Ride names - does it bother you?

While I was doing some research on Dorney Park for my upcoming visit, I realized that they have several rides that have the same names of rides at Cedar Point. Now, I fully realize that DP and CP are both owned by Cedar Fair, but I don't like that they are naming rides the same. It makes the parks less "unique" in my mind. It almost appears that they are turning into Six Flags. But, the interesting thing to me is that they aren't even the same rides. I can see chaos rides all being named the same thing. And, I can even see Batman and Superman clones all being called the same thing all over the country because they are the same rides.

But, Thunder Canyon and White Water Landing?? Even Wildwater Kingdom bothers me. I guess they can't really do anything about Camp Snoopy since that is their character land, but it still annoys me that they can't come up with new names. Its not like they named Steel Force Magnum. So, why the other rides? Pretty soon they're just going to be clones like Six Flags parks.

I disagree.

I'll leave it at that.

MrScott

I disagree. I think that sometimes things are almost a given that you think of one good name for it and thus add it to every other version.. but it's not like the BIG NAMES are identical.

Not every invert has a "Batman" name or theme to it. Not only do they have different names, but they have (more often that not) completely different layouts. CF is consistently building new rides with new designs and ideas at their parks and the names of a few things being similar, I feel, does not take away from the overall effect of it.

That was as simple as I could keep my opinion, but overall, it's just another "I disagree and I'll leave it at that." ;)

I disagree also. I don't mind the little rides like this being called the same thing. It is very difficult to think of a good name and sooner or later you will run out of options. I would rather them give it a name that has already come up, rather than some dumb name that has never been used before. The rides themselves are differant, and to me that's all that matters. As long as the big coasters like Millenium Force and that don't have the same names, it really isn't a problem.

I think it helps if you're talking to someone whos homepark is x, and they're not an enthusiast, if you can name ride names from y and they immediatly understand.

WOW - i'm amazed that you guys think that way. names are really important i think. not only for marketing, but its also a big part of a ride's identity. i don't buy the fact that they will "run out of names". that's just a lame excuse. have you guys ever looked at paint colors in a store? there are literally millions of different color names out there.

i'm also surprised that you guys are ok with DIFFERENT rides having the same names. no longer can you say, "wow, i got SOAKED on white water landing." you now have to qualify your comment to a specific park. is it going to get to a point where multiple rides at the same park have the same names?

i guess i would argue that in today's global environment, the name of a ride is even that more important than it was way back in the day.

Cedar Point did have two Dodgems at once, I believe....so that time has already come and gone.

The fact is, the average John Q. Public doesn't know and doesn't care that rides have the same name. Even at Six Flags, I would guess that not many people visit numerous parks to realize that there are about 300 (or so it seems) Batmans. My guess is that the GP would say "Oh there's a ride at (insert home park here) that goes by this name, and it's a good one, so let's ride this one too!"

Cedar Fair has been doing this for years. How many different Soak City waterparks are there? Almost every park (or maybe it is every park) in the Cedar Fair chain has Halloweekends or Halloween Haunt. There aren't different names for each different park. Every park has its own things that make it different from every other park, so why can't some of the names be the same?

One last interesting item of note...there are Wild Mouses (mice??) coasters all over the world at different park chains, and yet many of them are called "Wild Mouse." Lots of different Wildcats at many parks....should there only be one of each of these?

Small scale ride name "copying" is ok in my book. It makes it easier on the the company and GP, as long as the GP realizes its within the same chain. As for the main staple in a park (the coasters) they shouldn't really share a name. With all the Batmans and Supermans it gets a bit boring. and has anyone else realized that for as "bad" as Six Flags is... they are always talked about?

Here is a little analogy I came up with...

Parks are like fast food chains to the general public. Although Taco Bell (Cedar Fair) offers tacos and mexican cuisine, Wendy's (Six Flags) offers baked potatos and Chili. No matter where you go, you are going to see the same product, with the same name and the same advertisment, but the way they make it may be a little different. Six flags does a really good job with this because when I go to Busch Gardens Tampa (my home park by the way) I here people say, "Wow! The Batman roller coaster was really great!" when they are really refering to Montu. People tend to say, "Lets go to Six Flags!", when they really mean Knotts Berry Farm or Michigans Adventure.

So to conclude, Naming rides the same can really help a park chain in the long run by making a ride like Batman a household name because they see it where ever they go.

Mrtimbers01, I believe you have given me gas.

MrScott

Who cares. Most people don't even know that Cedar Fair exists, let alone that they own other parks.

Jeff is right. Sometimes I forget that I know so much more than my friends about Cedar Point and Cedar Fair for that matter. All of us on here know a lot more about Cedar Point and Cedar Fair than anyone else. We may not realize it, but it's true. Some of the things that we classify as common knowledge (such as Cedar Fair owning Cedar Point) isn't known by the GP.

In addition to anything said earlier, I think that it's also important to look at the fact that it's not only the re-naming of smaller rides, but that they are all within the same chain. It's not like they're calling something "X" or "Goliath."

They are not cross-breeding names from Six Flags, so I don't think there is anything to worry about.