SonofBaconator

I’m curious how people think other chains like Sea World, Palace Entertainment, Herschend, Universal, and Disney reacted to the Cedar Fair/Six Flags merger. Are there chains that feel legit threatened, chains that are indifferent, or even chains that see this as a win for them somehow.

I’ve often thought about what a Six Flags park would look like under control of Cedar Fair. This is an example: Six Flags New England gets rebranded to New England’s Riverside. You see the park drop the WB and DC IP in favor of Cedar Fair names and standard Six Flags names. Ride names like Flashback, Great Chase, Pandemonium, Thunderbolt, and Wicked Cyclone would stay. Superman would be rethemed to Patriot and receive a blue color scheme with white supports. This would use the current CF IP while being an indirect tie into the New England Patriots. Batman-The Dark Knight would be renamed Revolution which is a name Six Flags owns and plays on the American Revolution and repainted red and blue. Gotham City Gauntlet Escape from Arkham Asylum would be renamed Paul Revere’s ride (in grasping at straws here) Joker would be renamed Total Mayhem and given the orange, red, and black color scheme the Great Adventure model was supposed to get Catwoman’s Whip would be given a generic name like Taxi Jam Riddler Revenge would be something generic like Flight Deck Flat rides would have their names altered to remove DC and WB IP. The kids area would be a Camp Snoopy. The generic names can be more personalized but I’m doing this as if they have a year or so to change the names over like CF did with Paramount. This is just all for fun and nothing is based on any form of speculation or rumors. This is also a scenario where the WB and DC IP had to go- this will likely not be the case.

3 years have gone by and I’m still curious as to why it shut down. I know nothing about what the weather does in Kansas City during the winter but I always assumed conditions fluctuated just like us so I don’t know how much weather played a factor in the event’s demise. Looking at the map, most of their coasters were closed; which makes sense. The one thing that confuses me a little is why they chose to close down their train ride. Most holiday events that feature a train ride are pretty popular: Winterfest, the Zoo’s Festival of Lights, Busch Gardens, Dollywood, etc. I’m not saying not running the train was a defining factor, but it helps- maybe it was a maintenance thing. Another possibility is staffing issues but I don’t really know if thats a reasonable thought considering they’re able to staff both an amusement park and waterpark during the busy summer months. Whatever the reason, it’s a shame it got shut down. I felt like the one thing WoF had going for it was its size. It’s not nearly as big as Kings Island so they could really pack the park full of lights and decorations.

That’s a bit of an overreaction. A lot themed rides involve that type of verbiage. On Adventure Express, you’re distributing the ancient ruins On Mystic Timbers you hot-wire an old truck and there’s a shed full of sketchy stuff that they’re trying to warn you not to go in One of the signs on Diamondback says “do not disturb” On Boo Blasters you are told you are trespassing During Phantom Theater, one of the lines was “you’ve defiled our world, now escape if you can” On Hagrid’s motorbike ride, you’re literally going into the Forbidden Forest On Tomb Raider The Ride, you’re disturbing an ancient temple On Big Grizzly Mountain at Hong Kong Disneyland, you get switched from tunnel 8 to tunnel 4.(8 being symbol for good luck in Chinese culture and 4 being a symbol of death) In Mystery Mine you’re entering an abandoned mineshaft and warned subtly that you’ll die Verbolten is a play on words the word Verboten which is translation for Forbidden in the German language. Cobra’s Curse is centered around people entering an area at the threat of being cursed I could go on When you’re riding these rides, the overall message is F*ck Around and Find Out-it’s part of the theme, fun, and thrill. Someone carelessly disregarding park rules and common sense by hopping a fence isn’t cause to call into question the verbiage of other rides.

Phantom Theater IP. When I say this, I’m not only referring to the ride, but all aspects related the story, theme, characters that were essentially wiped from the park. The only semblance of this was the recycling of props during Haunt. The park could’ve used the IP for a seasonal Fearfest/Haunt building that focused on the old ride’s story and characters but they didn’t. They could have character meet and greets during the regular season or even during haunt but they didn’t. They could’ve sold merchandise specific to the characters, but again they didn’t. It wasn’t until 2022 when the park finally decided to take advantage of the IP through the show in the KI theater and small amounts of merchandise. With all the characters that were created for the park, the applicants for what they can do are limitless, yet they don’t capitalize on it. A while ago I shared some merchandise ideas that someone made online which is what’s provided in the images you see. When it comes to original IP, The Phantom Theater could be a cash cow yet Paramount chose to archive it and CF has only dabbled in it. I fear that with the merger coming that they’ll focus on the new IP’s acquired and Phantom Theater will again be shelved.

If you watch Defunctland’s video on Tomb Raider, he talks about the comparison between companies. I'm not entirely sure if they could’ve done Marvel because the early Marvel Cinimatic Universe films Ironmans 1 and 2 Thor and Captain America were all distributed by Paramount. I can’t remember what they had to do with Iron Man 3 but I remember seeing the mountain before the film began. I feel like they could’ve milked the Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America properties in a Six Flags-esque way.

I feel like Paramount owning the former Taft parks was problematic for one major reason: location. If their parks were in very touristy locations, I think they would’ve done fine and possibly survived during the split in the 2005. However, this wasn’t the case. When you’re a film company and you’re trying to promote your IP, it’s kind of hard to do when your parks are seasonal compared to companies like Disney or Universal who can use their parks to promote their brand year round.

