Saying "the" with ride names

Northern Ohio not so much, probably. In central and southern Ohio you'll hear it more. (central Ohio has a whole lot of transplanted southern Ohioans)

I had a friend that would say things like "oh, I've got the bad headache." or "I'm going out to get the lunch."

All my life I've heard "the Blue Streak" and I suppose it goes for the Mean Streak as well. I'm no English expert, but maybe it sounds better when there's a descriptive adjective leading off in the name of the ride. Like the Wild Mouse.

Yeah, I think it is mainly a central Ohio thing. To many people used to The Ohio State University.

djDaemon said:
Count me among the long-time natives of Michigan who have never heard anyone say "the Meijer".

No, but we do hear "Meijer's" all the time.

Surprised no one has gone on about how "the top thrill dragster needs fixed" Seems down state they don't much like "to be" and leave it out their sentences.

Keep in mind that Ohio is two different states: the is the Western Reserve (and to a lesser extent all of Northern Ohio) which has a decidedly New England flavor to its original settlement and traditions while the rest of the state has a much more "southern" feel to it.

Scottyf said:
No, but we do hear "Meijer's" all the time.

This is true. I wonder why it's so common to hear "Meijer's", while I don't recall hearing "Target's" or "Walmart's", for example.

Maybe because Meijer is Frederick Meijer's last name and we are going to Mr. Meijer's store.

I was thinking that as well. However, the store was originally called "Thrifty Acres" from 1962 until 1986. At that point, the company seemed big enough that it wasn't like folks were headed down to Fred Meijer's store. Then again, I was young at the time, so maybe my perception is way off.

I remember, back in the 50's, when it was a little store in Greenville (MI) and it was called Meijer's.

When I was a lad, the family would often go to Kalamazoo to shop at The Meijer's or The Thrifty Acres (and if we kids were good, then there was supper at a restaurant close to the store that had a miniature train moving around the dining room up near the ceiling).

I use " The" frequently and I think its largely situational. (Born and raised on Lake Erie with a BA in English)
"I took the taxi to the Amusement Park at Cedar Point so I could ride the Mine Ride" sounds better than "I took Taxi to Amusement Park at Cedar Point so I could ride Mine Ride", which sounds like something a European worker with a j-visa and a discount phrase book might say.
Machines are generally not the subject of proper nouns.

On the other hand, I've never heard or said "the" Thunder Canyon, Shoot The Rapids' woodstock Express, Ocean Motion etc. Likewise, I've never heard or said "Let's ride Train!"
It seems like there should be a rule but I cannot put my finger on what it would be...

Whenever I go to parks in other states the ride operators (end even commercials for the parks I see) put "the" in front of the ride's name. But KI and CP (Ohio parks) don't--where as the parks I mostly go to do. I think it just has more to do with how the locals say the names of the rides IMO.

cptedsdisciple2 said:
"I took the taxi to the Amusement Park at Cedar Point so I could ride the Mine Ride" sounds better than "I took Taxi to Amusement Park at Cedar Point so I could ride Mine Ride", which sounds like something a European worker with a j-visa and a discount phrase book might say.

"I took a taxi cab to Cedar Point so I could ride Cedar Creek Mine Ride." ;-)

I noticed in one of the old videos posted Blue Streak was written out on the front coaster The Blue Streak.

I say the Mine Ride and The Beast and that's about it. The Ohio State University gets on my nerves, I went to school there and was still working there when they changed it and thought it was a load of pretentious crap then as I do now. I think it looks terrible and I think it'd look stupid on a college sweatshirt.

I can understand people saying Meijer's instead of Meijer, as it's a proper name but don't understand Walmart's or Target's, especially anything ending in mart. If a place was called Drug Shop or Drug Store would one say I'm going to Drug Shop's, etc.?

^ That doesn't explain the "Kmart's" phenomenon.