News: Thrill vs. Theme - How will Paramount parks fit in with Cedar Fair

http://www.pointbuzz.com/news.htm?id=932

To start off, simply remove the names of the different sections of the parks on the guide maps.

Some of the movie theming at the Paramount Parks is pretty good, some of it is not. CF is better off by removing most of what they can, and replacing all costumed chracters with the Peanuts brand. I visited Carowinds a couple times, which could use some work, but could be modeled after Geauga Lake and Dorney Park.

Top Gun at PKI could probably be renamed to what it was going to be called originally, Thunder Road. Knowing CF, they will most likely remame TG at Carowinds to Thunderhawk. I was never a big fan of the Hurlers at PKD and Carowinds. They could give the "studio building" stations a face lift.

Theming: Get rid of it, Especially at Canada's Wonderland... it's so cheesy.

I think at PKI Tomb Raider and Italian Job are themes that work really, really well. The only other Paramount Park I've been to is PKD, and that was way back in 2001. The themes there were not even that apparent, though they were fairly transparent at PKI then too.

I like the themes, but then again, I like Tomb Raider and Italian Job!

hellz yeah keep TombRaider. me and my dad paid good money to be one of the first 75 riders on that ride.
agreed Jeff. Italian Job is a good theme. but they could get ride of the "WildThornbarries" log flug and replace it w/ a different name.

Who says Cedar Point doesn't have a movie theme:

Millennium Force, The Movie.

At the dawn of the year 3000 a secret outpost working on 'Project 2007' is ripped apart by the schizophrenic scientist Gemini. To save his son, Jr. Gemini from his terrible Mean Streak he created two mutant creatures known as the Raptor and the Mantis. Unaware that his genetic manipulation tool, the Corkscrew was misaligned these creatures were given the terrible Wicked Twister gene. To save the world from these creatures, Dr. Magnum comes back from retirement with his prototype weapon only known as the Iron Dragon. Suspense builds as the Iron Dragon swings into action over a farm turned concert venue. Using the never before tried Woodstock Express technique, Dr. Magnum is able to quickly trap Raptor and Mantis into the abandoned Cedar Creek Mine. Ride into the darkness with Dr. Magnum as he captures the mutant creatures and saves us from a terrible disaster. Transport home leaves a giant Blue Streak across the land that will remind us of the danger of building too high too fast. The thankful scientist Gemini realizes that his disease was only due to that fact he could not experience a Top Thrill. Dragster races were soon installed at the outpost and all was well. Or was it.....

(Am I the only one who saw this?)

*** Edited 5/29/2006 2:43:53 AM UTC by Alan Lucent***

Hey Folks,

I am one of your new Paramount's Kings Dominion in-laws here. I tried to write a nice long intro and post here. But, I assume I took too long and the site logged me out and I lost my "novel" I wrote.

If you have any questions relating in general to Paramount Parks or especially Kings Dominion just send me an email. I am a native Richmonder and have visted KD every year it has been in operation since 1975. I do have a little insider info on the park as I did work there as a ride operator. I worked my way up to ride foreman on the Rebel Yell racing wood coaster (1979-1983 | Pre-Paramount).

I will respond more on the theming issue later. But, Kings Dominion was built as a theme park with 5 distinct themed areas. All ride attractions, show facilities (which we now have next to none thanks to Paramount's reign), shops, and restaurants all had detail theming that related to the area they were located in. I call that immersive theming.

Tune in for more info a little later. Thanks for having me aboard.

Getting back to Kings Dominion theming. As stated before, the park opened with the following five themed areas:

International Street - (European Theme: Park entrance, fountains, Effel Tower, shops and restaurants lining either side of the fountains).

Old Virginia - (Virginia from late 1800's through 1920's-1930's)

Candy Apple Grove - (Theme to Turn-of-Century Coney Island)

Wild Animal Safari - (African jungle theme)

Happy Land of Hanna-Barbera - (kid's area with Scooby, Fred, and the rest of the HB cartoon characters).

Since Paramount took over, we lost a good deal of the immersive theming. Some areas now run together (The Grove - Old Virginia). Our live shows were decimated by Paramount. During the pre-Paramount hey day, our live entertainment department put on 6-7 major productions ranging from country, broadway, rock/pop, etc. That was with live muscians and singer and dancers. That did not include the bird and dolphin/sea lion shows. Now we have one rock show, one kiddy show and nick character meet and greet sessions.

From my stand point, I'm not sure what direction Paramount wanted to take the parks. It did not seem to me that they wanted to invest the amount of capital needed to bring the parks up to a level of a minature version of Universal Studios, MGM Studios, etc. So we became a Paramount Duckbill Platypus. (theme, amusement, movie park). It's only been in the last 2-3 years of Paramount ownership that they wanted to focus on movie themed ride attractions. They were trying to get back into immersive area theming in some sections of the Park over the last year or two (ex. Congo - old Wild Animal Safari). But, the sale happened and now we have to see how CF will handle the new properties