Do parks have signature rides nowadays?

[Ian]

I've been thinking. Most parks have a siganture ride, which tends to be the biggest or most impressive coaster at the the park.

For example: Thorpe has Stealth, Lightwater Valley has T'Utimate and Oakwood has Megafobia.

Then think about Drayton Manor, Flamingoland and Chessington WoA, they don't really have a signature ride. They have many different "top" rides but no one ride that defines the park. For example, with DMP, there's Shockwave. G-Force and Apocalypse.

Do you think that parks no longer develop a ride that defines and shapes the park? Or do parks just build what they can without thought to grandeur?

IMO, the last "park defining" coaster I can think of (in the UK, but this is a worldwide topic) is Stealth at Thorpe Park.

 

[marc]

Rage at Adventure Island and they make a big deal out of Over the Hill.

PMBO at Blackpool.

 

[Ali]

EGF for Holiday Park.
Dragon Khan for PA.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[Jools]

Sometimes they may have like joint top signiture rides I think.

Chessington would probably be Vampire, but then some may argue its Dragon's Fury.

FL it's pretty equal between Kumali and Velocity,m but then it coudl also be argued it is Mumbo Jumbo, but I would go for Kumali.

Drayton would either be Shockwave or Apocalypse.

I think it's interesting to look Thorpe parks and see how it's changed.

Flying Fish
XWTF
Detonator probably was next
Colossus
NI opened but It was still Lossus
Stealth
Some were sacred it would have became Saw, prehaps its both :lol:
Lookign forward to the next chapter
:--D

 

[marc]

You have totally missed out on how Thorpe was before the first take over

 

[Ormerod]

I think parks with a limit, and a budget definately have signature rides.
If a park has a lot of revenue, and is an extremely profitable company, chances are they can top their signature ride within the first 5 seasons.

However, iconic rides still exist in many parks.

 

[Snoo]

I don't think many amusement parks keep going, especially in this day and age, without something that really sets them apart in terms of signature rides.

If you look at Waldameer and RFII for example, they were doing ok, but not amazing. Last year, with the addition of RFII and the closure of GL, the park really boosted their attendance (I read something like 30%?).

It really is amazing what a signature coaster can do to your overall bottom line.

 

[Dave]

Walygator will have a signature ride next year, with Orochi going there.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

I don't think signature rides need be the most popular ones. I'm not sure what they need to be, though. As in, what qualifies them.

At Thorpe, Colossus and Inferno are sort of... on the same level. They are "major rides". Stealth is the signature coaster. Saw is the new coaster, soon to drop to the status of "major ride" This set up changes over time. Before Stealth I don't think they had a signature ride. I guess it was Colossus. Everything else just sort of, fills it all out.

Alton just has a bunch of rides. Nemesis, air, Rita, Oblivion make up the major rides. There is no signature ride. I'm sure it's supposed to be Rita, though. But it's not. From an enthusiast perspective, it's Nemesis. But in general, it doesn't have one.

PMBO is clearly Blackpool's signature ride.

 

[Screaming Coasters]

Dragon Khan for PA.

Actually, I think its now Furious Baco.
It's the most scenic coaster ever built, despite what people may say about the ride itself.

 

[tks]

I think the ride has to be well established at the park, or make a massive impact on people who go there. I don't know of many people who have been to PA and rave about Baco, given that it's a recent ride and crap. However something like Dragon Khan is more widely known as it's been there for ages and doesn't give you a coma. (It's still not very good though).

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

No, not all parks. Actually something I have noticed recently, is that a lot of small parks have an exceptional ride (Snoo's example of Ravine Flyer II was good, and then Holiday World with Voyage, Lake Compounce with Boulder Dash, etc), but a lot of bigger parks, mainly the Six Flags ones, don't have any signature rides. Great America for example has a lot of decent sized rides, but nothing that defines the park..

So it seems to me a lot of the smaller parks have to have a signature ride, but a lot of the bigger ones don't.

 

[rollermonkey]

I'm gonna disagree a bit here. (Shocking, I know.)

The biggest, baddest coaster in a park isn't always that park's signature attraction.

Example: The two Great America parks were built in 1976, and the signature ride at each is still there from opening day, The Columbia Carousel.

Sure, Raging Bull is bigger and whatnot, but if you show anybody who's into parks a picture of that carousel, they know exactly what it is.

This is true for the Disney and Legoland parks, to some extent, too.

 

[Screaming Coasters]

Disney's signature coaster is definitely Big Thunder Mountain, as evidence of the queue.

 

[Pokemaniac]

Loopen is, or has traditionally been, TusenFryd's signature ride. Because it has a loop. ThunderCoaster may have taken over since.

Both new n'Timmys will be signature rides, I think.

WW Goliath and EGF also make the parks they're put in.

 

[DropZone99]

Kings Island's signature coaster is Beast because of it's popularity, I guess Son of Beast and Diamondback are kinda signature attractions too.

 

[Ormerod]

Disney's signature coaster is definitely Big Thunder Mountain, as evidence of the queue.

I don't think Disney could have a signature ride, people just see Disney as just like a whole other dimension. They treat everything equally because it's such a huge brand.

Most non-enthusiast people I know have been to Disney, and don't remember any ride names. They can only refer to everything as 'that ride at DISNEYYY!'

 

[rollermonkey]

^Disney's signature attractions are the castles. (Epcot ball, Mickey's hat, Tree of Life)

Space Mountain would be the signature coaster, not BTMRR, IMHO.

 

[ryan462]

Hiede Park - Colossos
Walibi World - Goliath
Djurs Sommerland - Piraten
Tivoli Gardens - Daemonen
Lightwater - t'Ultimate

 

[marc]

^I was waiting for this one Walibi World - Goliath