Theme Park Worldwide

[Croftybaby]

I absolutely love Shawn's videos and am a massive fan of his channel! His Vlogs are quite unlike anyone else's on YouTube for a reason I can't quite put my finger on

I would hazard a guess and it's geniality. Look at all the main big Vloggers, they are mostly fakers, they are mostly trying too hard to flog you something be it website domains, affiliate links, tour tickets. Their whole "stories" are based around how they can plug something. Shawn doesn't do this. Another reason I think it works is because on the whole he doesn't have a clue what he's doing, he's just making videos, I have no doubt he try to market properly but most of the success just seems to be luck and that means it doesn't look like he's trying too hard on camera.
One of the most successful you tubers ATM is DanTDM and he takes pretty much the same approach. Good, honest content. He doesn't try and shock, doesn't swear, or throw adverts/plugs down your throat. He knows his audience and what they will like.

I love Vlogs but i've stopped watching so many as after a week or two you can clearly tell their intentions. You are no longer a member of the audience, you are a potential sale and once thats obvious they become pointless to watch. The genuine ones seem to keep my attention and thats exactly what YouTube are aiming for in the future.

 

[ChristmasPud]

Call me a party pooper but theme park vlogs seem one of the worst influences for theme parks fans I have ever known. Please read this post with a sense of humour because, like, I don't want to just come across as some "hater". I just genuinly I do not understand the lasting appeal at all.

To be clear, Shawn Sanbrooke can do whatever he wants, it's a free world. But it's totally beyond me why he is put on such a pedestal by thousands of people. He has been turned into a genuine celebrity by young fans, who will follow his every move, people get their t shirts and arms signed by Shawn at the gates to Alton Towers, etc.

Parks are about about getting out of your house, enjoying a day out with friends or family, not knowing what to expect and having a laugh. The whole YouTube empire captures absolutely none of this to me.

TPW and the many copy cats come across as some of the cringiest, most obnoxious troupes I have ever seen. I'll give Shawn the benefit of the doubt, that he isn't really like that in real life (I've never met him and am not judging him personally), but his 'internet persona' let's say.

The sad thing about this is how impressionable young people look up to Shawn and emulate him, because he happens to be the face of theme parks online. Young theme park fans with a growing passion go straight to youtube, get their interest drowned in all this rubbish, and come out the other end quoting dumb statistics and catchphrases, like some bizarre cult, rather than just enjoying the parks as your everyday punter.

I even know total non-fans who know Shawn, if I mention a theme park in conversation. Lol!

He has kickstarted a flurry of copy cats of all ages, most who seem purely in it for the attention & money. All you need to do is visit theme parks every other week (surely this would kill your interest but whatever) and film your face all day long. Easy!

When I worked at parks, it's now a very common sight to see young teenagers and sad grown men holding GoPros and filming every ride, filming their faces walking down paths and quoting stuff they've read off Wikipedia, rather than enjoying the day out for what it is. This is quite tragic really. The amount of whiny complaining from these people too is astonishing – that's one thing Shawn avoids at least.

Parks themselves tend to reward these ego-driven people (it has to be said), because their sheer amount of subscribers is a serious PR opportunity. At the same time, I know first hand how some managements think of Shawn Sanbrooke when they think of theme park fans on the whole – and it changes their attitude towards fans for the worse. Well who can blame them if they think that's what fans are like. If that's the case, it makes me embarassed to be one.

_____

The absolute worst offender is the Bubbleworks closing down video, one of the cringiest videos ever made. I have only ever skipped through with an open mind, and it was far worse than I could have imagined. As far as Chessington were concerned, the video came to represent all fans of the ride ride. A hilariously dumb ending to what was once a really fab, appealing ride for the whole public (a long time ago).

Shawn doesn't do this. Another reason I think it works is because on the whole he doesn't have a clue what he's doing, he's just making videos, I have no doubt he try to market properly but most of the success just seems to be luck and that means it doesn't look like he's trying too hard on camera.

Yeah I guess this is the appeal, but... why such influence on people? If the videos were 15 minutes long and the channel a couple hundred subscribers then fair enough. But last I looked the vlogs are, what, over an hour? People watching such rubbish all the way through every week are seriously wasting their lives. Ha ha!

