The End of Thomas Town, Tony Hawk, and Wiggle's Worlds!!

[Coaster Justin]

Gotcha!!!

http://screamscape.com/html/industry_news.htm#SixFlags


With IAAPA kicking off today, some early scuttlebutt has been sent in regarding Six Flags. According to a few sources Six Flags will be terminating the licensed I.P. attraction themeing deals they had with Thomas the Tank Engine, The Wiggles and Tony Hawk. While it would be easy enough to remove the Tony Hawk themeing from the coasters, finding a way to rethemed the Wiggles World attractions may be a bit more challenging. As for Thomas… I feel bad for Six Flags America here because this seems to be where Six Flags finally got their act together and built a nice Thomas Town with a good number of rides and everything… all for just one summer it seems. The rest of the Thomas Towns featured minimal themeing at best, and it shouldn’t be too much of a problem to remove Thomas’ smiling face from the train engines. More on this as the story unfolds…

Apparently Six Flags is getting rid Thomas Towns, Wiggle's World, and Tony Hawk Themes from their parks. The Tony Hawks will Probably be the Easiest as they can just call them "Big Spin." Thomas Town and Wiggle's World will be Tough Problems However.

So What's Your Thoughts?

[monsterfan99]

No loose on Tony Hawk at all. Thomas, while nice, is not as big as it used to be. With the Wiggle's there could be some issues, mainly in the entertainment areas.

[CoastsToCoasters]

OMG nooo! Aahh! I love Wiggles World at SFGAm! It looks so nice & its so obvious what it is for families & now they're gonna have to redo it all & I fear its all gonna look the exact same with just different names! BUT IF they can pull off what CF did this season with thr renovation from Nick to Snoopy then I'm all for SF workin twords fixin the areas that way... But I see covered disaster.

[Ilovthevu']

For right now though, this is just a rumor. If this is true, I wouldn't agree with this decision just with Thomas Town. For that license, the one main attraction at these parks are the train ride with Thomas the engine, and to me that would ruin that whole attraction. Who cares about Tony Hawk? That ride could still be a skateboard type of ride without him, and Wiggle's it wouldn't bother me if it changed it or not. What I'm worried about next is what happens if they take away Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, and the DC license. I really like the license at the park. Hopefully, they won't because they are adding Green Lanterns, and they are adding that Batman themed mouse at New England.

[acquaz10]

This is true, its not a rumor. They're also dumping Papa Johns and a couple other things. All makes sense to me. Why spend so much money to use the IPs for the things when you can do it yourself. Looney Tunes and Scooby are far more popular than Wiggles and Thomas. Both Wiggles and Thomas are barely on TV anymore. Looney Tunes are icons.

They wouldn't dump the DC liscense. If they were planning on doing that then they wouldn't have announced DC themed rides. You might even see DC themed kids areas...

[FParker185]

This is true, its not a rumor. They're also dumping Papa Johns and a couple other things.

Press release? or at least a de-listing of all that stuff on SF websites?

[monsterfan99]

All makes sense to me. Why spend so much money to use the IPs for the things when you can do it yourself.

I agree 100%. I never got the idea behind IP's such as Tony Hawk, Evel Kninvel or restaurants in the park. Using Papa Johns and the like makes your other restaurants look bad compared to, despite the fact the Papa Johns in the park is the opposite of it at a real location. For the people, while it is nice to say Tony Hawk, the fact they are paying for a person who's time as a big celebrity was 10 years ago says something.

[acquaz10]

This is true, its not a rumor. They're also dumping Papa Johns and a couple other things.

Press release? or at least a de-listing of all that stuff on SF websites?

Just wait. For this I don't think they will issue a press release. I have known about this for a few weeks though. And it makes sense considering the last few weeks of operations the parks were selling Wiggles merch and Thomas merch dirt cheap.

Then I saw the SFMM video and it failed to mention the Percy coaster as percy, it used it's old name. That's when I asked my source. And for more proof go check the investor document. If you can find me a mention of Wiggles or Thomas Town let me know.

