Paramount Parks: What could have been

Back in the 1990's and into the 2000's, Paramount had an interesting thing going on when they decided to get into the amusement park business.  Unlike Disney or Universal Studios, Paramount didn't build parks from scratch.  Instead, they chose 5 parks, most of which were owned by Kings Entertainment Company at the time, and built off of traditional amusement parks while adding their own brands and theming.  Some of it worked, a lot of it didn't, and overall, it wasn't going well in the long run, a blog for another time.  All 5 parks, Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Canada's Wonderland, Carowinds, and California's Great America, are now under the Cedar Fair banner.

However, they have announced plans for a park, built from scratch, in Spain.  With any movie making company, along with other things that Viacom owns like CBS, Nickelodeon, Dreamworks, and VH1, what could they do if they went all out for a park on par with Universal and Disney?  I'd like to speculate on that for this blog.

Paramount Pictures spans nearly 100 years of fantastic film making.  Tons of blockbusters and classic movies have come from their studios.  There is also Dreamworks and Nickelodeon which can appease the younger generations, and VH1 and a music theme in general opens up a lot in making shows and even music themed attractions.

Let's start with thrill rides first.  Most of Paramount's big action movie hits were in the 80's and 90's.  For coasters, a Top Gun inverted or flying coaster immediately springs to mind.  They worked well for 4 of the Paramount Parks. Carowinds' version was probably the best of the 4, using the inverted coaster at its best with many different maneuvers and really capturing the feeling of being strapped to a F-14 Tomcat.

Days of Thunder would be a great set up for a racing coaster, likely with a launch.  Mauer Sohne built launched racing coaster for Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, which I could definitely see switching out the Ferrari chassis for some NASCAR style cars.   Three Paramount Parks did something with the Italian Job, which could work in the same vein.

Obviously, you couldn't have a proper Paramount Park without one of its biggest franchises, Star Trek.  You can do a TON of space themed rides.  For something as grand as the Star Trek universe, I would think some kind of ride simulator coupled with some great visual aids like projection screens, some 3-D effects, possibly some animatronics would be great, something along the lines of Island of Adventures' Amazing Spiderman would suffice.  I could see a launch coaster, something similar to the Flight of Fear twins at Kings Island and Dominion with some intense maneuvers, multiple launches and theming to match.  Another big franshise is Mission: Impossible.  That would definitely be awesome coupled with a ride simulator type ride.  For some reason, I've also thought of a 4D coaster working with a Mission: Impossible theme, especially when I think of the ceiling scene in M:I 1 and the drop through the vent shaft in M:I 2.  The Beverly Hills Cop movies would be ideal for more of a show based attraction.

I think despite Paramount cutting corners on the ride's systems, Tomb Raider: The Ride at Kings Island was their best themed ride.  Aside from bad brakes, it did a lot of things right, a ride program to show off how big it was, a nice soundtrack to keep things exciting, and some great visual work.  If Paramount went all out for something like that, it'd be something spectacular.  Along the same lines, Indiana Jones could offer some cool things.  A Vekoma mine coaster immediately springs to mind, much like Adventure Express at Kings Island drew inspiration from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom's mine cart scene.  I could see more of an interactive ride in that regard as well with some.  The technology used on some of the newer Disney tracked rides like Radiator Springs Racers at Disney's California Adventure would be perfect.   I could see some really creative stuff from an Addam's Family attraction, too.

I have a few ideas on movie themed water rides.  Crocodile Dundee and Hunt for Red October come to mind for both.  You could have a longer flume ride, like the Jurassic Park ride at Islands of Adventure.  Have a nice long run with some action scenes and places where water comes up out of cannons, and of course, have a nice good build up for a nice big drop and splash at the end.

Some show ideas come from some of Paramount's music based music along with VH1 themes.  A VH1 show would be easy to pull off.  Some of the movies that come to mind are Wayne's World, Footloose, Grease, Ferris Beuller, and School of Rock.

Paramount does have some genuinely good movies, things like Forrest Gump, Titanic, Godfather, and a bunch of classics.  I could see something of a showcase of thing in relation to these movies, possibly walk through attractions and possibly some restaurants.  Some of the music themes of Paramount movies would do well being played throughout the park.

I realize I'm missing a lot, but I think a lot of these ideas are pretty plausible and who knows, we could very well see some of these things when the actual Paramount park in Spain opens.  If you have any ideas, feel free to post them in the comments.

While I'm at it, I'd like to mention how this blog will be scheduled.  I will have new blogs out every Friday, only deviating to cover news going on, like incidents, park announcements, and other such things.