 

[Croftybaby]

Funnily enough I think that Chessington Vlog was the first one I watched and yes it was cringeworthy. So Cringeworthy in fact that I turned it off, I tried another and soon I was watching a few more and you get hooked. It's the same as any other TV show really, why would you waste an hour of your life watching Blue Planet?
True there are loads of copy cats but the vast majority wont make it and give up, like I said in my previous posts, you have to be genuine for this to work. Much like any good TV show, you have to take inspiration from success stories and add your own twist. Copying will not work.
As for the face of theme parks I think it's really no different to Andy Swine and the RCCGB, except now all the info is in video form now instead of magazine, it's just the way things are moving on.

Vlogs are incredibly important in todays entertainment market, it's where the advertisers want to be. Nearly every job in marketing/corporate film is asking for vlogging experience. It's not just a theme park thing.

 

[Plastic Person]

As I said, this content sails right over my head, and ultimately isn't for me, which is fine. But I too am totally baffled by these hour long video captures of, for example, a February weekend visit to PBB, repeated each week? Yes, the Grand National was a bit rougher than usual last week, and remains much the same seven days later! Who'd have thought it?

Then again, I find construction videos annoying, having happily enjoyed photo galleries for years and years.

In regards to Shawn, I agree, his geniality is key, and the sense that his interest in parks is borne out of pure enthusiasm. I also like how endearingly naff he is. Enthusiasts are not typically hip or even hugely self-aware people, and neither is Shawn. But he is knowledgeable and sincere.

 

[Matt.GC]

My son met Shawn last year and we took a photo with him. He loved it. Kids these days love "YouTubers" and Vlogs and stuff and my kids watch various Vlogs from practical jokes, toys, gaming to theme parks. It's something I don't understand personally because a YouTube was something you connected to the waste pipe of a hand basin when I where a lad, but all the kids at school are in to it and kids magazines even have pages in them where colour in your favourite "YouTuber"!

So I suppose we have to bear in mind that TPWW videos aren't REALLY aimed at the likes of most of us. Very cool and appealing to youngsters though.

 

[Matt N]

I also like how endearingly naff he is.

Um... what do you mean, out of interest? Do you mean that Shawn's videos are so bad that they're good?

 

[Plastic Person]

Um... what do you mean, out of interest? Do you mean that Shawn's videos are so bad that they're good?

This is a wider cultural observation, and perhaps it's unfair to apply it to one theme park blogger, but most presenters outside of children's television tend to 'play it cool', so to speak. I'd argue that media and culture is now more invested in enthusiasm and sincerity like Shawn's, but what I broadly mean is, he's not ironic or sarcastic, and pretty much every update is delivered with equal, rigorous enthusiasm. He's just a nice, positive bloke, and an 'everyman' compared to some of the enthusiasts I've met over the years, who are lacking in social skills or seem to feel like theme parks are something to be protected from the dreaded 'GP'. Of course, this is just from watching his blogs and having been loosely aware of the lad for a decade. He might be a problematic beast for all I know!

 

[TPC]

TPW works because I'd say out of all the theme park vlogging channels, it does go to major parks around the world, rather rather than just a local park. Thus, it does offer something different because being honest, there are very few English vloggers at parks like Gardaland, Asian Disney parks and kolmarden.

 

[Matt N]

He's just a nice, positive bloke, and an 'everyman' compared to some of the enthusiasts I've met over the years, who are lacking in social skills or seem to feel like theme parks are something to be protected from the dreaded 'GP'.

In my opinion, the GP are much more knowledgeable than enthusiasts often give them credit for! They do know a quality ride when they see one!

 

[TPC]

Just saying Shawn is more enthusiastic about theme parks than being knowledgeable about them.

 

[JB1985]

Shawn is an Irish spelling, the meaning being "Gift from God".
As it is snowing, I will play snowflake here.
Hey JB1985, I hope you are not exhibiting anti Irish prejudice here, I am mortally offended, both for Shawn and the whole island of Ireland.
Will that do?

Nope just find him rather irritating to say the least. I myself have Irish heritage as have many of us in these Isles. In short it was just a dig

Is he actually Irish?

 

[ChristmasPud]

Vlogs are incredibly important in todays entertainment market

Yeah, and most entertainment industry is objectively going down the pan and the once astonishing supply of talent in the UK is drying up, the motivation to be creative /original is drying up. Not just my opinion and there's still great stuff out there, but it's incredibly difficult to do any better than just the standard formula now.