I’m in the camp of, “be prepared.” If you have valuable articles, then come to the park with a running belt, cargo shorts, shirts with front pockets, etc. I have no clue what this guy was wearing so I cannot judge but there will always be a chance that any possession you have might fall off. This isn’t the first time someone’s lost something on a ride and it won’t be the last, even if lockers are available. This is just a horrible incident and a cautionary tale of what happens when you go into a restricted area. I really hope the guy pulls through and my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family as well as everyone involved. I just hope people learn, no item is worth it.

Also, the ride reaches its top speed during the pretzel element. Not that being struck during any other part of the ride would be any less significant but if this took place during the pretzel element then this guy was in the worst possible place to be in terms impact speed.

I’m still in the camp of putting another water ride in Rivertown.

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I understand the reasons behind why we didn’t get those models, nevertheless I like that we got them late in the game as it allowed the park to work with B&M on more creative designs after learning from all the respective inverts and hypers that had come before. I argue if we got an invert or hyper in the late 90s/early 2000s, like so many other parks did, they wouldn’t stand out and just look more cookie cutter.

I always felt like that was our trend if you think about it. We were late to the hyper party, the invert party, and so on. Personally I don’t mind being behind the trends because we can improve on something that has existed for years. With Banshee, we got new trains, a drop without a pre drop, and different elements you hadn’t really seen on inverts before. I feel like if we got on the RMC trend in the 2010s like everyone else did, it wouldn’t be as special because it would have been one upped at some point the following year by another park. At least if we got a RMC in the future, it would be different than other RMCs from years prior. I guess it’s what Mark Twain said about Cincinnati: everything happens 10 years later.

The reuse of The Bat IP proved to be successful amongst park fans which got me thinking, will the park recycle an old IP for a new ride? Some might consider it lazy to recycle something that’s since been gone but I argue it’s creative and a money saver in many respects. That being said, which IP do you think would be the easiest to resurrect for a new ride?

Whenever I’m at the park, I’m always seeing WindSeeker down. This is nothing necessarily new as there are numerous factors that contribute to its downtime. That being said, do you think WindSeeker (and I guess WindSeekers) will last through the decade or do you think we’ll start to see them phased out or replaced with a more reliable model?

The one thing I don’t understand is why the ride wasn’t just based off of the film. Almost every large elaborate attraction at the Disney parks are just ride versions of the hit films. Like you see Ursula in the Little Mermaid ride because the ride itself is just a recap of the film. Not sure why they decided to do a ride “sequel” to the Princess and the Frog because it left out two of the film’s important characters since they’re canonically deceased. Just making the Bayou adventure ride a recap would give the movie full recognition as opposed to doing a sequel. I feel like people who watched the film will be disappointed when they don’t see Dr. Facilier or Ray.

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I’ve unfortunately never ridden Splash mountain, only seen POVs.

You accumulate a vast amount of wealth, enough to start your own amusement park chain. What parks are you acquiring and why? There is one rule: the parks in question cannot already be part of a existing chain…. for example, parks like Kings Island, Fiesta Texas, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, etc are off the shopping list.

This is my millennial/gen z take on it while not trying to take a side on Splash Mountain. I had no problem with the ride being themed after the stories of Brer Rabbit, Fox, Bear, etc. The film that Disney used as source material for the ride however, was the problem. From a PR standpoint, they should’ve never themed any ride at their parks to characters from Song of the South, it was just bound to create controversy- especially with Disney trying to sweep the film under the rug. With the ride opening in the late 80s/early 90s, there were tons of different IP they could’ve chosen instead of the character designs from Song of the South. Regarding the overhaul and retheme, I think it’s neat. The Princess and the Frog featured Disney’s first African American princess and yet after the film’s release, they didn’t really showcase the characters of the film with sequels, tv shorts, and other treatment that other Disney properties had received. I think there was actually a thread on this site from many many years ago where a princess Tiana costume wasn’t available year round at the Disney store (if I can find the thread I’ll provide it.) Edit: found the thread At the end of the day, these rides are designed catering to families and their children. I don’t think the little kids are going to judge a ride’s theming like adults would. With Song of the South being a nearly 80 year old film and Princess and the Frog film not even being 20 years old yet, it makes sense to retire a film that Disney has been trying to make people forget for some time in favor of a much younger one that doesn’t get enough recognition.

With the FUN SIX merger, I’d like to think that Magic Mountain would be a candidate for a post merger giga. I’m still holding out hope for a Busch Gardens Tampa giga with the rate SEAS is installing B&Ms in Florida.

I personally don’t think the GP will look at a Giga Dive and go “oh great, another B&M.”

Giga dive for me

A lot of my missed opportunities are thematic: Why wasn’t Woodstock Express painted yellow in the first place?- it would’ve had a double meaning as Woodstock himself is yellow and that was the coaster’s original scheme when it was Scooby Doo. Why wasn’t BLSC rebranded to Greater Cincinnati? When ownership changed hands, it would’ve been cool to see Cincinnati type billboards instead of having it themed to Hollywood- even the license plates on the train still say “California.” Why were the dinosaurs in Dinosaurs Alive all gray? I understand this was a product of Dinosaurs Unearthed but I feel like having all the dinosaurs be close to the same color probably got boring for kids after a while. I understand accuracy is an element to education but we have no clue what exact colors dinosaurs were… they could’ve gotten creative with some of them- the Columbus Zoo was able to do it: https://www.columbuszoo.org/blog/dinosaur-island-returns-extinction

Mine certainly isn’t the “biggest” but it was low hanging fruit: not overhauling Action Zone around Banshee’s debut. When Invertigo was repainted in 2012 they could’ve called it Screamin Demon to set the overhaul in motion. They also could’ve repainted Drop Tower to reflect the eerie feel they were trying to accomplish with Banshee/The Bat. Like I said, it’s not the biggest missed opportunity but it was a missed opportunity nonetheless.