six flags and superman?
baddboy who the hell cares if you are sick of the names? Six Flags corporate couldnt give a flying you know what that you are sick of them. They are using economies of scale to save some money in their operations by being able to market things at multiple parks with the same named coasters, advertise in multiple markets with one advertisment. The general public doesnt care either because as a rule 99.9% of them will only visit one Six Flags park in a given season. I would gather to guess that a good 85% of the visitors will never set foot in another Six Flags park in their lifetime. Just because you know that there are 7 or 8 parks with a Batman coaster in the chain(and that is a low estimate ;)) doesnt mean that John Q Public knows or if he did know gives a rats a$$ about it.
You are just like every other spoiled a$$ enthusiast out there who expects the parks to cater to your whims like you are their only freakin visitor every year.
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Bob Hansen
A proud CoasterBuzz Member
Wanna Ride A Woodie?
Bob,
Don't hold back your feelings...let us know what you really think... ;) ;) LOL
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--George H
---Superman the ride...coming to a SF park near you soon...
What's in a name anyway? For all I care, Six Flags could name every future coaster they build after a superhero as long as they're building amazing rides. Names and theming are important to some people, and can add to the thrill of a ride. But for the most part, I don't take that much notice of theming and could care less what the name is as long as the ride delivers an amazing thrill.
And also, if I were SF and I had paid millions of dollars for the rights to use the names of these characters, you can bet that I'd be making sure I got my money's worth.
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redman,
I am sorry man but I have seen one too many I hate clones and Superhero named coaster posts in my time on this board and baddboy got caught in the crossfire. My homepark (sfgam) is getting a cloned superhero coaster and I couldnt be happier.
I realize your comment was in jest and I appreciate it. I am just getting sick of all these spoiled people on this board.
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Bob Hansen
A proud CoasterBuzz Member
Wanna Ride A Woodie?
I agree with you Bob, Personally, I wouldn't care (that much) if they used DEK's suggestion of naming rides (Coaster #1, Coaster #2, etc.) I am not that wrapped up in names. Give me a good coaster, that's all I care about...
I mean really, what does the name do? It identifies the ride. If they have the indentical ride in multiple parks, what's the harm in calling it a *gasp* identical name in multiple parks?
I have a feeling we will be in for a looooong off-season if the enthusiasses are out in full force the first week in November, Bob...
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--George H
---Superman the ride...coming to a SF park near you soon...
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"We don't sit on your dining room table, so please don't sit on our silver handrails"
Spiderman is a Marvel comics property and Universal has the rights to them.
To answer the original question , it's all about marketing . The general public is going to be more excited to hear Superman is coming than Iron Wolf(a name they have never re-used evn though it's a good one)
I'm not as concerned about the re-use of names as I am the re-use of layouts. Imagine if each of the Batman The Rides had a different layout from all the rest. With B&M's creativity and Six Flags money we could've had a great variety of coasters to travel too.
EX: I live closest to SFOG so there's no way I'd travel to say SFFT if they were to build the same production model ride next year but if they were to build a totally new inverted design same name or not , I would consider financing the trip.
Basically we have several different styles of Vipers, Medusas and Supermen. The variety of DESIGN makes it worth the trip not the variety of the NAME.
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JOHN
RCT INSOMNIACS
KIMBERLY LAKE INC.
Kick The Sky said:
baddboy who the hell cares if you are sick of the names? Six Flags corporate couldnt give a flying you know what that you are sick of them. They are using economies of scale to save some money in their operations by being able to market things at multiple parks with the same named coasters, advertise in multiple markets with one advertisment. The general public doesnt care either because as a rule 99.9% of them will only visit one Six Flags park in a given season. I would gather to guess that a good 85% of the visitors will never set foot in another Six Flags park in their lifetime. Just because you know that there are 7 or 8 parks with a Batman coaster in the chain(and that is a low estimate ) doesnt mean that John Q Public knows or if he did know gives a rats a$$ about it.
You are just like every other spoiled a$$ enthusiast out there who expects the parks to cater to your whims like you are their only freakin visitor every year.
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Bob HansenA proud CoasterBuzz Member
Wanna Ride A Woodie?
wow....
actually man im not sick of the names...like i said i think it is pretty cool...just done A LOT!
sorry for the confusions
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If you want expensive rides, you're going to pay for them, in one way or another.
Well, think about this: Every year, you need to come up with several new coaster names. Each one has to sound exciting, be easily rememberd, and be immediately identifiable with the ride. A superhero themed ride is the perfec answer: Superheros are already identified with exciting themes, the public already had their names memorized, and a good color scheme can make the name easily associated with the ride. As an added bonus, these names are quite easily themed. Six Flags is not going to go into detail coming up with a story about a raging bull or a (Texas) giant, much less go into detail to bring the story to life around the ride. But superheroes already have their stories, and everyone already knows them. Consequently, they don't have to even bring the story to life: they can just throw in some random visuals from the stories and call it a day. Granted, Six Flags has more or less ceased doing this, but that doesn't mean that the option of doing so is closed. And when they did it right (as with at least the first few Batman: The Ride coasters), the results were (and still are) pretty nice.
