mmcirvin | "The Roller Coaster" (Reply)

What determines whether or not a roller coaster's name is used with the article "The" before it? e.g. "The Thunderbolt" vs. "Batman".

It seems to me that old wooden rides with generic names like "Cyclone" or "Wildcat" or "Comet" are more likely to get the "The" treatment than modern steel coasters. "The Wildcat" sounds natural, but saying "The Shambhala" or "The Superman" would mark you as, at the very least, not an enthusiast of roller coasters. (But the current full name of the one at Six Flags New England is "Superman: The Ride.") I was thinking about this when looking back at my early LiveJournal posts about roller coasters--I repeatedly referred to Busch Gardens Williamsburg's infamous defunct coaster, Drachen Fire, as "The Drachen Fire" and this now makes me cringe.

On the other hand, "The Loch Ness Monster" sounds OK probably because that's how people commonly refer to the supposed monster--it would be reasonable to think of that article as part of its name.

Batman himself is often referred to in comics and movies as "The Batman" for an ominous/retro effect, but we don't call coasters named after Batman "The Batman", or if we did, it would probably be a specific affectation in that particular coaster's name, perhaps referring to the movie "The Batman". And then people probably wouldn't say "The The Batman" except to be annoying.