While with vlogging, you can be utterly talentless and not care for anything other than yourself, pose around a theme park (or wherever), slap a clickbaity title on it and you are guaranteed to get attention.

And because the watchers are so young and impressionable, they dont make a choice, they just watch whoever is biggest. Or whoever gets an "exclusive" picture or email from John Wardley, etc. You can easily get big influence, free tickets, sell merchandise to teenagers and at no point are you motivated to be creative or original.

There are all sorts of pointless debates and arguments within this weird subset of theme park fandom, "controversies" about people like Shawn, big egos, tit for tat stuff. It seems to be an esoteric internet world of sad nonsense, which shows how easily people forget the simple fun they got into theme parks for in the first place.

I certainly did, when I was 13, but it was a smaller YouTube scene at the time. All sorts of nonsense went on, and I was totally taken in by it. I became an insufferable geek, couldnt see the woods for the trees. It took a trip with friends (or "the GP" as they'd say ), who couldnt care less about the stats and the catchphrases – but who still enjoyed the park more than me – to realise what a load of rubbish I had been drowned in online. My enjoyment of parks, my imagination and my life totally improved after that, seriously!

Of course subscribers will just turn off after a few seconds, or just think its weird/funny. But if it's all you've ever known theme park fandom to be, then it is a big influence and inescapable for younger generations.

Now theme parks themselves are catering towards it to on the PR side, while park managements become put off by the stereotype of all fans being sad weirdos. So that's the only reason I care. Could eventually lead to a very trashy place for everyone.

 

[Croftybaby]

Having watched many of Shawns videos I fail to see really where you think we (Enthusiasts) might be classed as sad weirdos. if you compare his videos with the likes of those in the vaping community or the photography community he is far less geeky. And I've not seen any controversy on his channel either, nor click bait. As I said, it's his genuine approach that actually makes it a good channel. Sure there may be stuff happening off screen but it's never spilling into the content.

PR are bound to jump on Vloggers, they are the growing market for advertisers. Kids don't watch TV, especially not broadcast TV. Everything is on demand which pretty much bypasses the adverts.

While with Vlogging, you can be utterly talentless

I disagree with this, if you are talentless then you won't last, it takes quite a lot of effort to be successful and if you haven't got that talent then you will quickly drop off the radar. Shawn does actually have some good skills, mainly in presenting, comedy to some extent and of course basic storytelling. Also how are we defining "'Talent" anyway Years ago I wouldn't class gamers as talented, now this year the F1 Racing gamers will be competing side by side with F1 racers in their own professional championship. Is a gamer as talented as Lewis Hamilton? In years to come they may well be equal.

It's a mad changing landscape and it's quite enjoyable to study really I think.

 

[ChristmasPud]

I fail to see really where you think we (Enthusiasts) might be classed as sad weirdos

I think you mistook what I meant, I said that in the context of how others view enthusiasts, based on these videos being so incredibly popular. You don't have to go around parks shouting things out and filming every moment to really enjoy theme parks. Also, though it's part of the appeal for some, you can't deny some of these theme park channels are the definition of cringey!

Also I meant about the scene on the whole, the counter reactions and 'controversies' at TPWW are just as unnecessary and attention seeking. I'm not picking sides, just saying its all one argumentative, esoteric world that has nothing really to do with theme parks.

Parks should really be about getting out the house and enjoying yourself in a fun & thrilling place, at the heart of it. Thousands of people binging hour-long videos of vloggers roaming parks in gangs and showing off freakishly huge merch collections (even if they themselves are just being naive) surely only deadens the imagination and their passion for parks.

if you are talentless then you won't last, it takes quite a lot of effort to be successful and if you haven't got that talent then you will quickly drop off the radar

I think, if anything, YouTube and the way it's developing has proven that mediocrity and unoriginality rule the roost.

I run some big-ish YT channels to do with music & film stuffs and am very lucky not to be caught out by the changes, they are seriously squeezing anyone who doesn't play the 'be as generic as possible' game.

Anyway, I've had my ramble. I'm all for people having a laugh and am not trying to personally attack individuals, but I think this whole YT vlog scene is embarassing. In reality, theme park fans would be at no loss if it disappeared tomorrow. Lol

 

[DiogoJ42]

It seems like a lot of "original content creators" are moving away from YT to other platforms these days. Or inserting their own paid sponsorship. Or at the very least, begging for patreon donations. Can't really blame them with the way Google is screwing them over.

