great white shark,
the voracious fish comes after the guest boat.
Jaws shows up several times during the ride
in the form of an advanced underwater animatronic.
These animatronics weren't always reliable,
but when they worked, they delivered one hell of a show.
There are some behind the scenes
photos and videos out there,
but there are none of a bird's eye view of the attraction.
Fortunately, one of the most interesting views
of this ride out there is the one on Google Earth.
Some mechanophobics beware
because this is gonna be quite unsettling.
From previous satellite views,
you can clearly see the track underwater.
On the actual ride, seeing this track was impossible.
But the fact that you could do so from a bird's eye view
shows how shallow it really was.
In fact, most of the ride was only around four feet deep,
but in a satellite view from May, 2010,
you can see each shark animatronic
sitting in their own 10 foot deep section.
To get an idea of how deep these areas are,
The tallest person in recorded history
was eight foot 11 inches.
Quite frankly, the idea of falling into one of these pits
is a sub mechanophobic's worst nightmare.
And shockingly enough, it actually happened
to someone on an early version of the ride.
Now that right there is some grade A nightmare fuel.
Sadly, the ride was torn down to make way
for a new Harry Potter section around 2012.
Fortunately though, a near exact copy
still exists at Universal Studios Japan.
And funnily enough, it's literally right next
to Super Nintendo World.
Soon enough, you can ride the Jaws Ride
and the Donkey Kong ride on the same day.
How epic would that be?
Number four, abandoned SpongeBob statues
located at Kings Island.
In the early 2000s,
Paramount Parks was in charge of Kings Island.
Moreover, there was also a water play area
themed to Nickelodeon slime.
This attraction though was later rethemed
to Bikini Bottom Bash.
Sporting SpongeBob character statues
Squidward, Sandy, Patrick, SpongeBob.
Shortly after the Nickelodeon branding
was introduced though, Paramount would sell its parks
to Cedar Fair.
In 2010, Nickelodeon Universe was changed to Planet Snoopy
with all Nick Tunes attractions being re-themed.
The Avatar Ride is now Surf Dog,
the Little Bill Coaster is now The Great Pumpkin Coaster,
and the Rugrats coaster is now Flying Ace Aerial Chase.
As for the Bikini Bottom Bash,
it was renamed Snoopy's Splash Dance,
but it's now the site of the Woodstock Gliders ride.
As for the SpongeBob characters,
they were moved to a storage area of the park
behind where Orion is today.
On these scans, you could see SpongeBob, Patrick,
and you can can even make out Gary too.
The characters ended up sitting here from 2010
all the way until this April, 2017 scan.
The whereabouts of these statues are currently unknown,
but considering how long they were left to the elements,
they must have been in pretty rough shape.
Number three, the track of Batman and Robin The Chiller
located at Suzie Q Farms in Cream Ridge, New Jersey.
Now this story is fascinating,
and I really should have included it
in my failed coasters episode on this ride.
You may remember from that video
that The Chiller was removed from the park
after several mechanical issues caused it to have a bad run.
It was constantly faced with downtime,
especially the Batman side.
After The Chiller's closure in 2007,
a man named Sam Russo obtained a contract from his friend
to store the track on his property, Suzie Q Farms.
Russo's Farm doubled as a solid waste facility,
and the ride was just some of the material
he accepted there.
Though storing the track didn't mean he owned it,
he believed he would be able to sell the ride for profit
if it sat on his property long enough for him to own it.
The state of New Jersey, however,
objected to Russo's operation
saying he did not have the right permits,
and posed a risk of pollution to the local environment.
The state accused him of operating an illegal dump,
and as far as I know, the lawsuit is still ongoing.
For years, The Chiller's track could be spotted
on his property through Google Earth,
and aerial photographs of the ride
were even used as evidence.
However, the track wouldn't stay on its property for long,
and it was removed sometime around 2013.
The ride was moved to Brazil's Beto Carrera World
where it was stored and eventually scrapped for good.
Interestingly enough though,
not all of the coaster was removed from Russo's Farm.
The Batman and Robin symbol, which was placed
on the Batman side's top hat, still sits on the farm.
And thanks to the sun,
an actual bat signal can literally be seen
on a New Jersey farm.
Talk about wacky.
Number two, the Six Flags Coaster Graveyard
located in Thorntown, Indiana.
From 1983 to 1996, an amusement park
named Old Indiana Fun Park
operated in Sugar Creek Township, Indiana.
While the park ceased to operate in the '90s,
it wouldn't be long
before it saw roller coasters on the property.
