The Florida theme park had fans online convinced that its new launch roller coaster would be called Cheetaka. The park's parent, SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, had applied for a trademark for that name, sparking the rumors. And Busch Gardens did little to diminish the speculation, with the name Cheetaka showing up in concept art and even the document title for the pre-announcement press release that the park e-mailed yesterday.
Many of us even joked about what we thought yet another poorly-kept theme park industry secret. I tweeted yesterday, in response to the e-mail, that this was the "Worst-kept secret since, well, the last attempt by a theme park to keep a name secret. :^)"
The joke's on us, instead. This morning, Busch Gardens announced that the name of the ride would be… Cheetah Hunt.
Was it all a ruse? A distraction to finally score a win over the theme park rumor detectives online? Or was Cheetaka a development name that the park jettisoned at the last moment?
No matter what the answer, something interesting happened along the way. Many Busch Gardens fans feel in love with the name "Cheetaka." (Which always reminded me of a really awful Kurt Thomas gymnastics movie, but I might be the only person alive who remembers that bomb.)
Some fans now have started an online petition to urge Busch Gardens to bring back the Cheetaka name. They're citing as inspiration the recent social media campaign that convinced clothing retailed The Gap to dump its proposed new logo in favor of keeping its existing one. And they've focused on the confusion over the Cheetah Hunt name, which led some people - including me - to think it references a hunt of cheetahs, rather than a hunt by cheetahs.
What do you think about the ride's name? Will you be signing the petition?
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I'm really excited since it doesn't look like any other Roller Coaster in Florida. Regardless of how it turns out...
Gymkata on the other hand... wasn't that during the time of the Karate and Ninja explosion in Hollywood?
That was the most accurate depiction of martial arts in the 19... I can't even continue that comment! Probably one of the best movies for unintentional humor! How convenient that a pommel horse magically appeared in the rock formation for Kurt Thomas to do his flairs, as well as a high bar in between buildings?
What about naming it "Cheetos" ? Kids will love it!
Cheetahs are carnivores. They are hunters. That's what they spend their life doing. This coaster is designed to put you the rider into the cheetah as it hunts it's prey - accelrating swiftly across the serangeti, hugging the ground, twisting and turning quickly from side to side. You'll be mimicing the Cheetah as it hunts its prey. In that respect 'Cheetah Hunt' is a perfect name for it because that's what it is - the hunt of the cheetah.
You can't have animals that hunt others and not use the word 'hunt'. Nature is cruel and brutal and whilst I accept that zoos or animal parks are not in the business of encouraging people to hunt animals they are in the business of educating pewople about animal behaviour and that includes facing the fact that animals are killers - even beautiful furry kitty-cat-like animals such as cheetahs.
And I suspect that the new habitat they are creating and teh pre-ride walk-through and theming will make it VERY clear just what's going on.
The only thing in favour of 'Cheetaka' is that it continues the kind of abstract naming of the other major coasters, (and continues the tradition of ending each name with a vowel), and it sounds kind of cool. But this is a very different kind of coaster and I think the name works really well. Even before you ride it tells you what sort of experience you are going to have....
Think of it this way. If you were to add THE before the ride's name (as so many patrons seem to do for some reason) it becomes something like this... "let's go on the Cheetah Hunt". Sounds bad in my opinion.
The name also reminds me of the classic Nintendo game, Duck Hunk-- where you the player HUNTS for ducks.
Terrible terrible name.
The first thing that pops in my head now that I think about it from that name is a Cheetah BEING hunted. Not a Cheetah hunting its prey. Cheetah Hunt sounds like "We will be going on a Cheetah Hunt" rather than "the Cheetah is hunting its prey".
While you are correct that a Cheetah is a hunter, it can also be hunted by humans. I think that's where the problem lies. They could have called it Hunt of the Cheetahs and that can still sound like "These guys are going on a Hunt of the Cheetahs".
Bobby, formally known as Bob & Robert!!!!!!!
My suspicion is that 99% of the ordinary public are going to have no problem whatsoever 'getting' the concept here and that the remaining 1% will pretty quickly be educated out of that by the theming and pre-show walk-through.
However internet forums are never about the 99% so I guess the protests will continue regardless.....
Ok, the coasters at Busch Gardens have exotic names and Cheetah Hunt doesn't follow the theme. End of that argument.
As far as Cheetahs being "hunters" we all know that and we probably all love nature shows with the one exception and that is when animals hunt and kill for food. It is something we all know happens, but we don't need to see it, want to see it, or have any images of it in our heads.
I love a good burger but I don't want to see a cow slaughtered, need to see a cow slaughtered, or have mental images of a cow being slaughtered.
While I am not going to protest in front of Busch Gardens I would probably sign a petition letting them know how I feel. At the end of the day if they keep the name Cheetah Hunt for the coaster, so be it. It's their park and I will still go and ride it until my eyes cross!
I value your opinion! I just don't share it. Cheers!
And now that I think about it, Leopards and Lions do hunt Cheetahs, both adults and cubs. So maybe someone can think that the Cheetah is being hunted? And the coaster mimics the chase?
But back to the use of words... it would be like Sea World naming a new ride "Orca Hunt" or "Killer Whale Hunt"... not exactly the best use of words, painting an image of an Orca being chased down.
I mean if you think about it, the only people who really read press releases are the fans, not the general public.
But even though Busch Gardens is known for its animal conservation work, it's still a business run by big wigs/ "suits" who may or may not even care about animals. They care about numbers and who knows, someone may have pushed for the name "Cheetah Hunt" because it was their idea and used their pull to get it. We don't know the politics involved behind the scenes if any at all.
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