If I were at an Amusement Park with a 100 foot tall, 2700 foot long Inverted Coaster, a 2800 foot long Flying Coaster, and a “Hyper-Coaster,” all made by B&M, where would I be? Actually, the question is: Where could I be?

Well, I could be at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, which meets the criteria with their Inverted coaster Batman: The Ride, Flying coaster Superman:Ultimate Flight, and B&M Hyper, Nitro.

I could also be at Six Flags Over Georgia, with, once again, Batman: The Ride, Superman:Ultimate Flight, and their B&M Hyper, Goliath.

But, wait! There’s more! I could be at a third location as well! Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois boasts their Flying and Inverted coasters, you guessed it, Batman: The Ride and Superman:Ultimate Flight, along with a B&M Hyper, Raging Bull.

The sad thing is, it’s all too common for big amusement park chains (namely Cedar Fair and Six Flags Incorporated) to “clone,” or reproduce rides from a park in their chain and utilize them in their other parks. It saves them money because the design is already available and the theming is also often duplicated, so nothing new, other than the identical track, needs to be rendered.

The downside to this strategy is park experience and atmosphere. Most of the parks in the “big chains” were originally individually owned and operated, with the exception of Six Flag’s first three parks, Six Flags over Texas, Six Flags over Georgia, and Six Flags St. Louis. Before then, each park had its own unique blend of rides, theming, and coasters. Eventually, when these parks were bought out by the “big chains,” unique rides and coasters were replaced with rides and coasters that would be uniform throughout the entire chain. For example, Cedar Fair has introduced a “Planet Snoopy” children’s area in six of their 12 theme parks since 2008, with 3 more on the way for 2011. And of Six Flags’ 13 amusement park properties, 8 of them contain the B&M “Batman: The Ride” model, of which, 6 are named Batman: The Ride.

Big chains are even making the names of their rides uniform. In the Cedar Fair chain, there are three Backlot Stunt Coasters, three Corkscrews, three Flight Decks, four Vortexes, and four Woodstock(s) Expresses. Six Flags, on top of their 6 Batman: The Rides and 3 Superman: Ultimate Flights, also boast 3 Mind Erasers, 5 Boomerang: Coast to Coasters, 4 Goliaths, 4 Big Spins, 3 Dark Knights, and 3 Ninjas. There was also once a point where Viper was the name of 6 different roller coasters at Six Flags-owned properties.

This is bad news for the rich and diverse history of amusement parks, which used to be unique, one-of-a-kind attractions. Big companies take control of these “mom-and-pop” amusement parks and, in no awareness of the general atmosphere or history behind the park, plop down standardized rides themed to super heroes and cartoon characters. This fast-food policy is being implemented in more and more parks, with once-considered unique attractions being duplicated and doled out to the rest in “the chain.” Hopefully the management of these big chains soon realize what they are doing to the industry: destroying originality and promoting the easy way out.