StR web cam captures Kinzel insanity

I think it was because they ran out of bird names and Flight Decks....

Coming up with creative roller coaster names is hard (, and stuff,) for people who are not very creative, like the people who work for Cedar Fair. That's probably why. They finally came up with one good name. I expect we will see Intimidators pop up all over the country. ;)

I think they figured the two parks in "serious NASCAR country" could both use the theme - and they pay DEI once. I am embarrassed by the fact that I actually know that acronym - blame ESPN.

Oh, and probably only coaster dorks would know there's *another* ride with the same name. Most folks only know Orlando and their "local" park...not something five whole hours away. ;)

I disagree that there aren't creative people at Cedar Fair. I think the creative folks in P&D have gone a long way toward brining back a classic amusement park look to so many of the parks, and executed well on the Western theme twice already in the past few years at CP. Because the person coming up with names sucks at it is not reason to write off the entire department.

There are people in Cedar Fair P&D that could walk right in and get a job at Disney Imagineering in a second if they wanted to.

But just like at Imagineering, creativity is often hampered by the bean counters. And, the head bean counter at Cedar Fair is not all that impressed with creativity. If Snake River Falls had got the mountain treatment back in the day...imagine how that area of the park would look now.

It's never too late (well, almost never) to improve theming at existing attractions.

"Guests don't come to Cedar Fair parks for theming, the rides sell themselves." - Dick Kinzel

End of story.

And "people gotta eat", as well.

Ensign Smith said:
It's never too late (well, almost never) to improve theming at existing attractions.

Rumor has it that MarineLand has been working on finishing the theming on Dragon Mountain.

(I'm serious!)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

That's hysterical...yet somehow it feels appropriate for the bizarre place that is Marineland.

Jo, both were built in areas where NASCAR is huge. Carowinds is not far from where Dale lived, and Richmond is in NASCAR country as well. I would imagine they weren't trying to save on merchandising as much as they were trying to draw a butt load of people to the park.

@ Fun, I've been before and after 2002, and I can tell you the park is a much better place now.

I guess what I don't understand is, when a representative from Cedar Fair's P&D department presents the name of a ride such as Flight Deck or Drop Tower...why doesn't anyone with authoritative power step in and say, "Uh...good one. Now show us what your real idea is."

I mean, seriously...given ten seconds, I'm quite positive that every one of us here could come up with more interesting/appealing names than those.

I'm sure that the P&D department is often crunched for time, or busy with different things...but they are getting payed to plan and design things. It just seems like someone there would have the initiative to fully develop something worthwhile...

I realize that Flight Deck is an oft-criticized name on this forum, but seriously what is wrong with that name for a ride lightly themed as an aircraft carrier? Certainly beats the name "Top Gun". I suppose it's just an aversion to change amoung enthusi-asses and also resentment over the removal of the licenses.

Comparing a movie title used for its pop culture appeal and a regular unknown name is not really apples to oranges. Are you going to defend Backlot Stunt Coaster just because the name somewhat accurately describes the ride?

I think it more than somewhat accurately describes the ride. It pretty much IS the ride. Really, the names aren't that bad. At least they didn't name them "inverted roller coaster 1".

Well, they did name a drop tower Drop Tower. I personally think the name Flight Deck is a sucky name, but I'm not one to complain about that too much. Drop Tower, though? They could have came up with something better.

TerraCoaster said:
I realize that Flight Deck is an oft-criticized name on this forum, but seriously what is wrong with that name for a ride lightly themed as an aircraft carrier?

A flight deck doesn't do anything. It's a flat thing on an aircraft carrier. In and of itself, it doesn't do anything interesting. Riding a flight deck is riding on a large boat. Does that describe the action of an Arrow suspended or B&M inverted coaster?

What baffles me is that they renamed the one at Carowinds to Afterburn, which is a decent name.

Yeah, there are definitely better aircraft related names they could have gone with. That's most definite.

I dunno; I thought "Afterburn" sounded like what you get if you make the mistake of eating the park pizza...

Drop Tower surprised me, though. When Drop Zone was built, it was built with no references to the movie apart from a poster hung someplace. Signs and such around the ride indicated "Drop Zone" as in "A Zone in which Stuff Drops" and as such I was surprised that they were not able to simply keep the name. Same for Face/Off. It sure looked like Paramount was deliberately building rides and applying names that could be, but were not necessarily, associated with movies...but that nevertheless applied to the rides, so that when the park was sold it wouldn't be necessary to do a lot of renaming and IP removal.

I guess it didn't quite work out that way...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.