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Thorpe Park |"The Swarm"| B&M Wing Coaster

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I guess a lot of people feel this is one step too far. I think that's partly down to the realism of it.

From the horse's mouth...

"We have been planning for The Swarm for almost two years now, and we've pushed the boundaries to the absolute limit because 'extreme' is what our thrill-seeking customers demand," he said
"The ride-testing phase is absolutely crucial in ensuring extreme fun doesn't compromise safety, and we work with the very best teams in the world to ensure we reach the gold standard in safety.
"So if that means re-modelling a church it's taken us a year to build, then so be it.
"To lift the lid on what goes on behind the scenes of building a monster rollercoaster such as The Swarm is quite unprecedented, but we want people to understand the level of planning, precision and care that goes into creating their ultimate thrill-seeking experience."
Click to expand...

They are saying a lot of things which make sense/are true, it's just that the binding fact is false.

I just think it's so amazing that they are really pushing this whole near miss thing. It takes it right back to the way Oblivion and Air really emphasise their traits. It's fantastic, and Tussauds/Merlin are the only company who really seem to be consciously making an effort to make guests see roller coasters as brands. When you look at other big chains who have a wide assortment of rides, no such effort is made beyond bright colours to set them apart and vaguely relevant names.

I often think I give their marketing teams too much credit... Such as with the Alton Greats competition (which also was very much about pointing out the differences between the coasters), the way it looked like it was aimed at enthusiasts, the obvious inevitability of Nemesis winning... And then Sub-Terra. But sometimes I think, actually... Someone is really being rather clever.
 
UC - There's no give in this campaign though. Thirteen may give psychological trauma? It might, Maxi-Minor_Furie doesn't like it...

If PR plays with "mights", "maybes" and "it coulds" then that's fair enough, it's all part of the game. However, to actually get a newspaper to publish an article based on absolute, outright lies? I can't prove if 13 could cause psychological trauma or not, nobody could because it's subjective. Oblivion's queue suggests you can die, that's fine because it's within the context of the ride "theme". I don't believe that the seven dwarfs and Snow White exist, so when I go on the ride at Disney, I'm not fooled by the theme. In context it's different, plus, The daily Mail didn't pay somebody to write an article saying "you will die on Oblivion".

It's just overstepped a mark somewhere. It can be proven that the ride was built with the correct clearance in place, that the dummies are props for a publicity stunt and that this is not a standard way for the industry to check coaster safety.

It's a complete and utter lie that can pre proven to be untrue. If you spread it through social media and on your own site, then fine (people subscribe and absorb it in there own time and based on their own interest). However, it takes a lot to actually lie completely to the public, through a public channel (remember the paper is presenting a story it thinks is in the public interest and has paid somebody to do that work for them, and the public have purchased that paper expecting to be told the truth). People are paying for lies. Not grey areas, not ghosts and mystics, not themes "in the moment" but a pure lie for the benefit of Thorpe.

It shows no respect for the reporter, no respect for the newspaper brand and no respect for the readers of the paper. It's deliberately making a fool out of those people for the sake of publicity.
 
Plus... as great as the stunt is (in terms of doing its job), I'm still right. Robosaurus proves the point:
robosaurus_wideweb__430x279.jpg


:p
 
But, they're still not lying... Morally it's probably more wrong, but I don't care about morals, I care about people telling the truth :lol:
 
I think it's lying. That doctor wont be a real doctor.

It is against the law in the UK for a doctor to back a product or be in any advertising campaign giving their medical opinion.

Unlike in the US, where it makes up 90% of TV advertising.
 
furie said:
If PR plays with "mights", "maybes" and "it coulds" then that's fair enough, it's all part of the game. However, to actually get a newspaper to publish an article based on absolute, outright lies? I can't prove if 13 could cause psychological trauma or not, nobody could because it's subjective. Oblivion's queue suggests you can die, that's fine because it's within the context of the ride "theme". I don't believe that the seven dwarfs and Snow White exist, so when I go on the ride at Disney, I'm not fooled by the theme. In context it's different, plus, The daily Mail didn't pay somebody to write an article saying "you will die on Oblivion".

It's just overstepped a mark somewhere. It can be proven that the ride was built with the correct clearance in place, that the dummies are props for a publicity stunt and that this is not a standard way for the industry to check coaster safety.

It's a complete and utter lie that can pre proven to be untrue. If you spread it through social media and on your own site, then fine (people subscribe and absorb it in there own time and based on their own interest). However, it takes a lot to actually lie completely to the public, through a public channel (remember the paper is presenting a story it thinks is in the public interest and has paid somebody to do that work for them, and the public have purchased that paper expecting to be told the truth). People are paying for lies. Not grey areas, not ghosts and mystics, not themes "in the moment" but a pure lie for the benefit of Thorpe.

It shows no respect for the reporter, no respect for the newspaper brand and no respect for the readers of the paper. It's deliberately making a fool out of those people for the sake of publicity.
Click to expand...

I don't even have to say it now...

It's like how Baco has the "test dummies" strewn around the area, suggesting they were thrown off. That's fine, they're setting up a concept, they're not out-right lying in the national press.

That's the point here. I'll bold it.

Thorpe Park are lying in the national press

That is NEVER a good thing. Parks always push the "truth", but, out-right lying is wrong.
 
I think the "drastic measures for re - designing the WHOLE church" is a small exaggeration, all they really need to do is is remove part of a wall, isn't it?

Anyway, its a destroyed church, nobody is going to notice if they destroy it a little more....
 
UK park news posted this, and they took the pictures. Could this confirm THE SWARM having fireball effects, as it was rumoured that tidle waves' would be fixed with the swarms having its own installed. Hopefully they are fixing tidal wave's fireball effect, but there wouldn't be any other reason to put scaffolding around that ball thing.

swarm41.jpg


The link to their page: http://www.ukparknews.co.uk/entry/cms/?p=7817

tidalwave_002_216.jpg


Hopefully be seeing this again.
 
I kind of guessed that The Swarm might get a fire effect. I noticed that the helicopter really isn't doing much, so maybe it has to do with that.

Also, I used the "dummies limbs cut off in test run" news story for a creative writing assignment.
 
Round the helicoper will hopefully be a water splash effect, theres also one after the wing over. I doubt theyd have fire AND water at the same time. My guessing is the fire will come from the plane wing (if the concept art is to be beleived. Possibly firing before or after the train passes, similar to Volcano's.
 
^ That's where I would have thought it would be. I'd have thought it's possibly as the train goes under the wing, it would fire away from the train as though the "Animal" has burst through the plane?
 
I have never understood why Tidal Wave has a flame effect. But I hope they do it on Swarm though.
As for the news story, I am totally against them making up news stories. However, I am all for them posting stories like this on their Facebook or Twitter. I think the idea actually works really well, like with Oblivion. One of the main marketing ploys is "You will die and never be seen again", and it is the same with Swarm.
 
dominoes said:
One of the main marketing ploys is "You will die and never be seen again", and it is the same with Swarm.
Click to expand...

Well... not really.

That sort of campaign would only work for an attraction which is very similar to Oblivion. For a start, Oblivion is the state of being forgotten, so yes it works for Oblivion, but not Swarm. Thorpe have focused on, so far, near misses, exposure and inversions. That's completely different to the way Oblivion was advertised.
 
Indeed. Swarm has a very clear, apocalyptic, we're all gonna die type theme to it. Which is definitely indicated in Oblivion too, especially in the queue line videos.

Updates on the Facebook developers diary seem to have really eased off. I was hoping to see more photos already...
 
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