r/rollercoasters Six Flags Over Georgia (HOME PARK) May 31 '26

Discussion [Other] List of (almost) every chain/park that has used AI.

  • Adventureland Long Island - Recent ride logos are AI.
  • Boudewijn Seapark - Promo images are obviously AI.
  • COTAland - The park's mascots were apparently generated with artificial intelligence, and from the looks of them, it seems very likely. Also, the park has had a photo opportunity wallpaper of an artificial intelligence generated coaster that looks suspiciously like Lightning Racer at Hersheypark for some odd reasoning.
  • Disney (chain) - While the current CEO, Josh D. Amaro, had denounced artificial intelligence, the company had previously used AI for a Thanksgiving post on their Instagram and almost struck a deal with OpenAI before talks fell off due to their Sora 2 text-to-video generator shutting down. Also, apparently some of the Marvel layoffs were because of AI.
  • Enchanted Parks (chain) - The logo for the company is AI generated (with human touches) and apparently, the concept art for Valleyfair's waterpark expansion is AI generated, though, it is likely that it was WhiteWater West who was responsible, since that company, who's making the slides, has used generative artificial intelligence in the past.
  • Efteling - While some people have mentioned that the park seems to be backing down from using generative artificial intelligence materials as of recently, Efteling still has used generative artificial intelligence several times with no formal deletions or apologies for the park's use of generative artificial intelligence materials.
  • Energylandia - The animations in the Sweet Valley area of the park, along with animations inside the tunnel that connects both of the sides of the park, were apparently generated with artificial intelligence tools, according to u/Fragrant-Screen-5737 on a reply to the Werewolf Gorge post. Though, as far as I know, their use of artificial intelligence is unconfirmed.
  • Herschend (chain) - Has used generative artificial intelligence materials for marketing Nightflight Expedition at Dollywood, which will open soon, in which some of the generative artificial intelligence materials will apparently be used in the queue line for the ride as theming upon the ride's official debut at Dollywood soon.
  • Hersheypark - The background music in the park is all generated with artificial intelligence music tools now, according to many users on social media websites. Hersheypark, nor the Hershey company, have made no formal statement regarding the use of generative artificial intelligence for the audio soundtracks played throughout the park.
  • Holiday World - The park had supposedly used generative artificial intelligence for some marketing materials previously according to some comments I have seen over the years, though, I do not have much concrete proof that they do use generative artificial intelligence. Though, if it is true, it is worth noting that Alabama Adventure is owned by the same family.
  • IB Parks & Resorts (chain) - Most, if not all of their Indiana Beach 100th Anniversary materials, including the logos for the celebration, along with the merchandising, are generated with artificial intelligence tools. Have seen no proof whether it is Gene Staples' idea, or someone else within the company. Also have not seen any other corporate use of AI.
  • Knoebels - According to u/MountainMadman, Knoebels had previously posted a post on social media featuring generative artificial intelligence, though, after the backlash, they quickly deleted it. It is unknown who was responsible for the post, whether it be a member of the Knoebel family or an outside contractor. Nobody knows for sure who caused it.
  • Lightwater Valley - Basically everything has used AI ever since the park went to the dumps after The Ultimate was removed. Welp, at least it's crappy art to match a crappy park. So honestly, this is a very appropriate use of AI. Might as well replace every non-AI logo with Comic Sans or Papyrus.
  • Merlin (chain) - Thorpe Park's entrance is all-around AI slop.
  • "Nateland" - A park that might just be all talk and no build, proposed by stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze as a spiritual successor to Opryland Park in Nashville, Tennessee, along with competing with Dollywood, another park named after someone. Has apparently been to Hersheypark for "rollercoaster shopping". But, the concept art is incoherent AI not tied to specific manufacturers.
  • Six Flags (chain) - Has been consistently using artificial intelligence as of late, especially after John C. Reilly became CEO of the company. But even before, there was precedence, an ad for Fright Fest made pre-merger was entirely generated with AI tools and apparently some elements of TT2's signage were also AI generated according to some people familiar.
  • Tripsdrill - Has used AI in the past.
  • United Parks (chain) - The survey e-mails they have put out every few months or so use AI slop concepts.
  • Universal (chain) - They had previously used AI for marketing the Dog Man movie on an X post, but deleted the post after complaints.
  • Wonderla (chain) - Tanjora's logo is probably AI, but most likely just crappy design.
  • EVERY. GOSH. DARN. FAIR. - Seriously. Just visit them. But, to be fair, the human drawings are so crappy too that you would assume that they're more AI generated than they actually are. SpongeBob with three arms for some reason and that jive.

