Why doesn't Six Flags use the same name(type) for coasters across it's parks?

[KingdaKaTard]

For example, Superman at my home park is a flying type coaster..whereas if you go to New England, Superman is a normal sit-down type coaster. Same thing with Wonder Woman, at Great Adventure it's the pendulum swing type ride, whereas in other Six Flags parks it's something totally different.

 

[CanobieFan]

Viper, Viper, Viper!

 

[Hutch]

Because then all the Six Flags parks would be clones of each other. Think about it. Imagine all the Six Flags parks had there own Wonder Woman raptor, their own Superman flyer, their own Joker free spin, their own Batman invert. Ok that's already the case for some of their parks but if they all had the exact same lineup, than there'd be less incentive for us to travel and try out multiple Six Flags parks. "Why would I travel hours across the country to ride Batman and Joker when I've already done them at my home park?" You need to have variation among their parks' lineups.

 

[Hixee]

Because then all the Six Flags parks would be clones of each other. Think about it. Imagine all the Six Flags parks had there own Wonder Woman raptor, their own Superman flyer, their own Joker free spin, their own Batman invert. Ok that's already the case for some of their parks but if they all had the exact same lineup, than there'd be less incentive for us to travel and try out multiple Six Flags parks. "Why would I travel hours across the country to ride Batman and Joker when I've already done them at my home park?" You need to have variation among their parks' lineups.

Oh god, they'd be even more horrible than they already can be.

 

[Hutch]

Oh god, they'd be even more horrible than they already can be.

But we'd still go because, you know, creds.

 

[Pokemaniac]

Viper, Viper, Viper!

Or Goliath! Six Flags has owned seven of them, although not all at the same time, but still notable because they represent six different coaster types: A B&M Invert, a Vekoma GIB, an RMC Hybrid, an Intamin Hyper, a Giovanola Hyper, and two B&M Hypers.

Then again, there were six Vipers too, and one Vipère: One Schwarzkopf Looping Star, a Togo twister, an Arrow megalooper, a slightly smaller Arrow looper, a Schwarzkopf shuttle loop, a PTC woodie, and an Intamin ZacSpin.

Hm, looking at it like that, it appears that Goliath is the name Six Flags reserves for its great big rides, while Viper is reserved for the awful ones.

 

[Hyde]

It is a poignant question; how much does Six Flags want to emulate/copy across all of it's parks, versus rides that Six Flags hopes to make unique to each respective park. Especially when you compare it to other chain parks, which skate similar branding/theme-repeating across their respective parks.

Overall agree with @Hutch's sentiment - while majority of parks have an anchor city or metro-area that serves as their main draw; the more successful parks can exert a draw of crowds from far and wide. Having unique, compelling rides and roller coasters is what makes this possible. And yes, unfortunately people are pretty dumb when it comes to roller coasters and name recognition.

So while Six Flags does have a lot of naming consistency - historically naming 9 Supermans, 6 Goliaths, 6 Batmans, 6 Vipers (7 if you include La Vibora!), etc. (here's the whole list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Roller_coasters_operated_by_Six_Flags); we also see the most unique/desirable Six Flags coasters getting their own unique theming: Kingda Ka, El Toro, X2, Boss, Maxx Force, etc.