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Dan4646
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While this May be true On Rides like Diamondback, Vortex, Etc., Theres alot of Rides that could Offer so Much more of an Immersive Experience as opposed to "Wait in Line, WEE!, Get off" Ill give Days of Thunder for an Example. (The Original, Not the stupid Go Cart track). When it first opened, The walkway back included a Pseudo Movie Set with Nascars In the Middle of the Que, Loudspeakers With Directors yelling Action, The Cars Roaring, Twin Turntables at the Base of the Theater Rotating, It was just a fully immersive experience. Top Gun (Flight Deck) Comes to mind as well..The walk back in the Que took you into basically an Aircraft Carrier like atmosphere with Air Force Memorabilia to look at, Bombs, Flight Suits, (Speaking of flight suits, the Ride Ops wore Flight suits actually), and just, as i said before, a immersive experience that built of the excitement of riding the Actual ride.. Thats what Made it Better and thats what Themeing is all about!

The funny thing is though, both the themes of Top Gun and Days of Thunder fell apart and were basically removed by paramount in the later years! They would theme a ride, make it all elaborate and cool looking, then after a season or two, they started removing theme elements or shutting off effects.

Also, when you talk about rides going "exactly where they are supposed to go in the park" based off of theme. Paramount destroyed the atmosphere of Coney Mall when they removed the Antique Cars and put in Italian Job (which doesn't fit coney mall at all). They also put Flight of Fear in Coney Mall, which doesn't fit either. I'm okay with that one though, because it is sort of separated from the rest of Coney, and I love Flight of Fear haha. They also took out a log flume in RIVER town and added an ancient temple...in what was supposed to be based off the early days of Cincinnati (Losantiville )

So, I would hardly say Paramount did the best job theming their rides around the park's area's. If anything, I wish Kings Island had it's original owners. You know, the ones that made it look like a Disney park, didn't take the cheap way out, and themed everything to fit in to the correct areas. Also, it seems as though Cedar Fair has at least tried to make the rides they built, fit in with the theme of each area of the park. When they added Firehawk, they called that little area X-Base. when they added Diamondback they made sure it at least fit in with a frontier town type of theme.

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The funny thing is though, both the themes of Top Gun and Days of Thunder fell apart and were basically removed by paramount in the later years! They would theme a ride, make it all elaborate and cool looking, then after a season or two, they started removing theme elements or shutting off effects.

That's what I'm saying. What's the point in theming a ride if you can't keep up with it? I'd assume you scrap the theme and make a better ride if you're not going to have said theme in a couple years. Invest that theme money into a better ride or multiple rides.

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I like theming on rides but not when it's overdone, take dollywood granted its a theme park but every ride is themed to the same thing. The rides that aren't Thunderhead and Wild Eagle are the best rides in the park. But that's just my opinion. I think if the ride is good it doesn't need a theme. Like Diamondback and Vortex

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I always thought that Paramount had good intentions going into the purchase of the park and still did for the first few years of ownership. But as time went on the owners didn't really put as opinion into the guests hands and did what was the cheapest and easiest way to promote their next movie. the most prominent place I see this is in FACE/OFF and Drop Zone where no theming what put in.

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I'll tell you this much: in a park of 200+ foot B&M coasters, it's Verbolten whose riders always return to the station applauding. Why? The eighty foot drop? The 50 mile per hour launch? If that were the case, when why aren't Flight Deck riders or Backlot Stunt Coaster riders applauding madly? It's the story. The buildup. The anticipation. The detail. The immersion.

Take the Mountain out of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and you've got... Well... the Cedar Creek Mine Ride. One is iconic, and the other is not. Theme doesn't have to be a pre-show, special effects, and a post-show. It's just that extra oomph that shows that they care.

As I mentioned in my PTR of Busch Gardens, the theme can be a little background on mythology or a terrain ride with a few grand props and an effort to landscape.

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I'll tell you this much: in a park of 200+ foot B&M coasters, it's Verbolten whose riders always return to the station applauding. Why? The eighty foot drop? The 50 mile per hour launch? If that were the case, when why aren't Flight Deck riders or Backlot Stunt Coaster riders applauding madly? It's the story. The buildup. The anticipation. The detail. The immersion.

Take the Mountain out of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and you've got... Well... the Cedar Creek Mine Ride. One is iconic, and the other is not. Theme doesn't have to be a pre-show, special effects, and a post-show. It's just that extra oomph that shows that they care.

As I mentioned in my PTR of Busch Gardens, the theme can be a little background on mythology or a terrain ride with a few grand props and an effort to landscape.

This is a great post.

I noticed also, Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom; the coaster itself isn't all that great. Only an 80ft drop, 50mph for about 2 seconds, and a TON of brakes. But add in the fact that you're travelling through a mountain, a yeti rips off the tracks, and you are plunged forward into a drop, only to be face to face with the yeti again.

I really wish Kings Island would do something involving theme besides Flight of Fear, which in my opinion isn't running to well this year (been on it three times and have yet to see the video running).

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Honestly, I could care less about theme on rides like Diamondback. The last thing Im thinking about before I get on DB is how well themed the ride is going to be. Im thinking about how awesome the airtime is going to be and how smooth the ride is. Also, Paramount TRIED to theme rides. I don't think they succeeded in that area at all. I don't get the point of theming something if you cant give it the proper upkeep. Id rather have little theme to a ride, than have mediocre theming.

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If it's got a catchy name, it's themed (even if the manufacturer's model name is used in some cases; but certainly not all). Otherwise, a ride count from a trip report might read like this:

Green Observation Tower

Wooden Roller Coaster (Large)

Wooden Roller Coaster (Mirrored Pseudo-Competitive)

Electronically Launched Automobile Roller Coaster

Drop Tower... hey, wait a minute; I think you might have a point!

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Really?

The train?

Carousel?

Kiddie coaster?

Blazing Fury?

The Arrow looper?

All themed to the same thing?

We must have visited different parks.

Actually the arrow looper has a mine theme terp and this topic so far has been coasters all though blazing fury has a different theme and are you really bringing up the kiddie coaster c'mon terp

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I thought Tennessee Tornado was themed to a...well...tornado?

I mean in the queue there are a lot of miner references and in the station there are also. And when you go down the big hill it goes into what looks somewhat like a mine

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