Why wouldn't they mention SFAs new TT? Oh and another thing is they listed SFNE as having 3 kids areas, when the park close there was 4. Confirms what I was told....

[FParker185]

Just wait is no sort of confirmation. I dont doubt it all, just it's not a fact til it's officially announced or we actually see it happen. For now it is only rumor.

[acquaz10]

Just wait is no sort of confirmation. I dont doubt it all, just it's not a fact til it's officially announced or we actually see it happen. For now it is only rumor.

Drive by GAm, not sure if its visible from the street but Wiggles World theming will be gone. It's been gone since Friday here at SFNE.

[FParker185]

I'll save the hour drive and just wait for the announcement or TR's next season.

[DejaVu2001]

^^ Nothing would be visible from outside the park. The tent over the back half of Wiggles completely blocks the view of the area.

[Director_Guy]

No loose on Tony Hawk at all. Thomas, while nice, is not as big as it used to be. With the Wiggle's there could be some issues, mainly in the entertainment areas.

Click me.

[monsterfan99]

^Me and the English language have always been fighting. It's why I use editors on other projects

[DejaVu2001]

It is safe to call this confirmed now. Six Flags Fiesta Texas' ride availability page for their Holiday In The Park event: http://www.sixflags.com/fiestaTexas/inf ... epark.aspx

Note the following:
- Tony Hawk's Big Spin is referred to as "Big Spin"
- Big Red Cars is referred to as "Cartoon Cars"
- Big Red Planes is referred to as "Junior Barnstormer"
- Fruit Salad Yummy Yummy is referred to as "Flying Fruit Cups"
- Romp Bomp A Stomp (the Kids coaster in their Wiggles) is referred to as "Kiddie Coaster"
- SS Feathersword Playship is referred to as "Pirate's Playship"

I really hope these names are just temporary, because these give Cedar Fair's renamings a serious run for their money.

[FParker185]

Nah, with Cedar Fair everything would be snoopy/peanuts themed. Lame names come with the territory when a ride is built thematically to fit in with a specific licensed property. It costs way to much to change the theme, and vastly changing the name looks silly.

[Coaster Justin]

http://screamscape.com/html/six_flags_st__louis.htm
Supposedly, Evel Knieval is Getting Renamed as Well


If I were to Guess, I'd Rename it "Kodiak"



I Kinda wonder if Terminator is Gonna Get Renamed soon

[monsterfan99]

Sad to see my favorite coaster Evel Knevel re-themed. I'm intrested to see if the motorcycle theme stays. Easy Rider would be a great name for the ride.

[FParker185]

I'm wondering if everything but DC comics and maybe Looney Toons is on it's way out. With a few Scooby Doo dark rides around the chain that could be a big deal.

[Coaster Justin]

I think they could easily re-theme the Scooby Doo Dark Rides to a Wile E. Coyote/ Roadrunner Theme.

[monsterfan99]

^Not sure if easy is the word I would use. The St. Louis one would need a 100% refurb of all scenes (minus the last one,) the entire building and all audio to switch to a WB cartoon one. About their only choice is to make it some type of ghost shooting ride unless they want to spend a few million.

[FParker185]

If by easily you mean bulldoze the entire ride except for the track.trough and start from scratch, then yes they could easily be re themed.

[Coaster Justin]

^


Really?! They did that in 1992 to go from Spee Luker's to Yosemite Sam at SFOT?

You learn Something new Everyday.

[FParker185]

no idea what SFOT did, but I don't see a single scene in any Scooby Doo Dark ride that would relate at all in any form what so ever to anything Wile E Coyote related, regardless how vivid anyone's imagination is.

If I had to take a guess they would remove anything showing scooby doo or related characters in the cheapest way possible and simply rename it Scary Swamp in the case of SFStL, I only vaguely remember SFFT's version but it's probably be the same treatment.

[acquaz10]

Scooby Doo is Warner Bros. Anything Warner Bros is staying, since WB and DC are tied together, and WB and Looney Tunes are tied together...