Shortly after its closure,
amusement park company, Premier Parks,
planned on redeveloping the property for a 1999 reopening.
However, in 1998, those plans were scrapped
as the company purchased the original Six Flags Company
and rebranded itself under the Six Flags name.
Before the project was canceled, however,
Premier Parks had purchased four used roller coasters
from the defunct Opryland USA in Nashville, Tennessee
to be stored on the property and later reconstructed.
These coasters included the historic
Wabash Cannonball Corkscrew Coaster,
a formerly enclosed coaster named Chaos,
Screaming Delta Demon, and a mine train coaster
named, funnily enough, Rock and Roller coaster.
After the redevelopment fell through,
Six Flags would use the property for storage purposes only.
After acquiring Massachusetts Riverside Amusement Park,
two older coasters named Black Widow
and Little Ricky's little twister
were moved to the property in the year 2000.
Out of the six coasters that sat in the graveyard,
Only Rock and Rollercoaster is still in operation.
Now known as Canyon Blaster
at New York's Six Flag's Great Escape.
On Google Earth, you could see the rest of these coasters
rotting away with the clearest shot
being a March, 2005 scan.
In 2002, Six Flags reportedly sold the property
to the owner of a tanning bed and suntan lotion company.
The deal allowed the coasters to be stored until 2007,
and by then, every trace of the great
Six Flags coaster graveyard was removed.
If you went on a road trip to find it,
all you'd find left is grass, dirt, grass, and more grass.
Number one, Maverick's Heartline Roll
located on Adena Corporation's property in Mansfield, Ohio.
Maverick is by far one of the most thrilling attractions
at Ohio's Cedar Point Amusement Park.
Its layout is absolutely packed with intense elements.
However, its original design
had one extra thrilling element.
The original layout for the ride
actually had a Heartline Roll
shortly after the enclosed launch.
This inversion could be spotted
in promotional animations for the ride,
and it was actually built and fully tested.
Unfortunately, during the testing phase,
the decision was made to remove the element.
At first glance, you may think that an inversion
that looks this fast would whip riders to the side
and break their necks.
Contrary to popular belief though,
the inversion itself wouldn't have been dangerous to guests.
With heartline rolls, the center of rotation
allows passengers to safely experience the element
even at decently high speeds.
The real reason this element was taken out
was because of the stress put on the ride's trains.
While passengers would've been spared
the element's most brutal forces,
the rides vehicles would take the brunt of them.
This would've led to excessive wear and tear on the trains,
thereby leading to exorbitant maintenance costs.
So in an effort to make the ride more reliable,
the park had the Heartline Roll removed,
and replaced with a much less stressful S-curve.
As for the Heartline Roll itself though,
it was sent to the property
of contracting firm Adena Corporation
who fabricated Maverick's track.
For years, this track was often overlooked.
However, just recently, the track was discovered
on Google Earth sitting right on the property
in plain sight.
The best scans by far, two from 2015 and one from 2018.
While it had been moved around a few times,
the proof was in the pudding.
Since then, several coaster enthusiasts
have gone out to see this track
with permission from the landowners of course.
And while it's hard to spot
on the latest Google Earth scan,
the track is said to still be there to this day.
I don't know about you,
but as a major coaster enthusiast myself,
I'm seriously considering booking a ticket to Mansfield.
And now it's time for the comments shout out program.
This is where I take five random comments
from my previous video and read them out.
These comments come from my video
on the longest alpine coasters.
Bennickss says,
"Could do with an alpine coaster on the Wrekin.
She's 1,335 feet tall,
and there's not a single coaster in Shropshire."
Hopefully I pronounced that town name right.
I'm really bad at pronouncing British towns.
Dylan Baker says, "Alpine coasters
definitely stand out to me in terms of scenery.
They're very pleasing to look at."
Joshua Switter says,
"I want to go ride those alpine coasters so bad.
They look absolutely incredible."
Motors Amigos says, "Alpine coasters rock!"
And finally, MasterBraydonG says, "Guys, wake up.
TPC uploaded another banger."
If you wanna see your words in my next video,
leave a comment down below and it may be selected.
Please note though that inflammatory
or spam comments will not be read.
Thank you all so much,
and if you wanna support me on Patreon,
you can do so once again at the link in the description.
Thanks for watching, everyone.
Feel free to like, share, and subscribe.
You can follow me on social media,
on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook,
or you can check out my website at themeparkcrazy.com.
And I'm on TikTok
for reasons I'll explain in a pinned comment.
This is "Theme Park Crazy," and I'll see you all next time.
(upbeat music)