What Other Parks Are Doing

Southern California is not the only place where Native American-themed attractions are found, according to Tim O’Brien, an editor at the trade magazine Amusement Business.

Six Flags Over Mid-America, in Eureka, Mo., features an Indian village area that focuses on early interactions between Native Americans and French colonial explorers, O’Brien said.

The Missouri attraction has been open since the late 1970s. A Mesoamerican-themed roller coaster called the Mayan Mindbender opened last year at Six Flags AstroWorld in Houston, O’Brien said by phone from Nashville, Tenn. But he added that the Native American theme is not sweeping the nation. “There’s no trend.”

The Mayan Mindbender and Knott’s Jaguar represent “a short hit for the Incas and the Mayans, but that’s about it.”

Instead, O’Brien said, the real trend sweeping theme parks is tie-ins with major motion pictures. He pointed to the “Batman” ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain, and to “Wayne’s World”-themed areas at Paramount’s Carowinds in Charlotte, N.C., and Kings Dominion in Richmond, Va.

Jim Benedict, a Tustin-based theme-park consultant, agrees.

Thanks to the “Pocahontas” movie, Benedict said, “there might be more Indian-themed merchandise popping up, but that’s not the same” as an industry trend.