Son of Beast closes

So you're saying a retheme of a steel coaster can't be compared to a possible retheme of a wooden coaster? Once again, I beg to differ. The type of ride doesn't matter there, at all. The end goal is the same, alter a ride to make it seem like a completely new ride/experience. That can apply equally well to a wood or steel coaster.

All they did was throw some scenery next to the rides, and X got new trains. They did no retrofit to the rides track.

Besides that, we are not talking just a retheme. We are talking about replacing the entire coaster. You could throw 1000 animatronics from Disney around son of beast, and the ride is still going to suck.

Medusa had no problems, all they did was to try and enhance the ride even more by adding theme. X had issues because the trains were too heavy, so they replaced the trains and also threw in some scenery. The problms with son of beast stem much deeper than that.

They already tried to fix son of beast twice. It was an epic fail.Sometimes, the ride does not even open till half the summer is gone due to all the work it requires.

They just bought new trains for the ride, they replaced most of the track, the loop is gone, several lawsuites have been brought, the ride has a boring layout, it's a maintnance nightmare, it has bad pr, and it's crazy ruff.

I was not talking about what they actually did to the Six Flags rides, just that they rebranded them. I was responding to the statement that you made that the coasters that were done were steel, as if that somehow made any difference. It doesn't make a difference and has no bearing on the issue of simply rebranding/getting the public thinking its a different coaster. The needed steps to do that are drastically different, yes, but the concept isn't, and isn't affected by whether it is a steel or wood coaster.

I understand where you are comming from, but do you think that people think x2 is a differant ride after the rebranding?

Other than some cheesy theming, they woulden't know there was any change.(ok, the flame throwers are cool).

X2 is one of my favorate rides, and the new theming that they added to the ride holds no weight on why I like it. Anybody that was on the ride before the rebranding would probaly agree that except for new trains(less brutal of a ride), there really is no differance.

crazy horse said: I understand where you are comming from, but do you think that people think x2 is a differant ride after the rebranding?

After they'd watched the SFMM commercials I had to convince friends that X2 wasn't a completely new ride. They were convinced it was a brand new ride that...get this!...was identical to X and...wait for it...was built right next to X. Silly GP!

And while that helps your argument I have another story that does not: I have coworkers that went to SFMM and asked me when Psyclone was remade into Terminator. They thought it was the exact same ride with some new track.

The remaining SOB shirts are down to $2.50. They're even selling a set of 4 shot glasses (that also includes Diamondback) for about $2.90 just because it contains an SOB glass.

Seems the park is now in the "Pretend this crap doesn't exist" mode. Even the safety signage at the entrance is gone. I wouldn't be surprised if they erased it from the park maps at the next print run (probably for Haunt).

Moosh, I suspect the results with your friends was a result of the naming choices. Which brings me to an interesting question: If they decide to go the route that Dave and I have been talking about, would it be better to choose a name closely related to Beast/Son of Beast, or one completely different. People seem to be under the impression that the Bizarro makeovers are completely different rides because of the close relation to Superman (similar to X/X2), whereas people thought that Terminator was just a different name slapped onto Psyclone. Based upon that rather small (and admittedly anecdotal) set of "evidence" I would say it would be better to keep a tie to Beast/Son of Beast.

"Spawn of Beast", or just "Spawn" perhaps?

Spawn? Like the awesome comic book character?

"Todd McFarlane presents, Spawn: The demon roller coaster from Hell!"

It would have to be a different name to help erase the public memory of the previous ride. Spawn is actually very good, and accurate, if it were 'morphed' into something different.

I had not thought about Dave's point about the 'admission' of guilt, in changing the layout of the ride. I think you could legally argue that a "new and improved" design was developed, and in no way reflected the past history of the ride. (of course we would all be rolling our eyes at that argument)

Personally, I would hate to see that much wood go to waste without an analysis of potential fixes/uses of the existing structure/track/trains. Knowing CF is a business, run by business people, I am certain they will consider all of the options before making their final decision.

I'm sure 'Spawn' is covered by copyright laws. It doesn't sound very Cedar Fair anyway.

Copyright and trademark is not the same thing, and trademarks generally only apply to like goods and services. Trademarks can be filed for the same mark for a movie, a ride, a car and a toothbrush.

I'd bet anyone a bazillion dollars that spawn was covered by copyright laws. I agree that anything from Image Comics wouldn't be family friendly enough for an amusement park.

/me smacks forehead

Which begs the question of where Landmark Entertainment Group was making use of the name "Banshee" back in '96, but I digress... :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Jeff said:
/me smacks forehead

That was hilarious. :)

Yeah I've never really understood the difference between © and ™, not that I have spent much time trying to do so. I was just generalizing that they'd get sued by the comic book folks.

Copyright protects some kind of work from being duplicated without permission. Trademark is the use of some words, symbols, etc., to identify a product. There are several criteria that apply to trademark infringement, but the biggest one is whether or not the use of the mark by someone else can create "confusion in the marketplace" about what it represents. There's little doubt that a consumer wouldn't confuse Jones potato chips, Mother Jones and Dow Jones. But Jones tortilla chips could absolutely be confused with Jones potato chips.

And incidentally, a trademark doesn't have to be registered to be enforceable.

Pagoda Gift Shop said:
I'm sure 'Spawn' is covered by copyright laws. It doesn't sound very Cedar Fair anyway.

Spawnhawk

You could call it Spawn, and just paint the trains like a giant salmon with a blue structure. :)