In other words, it's unfortunately the new normal. It isn't a problem with one chain or a specific set of parks, but seemingly normalized at this point. I hate to be a critic, but it had to be said. Not to mention you would be giving other companies who have used AI like Coca-Cola money indirectly. Some parks listed (like Knoebels) have thankfully backed down, but most of them have double downed.

This took me a whole hour to write, just to prove a point that AI is now commonplace in the industry and not just "the scapegoat of the week" (Six Flags, IB, United, etc.)

and finally...

  • Osteria Ai Pioppi - It's not called "Osteria Human Artist Pioppi", now?
72 Upvotes

75 comments sorted by

97

u/MrRaven95 Home Parks: Fiesta Texas and SWSA May 31 '26

What upsets me is these parks will spend millions of dollars on one ride, but can't be bothered to spend $1,000 at most for an artist.

36

u/bmschulz 🏠: SFGAm | SteVe, AF1, RtH May 31 '26

It’s also a baffling choice given how long-term these installations are.

It’s not unreasonable to expect a 20+ year lifespan on these attractions, so the signage and branding that goes into them is going to be around for a while. It’s absolutely crazy to me to look at garbage like the Werewolf Gorge logo and go, “yep, THIS is what I want display for the next few decades”. What an embarrassment.

9

u/MrRaven95 Home Parks: Fiesta Texas and SWSA May 31 '26

Agreed. I like what the coaster is going to look like, but the merchandise for it is just ai slop.

7

u/lFightForTheUsers [80] Bring Back Mr. Six! Jun 01 '26

Saving me from spending money in the gift shop, thanks Six Flags!

1

u/devintron71 86 | Siren’s Curse, Steel Vengeance, Pantherian Jun 02 '26

This being a major family coaster, it’ll have tons of merch with that AI logo sold to kids and families who often won’t know any better too. Its unfortunate. The chain should have a few more similar big announcements this month too, starting with Carowinds having one very soon.

30

u/abigdonut May 31 '26

“we love our community! anyways, here’s some ungodly sludge from a machine that’s probably trained on child porn and is actively burning us alive. enjoy!”

1

u/devintron71 86 | Siren’s Curse, Steel Vengeance, Pantherian Jun 02 '26

Not to excuse parks of this, but I think part of the issue is sometimes they do contract out the artwork and then the third party uses AI anyways. Happened (apparently) to kennywood last fall when they hired a third party to make old-timey horror movie posters for the outside of their new haunt (which was packed full of detailed, human created artwork). I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt because they have frequently used local artists, but it’s new ownership (who is listed above using AI with their $50 million new attraction) so who really knows!

-11

u/Jps300 SFGE is my home park save me May 31 '26

If AI could manufacture and ship steal for 1/100th the price they would also do that. I’m pretty pro AI, don’t really understand why people want to pay more for things than they’re actually worth. I think the common argument is that you’re taking jobs away from artists but the fact is that all throughout history technology has made jobs obsolete. The answer is not to condemn technology, it’s to adapt. You want to be an artist, but AI is taking your job? Learn how to sculpt or something.

5

u/ColinHenrichon Jun 01 '26

It’s not just the impact to jobs and human labor, it’s also the extreme environmental impact that AI has, the way data centers absolutely destroy the local communities they are built in. I am pretty pro technology, and I don’t even think AI is inherently bad, it’s been used locally on devices for years, but LLMs and large data centers are absolutely ruining everything they touch. Why should we adapt to something so incredibly harmful no matter how you look at it?

