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Most “sadistic” theme park attraction?

Matt N

Matt N

CF Legend
Hi guys. When new rides open and come into the mainstream news, you may notice that the designers of said attractions are often portrayed as sadists who love seeing people scream and seeing what people will take. Sometimes, the designers themselves even lean into this; around its opening, John Wardley said regarding Nemesis “For the technically minded, this is a multi-inversion suspended roller coaster. But for the rest of you, it’s just designed to scare you s***less!”. There’s often been that angle in media related to roller coasters and other theme park attractions of their designers having an ever so slightly sadistic streak! With this in mind, I’d be intrigued to know; in your view, what is the most sadistic (for lack of a better term) theme park attraction? What attraction do you come off feeling as if the designers might have had an ever so slightly sadistic streak?

I’ll get the ball rolling with two suggestions.

After spending the day at Blackpool Pleasure Beach yesterday, I honestly think Valhalla at Blackpool Pleasure Beach might be a good candidate for “most sadistic theme park attraction”. It has some awesome special effects, but it is so phenomenally wet quite unlike anything else that you do wonder whether the designers had an ever so slight sadistic streak. The numerous dumpings of icy cold water over the boat during the ride must have been dreamed up by someone who had an ever so slight urge to see how much people could handle!

The other suggestion I’d provide is Pop-Eye and Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges at Islands of Adventure. Like Valhalla, the ride is phenomenally wet, and certain effects like the way it effectively dumps an entire bucket of water on unlucky riders at one point do rank high on the sadism scale, as theme park attractions go!

There’s quite a common thread of water rides here for me…

But I’d be interested to know; what do you think is the most sadistic theme park attraction (for lack of a better term)? What attraction makes you wonder whether the designers had an ever so slightly sadistic streak about them? (In case it wasn’t clear, I’m being quite light hearted with the definition of “sadistic” here)
 
On the topic of wetness, Vonkaputous at Linnanmäki when that was a thing. They installed a wall next to the splashdown which meant that all the water splashed outwards by the boat splashed against the wall and then right back on top of the passengers.


Now granted, it wasn't so much a design choice as much as a necessity, because on the other side of that plexiglass wall there's a public road, so otherwise the coaster would've been splashing water outside the park area onto random passerbys.

On the topic of flipping and ridiculous forces I'd raise that horrid PAX 4d shuttle coaster in Kyrgyzstan.
 
Any Vekoma SLC, Volare, RCCA coaster and of course the „Family-Thrill“ coaster Tornado. At least from an enthusiast standpoint.
However (except for Tornado), i don’t think that they were meant to be sadistic, they just turned out to be.

I forgot how they’re called, but the Intamin drop towers like Ikaros and Falcons Fury are my guess. People are already scared of drop towers, but one where you look straight down, that scares the s*** out of the GP.
Dive coasters (and tilts?) are the coaster equivalent of those, but not as extreme.
 
The Zamperla Volare is literally an iron maiden on rails. Those Chance Toboggan things aren't much better.

Notable shoutout to S&S 4D coasters too - contraptions designed for pure misery. The only reason I wouldn't actually include them in a "sadistic" list, is because they're actually fantastic. A "masochist" list, maybe?
 
It’s now closed, but a good contender for ‘sadistic’ might be ‘Burg Falkenstein’ (the medieval-themed Omnimover) at Holiday Park, Germany.

I had no idea what I was getting myself involved with on that one…

youtu.be

Evil Ride

"This is a thing. This... This is something that is happening right now.""Yeah."
youtu.be youtu.be
 
Yeah, I'm with you on rides that dump water on you. I've never been on Valhalla and don't want to either!

I never ride ghost trains anymore, because you just don't know what's going to happen. It reminds me of Disney's Haunted Mansion. Apparently, one designer wanted to make a scary ride, whereas the other wanted to make a humorous ride. They compromised, and so the early bits are a little bit darker, and the finale is the all-singing, all-dancing graveyard scene. Now, I'm never going to tell anyone the Haunted Mansion is very scary, but I think it shows there's always that conflict within designers whether to scare or entertain. I think you'll find this with film directors too - some of them do like making you feel uncomfortable. Personally, I think the "Grim Grinning Ghosts" bit is brilliant, and that's exactly how I'd design a "spooky" ride if I was given the task - skeletons playing guitars and werewolves howling tunes in the garden!

I don't think coasters are sadistic, really, but I'm much less drawn to the fear-based ones. It pleases me to see ones like Stardust Racers, which look just right to me. It goes back to the old "What makes a good coaster?" discussion. Anything that makes you feel like a superhero, flying, making giant leaps or dancing is what it's all about for me, not dangling miles up in the air against the restraints.

