will they rename the rides of the paramount parks?

[ohioamusementparkzrule]

I think maybe CF will suck it up and buy the rights to Paramounts name, when I went to the park today, almost everything says Paramount, they have that paramount walk of fame thing too, I forget that name off the top of my head, so I think that it would probably be cheaper and maybe a bit better if they just bit the bullet and bought the rights.

[KDogg]

I think the ten-year licensing clause was included in the contract for the very reasons we're discussing here: The renaming of the parks and rides and the complication/confusion of doing so. If it were one park in question it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal, but CF bought five Paramount-themed parks. Having to change everything at once would far outweigh the benefits of having bought the parks in the first place. And I don't think Cedar Fair bought the parks to "eliminate the competition". What they saw was an opportunity and they jumped on it.

Somebody posted earlier on likening this transaction to the WWE's purchase of its top competitor, WCW. That wasn't really as expensive a deal as most believe; WWE bought WCW for a mere $6 million. Surely there were other costs involved, such as wrestlers who chose to ride out their contracts and get paid for doing nothing (Goldberg and Sting come to mind, along with others). But the benefits of the transaction - re: no competition and all the merchandising, licensing, and video rights as well as the vast video libraries held by WCW - far outweighed having to pay off a few lazy bums.

But this isn't wrestling...

I see Cedar Fair making gradual progress in the renaming and retheming areas, probably starting mostly with the little, less expensive things and maybe tackling one major attraction at one or two parks at a time. As for what to call them, I have no idea what they're gonna do but here's a few of my ideas. They're Kings Island only because 1) That's what this board is, and 2) I've never been to any of the other parks... yet.

Top Gun: I like the layout of the queue where it looks like you're boarding an aircraft carrier. Possibly they wouldn't have to rename the ride at all, being that Top Gun is really a Navy Flight School and the movie was simply named from that which it represented. Just remove all the movie-related stuff and you're set to go. Oh, and I might add to the track a little, this ride is just too short!

Adventure Express: I never cared much for its theming in the first place, so I'd go with a mining theme of some sort, say Mine Explosion.

Face/Off: Whatever, just change it. I haven't ridden this thing yet but I've never liked the name of it. Somebody mentioned Yellow Screamer, how about we just keep the Screamer part since that's what everybody would refer to it as anyway?

Days of Thunder: I didn't even know that thing was still there. But since it is, with the popularity of NASCAR, instead of tearing the ride down let's retheme it with NASCAR-related material. While NASCAR isn't scripted like the movie was, there's enough stuff that goes on in a race that could make for a good storyline for the ride.

Tomb Raider: I have no idea what to do with this one. The queue was cool, the ride was ok, but what I get from recent posts is half the thing doesn't work right nowadays. To me, that's a sign to start replacing things. I don't know, maybe give it a space theme or something.

Italian Job Stunt Track: Another whatever. Drop the Italian Job part, lose the movie references, and just call it Stunt Track.

The Train: Ok, so it has no theme at all, movie or otherwise. Time to change that. Make it feel like you're actually going somewhere. Make the stations welcoming you to Kings Island or Boomerang Bay, then paint or build motifs along the way.

I know there's a few others but I think that's enough for now. The new guy done went and wrote a book lol.

KDogg

[Gordon Bombay]

Adventure Express is not themed to any movie, it was installed theming and all before Paramount Communications bought the park, they wouldnt have to change a thing about it, maybe just drop the Indiana JOnes music in the que. Top Gun...to re-theme that considering much of the theme is gone they just have to throw out some signs, posters, and flags and your good. Maybe paint it and wash out the trough. Face/Off, just change the name, that could easily work. FOF is already set as it isnt themed to anything Paramount anymore. Tomb Raider could be quite the challenge, but what if you just tore down the building?

[italianchef]

I guarantee you 100% Cedar Fair will change the names of ALL rides and attractions related to Paramount, Nickelodeon, and all other Viacom/CBS affiliates.

The question is not "WILL" they change the names.....but WHEN????? According to the contract, CF has up to 10 years to change Paramount named and 4 years to change Nickelodeon named attractions. So, it's not if but when.

Have a great day!

Italian Chef

[HomerJay]

I could be wrong, but I actually seem to remember Adventure Express using the Indiana Jones theme before Paramount owned the park. . . .it was also the same year that they did a Scooby Doo/Fred Flinstone/Captain Caveman show in International Showplace that had an Indiana Jones theme...and it was before Paramount owned the property.

I agree that CF will eventually drop the themeing. But it will do so gradually. Some rides will be no-brainers and others will take some time. For instance:

Face-Off and Top Gun are movie-related in name only. Remove the theming, give them a new name and no one will care after the first year.

Flight of Fear no longer has any theming connecting it to Paramount Properties, since the Outer Limits was dropped.

Paramount Story can easily be de-themed (as no one bothered to keep theming up for the past 10 years or so), in Action Zone you just have to remove the movie posters, Bubba Gump's could probably stay if they have a separate deal or easily rethemed to something like "The Bayou".

Really, there's only two areas where you could have a problem and they really aren't big deals:

Italian Job--do some retheming to the name and maybe some parts of the ride. Retitle it "Getaway" and you have something.

Tomb Raider--This is, initially, tough...until you remember there's the similarly themed Adventure Express. Just change the soundtrack and the name and you can have pretty much the same ride...a jungle adventure thing doesn't have to have Lara Croft (and given that the movies pretty much sucked, I don't think people will mind).

Oh...and keep CF away from retheming it with a space theme! CF and indoor space-themes are bad...there's a big white box at Cedar Point known as Disaster Transport (Mistake on the Lake) to testify for that.

[The Interpreter]

Italian Chef: I actually think that not only will they retain the Nick franchise the entire four years, they may even pay to expand it to their other parks and/or renew it after the four years is over. . .Nick is far more popular than Snoopy, but who knows how that will be four years from now? Four years is an eternity in children's television.

[marlfox_21]

Cedar Fair said already during the conference calls that the Paramount Themes would have to be "Looked at", and decided on at a later date. I beleive they do have the right to use the Paramount names for the next 10 years if they decide to do that. I beleive it would alot of work to remove all Paramount things from 5 parks before the 2007 season. We will probably see the Paramount stuff being removed a little at a time. (I'm not saying the rides themselfs just the names).

WinterFest was contracted for 4 years too.

Look what happened there.........