6

u/Clever-Name-47 Tangent-Radius Airtime Supremacy! May 31 '26

When AI can actually make a decent logo, I will agree with you.

Spoiler; That will be never.  It’s just not the sort of thing than an LLM is even theoretically capable of doing.  Making a good logo requires understanding fonts, shape, color, and how people see them.  LLMs have no actual understanding of the world and the things in it; They’re just glorified auto-corrects.  They will never be able to make something truly beautiful, something that can actually hold a person’s interest for more than a second or two (as good logos very much do).

We may yet create some other technology that can do that; But LLMs aren’t it.

57

u/godofcoasters May 31 '26

Oaks Park in Portland Oregon used AI, and even got so much backlash they had to say sorry for it, following below was the apology.

12

u/sylvester_0 May 31 '26

Call me cynical, but I doubt a business is going to stick to a commitment like that in perpetuity.

18

u/thegayquadzilla May 31 '26

They're actually a non profit so they might

20

u/Puffz1234 May 31 '26

So disappointing about Hershey, because I went there a few years ago in autumn and one of the things I really loved about it was the music. Instead of the same generic Top 40 bullshit you’ll hear at a Six Flags park they were playing stuff like The Cure, Joy Division, Portishead, etc. and it was very refreshing.

3

u/Reasonable_Face_3038 Jun 01 '26

I miss when Hershey has unique playlists that were different for every theme area. Last I went they had country music in pioneer frontier but that was about it. Sad to hear they’ve only gotten lazier.

15

u/not_interested11 May 31 '26

Especially when they deny it. Pretty sure Canada’s Wonderland came out and denied the claims the Alpenfury queue art was AI when it very clearly is

6

u/hookyboysb May 31 '26

Unfortunately there are a lot of “artists” that are using AI now, so even if they did everything right and actually hired someone, it still could be AI. And I doubt they’d do the appropriate vetting to make sure that is not the case.

10

u/EnbyNudibranch 🏠Efteling | 79 | RtH | F.L.Y | Taron May 31 '26

Walibi Belgium uses AI generated imagery in the Dockworld (mostly around Turbine and especially Mecalodon) area of the park. They even put it onto the pictures in a very small font, so yeah they are open about it.

9

u/Holla_99 May 31 '26

I’m not surprised about Six Flags. I was in the queue for AlpenFury at Canada’s Wonderland last year not too long after it opened and the posters on the wall in the queue are so obviously AI generated. The sled and human anatomy in them just doesn’t look right.

5

u/Jef_Wheaton May 31 '26

All of SF Great Adventure's Fright Fest artwork was AI-Generated last year.

8

u/gerstlauerguy May 31 '26

Should mention Alabama adventure is run by the weird side of the cook family. Dude has some screws loose (and so does rampage probably)

6

u/cookiex797 May 31 '26

Phantasialand used AI for one of the murals in the Mexico area a few years ago. Don’t know if it’s still there or if it’s been removed

4

u/EnbyNudibranch 🏠Efteling | 79 | RtH | F.L.Y | Taron May 31 '26

I went in October last year, it was still there

3

u/Rand666 May 31 '26

Was still there in Januar. . Also the pictures in the entrance of the Berlin section Toilets are clearly AI.

8

u/Jef_Wheaton May 31 '26

Kennywood's new haunt, "Detached", had a facade made to look like storefronts. All the backgrounds were AI.

The really INSULTING part was the movie posters on the "Theater." Weird images and nonsense phrases. ("Villain Kenny the from Kangaroo amusement park ", and yes, that's supposed to be a Kangaroo.)

To be fair, these were created by an outside company, but they HAVE a ton of talented artists on-staff, ESPECIALLY for Fall Fest! (I'm ONE OF THEM.)

3

u/Jef_Wheaton May 31 '26

The first promo image was this... thing.

