AI can’t draw a rollercoaster to save its life

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]Many theme parks across the UK and around the world love using AI.

[00:00:04]Obviously, this causes a lot of controversy with enthusiasts and park goers due to the fact that sometimes the things the parks generate don't even look like the rides they own. So, today I decided to take it upon myself to see how much artificial intelligence really knows about roller coasters and why parks love using it so much. I have a list of UK roller coasters and I'm going to give a brief description to the image generator and see what monstrosities it sends back.

[00:00:29]This is going to be very interesting to say the least.

[00:00:37]So, here we are on Google Gemini. Hi Dan, where should we start? As you can see, I have a list of UK roller coasters from a few parks like Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, uh Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and one from Drayton Manor. So, we're going to see if AI can generate these roller coasters based off a brief description that I give it. And we're going to start with the Smiler.

[00:01:03]So, I'm going to type something into the AI and see what it brings back.

[00:01:18]Generate me a realistic image of the Smiler roller coaster located at Alton Towers in the UK. It is well known for its world record 14 inversions and creepy theme based on the Ministry of Joy. Alongside this is a large spider-like metal structure in the middle of the ride. The carriages seat four to a row and have four rows, meaning 16 people can ride.

[00:01:37]So, let's see what it does for this.

[00:01:43]Almost there. Oh.

[00:01:46]Oh my god. Wait, what? That is scarily accurate. It's even got the vertical lift hill over here.

[00:01:55]The marmalizer looks pretty much identical apart from the What does that even say? The dehumidifier? I don't know.

[00:02:03]The track's the same apart from this bits that just crash into the wall.

[00:02:08]I mean, the only thing that's different is the station and the trains.

[00:02:13]But that is genuinely better than I thought it would be. I thought it would be a monstrosity.

[00:02:20]The next one on our list is Rita.

[00:02:24]I'm going to go on to a new page. Who doesn't just think to add Rita to the Smiler?

[00:02:36]Generate me a realistic image of Rita at Alton Towers in the UK. It is an Intamin hydraulic launch roller coaster themed to a getaway car to escape the Dark Forest. The front of the train is an old hot rod style racer blue in color with flames painted onto it. It looks rusty and old.

[00:02:51]Let's see if we get like a carbon copy of Rita.

[00:03:02]Um >> [laughter] >> from the Smiler to this. So now apparently Rita is a tilt coaster.

[00:03:13]I mean, the launch is okay. It's but it's just the rest of it is not I mean, what's this over here? We've got like a 13's drop track going on over here.

[00:03:26]Um I mean, it says Queen of Speed there.

[00:03:29]So it knows what it's on about, but not very well. Yeah, the track design is completely different. That's the Cobra track. The front of the car is obviously the main thing because that is completely different. And I love how there's just two people sat inside the car.

[00:03:44]So Rita is a fail. The AI does not know what Rita is. Let's move on to the next one. We're going to move on to our third Alton Towers roller coaster, which is Nemesis Reborn. So, let's generate a description for it and see what happens.

[00:04:03]Generate me a realistic image of Nemesis Reborn roller coaster at Alton Towers in the UK. The ride has a sleek black track with red veins painted onto it. The train is an inverted one, meaning it sits underneath the track. Central to the ride is a large red alien eye surrounded by claws.

[00:04:23]>> [snorts] >> Um so it kind of got it.

[00:04:29]I mean, I love how it's included Galactica in the background. I love how it turns Nemesis from an invert into a flawless.

[00:04:39]But, apart from the loop and kind of the eye, it doesn't look amazing. I mean, the loop's kind of perfect. The Vekoma SLC train, which is not what anyone wants in their life.

[00:04:58]Probably better than Rita.

[00:04:59]So, I wouldn't say it's a success considering it's now made Nemesis into a different model of ride. Oblivion. We're going to Oblivion.

[00:05:09]So, what I'm going to do this time is I'm going to ask AI for a description to give to AI to see if it knows itself.

[00:05:23]Let's see if this works.

[00:05:25]A wide-angle cinematic shot of the Oblivion roller coaster at Alton Towers.

[00:05:28]A massive chunky black steel track leads to a terrifying 87° vertical drop. I like how it's included this nicely vertical.

[00:05:35]The orange and black ride vehicle, which is extra wide with two rows of eight seats, is perched precariously over the edge tilting forward. Below the drop is a colossal dark misty circular tunnel opening into the ground. The surrounding area has a bleak industrial ex-sector aesthetic with grey concrete, steel fencing, and a moody, overcast sky.

[00:05:52]Professional photography, high contrast, hyperrealistic, 8K.

[00:05:59]Oh, no. What is that?

[00:06:04]Is that secret Flamingo Land in the background?

[00:06:07]What's going on there?

[00:06:10]>> [snorts] [laughter] >> This the train is completely wrong.

[00:06:15]What's that? A B&M hyper train, but they forgot most of it. Where's this bit going? The lift hill is literally on the wrong side. It's meant to drop There's not even a hole. It's just there. It just drops like a normal coaster. Say Oblivion is a complete and utter fail.

[00:06:33]Uh yeah.

[00:06:34]Maybe I should be generating my own descriptions for these rides. I'm going to go straight to Hyperia at Thorpe Park. So, let's see what we can do.

[00:06:46]Give me a realistic image of the Hyperia roller coaster at Thorpe Park in the UK.

[00:06:49]It's a 236-ft tall Mack Rides hyper coaster and features a twisted drop, white and gold track, and a 10-row train with two riders per row.

[00:06:57]So, let's see if it knows what Hyperia is.

[00:07:03]Oh, no.