.... On the flip side, the latest rules about "must have x subscribers and y views if you want money" should hopefully weed out some of the dreck that gets posted.

I know someone who decided she wanted in on the YT pot of gold, and spend about four hours setting up a channel, only to post a total of TWO crappy 30 second clips of her cat... in vertical video of course.... with shameful clickbaity titles. Two days later they brought in the latest rules and she gets nothing! Karma.

There are still plenty of inteligent, informative people on YT, they just get burried under all the vlogs.

.... But anyway, let's not get too off topic. I have no ill will towards Shawn. Don't know him other than the occasional hello, but he's not harming anyone. Let him have his fun.

As for the idol worship some younglings bestow on vloggers, well I guess that'll never make sense to me. Maybe it's an age thing? Or maybe it's down to the industry I work in, where in 17 years I could count the number of times I've actually had an "OMG it's so-and-so!" moment on half a hand.

 

[ChristmasPud]

This is off topic from TPWW, yeah, but you can see how it influences the bigger picture on what becomes hugely successful on YouTube, and why "things are changing" to favour bingeable to watch, cheap to produce output like vlogging, rather than anything with more time and effort put into it. I think this is fair to say?

On the flip side, the latest rules about "must have x subscribers and y views if you want money" should hopefully weed out some of the dreck that gets posted.

I think it does the opposite. To get to big numbers in order to start earning, you have to either – spend money to create very original, special content – or just be a forumulaic as possible to attract viewers quickly, on the cheap.

But the first option requires spending actual money, long before you will receive anything back. Even then its a pathetic drip feed of revenue, which will never cover that cost, even if you're relatively popular. Only the huge channels, I imagine like TPWW, get a reliable income. So you really are discouraged to go with the first option and do something original of time & effort.

However YouTube will then decide that you can't push the envelope, which it calls "not advertiser friendly", crazy computer assessments evaluate your videos and scrap your revenue if it doesnt tick the right boxes, even if its popular with viewers. No satire, no surreal humour, no swear words, nothing that an advertiser might not want to advertise their new brand of Coca Cola next to. Even family friendly videos with joke titles, such as "How to read sheet music" (a perfectly genial satire on sheet music), were forced to change in order to avoid the new assessments.

The more generic and sanitised your output is, the better, because then it gets higher up the ad promo chain. Its entirely led by YouTube's own advertisers now, not entertainments or people-led. YouTube will favour where it gets the most ad income, then people see what is put in front of them the most.

The new rules encourage creators to dumb down, unless you're willing to splash money and hope for the best. Then once youve passed the subs, if you then don't keep producing the same (cost & time consuming) content of course, then you lose the weekly hours-viewed threshold again.

 

[Tim]

This is a problem with YouTube, not necessarily a problem with Vloging.

So long as YouTube keep altering their algorithms they’ll eventually settle on something that cuts out the people who have been giving them so much bad press. Maybe then we’ll see creatives make a come back (although I don’t foresee YouTube going back to being “a gold mine” like it once was). If YouTube fails to sort out the problem then creative people will find a new home.

 

[DiogoJ42]

I'm a fan of "Lindybeige" and a couple of other "history of warfare" type people. Apparently not long ago, one of their friends - admittedly not someone I follow personally - was banned because in the eyes of google, debating how hoplite armies might have deployed "greek fire" grenades 2,500 years ago counts as "promoting terrorism"!!! :O

 

[IanSR]

YouTube is weird, I have two accounts, one dormant that had legit content on, this was booted out in their cull last week (not that it earns me anything mind), and another, which is filled with copyrighted content of about a dozen videos, one has a silly amount of views and gained me a few thousand subscribers, the others probably have 59 views combined, yet this was left in the paid whatever program it is they have (again it doesn't earn me anything because I didn't switch on the advertising on the big hit video).

YouTube is having a typical overreaction to the vocal minority getting offended on someone else's behalf because someone didn't like some idiot tazering a dead bat, or whatever it was he did, once they stop seeing angry tweets (how ironic) they'll quietly relax the standards again.

 

[AstroDan]

The problem with Vlogging is that it can become more about personalities than the content itself. As soon as people perceive some sort of 'fame' it can become a problem. I believe Shawn is a decent, well minded individual. In fact, I really like him. But the whole 'personalities' thing has clearly got in the way with some of the other so-called 'stars' of the channel.