At the end of the day, it comes down to different temperaments. To me, fun is always better than fear.
 
Howie said:
Well, it's The Clinic, isn't it?
It just is.

youtu.be

Walibi Holland - Nieuw: The Clinic - Reacties van bekend Nederland

Durf jij het aan om een behandeling te boeken in de beruchte kliniek van Dr. Adams? Hij neemt je met de grootste zorg onder handen. Zoals bij een goede zorg ...
youtu.be youtu.be
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I have to say, I found it to be more thought provoking than anything else. It certainly has a level of sadism to it (starting with the way the waiting room works), but most of all it just got me thinking of what happens afterwards. Most of it wasn’t really sadistic but explanatory in my opinion.
 
The Zamperla Volare, because you're basically trapped in a torture cage the entire time. It's both restrictive in terms of movement, yet not restrictive enough so you bump around everywhere. I feel like a flying coaster should not be something you try to make cheaply, but they did it anyway.
 
Matt N said:
Hi guys. When new rides open and come into the mainstream news, you may notice that the designers of said attractions are often portrayed as sadists who love seeing people scream and seeing what people will take. Sometimes, the designers themselves even lean into this; around its opening, John Wardley said regarding Nemesis “For the technically minded, this is a multi-inversion suspended roller coaster. But for the rest of you, it’s just designed to scare you s***less!”. There’s often been that angle in media related to roller coasters and other theme park attractions of their designers having an ever so slightly sadistic streak! With this in mind, I’d be intrigued to know; in your view, what is the most sadistic (for lack of a better term) theme park attraction? What attraction do you come off feeling as if the designers might have had an ever so slightly sadistic streak?

I’ll get the ball rolling with two suggestions.

After spending the day at Blackpool Pleasure Beach yesterday, I honestly think Valhalla at Blackpool Pleasure Beach might be a good candidate for “most sadistic theme park attraction”. It has some awesome special effects, but it is so phenomenally wet quite unlike anything else that you do wonder whether the designers had an ever so slight sadistic streak. The numerous dumpings of icy cold water over the boat during the ride must have been dreamed up by someone who had an ever so slight urge to see how much people could handle!

The other suggestion I’d provide is Pop-Eye and Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges at Islands of Adventure. Like Valhalla, the ride is phenomenally wet, and certain effects like the way it effectively dumps an entire bucket of water on unlucky riders at one point do rank high on the sadism scale, as theme park attractions go!

There’s quite a common thread of water rides here for me…

But I’d be interested to know; what do you think is the most sadistic theme park attraction (for lack of a better term)? What attraction makes you wonder whether the designers had an ever so slightly sadistic streak about them? (In case it wasn’t clear, I’m being quite light hearted with the definition of “sadistic” here)
Click to expand...
I'll be fully honest and say Steel Vengeance. Everyone told me how amazing it was but it just... Hurt for the most part. I understand why people like it, but the airtime is just wayyyyyyyy too much for me. It throws your thighs into the restraints and there's no proper handles to pull yourself down back into your seat with. The inversions are just perfect and the drop is immaculate but the HEAVY airtime just isn't fun.
 
r4ym0nd_d said:
I'll be fully honest and say Steel Vengeance. Everyone told me how amazing it was but it just... Hurt for the most part. I understand why people like it, but the airtime is just wayyyyyyyy too much for me. It throws your thighs into the restraints and there's no proper handles to pull yourself down back into your seat with. The inversions are just perfect and the drop is immaculate but the HEAVY airtime just isn't fun.
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Using this argument, the RMC restraints themselves seem to be designed by some medieval torture master. Being tall, the shin guards hit me on every single airtime pop so I often have bruises in my shins.
To be fair, Premier Rides isn’t that much better.
 
I remember the Slammer at Thorpe Park being a genuinely terrifying experience. I think it was those weird shoulder restraints that kind of snapped down to where your height was, but somehow never felt entirely secure. I have had lots of theme park experiences over the years but that ride always stands out for me as one that I remember being very, very glad when it was all over and I could safely exit the ride!
 
For a good scary genre entry, the Haunted Mansion ride at Knoebels has some of the best dark ride jump scare I've ever encountered - definitely pushes the envelope from "fun dark ride with kooky theme" to "ohhh, they're really going for it".
 
Wonder Mountain's Guardian at Canada's Wonderland. Especially for a first-timer. Not only do you shoot random characters on screen, but you get absolutely YEETED downward with the drop track. It's so unexpected and makes sure people are absolutely terrified.
 
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