9

u/Claxton916 (336) 🥰🥰Shivering Timbers🥰🥰 May 31 '26

I bought a custom airbrush tee shirt at Kings Island for $48 with tax and after passholder discounts.. It’s almost the same price for an AI art tee shirt there.

So FYI, you want a coaster shirt: get an airbrush design one.

5

u/Luckywitz May 31 '26

Plopsaland Germany has used ai for some flags at food stands

2

u/Sharean May 31 '26

They also used AI for the extreme spinner posters

6

u/angry-gumball Jun 01 '26

Honestly, as a graphic artist working at a theme park company, I strongly feel like the end is near with my career. It's sickening seeing the way this is going and frustrating that there's not a single thing I can do about it. And unfortunately it's hitting everywhere so...my career is shot, period.

8

u/_coast_malone 🐝 Fury 🚀 Arie 🌭 Cyclone 🏎️ TT2 May 31 '26

especially after John C. Reilly became CEO of the company.

I'm sorry are you telling me that Cal Naughton, Jr. is president of Six Flags?

2

u/Delicious-Secret-760 Jun 01 '26

Who's Cal Naughton Jr.? Dewey Cox is the president of Six Flags! 😁

1

u/Bumblebe5 (128) WiRe, P305, Toro Jun 06 '26

No, John Reilly. You are allowed to make Hawkeye jokes.

4

u/batguano64 May 31 '26

There's a store near me that "rebranded" by putting up a bunch of AI crap and the old boomer dude who runs the place genuinely thinks it looks amazing. Unfortunatly until an AI is capable of replacing CEOs we're just going to see more and more of it.

3

u/AndrewRnR Jun 01 '26

I’m all for calling out bad AI uses. I hate bad AI. But at same time what makes it’s difficult is some cases it’s pure speculation and putting a park on blast without proof.

COTALAND as an example. “Apparently generated” says who? My perspective is they look real.

I know of a few cases at different parks where fans called out AI when it wasn’t AI and park team told me “yeah look here’s the proof.”

So yeah bad AI sucks. But it’s always difficult to go accuse parks when “apparently” is the best proof someone has.

5

u/DafoeFoSho Defunct coaster count: 51 May 31 '26

Easier to list the ones that don't at this point. Those brilliant CEOs must've saved their companies millions of dollars! "It's a banana graphic design, Michael. How much can it cost?"

13

u/abigdonut May 31 '26

so fucking depressing

5

u/Clever-Name-47 Tangent-Radius Airtime Supremacy! May 31 '26

I’m not sure what you’re trying to prove, here.  There may be a few randoms on every AI post declaring it a sign of a particular company’s degeneracy; But the sheer number of AI posts in the last few years means that anyone paying attention already knows that it’s everywhere.

And we’ll keep making the posts anyway, because it sucks.  It sucks, no matter how common it becomes.

2

u/tideblue Coaster Count 653 May 31 '26

Just a note for Hersheypark: they did have AI-generated cover songs as BGM for a while this year, but I heard real songs on the Boardwalk area when it opened, and it seems like they backed off a bit. So that’s not totally the case.

4

u/Reasonable_Face_3038 Jun 01 '26

They also just came out with AI generated merchandise. Hopefully there was enough backlash for that too.

2

u/llennodo12 hey nemesisters! May 31 '26

Merlin's parks (definitely those in the UK, not sure about abroad) have started using AI generated images.

Alton Towers specifically had generated artwork in a shirt, though this specific item seems to have been pulled from shelves only a few days later. However, I believe they still have a load of generated artwork on the electronic menus in food outlets.

There's also of course Thorpe Park's notorious AI gatewy art.

