Is Social Media Going to Affect What Roller Coasters Parks Choose?

[SonofBaconator]

With everyone carrying a smartphone, theme park guests can capture and share ride issues instantly. A breakdown that once went mostly unnoticed can now go viral within minutes, drawing attention to something parks might prefer stayed behind the scenes. This shift raises an interesting question: will parks start choosing rides differently because of how easily things can be filmed and spread online?

 

Take Siren’s Curse at Cedar Point. It’s had frequent issues, and nearly every one has ended up on TikTok or YouTube. The ride might be perfectly safe, but repeated videos showing breakdowns can create a negative perception. In this environment, should parks avoid rides that are complex or mechanically risky just to avoid bad PR?

 

On one side, it’s easy to imagine parks playing it safe. They could stick to proven ride types or reliable manufacturers to avoid becoming the next viral “ride malfunction” clip. Even if a ride is innovative and exciting, the threat of a public relations headache might not be worth it.

 

On the other hand, social media may not actually change much. Parks have always dealt with ride downtime. Most guests don’t follow coaster drama online, and many parks still invest in massive, cutting-edge rides. A viral video might sting, but it probably won’t stop die-hard fans from visiting.

 

So what do you think?

Will social media eventually affect the kinds of rides parks choose-or is this all just part of today’s fast-moving digital world?

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

The increased scrutiny coming from social media may cause some parks to choose more proven options when selecting their next ride, however I believe it may affect something else more. We've seen an increase in comments and posts about ride closures, but I believe those comments are due to a change in ride reliability — not because of ride models themselves. 

Some recent shut downs have been due to unforeseen circumstances. Intamin forced the temporary closure of their straddle coasters (like Darkoaster and Quantum Accelerator), leading Six Flags to move the QA opening date to 2026. Looking at social media, Cedar Point has had an awful year due to ride closures; however, a lot of those can be accurately attributed to weather and possible lay-offs in maintenance departments. 

What we may see from the increased scrutiny is some of the larger chains shifting their strategies around for all operations in general. If new rides won't open until mid-season, yet guests still come to the parks in similar numbers overall, we may begin to see this trend continue. If the attendance numbers are perceived to be harmed by the delayed openings, then the chain may choose to spend more to ensure an attraction opens much closer to opening day. A park like Cedar Point may begin to hire more maintenance staff if multiple of their coasters continue to experience consistent or increased downtime. There might also be a flurry of new infrastructure projects at some parks to increase their reliability. Imagine if Cedar Point, Carowinds, or Kings Island built solar panel shade structures over their parking lot to increase electrical capacity and get a boost of positive media coverage (not to mention some solar credits if those ever come back). To avoid major backlash, places like Magic Mountain may rebuild their wheelchair/stroller capacity as they try to entice new visitors: including families whose day at the park may be ruined if the park didn't have enough for rentals. Some parks may make subtle changes to their logos and marketing strategies to bring something new to their social media pages. We've seen this at a few Six Flags parks where they've introduced a new logo where the "Six Flags" branding and the park name are much closer to the same size and vertically aligned to each other. Great Adventure's (second) new sign has this format, while some parts of the park are dropping the Six Flags branding (Great Adventure's Sweet Spot and Great Adventure's Holiday in the Park come to mind).

Something we will hopefully also see is parks or chains getting back in front of the narrative with their media and PR teams. This is something that Six Flags is greatly suffering from this year. What they should not do is continue to hide and cower behind closed doors. If an incident happens, then the park or chain needs to be there on the front line. If a ride is experiencing a delayed opening, then the park or chain needs to say so. That could be something as simple as: "Heavy rains have stopped work here at our construction site, but we hope to get back on track soon!" or something more invested like a short video update showing off an interesting aspect of construction. 

 

Will we see a change in attraction choices due to social media? I don't think so. That will probably be caused more by external factors such as tariffs and ride erection costs. Will we see a change in operational strategies due to social media? Uh yeah, I sure hope we will. (reference intended)

[BeeastFarmer]

Aren't they already doing the construction videos?  CP had Sirens Chronical, Great America did Wrath updates, KD is Rapterra updates and Over Texas is pretty much beginning to tease their GiGa dice which will lead to those.

Before the announcements, they get soooo much free attention/advertising by the enthusiast "influencer" culture.  People will watch band record if a maintenance worker scratches themselves or if a tree is trimmed behind a fence. Whether they are influencers who suck up for media days, or i fluencers who want clicks and aren't afraid to offer unbiased opinion, it's out there for folks to see on YouTube, Instagram, Click Clack and X. 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

They do already make the longer update videos, yes, but I was referring to quicker posts that can be shot in one take (such as for a Reel or TikTok). Lack of a very poorly controlled narrative is a big part of why I think Six Flags has been seeing so much negativity recently. That, added on top of the vast budget cuts and the "continue as if this is normal" mentality we've been seeing, is damaging to the parks and the company as a whole. I don't think they should need to advertise everything on social media, but they definitely need to fix their PR strategies and start doing things that guests will see as improvements. That means announcing permanent ride closures before the season ends, working hard to get rides opened / re-opened in a timely manner, and advertising things to do in the park beyond one or two quirky short videos per month. Guests both want and need to know what is happening! Just tell them something! Do it before someone else does, because not doing so leaves room for other people to lie! Seen anything from KI about the Monster lately? Remember when it was "reported" to be permanently closed? Any post is a sign of life from the park, and frequent posts about things going on are what can encourage guests to have a positive outlook on the park. 

Social media may not influence ride choices, but it should be used by the parks to influence peoples opinion of the parks! Thank you for reading my ramblings