Our basic concern: Why would anyone try to mate an old-school lumber thriller, whose core technologies have remained unchanged for several generations, with a tale about killer robots from the future? Seems like a conceptually dubious way to go. (And I won’t even address the fact that another park very close by already has a pretty damned righteous Terminator-themed attraction.)

I must admit, my first reaction was real disappointment. But as time has passed, I’ve been feeling less angst over the whole issue. Honestly, for most roller coasters (big-budget Disney rides aside), are names and themes really that important? Six Flags New England’s Superman Ride of Steel just won – again – the steel coaster blue ribbon in Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Awards and I don’t think the results would have been any different even if it had been dubbed the Hello Kitty Koaster.  And the GTA’s top woodie, Holiday World’s The Voyage? Sure, that’s a fairly clever moniker for a Thanksgiving-themed zone but it doesn’t really make the blood race. The ride itself clearly does, though, and that’s all that matters.

Names do make implied promises, to be sure. For instance, if we walk up to a coaster called Titan, or Goliath, or Behemoth, it had better be pretty big. And if a coaster is called “The Terminator,” it should be diabolical. Which it no doubt will be, given the astounding talent pool at Great Coasters International, the designers of the attraction.

And I must admit, the park designer-wannabe inside me couldn’t help but think of the possibilities. How about they paint the whole coaster - structure, roadbed, every visible surface - completely black, as if it had been charred from top to bottom in the Judgment Day conflagration? And then maybe add glowing red lights to the trains, as if they were some kind of nasty caterpillar-bots, roving the wasteland for stray humans? And then maybe tunnel the entire lift hill and pipe in some of that sweet percussive Terminator theme?

So, maybe… We’ll see.

See also:
Amusement parks: Just the Ticket
Amusement Parks: X2 – Thrilling As Ever, Almost To A Fault