Worst Park Theming Overall!

[Mr. Corn]

I've been to some parks with some pretty bad theming! What do you think is the worst theming attempt at a park that actually tried! My vote, Cyclone Bay at Magic Mountain, you can tell they tried in the beginningm, but then they just slapped stuff everywhere. Whats your vote?

Edited November 19, 2016 by Mr. Corn

[ytterbiumanalyst]

My vote goes to this thread, which I found by using the search function:

 

http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1415104#p1415104

[Mr. Corn]

My vote goes to this thread, which I found by using the search function:

 

http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1415104#p1415104

 

My bad, this thread didn't show up in the search thing when I entered it, hm. Thank you for showing me this

[Nrthwnd]

^ Not to cause any argument, but I did a Search too, and actually found that thread, too.

 

But you (Mr. Corn) appeared to be asking about the park surroundings itself, and not just the coasters or flat rides.

 

Unless that is what you did originally mean. Worst Coasters, etc.

 

Or maybe the thread title should be adjusted, saying "Worst Theme Park Theming"...?

Not the worst. But it wasn't particularly themed much, either. Seibu Yuenchi in Japan. TPR 2011 Tour.

[Mr. Corn]

^ Not to cause any argument, but I did a Search too, and actually found that thread, too.

 

But you (Mr. Corn) appeared to be asking about the park surroundings itself, and not just the coasters or flat rides.

 

Unless that is what you did originally mean. Worst Coasters, etc.

 

Or maybe the thread title should be adjusted, saying "Worst Theme Park Theming"...?

 

Yes and I have changed the title to seperate it from the other thread. That does look like pretty bad theming, but in my opinion, Elitch Gardens or Michigan's Adventure have the worst modern park theming/asthetics

[SFOG1991]

This isn't really the worst theming but I hate how SFOT and SFOG gave up on their original six flag themed areas. The bones are there and it's so simple to highlight the themes with a few signs and small attempts here and there. At SFOG all the "flags" lie within the railroad and the new themes are beyond that. It's a great layout if they would care about it. I know the GP doesn't care but I still do anyways.

[Afterburner]

Kings Dominion's African section, where five of the six coasters are explicitly non-African.

[xstech25]

Great America and New England's Goliath's. Great America's has a roman column sign made to match the train, but the queue and station are leftover from Iron Wolf which isn't themed at all. And New England's they tried to go with the brown wooden look but left the ride green & blue, and it still has the station from SFMM which does not fit the "theme" they were going for at all.

 

Now that I think about it Six Flags in general, whenever they have tried in the past 10 years, it ends up looking crappy. They just don't spend enough money to make it look right. The sad thing is they actually did great work in the last few years of the Burke/Story era: Hurricane Harbor at Great America, Golden Kingdom and Plaza de Carnival at Great Adventure, Tatsu at MM (which was designed under Burke but opened under Shapiro), all are themed really great. One final run with the credit card before getting canned .

[Physical]

As much as it pains me to admit it, Dorney probably takes the cake for me.

 

What's the theme? Uhhh... concrete? coasters? some trees maybe? The most "themeing" we have is Coasters diner, which is a diner, supposedly themed to... coasters... with old 50's style cars out front... Seems legit.

[bill_s]

Kings Dominion's African section, where five of the six coasters are explicitly non-African.

 

yeah, but six coasters in a single area makes it the best single themed area in any park ever.

[Nrthwnd]

^ I don't mean to disagree with you - but - coasters themself, do not equal "theming" in my mind.

Everything around them, does. From the station to whatever is in and around the coaster itself.

 

My 5 cents' worth.

[TheCoasterKid211]

You kinda should've seen this coming

[Nrthwnd]

Here's another one in Japan. Up in Sapporo. Hokkaido Greenland Park.

 

It's a busy park, with a lot of stuff to enjoy. But from above on the wheel,

you can see they didn't go out of their way too much, when it came to theming.

But they did have go-karts going 1/2 way around a lake! And go-karts

going around and under one of the park's big steel coasters.

TPR 2013 Japan Tour.

Go-kart tracks, under the tracks. Now, is this theming?

[DoinItForTheFame]

Six. Flags. St. Louis.

[FeelTheFORCE]

I think there's a difference between a park trying to theme something but failing or doing so badly, and just not giving a crap at all. I don't know of anyone who goes to parks like SFMM or CP for the theming, nor do those parks claim to be well-themed. When I go to a park that's strictly thrill-based, I definitely have a much different mindset going in, than going to, say Disneyland.

[Nrthwnd]

^ I do too, at times. But then some places surprise me, like Nasu Highland Park in Japan.

 

We visited it as our last park on the 2011 TPR Japan Tour. And it was great, even as it had

a lot of flats, different levels to deal with, and coasters. And really very Japanese stuff too,

like fishing for real fish, a foot rest...uh 'pond.' And shooting bazookas at targets!

 

I always wanted to revisit it, as we missed out on the spinning coaster. It's the yellow

one in the photo below. It was down at the time.

If you're going to colour the pavement, and the coasters, do it right. Nasu Highland did it right.

[bill_s]

^ I don't mean to disagree with you - but - coasters themself, do not equal "theming" in my mind.

Everything around them, does. From the station to whatever is in and around the coaster itself.

 

My 5 cents' worth.

 

I didn't say it was a well-themed area, but then most of the "themes" in the park are barely themes at all, by this point it's themed as a theme park. I said it's great and certainly not something to complain about (not that pointing it out is necessarily complaining). At the same time, I wouldn't think Hangar 18 would be located right off the main drag, walking through a Safari Village to get there makes as much sense as anything could except a desert theme, and the Earnhardt'd area is even further out.

[coasterbill]

I wasn't sure if I should be counting parks that are ugly but never made an attempt at theming or if I should stick to parks that call themselves "theme parks" with "themed sections". I was about to post something asking this question but then I remembered that the answer would be the same either way. Six Flags America. The front of the park isn't all that bad, but Gotham City is so ugly that it still deserves the title of worst park theming overall just for that alone. At least in the United States.

[Myntiepwny]

As much as it pains me to admit it, Dorney probably takes the cake for me.

 

What's the theme? Uhhh... concrete? coasters? some trees maybe? The most "themeing" we have is Coasters diner, which is a diner, supposedly themed to... coasters... with old 50's style cars out front... Seems legit.

 

 

Dorney is very sadly themed to Cedar Point (the Coaster drive in is a good example). This is a shame, because their Halloween event proves that they can do theming really well!