He also said that they recognize that many people view FITH as essential to the park.
When he said essential do you think he meant the ride itself or the history connected to the ride, or both?
I think he meant the ride itself. We both discussed how many people really don't know the story behind the ride.
I would wager he was referring more to the spirit/history of the ride. Given how they have allowed certain things to slip on the ride building, I'd say they definitely have plans to completely rip it out and replace it within the next 5 years. We've discussed the rumors for years now, and Swoosh will certainly tell you that there have been multiple ideas that have apparently floated around. No telling what exactly they'll decide on, but I would bet money on an entirely new indoor coaster/ride loosely related to the FITH story to come around soon-ish. Probably more emphasis on firemen and less on baldknobbers, but we'll see.
I think we went through a phase where SDC sanitized a lot of stuff, but now the clientele are starting to voice opinions the other way, saying that SDC has pulled too much. Hard to say what the PTB are hearing, but I don't think at this point that they would completely get rid of the baldknobber story. I do think they would emphasis that part of it less though.