Knotts great america?

Well Knotts Belfonte Gardens would be better than Gilroy Gardens

I've long thought that if Cedar Fair felt the need to have a national brand, Knott's -- Knott's Dorney Park, Knott's Geauga Lake, Knott's Cedar Point -- would be the way to go. Short, simple, an established brand name.

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Charles Nungester said:
Well Knotts Belfonte Gardens would be better than Gilroy Gardens

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That would be weird, since Bonfonte is the name of the founder, so it would be 2 names tagged on there, like that one steak house I live near called "Ruth's Chris Steakhouse". Lol, It never makes sense to me... *** Edited 3/14/2007 5:04:58 AM UTC by P18***

CF has stayed away from the national brand up until this year with the whole Entertainment Company logo everywhere. I think they've made the "Cedar Fair" name a little more visual than before, but any further could do damage.

Example, family from California visits New Jersey. They're looking for an amusement park to visit. Six Flags is nearby, but the Six Flag's by them is dirty and has nothing for kids, so they go somewhere else.

Basically, people stop looking at the "Magic Mountian", "Great Adventure", "Over Texas" and see them all as "SIX FLAGS". That can be good, or it could be bad, depends on the situation.

Also, Bonfante Gardens is just operated by CF. Their situation is a little different.

*** Edited 3/14/2007 5:06:15 AM UTC by gomez***

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carlo18 said:
Considering that is has already been setup is most likely a sure thing that is will be Knott's Great America.

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You can't draw any conclusion from that. They have quite an inventory of domain names, but it doesn't mean they're going to use any of them.

Right. A lot of companies gobble up domain names "just in case"...

But it does make sense. It might not be known to locals, but to people that travel, there might be some confusion over CF's Great America park and the other Great America park in Illinois, especially if people call it "Great America" and not "Six Flags Great America" like us NJ locals call it "Great Adventure" instead of "Six Flags Great Adventure".

I never realized it before, but the Knott's name has been spread all over the state, so for Cedar Fair to rename the Great America park does have a little logic behind it- turn it into something that people are familiar with. Sad as it may be, most coffee shops would get a lot more business if they changed their name to Dunkin' Donuts or Tim Hortin's!

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crazy horse said:
What type of original theming did the have that is not there now?

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I know this doesn't sound like a big deal, but the music and CM wardrobe.

And bring back the train baby! A REAL steam train this time. And turn County Fair into a new Ghost Town. Ah blue sky. ;)

I just hope that any re-branding of former Paramount parks doesn't dillute the quality of the Knott's name. I thought that was a really nice park- much better than I imagine Great America to be.

Great America is not Six Flags; it's not a Paramount park anymore; the Knott's brand name is not even owned by Knotts. The park is not any of these things, hence Knott's. I guess the name makes sense.

Look at the list of parks on dorneys web site here.....

http://www.dorneypark.com/public/trip_planning/season_pass_central/

And it lists "knotts great america" as one of the parks you can use your max pass at.

^ That pretty much seals it, wouldn'tcha think?

Jeff, I though SF owned the 'Great America' trademark?

I guess they do have it...

http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=74662321

But that still begs the question about 1) why the previous owners of the park (in 1996) didn't contest it and 2) why Six Flags chose not to enforce it. The fact that they didn't enforce it all those years alone is enough to have it invalidated in court. I also suspect that there's some argument to be made about the regional nature of the parks. Using the name in California is not going to cause brand confusion for people in Illinois, or vice versa, and that's largely the intention of establishing a trademark in the first place.

Again, it makes perfect sense. Apparantly CF has been building the "Knott's" brand name in California for quite some time. I wonder if it's going to expand elsewhere?

It looks like they are going to spread the "knotts" name. I wonder if they will branch out the chicken dinners(crosses fingers), into the theme parks.

I wonder how long the Boomerang Bay name will stick. Knott's is a well-known name in the region, and isn't associated with Kangaroos, Australia, or Paul Hogan, so maybe that will change as well?

I could really care less about the name change, as long as the name "Great America" is somewhere in the name.

And believe it or not, people do get confused with the Great America in California and Illinois. My friend worked admissions at (K)GA last season, and she was working as a ticket-taker, and she had a family give her tickets that were for SFGA.

And I personally really like the Boomerang Bay theme for a water park. I hate when a park chain brands everything the same, so I hope Boomerang Bay does not change to Soak City, or any other Cedar Fair water park name.

I agree, there is SOME confusion among the parks, even to people that aren't coaster enthusiasts. Talk to enough people and I guarantee someone will eventually confuse the two- it's not outside the realm of possibility. And since two competing companies own the two Great America parks, I can see why they'd want to create a little distance between them while maintaining the name that people know.

How about just calling them Marriott's Great America East and Marriott's Great America West? ;)

By doing that, you're automatically assuming that all people have a good sense of direction ;)