The Steamin’ Demon at Great Escape (formerly Six Flags and now Enchanted Parks) has quite a history. The ride actually began its life in New Orleans at Pontchartrain Beach as the Ragin’ Cajun in 1978. The coaster was built by Arrow and featured 3 inversions over a compact 1,565 feet of track. Ragin’ Cajun would close along with Pontchartrain Beach in 1983 and open as Steamin’ Demon one year later in 1984 at The Great Escape. The ride is quite prominent at the front of the park with great views of the Adirondack Mountains of New York in the distance. The ride has operated 42 years now at Great Escape essentially unchanged except for a brief stint in 2016 when it was outfitted with Oculus VR headsets. In 2028 Screamin’ Demon will celebrate its 50th anniversary!

Blizzard at Great Escape (formerly Six Flags and now Enchanted Parks) is a simple concept, a scrambler inside a building. However, this is a case where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The scrambler itself is a pretty standard model by Eli Bridge Company in a beautiful light blue color. However, the magic comes with it being located in an igloo style building allowing for lighting effects, music and perhaps most important, air conditioning. It’s such a simple concept to put a classic flat ride inside a small building. It provides an indoor attraction on rainy, hot or cold days and allows for a unique audiovisual effects to mimic a snowstorm.

One of the largest announcements at IAAPA last year was the suspended dark ride SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep at SeaWorld Orlando. The ride is being manufactured by Vekoma is themed to a state-of-the-art submersible taking guests to discover dazzling ecosystems, legendary sea life, and breathtaking stories of resilience and wonder. The ride was originally announced for 2026 and that has not officially changed, however some of the 2026 verbiage has been removed from the SeaWorld website. There is a mention of “buy a 2026 season pass and be the first to ride” on the site, but when Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens (owned by the same company) slipped a year they let pass holders who did not renew a single day ticket to ride as promised.

Kumba at Busch Gardens Tampa has closed and is now erased from the park map. The name “Kumba” was said to translates to “roar“ in an African Kongo (Congo) language, according to the Busch Gardens marketing material. The hollow track provided the distinctive roaring sound as the train traversed the track. However, there is still a ride named Kumba and it’s located at Serengeti Park Hodenhagen in Germany. It’s not a roller coaster, but a giant pendulum ride.

Daredevil Falls at Dollywood and Bugs’ White Water Rapids at Six Flags Fiesta Texas are the only Hopkins Super Flumes left in the United States. They were both built in 1998 and are joined by 3 other locations in South Korea, Taiwan and Australia. Hopkins was acquired by WhiteWater West in 2012 and the last Super Flume was installed in 2015 before being discontinued. However, the Super Flume is making a comeback as the Super Flume Technology has been selected by Six Flags for Rip Roarin’ Falls at Carowinds. In this case it will be a WhiteWater West Super Flume, but it’s a successor to the Hopkins Super Flume. WhiteWater West differentiates the Super Flume from a traditional log flume because it features boats that hold up to eight passengers, offers the potential of turntables and backwards motion as well as enhanced theming.

Opryland closed back in 1997, but several of its rides were purchased and still operate today. One of those rides was Lumberjack Falls at Wild Waves Theme & Water Park near Seattle, Washington which operated in Opryland as Old Mill Scream from 1987 to 1997. Unfortunately Wild Waves is slated to close permanently on November 1, 2026 with Lumberjack Falls is already closed for the season (which essentially means forever). This is sad to see on many levels, but perhaps in this there’s a small glimmer of opportunity. Comedian Nate Bargatze is looking to build a theme park called Nateland in Nashville, Tennessee. The park is inspired by Bargatze’s childhood memories of the former Opryland and the era it 90’s era of it’s operations. Wouldn’t it be something if Nate Bargatze bought the former Opryland attraction Old Mill Scream and brought it back to Nashville for his new Nateland theme park? This would be the ultimate homecoming and give Nateland an actual former Opryland attraction.