What's wrong with clones?

Seriously...I have seen so many people complain about clones of Déjà Vu , Intamin Impulses, Batman...bla bla bla.

I don't think Six Flags does it to upset you, they figure California and Illinois are far enough away where you either go to one park or the other anually, not both. So they do it so everyone can get the taste of the same thing if you don't want to have to travel all the way to Six Flags Magic Mountain to ride Déjà Vu if you live in Indiana. You have Six Flags Great America just up in Gurnee, ILL. As for Batman - maybe Six Flags just wanted all their parks to have the same type of inverted coaster so they would stand out in the amusement park business. It is possible that there is a new concept now because we have different Medusas, just the same name. So...I think I have ranted enough...get what I'm saying?

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-Glitchey
Indiana Beach 2001 - Pictures, Reviews, CornBall Express exclusive information - coming Spring 2001!
I do, and I agree.

Clones serve their purpose. Most park patrons haven't ever ridden two clones (well except for a Vekoma Boomerang, everyone has ridden one of those ;)).

And besides, I say if you really do like roller coasters, your coaster lovin' shouldn't be held back by a clone.

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X-Flight @SFWoA!
This flight won't be cancelled!
i got nuthin against clones, it just pisses me off how theres like so many superman, batman, top gun named rides! they should think of original names for em.

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hey B&M, looks like intamin's got an ace up their sleeve. WATCH OUT!
john peck's avatar
I totally agree with these posts. (Except for the last one)
I don't mind clones at all. The parks are not just building them for coaster nuts.

There is so much money to save when you buy 3 of the same type of ride, paint it the same and give it the same logo and advertising campagn.


The Deja Vu's, for example are far enough away from each other where it really doesnt matter. I personally like an Invertigo in my backyard. *** This post was edited by john peck on 2/26/2001. ***

Glitch01 said:
I don't think Six Flags does it to upset you, they figure California and Illinois are far enough away where you either go to one park or the other anually, not both.


Well, actually there are 4 Boomerangs in California alone. But I get your point. ;)
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YVAN EHT NIOJ -The Simpsons
Hehe!

I sort of do agree on the name part though...I think they could get a little bit more original with names, even if they are clones. This would make things a lot easier when talking about parks and coasters. Maybe it will start to change over the next few years (hehe 3 Déjà Vu's, nevermind ;) )

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-Glitchey
Indiana Beach 2001 - Pictures, Reviews, CornBall Express exclusive information - coming Spring 2001!
I dont think clones are all that bad. I just want them to have different names.
I think it's okay to clone some rides like shuttle coasters, but I don't think full circuit coasters should be cloned.

I am from the UK, and spend alot of money travelling to the US to do parks. It's very disappointing to arrive at a park, and find most of the coasters are the same as the last park I just went to.

I don't mind clones of Batman: The Ride as it is a very good, but that Vekoma SLC is a terrible ride, as is their Boomerang.

I've closely watched the park announcements this year, and most of the rides going in to Six Flags are clones. Hardly something to get excited about.

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#Life is a rollercoaster you just gotta ride it# *** This post was edited by Grant on 2/27/2001. ***

cheeba_toke said:
"i got nuthin against clones, it just pisses me off how theres like so many superman, batman, top gun named rides! they should think of original names for em.
"



I agree. If they have to clone rides, they should at least come up with original names, themes, and color schemes. What's worse, the new craze over at Six Flags is to make original coasters, but still give them the same boring overused names and themes. Come on, guys, how hard can it be?

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E.J.
Webmaster: Theme Park New England
http://tpne.8m.com
cheeba_toke, no more Batman and Superman? How about they give them better names like Batwing? Anyways, I believe they will place a startegy at work in years that will wipe the slate clean and tons of rides can become renamed and rethemed after they are done milking names that are maintaining mainstream draw now. If every Batman inverted was given, each one, a new name, color, and theming, all the coasters would become even more unique than they already may have become. All it will take is for them to come out with a movie like that last one.......

I have never even been near a boomerang! Why should I have? Look on a map and show me a park near Southeastern NC that has a boomerang for me to have riden. Maybe a Boomerang looks fun for me. Like I said, there's not one around here so maybe everything doesn't get cloned for everyone.
I say a clone is better than nothing.
I dont like clones because u still have the same experience once you had ride the other clone.Its not really fun like those SLC's why dont they try a different layout or different elements keep the sea serpent though.
A clone is better than nothing? I don't understand. Nothing is better than a clone if you have nothing else and have the patrons for it, maybe better things come after the clones. Anyways, that little nonsense is out of me, so what happened to the Six Flags ride trade plan? Instead of cloning ZForce, they moved it around and then took it far away, what's up? Could they please bring that back, I never gotten my ride on that, either. Z is the only thing I've found under that strategy, couldn't they do something similar or did the cloning process take over (I've heard that the Emperor of Six Flags was building a secret factory and once they discover the best coaster plan they were going to assemble an army of clones!)? Anyways, I like the cloning to an extint, but doesn't BG do well without really having too simular rides in thier parks? It's kind of a delima.......
I think your right that SF figures that certain SF parks are far enough away that cloning is ok.
But take for instance SFDL and Great escape.
DL has boomerang. Great Escape has a boomerang and a indoor coaster that was relocated from DL because of low ridership. What makes them think that ridership on this coaster will increase, becausse they moved it down the thruway 6 hours. It was a crapy coaster at DL and its still crapy at GE. I went to great escape last summer and beyond those 2 sucky coasters the only good coaster at GE is the comet. I wasted a 6 hour drive to the Adirondack mtns. compared to a 20 minute ride to DL. I am against cloning, I think this discourages people from visiting other SF parks, beyond their home parks. Both these parks have excellent potential, but with SF at the helm, I see them as identical clones. I see SF adding new coasters to these parks in the near future. They'll just clone them from other SF parks. Mark my words.