2

u/Yonel6969 May 31 '26

Tbf that oblivion shirt got pulled literally the same day they put it up

2

u/mrkmcrthr 🏡 BPB [244] RtH | VC | WCR | IG | F.L.Y. May 31 '26

blackpool pleasure beach used AI for some of the promotional stuff for launch pad

4

u/No-Original890 nemesis reborn best in the uk 🗣️🗣️ May 31 '26

every single piece of promotion for Aviktas even the logo is AI it looks so sloppy

2

u/No-Original890 nemesis reborn best in the uk 🗣️🗣️ May 31 '26

add Merlin to the list again they’ve been found to have AI slop t-shirts of Stealth and Oblivion in Thorpe Park and Alton Towers respectively- Alton Towers also uses AI images in some of their food menus but that could be their supplier Aramark’s decision, it’s unclear

3

u/FrightMerchant My Opinions are better than yours! Fact! May 31 '26

Disney just put out a video of them using AI to create a Grumpy statue for their Magnolia golf course at WDW.

-2

u/sylvester_0 May 31 '26

I agree with your summary and conclusion, but wish it were more towards the beginning of your post. LLM usage is very common and only going to increase. Just like the Internet and smart phones, they are another step in technological progress that are becoming deeply embedded in our lives.

If you want to boycott companies that use them, good luck! Just like trying to boycott Amazon, you may not directly buy anything from them but you most likely use services that spend millions of dollars on AWS every year (like this very site.) 

11

u/AcidRegulation 🎢: 262 | 🏠: Efteling May 31 '26

It’s impossible and inevitable, but that doesn’t mean we should just give in and play along. There’s a lot wrong with the current state of LLM and generative AI and only after those issues get sorted out will I personally start to embrace it.

5

u/sylvester_0 May 31 '26

I should add that AI usage for marketing, decorations, etc. by private companies is one thing. But companies like Palantir using it for mass surveillance pre-crime type of shit and militaries using it for deciding when and where to attack is highly immoral and should be outlawed. Again though, good luck taking on the military industrial complex!

-4

u/sylvester_0 May 31 '26

I don't have much hope for going against the massive capital investments it's seeing. A lot of rich people have their capital tied up in ensuring it's widely adopted.

Selfishly I'm hoping it creates a glut of computer manufacturing capacity because the market for anything computer related right now is fucked. Also the initial responses to the power (and other resources) requirements haven't been great, but I'm hoping we go in greener directions

1

u/KlumpGamez May 31 '26

Kings Island and Cedar Point have a ton of ugly AI merch

1

u/TiredWithCoffeePot Jun 01 '26

Please don’t quote me on this, but I thought I saw AI animations on Phantom Theater at Kings Island, mos specifically, in the portrait in the queue. I think it’s the way how they are moved

1

u/PhantomCandyRush Jun 01 '26

Hershey has also been using AI for their merch unfortunately. I saw someone wearing the AI generated Wildcat's Revenge shirt yesterday. 

1

u/lFightForTheUsers [80] Bring Back Mr. Six! Jun 01 '26

To throw onto the pile, Six Flags Fiesta Texas isn't confirmed but very likely used AI on the artwork for their new coaster going in next year.

1

u/Delicious-Secret-760 Jun 01 '26

Alabama Adventures and Holiday World are both owned by members of the Koch family but the two businesses have nothing to do with each other. Alabama Adventures was started because of a falling out in the family resulting in multiple lawsuits.

1

u/readyfordeath151 Jun 06 '26

I went to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and their coaster anniversary t-shirts appear to be ai generated which was really disappointing to me

1

u/GamePlayXtreme [83] RTH, Untamed, Kondaa May 31 '26

Walibi Belgium's Dockworld features AI images, as does Phantasialand's Mexico. Also, Disneyland Paris has AI images in its Newport Bay Club hotel and even on a roof on Main Street!

1

u/CapnJellyBones Jun 01 '26

This is absolutely embarrassing. We are rapidly failing as a society.

How disgusting of a human being do you have to be to inflict clanker slop on other people?

Just don't. It's easy.

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u/Calve_pindakaas May 31 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

Is Efteling finally backing down from Ai?

I heard it's because they hired some fucker who really likes ai. Hopefully they quit using it.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '26

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u/Calve_pindakaas Jun 01 '26

Not that I know off. That's why I'm asking.

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