And anyone who complains and whines about same-name coasters should check their history: At least now, we've got Superman: Krypton Coaster, as opposed to Superman: The Escape. Back in the twenties, there were hundreds of rides that shared the exact same name, like Cyclone, Pippin, Bobs, Jack Rabbit, and Leap the Dips.
Four words: No Theming No Imagination. ;-)
Come on, how many employees does it take to come up with new names for coasters? Surely there are far more difficult jobs in the world. Hey, it could even be an employee contest of sorts with monetary prize. Hey, add more creativity while boosting employee morale. Unheard of, eh?
2Hostyl said:
red: but let us not forget that Six Flags *was* once a part of Time-Warner.
Anyway, stop being dramatic. Not "Every" coaster is superman/batman/etc. "Deja Vu", "X", "Vertical Velocity", "NITRO", "Titan", "Goliath", "X-Flight", "BOSS", "Villian", "The Flying Coaster" are all non-superhero coasters.
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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do
Actually X-Flight = Batman. Notice the industrial Gotham themeing, and I read a press release describing how its themed blah blah blah.
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Arrow Engineer: "Well, we just tested the prototype Suspended with an inversion and the car broke off the stick thing. We plan to reuse the stick things on a future prototype called a 4th dimension."
Since you're not around for me to tell you baby face to face, I'm writin' you this letter, and this is what I have to say:
All they really wanted was for you to have a good time Instead complaining is the only thing that's on your mind What you do to me, look what you did Supee' I thought that superheros were alright Until you played with my emotions and you made me cry What "Bats" do to me, can't take what you did to me I ain't gon' take it..... I ain't gon' take it boy
So tell me, what is wrong here? Did you pay $9 million for the Dark Knight? The batman coaster is what really catches on to people. I have never man heard a single person of the general republic say Batman:Dark Knight or Superman:Ride of Steel. The superhero names are what catch on up here in New England. Most naturally asume that a ride the boasts the name Superman has got to be great. And get this, not a single person up here in Boston know about a single other Superman coaster, not even that there are other Superman:Ride of Steels either. It's all, we've got THE Superman, who cares what they got somewhere else.
The Clocker Brass, our school band after they were medalized, was invited to play at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in a music festival, did they care?(well besides me, a week out of school for BGW, yeah I care!!!) Of course not. Even after dozens of photos an brochures of Alpie' Apollo and the rest, they just said too bad they don't have THE Superman. You get the click of things here. The names click with the public and they really serve well with the public and who else can use these great names? Certainly not Canobie Lake
This is the heartbreak hotel
We're puttin' Batman on shelf
This is the heartbreak hotel
Superman better fly somewhere else
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Lake Compounce-So Fresh and So Clean Clean
*** This post was edited by Vertigo on 11/2/2002. ***
doderGirl said:
Four words: No Theming No Imagination. ;-) Come on, how many employees does it take to come up with new names for coasters? Surely there are far more difficult jobs in the world.
But it's not about that. A roller coaster name can be very important. A new ride must strike a chord with the potential customers the first few times they see the commercial, or they will simply get bored. If they can't remember that X-park is even getting a new ride this year, they're not going to go to X-park to ride the new ride (I'm assuming that anyone who would go anyway will remember the name no matter what, even if it was Roller-Coaster #6, or something equaly mundane). I'm sure there are many names considered, and that many of the higher ups would like to use new names all the time. But the fact is that no matter how good a name looks on paper, you can never know for sure how it will work out in real life. Superhero names, however, are garanteed to fufilll all requirements for the ride name. Do you think that theme parkslike having to pay for the rights to use these names? They only use them because they are sure to bring people in, whereas new names are not.
*** This post was edited by (SF)Great American on 11/2/2002. ***
How can you be so picky? If Six Flags named every ride they had Bob:The Ride I would still be in line. In fact, don't even give the ride a name, see if I care. They don't have this problem with sky diving and bungee jumping...:)
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How many rides must a man go on, before you may call him a fan?
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Lake Compounce-So Fresh and So Clean Clean
Well, what an entertaining little topic this has become.
Hey, I say that experiencing a really great coaster demands a "really great name" to go along with it. I think that for an enthusiast (or enthusi"ass," depending on your point of view), this is a realistic complaint. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to get all hot and bothered just because I am riding my seventh "Superman" coaster - many of the coasters mentioned in this thread have different designs, layouts, etc. I think that's more important than a name.
People who don't visit parks as much as we do are pretty much oblivious and can't even name the manufacturer of a coaster, much less recite how many times the name has been recycled in an effort to cash in on some name recognition.
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