Kings Dominion announces Dominator

What's funny about it all is that 99% of guests could care less and will get in line for it just the same.

I'd say it's more like 100%, but my personal opinion of Cedar Fair being creatively bankrupt isn't going to be swayed by that.

Maybe we need to give KD a chance to get the ride up and open and then judge if the ride location is just a "parking lot coaster" like Colossus at SFMM or did the park remove the asphalt and landscape around the ride. One good sign, from the 2007 park improvements, was the removal of the asphalt in the entrance plaza and it was replaced with stone pavers.

I feel that KD is still under CF transition and will be for the next 2-3 seasons. I am not willing to jump to any conclusions about CF management of the park until they have a couple more years under their belt.

I'm sorry, I guess I missed the part where NAMING a coaster cost money??

What does a little Cedar Fair brainstorming session cost these days? :)

LAME decision on reusing 'Dominator'... Cedar Fair has always impressed me with their graphics and design team (being a Graphic Designer myself, I'm allowed to say that)

But reusing names is awfully SixFlags of them - and GOD FORBID, I even compare the two. SixFlags is gaining so much more respect of mine lately. The new branding, websites, management, etc... is starting to over-shadow Cedar Fair, in my opinion.

Take it for what it's worth - just MY opinion.

^ Well the people who do things like name coasters have so much other stuff to worry about like, um....., er...., well there's...

I think the cost of a CF brainstorming session depends on the number of apples and boots that need to be polished.

Reuse of names represents a lack of creativity. Whether it's justified or not doesn't change that.

Quick, if you live in the MD/D.C./VA area take a poll of all the people you know and ask them if they've ever heard of Geauga Lake. I think what you'll find is eyes glazing over, "Gee what?", "Nope, never heard of it," "Hey, how's the fishing there?", "What state is it in?" etc.

It's an easy problem solved by using the same name, due to most people being completely unaware of the orginal location of the ride.

Will they make an attempt to disguise the fact that the ride will be in the parking lot? That remains to be seen. It can be done as evidenced by Kingda Ka, and the two S:UF's at Great Adventure and Great America, respectively. But if it turns out like Scream, that would be disappointing. One of the best scenic attributes of Dominator at GL was the Lake.

halltd, I think you're completely underestimating the public's brainpower. If they do go the other park's websites, sure they may see a similar name, but next to it they'll see a totally different ride pictured. I think we can safely agree that there isn't a single amusement park that's exactly like another amusement park in the States at least.

I don't think the goal of most regional themeparks is to pull in people from outside a certain radius anyway, unless you're a Busch Gardens Europe and you know that families are also going to take in Colonial Williamsburg while they're at it. Heck, even Cedar Point only advertised in the Baltimore area for one year as far as I can remember, and haven't done such since. It was probably too expensive to advertise and here we go again, there probably wasn't a significant ROI.

I guess my point is for the most part, other than the flaws already mentioned, Kings Dominion is still a nice B-Class theme park. This ride, the way it is being presented, potentially is another step away from that.

Its a shame, you would think as time progresses, parks would have nicer atmospheres. But it seems that the future is bringing more generic aspects to them instead.

S:UF at Great Adventure is a good example of a parking lot coaster? You're kidding right? Just because they planted grass in the middle doesn't make it sited well. You walk through a queue which seems to be three miles long in the blazing heat surrounded by a chain link fence to a station right on the perimeter of the parking lot. The first thing they should have done was put the station in the park - or at least on the edge of the park.

I agree that it's not the MAIN goal of regional parks to pull in people from outside their own region. But, when you offer a pass like the Platinum Pass, why wouldn't you at least TRY to pull some of your existing customers into another park? I'm not saying spend $100 million on a coaster or have Cedar Point commercials in California. I'm saying if you have the opportunity to come up with a new name for a signature coaster, why wouldn't you? Am I the only one that enjoys being creative? If you do small, inexpensive things like that, you build the integrity and cohesiveness of your park over time which creates a better product.

Compared to when most of these parks were born, the world is shrinking with technology. People know people all over the World. It's relatively easy to travel. People talk. If there's a park in VA/DC that I have a pass to and I've heard from a bunch of people that it's kick ass, I'm going to go. I just don't buy into the fact that parks shouldn't care about things like ride names and cohesiveness because it "doesn't matter". It does matter.

I can't believe that Kings Island and Kings Dominion both opened with Eiffel Towers. What a lack of creativity.

And Disney has quite a few Space Mountains. Tragic.

*** This post was edited by Vater 10/25/2007 6:01:27 PM ***

There's a difference between "lack of creativity" and "spending additional time, resources, and man-power to squeeze out new logos, merchandise, file for new service marks, and such."

More like pressed for time and cutting down on capital expenditures at a time when financial resources are slim....as opposed to lack of creativity --- or as some of you like to say, "seemingly lazy, but with undisclosed and perhaps significant reasons."

See, "lack of creativity" suggests that there is none at all over at Cedar Fair. I'd say that's not a very fair judgement. We've seen a great share of "creative" flair from Cedar Fair.

Yeah, and they changed the name from Banshee to Mantis!

What's kind of unbelievable is how naive people are when it comes to creating a new name. People are saying that it costs no money to do so. Oh yeah?

Let's say that they needed to come up with a new name. Granted I'm sure all the marketing and head-officers are on salary, so maybe there was no extra cost there for any meetings they had to create a new name. But if they come up with a new name, now you're talking about creating new artwork, new signage, new merchandise etc.

Unless they already have a competent graphic designer on the roster, that means hiring someone or a firm out to do the artwork. Most things are rarely approved on the first go around as there are usually tweaks to be made. So now you've hired a graphic agency to create your logo and your merchandise including the eight different t-shirt designs, the shot-glasses, and various other trinkets. It all adds up after a while.

In RCT, you just click and type something new.

Doesn't it work like that? ;)

Anyone notice that in place of Dominator's photo from GL KD has a photo of Thunderhawk on their media center page instead?

^Yeah. It's not there anymore.

I think that one of the most important things to consider when naming a major attraction is how easy the name is to remember. Word of mouth advertising isn't effective if very many people can't remember major details of an attraction. I believe that a name should also be catchy & creative. The name Dominator isn't very creative, but it is kinda catchy and very memorable. I don't mind if parks use the same or similar names, I think that the general public cares less than I do.

Maybe it doesn't cost "no money" to create a new name, but on the other hand, I doubt a huge percentage of the cost to create and construct TTD and Maverick was spent on designing a logo and coming up with a name.

More than likely, there were probably only slightly fewer meetings and marketing and ad people involved in the decision to use the same name anyway.

So you don't want to create new merchandising? What are they going to do, use all the unsold stuff from GL with the words Geauga Lake Wild-whatever covered up with whiteout? OR maybe send stuff down from Dorney and hope nobody notices the picture is actually a drop tower (because after all the GP is pretty stupid)?

Sure it costs money to develop a logo and new merchandise, but don't you hope you recoup that investment and then some by selling the merchandise you create?

Well the more important thing is to bring people in through the gates to ride the thing,and spend money in the process.Take a look at the ride's location on international street for instance,there's alot of potential revenue to be made in the shops in that area of the park by keeping the guests there while they ride the coaster.