It's hilarilous to me to hear (read) people lament clones. I find it funny because the same people that seem to not like clones are mad cause rides like STimbers, Stealth, Raptor, S:UE, etc., are "too far away". Then when it's cloned to a closer place, it's "Oh no not another clone!". I'll tell you this, I had never SEEN a boomerang coaster until last season. There is still a wide market that will actually appreciate these coasters (watch what happens @ SFoG & SFGAm this season). And Batman:The Ride, well it is still the most intense invert to date, which in and of itself justifies its cloning.

And it is a little harder to compare Six Flags 'clone content' to Busch Gardens. I mean come on, they only have two parks. Compare SFoT w/ SFoG (the first 2 SF parks) there really aren't any shared rides between those parks either (Okay they both have a B:TR, but its great so we can allow that one).

As for the "ride rotation" program, the only rides that I know of are the ones that made an appearance at SFGAm:
Z-force@SFGAm->z-force@SFoG->Flashback@SFMM
Rolling Thunder@SFGAm->Alpine Bobs@ Great Escape
Tidal Wave@SFGAm->Viper@SFoG
Condor@SFMM->Condor@SFGAm
and the non SFGAm rotations
Shockwave@SFMM->Shockwave@SFGAdv->Batman:The Escape@SFAW
UltraTwister@SFGAdv->UltraTwister@SFAW
Sarajevo Bobsleds@SFMM->La Vibora@SFoT
That's all I can think of.
lata,
jeremy
Yes, BG may only have two parks. But don't they also have the Sea World coasters? BGW is regarded as one of the best places for anyone to visit, so even though they have only two BG parks, they are a major force. In the two parks, the ride content is drastically different. The inverts even look like different ride experiences. They could have easily cloned the Tampa invert, just as they could clone Apollo or even Gwazi if they really wanted it (or had an area affordablly available or so on...). They don't, though. It would be nice, but it is nicer that they do more original things, so it's sorta a clone dilema. I see one park chain doing it well and another doing well and not doing it. BG probally spends more cash than Six Flags when they build something "similar but all out original", so that makes cloning look better, but you can't argue about the quality of the BG product. Oh, since the topic wasn't noted as being SF exclusive, I was trying to compare a clone market to a nonclone market, or something.

p_c_r said:
"Yes, BG may only have two parks. But don't they also have the Sea World coasters?"


Yes, they do. Of course, Great White is basically a clone of Batman the Ride. ;)
P_C_R: you missed my point entirely. I *know* Busch is a major player. What I'm saying is that you could easily select two Six Flags parks that have no(or few) coasters in common. The problem is that SF has like 37 different parks so it is easier to see overlap than non originality. As pointed out, Great White is a B:TR clone, and almost all reports state that Kraken is strikingly similar to Kumba. But since most of the chains clone; CF (Boomerang @ KBF & WOF), Paramount (Invertigo @ PKI & PGA), Disney (Space Mountain @ DL & MK), you are right, it is unfair to single SF out.

To answer your question on whether I would like to see all coasters original or to see some clones, I will select a cloned world. Why? Because one of my favorite coasters, Viper @ SFGAm, is a clone. It is a ride experience that I might never have gotten if clones weren't around. I mean imagine if the only boomerang in the world was in BFE. Since you wouldnt know how they ride, you would have to spend a lot of money just to get to the park to ride it. Then, if you really liked the ride, you would have to spent more money to ride it again. But if was at your home park, you could ride it when you want to. Personally, I like the access and continence that clone provide. My problem is with the particular rides that are chosen to be cloned. I mean B:TR is great and clone worthy. Goliath looks that way too. And I am so happy to have an S:ROS in my (virtual) backyard. But maybe the parks can lay off some of the cloning of "less-than-stellar" rides (e.g. SLC's)
jeremy
2Hostyl , the two Space Mountains are very, very, very different. One has a single track, a longer track, and two riders across in trains. The other has 2 tracks, shorter tracks, and one rider row trains. And invertigos and boomerangs are cloned throughout chains, not just a single chain so none of your clone info about Paramount, Disney, or Cedar Fair counts. *** This post was edited by Koaster King on 2/27/2001. ***

2Hostyl said:
"I'll tell you this, I had never SEEN a boomerang coaster until last season. There is still a wide market that will actually appreciate these coasters (watch what happens @ SFoG & SFGAm this season)."

Eh, I wouldn't even consider a standard boomerang and a Super Invertigo that similar. I think if SFGAm installed a boomerang, the response wouldn't be that overwhelming. These new Deja Vu models have so much different about them than standard boomerangs that the reaction to them, I think, would vary drastically. Yes, they share virtually the same layout, but the added height, the addition of vertical towers, the inverted nature of the train, the "tilting" of the seats, the MASSIVE inversions...to me, they seem light years better than a standard boomer, and I think the GP would realize this.

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"Yes if by crestfallen you mean KILL US!" -- Homer J. Simpson

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