Don't get me wrong. I love roller coasters. You can add all the drops, loops, barrel rolls, etc., that you want, but in the end, a roller coaster is a roller coaster. You can ride a roller coaster at any park in the country, and the experience is fundamentally the same.
There is more to a theme park than a roller coaster.
While I like Flooded Mine and FITH also, they don’t draw new people to the park. What most people care about when traveling to a theme park is the roller coasters. Big, new coasters are about the only thing that bring new people to a park. While I would like to see the old rides being rebuilt/fixed, I don’t really see it happening if it wouldn’t bring in new people.
They bring people back.
Not only do they bring people back...but they are the rides that create memories for families. They are first 'big' rides kids have with there parents....the are transitional rides between the kid rides and the thrill rides. They are the consistent and dependable rides that 90% of visitors expect to be open....they are even open in weather. Its not that WF and TT can't be memory making rides....but they aren't what parents and grand parents remember about SDC trips. Frankly that darn frog ride in GE has a higher place in my families list of favorites as OR....we've got dozens of pics of our kids on that ride through the years....my now coaster riding teenager still smiles thinking about riding it.
These classics have a unique advantage of being multi-generational in there ridership.....I just hope they get a modern makeover so they keep some of of that uniqueness but SDC can also use to continue to let them be family memory making rides everyone can enjoy. Completely losing them would be such a waste of a competitive advantage SDC has with these classics.
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