I recently took the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream tour in Vermont and one of my favorite parts of the whole tour was the flavor graveyard. It was a small plot of land with actual stone grave markers for flavors that had been discontinued. It had the flavor name, dates it was sold and a witty little saying. Some also had QR codes where you could get information on the former flavor. There was even an attendant working the area handing out black roses to lay by your favorite. Could this be something a theme park could do? Either permanent like Ben & Jerry’s or part of a Halloween festival like Fright Fest, Halloween Horror Nights, Howl-0-Scream or Great Pumpkin Luminights?

I’ve seen this at Fright Fest at Six Flags Over Georgia once during Fright Fest where they had a couple of wooden markers in a grass area off a pathway, but nothing as elaborate as Ben & Jerry’s. Some parks may be adverse to doing it as it could bring hard feelings about a favorite ride that was considered to be removed too soon. A park may want to keep the focus on the future instead of focusing on the past. However, so parks that have been around a while have a glorious history. Six Flags Over Georgia for example has The Viper, The Great Gasp, Wheelie, Skybuckets. Freefall, Splashwater Falls, Kid Flash and Z-Force. The park already pays homage to some of these such as the old Splashwater Falls pump motor that is a thematic prop for Georgia Gold Rusher. I was also recently at Six Flags Great Escape (now enchanted parks) and they had a beautiful display of a car from their old Alpine Bobsled that was replaced by Bobcat. Busch Gardens also had signs up during an anniversary scavenger hunt celebrating the Tanganyika Tidal Wave board ride which was removed to make room for Tigris.

I’d love to see a former attractions graveyard at a theme park either as part of a Halloween event or permanently. I think it’s great when a park embraces its history. If you’ve been going to a place for decades we all play the “remember when…” game anyway, so this is a way to embrace the past and celebrate the memories. I’m sure every retired flavor isn’t in the Ben & Jerry’s graveyard and every ride wouldn’t have to be either as there would be understandable reasons for excluding some. Stanley Falls will always be my son’s first “big” ride (before age 2!) and Scorpion will always be his first looping coaster. They may not exist anymore, but our memories of them will last a lifetime. Rides are mechanical and don’t last forever, so hopefully some of the rich history of these parks and former attractions can be celebrated and former attractions remembered for the joy they provided before giving way to something new.