[00:07:04]What is that? Are we at Drayton Manor?

[00:07:07]What's this? Look how the lift hill catwalk carries on after the drop. This is like something off Theme Park Tycoon.

[00:07:13]Where does it go? It's just there.

[00:07:15]There's more track here. What's that? A transfer track?

[00:07:18]How's it going to get to there?

[00:07:20]Anyway, let's move on to the next one.

[00:07:27]Give me a realistic image of the Stealth roller coaster from Thorpe Park in the UK.

[00:07:31]It is an Intamin hydraulic launch roller coaster with a large top hat structure after the launch. The track is white and the train is a red car with black details.

[00:07:39]Let's see what happens with this one.

[00:07:45]All right, so that is not stealth in the slightest.

[00:07:49]This looks like one of those Intamin mega coasters like um Superman Escape from Krypton or whatever it's called. I don't know.

[00:07:56]I like how they've put Tidal Wave in the background and I didn't even ask for it.

[00:08:01]And the old Thorpe Park logo over here.

[00:08:03]Just It just finishes it off beautifully.

[00:08:06]It's got like a Immelmann into the brake run and that's all the riders by the looks of it.

[00:08:17]Generate me a realistic image of Nemesis Inferno at Thorpe Park in the UK. It's a B&M inverted roller coaster with a deep red track and black trains. It features four inversions and has a large volcano as a theming piece.

[00:08:35]You know what?

[00:08:36]That's not the worst one it's done. It's done the thing again where it turns into a different model with two different directions by the sounds of it.

[00:08:46]Um the front car's missing.

[00:08:50]We've got three vertical loops.

[00:08:53]And there's no station.

[00:08:55]The lift hill I think that's the lift hill there but I'm not sure.

[00:09:00]The queue line leads to nowhere into this bush here.

[00:09:08]me a realistic image of the Colossus roller coaster at Thorpe Park in the UK.

[00:09:12]It has a teal track and a red and yellow train. It is an Intamin telling version roller coaster with multiple heartline rolls in quick succession.

[00:09:21]Yeah.

[00:09:24]I mean in a way we're back at Drayton Manor by the way by the looks of it.

[00:09:31]It's multiple corkscrews.

[00:09:34]It looks like the corkscrew at Alton Towers.

[00:09:39]This is a Vekoma ride, by the looks of it, with Is it Schwartzkopf track, I think?

[00:09:45]But, yeah, that that's not Colossus in the slightest, apart from the sign.

[00:09:50]The sign says Colossus. Is that Is that a good thing? Uh I don't know.

[00:09:58]Write me a realistic image of the roller coaster Saw the ride at Thorpe Park in the UK. It is a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter model with two rows of four in a small carriage. It has a black track and a vertical lift hill into a beyond vertical drop. It is themed to the horror franchise Saw.

[00:10:15]This isn't the worst one it's done. I mean, it's not a vertical lift hill for the start.

[00:10:21]The track's pretty good. The train's nothing like the ones on the ride.

[00:10:28]The profile over here is crazy. I mean, what is that? Little loco. It's perfect, I think.

[00:10:35]That is like identical to how the ride's logo actually is.

[00:10:39]We've got Stealth over here with a loop.

[00:10:41]Wow, that's great.

[00:10:43]Generate me a realistic image of the big iconic Big One roller coaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. It sits near the sea front and is a large Arrow hyper coaster with red track and a blue support structure. It has a Union Jack design across the trains.

[00:10:57]Hang on a minute.

[00:11:00]That's actually okay.

[00:11:02]It's got the support perfect.

[00:11:05]The track's pretty good. The train is pretty much the same as it is in real life.

[00:11:12]It's even put a Victor said over here.

[00:11:13]Wow, how realistic is that? That the rest of the park doesn't exist and there's just two roads on either side of it is the most unrealistic part, but that's not bad.

[00:11:24]Make me a realistic image of the roller coaster Icon at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. It is a Mack Rides double launch coaster with a white track and gray supports. The train contains lap bars and has a spinning row at the back. The train has littered scales on the design and two headlights.

[00:11:43]So, if you excuse the fact that it's given me a premier rides launch coaster, it's not extremely bad.

[00:11:51]It has the Blackpool Tower in the background and the Big One. So, obviously knows what I'm on about.

[00:11:58]The train's kind of how it is in real life, but also not super accurate.

[00:12:04]The colors of the track and supports are perfect.

[00:12:07]And the color of the train itself is also perfect.

[00:12:11]So, I'd say it does know what I'm on about. It does know what ride I mean.

[00:12:15]I don't know what this coaster is in the background, though. Write me a realistic image of the roller coaster Gold Rush at Drayton Manor in the UK. This is a brand new Intamin family lift and launch roller coaster with a gold brown track color and dark grey supports. The train design looks wooden and has two headlights in the front alongside of a red button underneath and across over a pickaxe and spade.

[00:12:38]No way.

[00:12:39]There is no way. Almost identical to the promo image they used before the ride opened. There's the original image.

[00:12:52]And there's the AI image.

[00:12:56]Either this is already AI or it's just stolen.

[00:13:05]The design of this one.

[00:13:12]I mean, that's one way of ending on a high, but oh my god.

[00:13:17]That is slightly concerning.

[00:13:21]So, what have we learned today? Is it that Rita and Stealth don't exist? The Big One is actually the only ride at Blackpool Pleasure Beach or is it the fact that Drayton Manor secretly used AI for Gold Rush? Anyway, the moral of the story is that these theme parks should not be using AI because it's very obvious to tell.

[00:13:41]Thank you and have a good day.