Ozarka Wildcat at Celebration City

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Superstar Limo at Disney's California Adventure

On February 8th, 2001, Disney's California Adventure opened to the public. Built in the former parking lot of the original Disneyland, the park had very high public expectations. The park's sole dark ride, Superstar Limo, opened on this day as well. Mixing plain sets, television screens mounted to the inside of the vehicle, and static or sparsely-animated figures (dubbed minimatronics by a few web sites), Superstar Limo quickly became a target for harsh criticism online.

The ride closed for good in January of 2002, with just short of a year of operation under it's belt. The facade for the ride lasted until 2005, when construction for Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! started. That ride, which uses the same ride system and re-purposed many of the ride's figures would open in January, 2006.

Roadrunner Express at Six Flags Ohio

In 2000, the same year Geauga Lake transformed into Six Flags Ohio, the Roadrunner Express opened. The coaster was built near the park's catering facilities, away from the rest of Looney Tunes Boomtown's family-friendly rides (the original plans show it closer).

A standard production-model Zierer coaster, the coaster provided two trips around it's double-figure-eight track with it's extra long train. Roadrunner Express was one of four identical coaster purchased and installed at Six Flags parks across the country in 2000, with one exception. When the ride opened, it was the coaster with the most-accommodating height limit in the park.

The coaster was renamed "Beaver Land Mine Ride" in 2004, after Cedar Fair took over the park (and seatbelts were added). Once Geauga Lake was set to close for good in 2007, the ride was put up for sale. The coaster eventually sold to Papéa City (now Papéa Park), opening as "Roller Coaster" in 2009.

Superman Ultimate Escape at Six Flags Ohio

Opened in 2000, Superman: Ultimate Escape debuted as the first Intamin Twisted Impulse coaster in North America. Riders sat in an inverted coaster train, as LIM motors push and pull the train up a twisted vertical spike in the front, and a straight vertical spike in the back, which expanded upon the previous model.

In 2004, Cedar Fair bought the park, and was forced to remove the Superman theme from the ride. This changed it into the generic Steel Venom (Valleyfair installed a clone the year prior with the same name). The ride was disasembled following a July 2006 incident where a portion of the train became damaged during morning testing (no one was hurt).

Dorney Park installed the ride as Voodoo in 2008, but changed the ride's name to Possessed in 2009 because the name conflicted with a Six Flags Discovery Kingdom trademark.

Steel Phantom at Kennywood

Opened in 1990, Steel Phantom opened as the world's fastest rollercoaster. Designed by Arrow, the ride's biggest drop was it's second: a 225-foot plunge down a ravine through the Thunderbolt coaster. The Phantom reached a top speed of 80 mph at the bottom of the second drop, before speeding through four inversions: a loop, a boomerang element, and a corkscrew.

The ride was a success, although as the ride aged, it became increasingly rougher. In 2001, Morgan re-designed the entire ride to become Phantom's Revenge. This time, the second drop was lengthened to 232-feet, all the inversions were removed, and the trains were re-fitted with custom-made lap bars.

In 2009, more of the ride track was replaced, leaving only the brake run, station, lift, and first drop with original Arrow track.

Plaza Swan Boats at the Magic Kingdom

Opening in 1972, the Plaza Swan Boats at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom was a leisurely sight-seeing cruise. Originally, this D-Ticket boarded from a simple outdoor dock next to the Plaza restaurant. The next year, a new dock was built between the hub and Tomorrowland that had a covered queue.

There were twelve boats, each named after a female Disney character, although one boat was converted to a maintenance vessel shortly after opening. Each boat had a captain, and each captain gave a live, memorized spiel during the trip.

Utilizing the waterway around the park's hub, guests traveled round-trip front of Cinderella's Castle, around the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, and Plaza Gardens, before heading back towards Main Street.

Long lines and mounting maintenance costs resulted in the closure of the Swan Boats around the end of 1983. Today, the boat dock from the ride still exists at the Magic Kingdom as a pavilion for meet-and-greets.

Widen Your World has pictures and behind-the-scenes info on the Swan Boats.

Flying Super Saturator at Paramount's Carowinds

Called the "World's First Interactive Coaster," the Flying Super Saturator at Paramount's Carowinds was added in 2000. Built by Setpoint, it also served as a prototype for it's Swing Thing line of suspended coasters. On the grounds around the ride, water cannons aimed high at the track would spray cars as they passed by.

Each of the Saturator's four riders were given a lever which released a water bomb (the cars would fill up in the station between each trip). At 42 feet tall, the ride wasn't meant to be thrilling, and was meant to be a family water ride. But, Super Saturator suffered from slow loading and long lines on hot days, and frequent breakdowns. Also, the ride closed after Labor Day each year due to cooler weather.

In 2006, Cedar Fair purchased Carowinds. The ride went up for sale, before being dismantled at the end of 2008 to make way for the Carolina Cobra. By 2010, the ride was no longer listed for sale.

Currently, the ride sits in pieces next to the park's Paladium Amphitheatre.

Huff and Puff at Knott's Camp Snoopy

Opening in August of 1992, Knott's Camp Snoopy was the indoor theme park inside the Mall of America. Huff and Puff was an attraction that featured a tiny track and a set of single-seat, self-propelled kiddie trains (the picture is of the still operating Knott's Berry Farm ride).

By 1995, the cars and track were removed, and Lil' Shaver (now Back at the Barnyard Hayride) was built in it's place.

Mission: Bermuda Triangle at Sea World Ohio

Mission: Bermuda Triangle was a motion simulator ride from SimEx, installed at Sea World Ohio in 2000. The arrival of this ride marked the park's first thrill ride, and also the last investment in the property by Anheuser-Busch Entertainment.

During the park's 30 years of operation, Sea World wanted to transition from education through entertainment, to providing family and thrill rides. It was unsuccessful in several attempts at building a roller coaster, and Bermuda Triangle was a last effort to build interest in the park.

Sea World San Diego and Orlando both installed simulator rides with the same film, though later changed to the Wild Artic ride film. Both parks also included animal exhibits after guests exited the simulator. The Ohio attraction was smaller in size and capacity, and lacked an animal viewing area.

In early 2001, it was announced that Sea World Ohio would be sold, and incorporated into Six Flags Ohio (now known as Six Flags Worlds of Adventure). The original ride film would run until 2005, when Cedar Fair (who purchased the park the year before) would install a new ride film, Dino Island II: Escape from Dino Island (oddly, the first Dino Island was never shown in Ohio).

In 2007, the amusement rides closed to the public, and the equipment was sold at auction. The building still stands from the attraction (visible inside the remaining waterpark), and is used as storage.

Pictures from inside of the attraction can be found here.