I think @Benzin was referring to the the kind of photos that you will end up with whilst taking an aerial pic of the park whilst riding the Mono rail. Here is one that I took earlier
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- Imagine everyone on a ride wanting to film.
- Imagine the staff having to check each and every person to ensure what they are using is secure.
- Imagine the longer queues due to this.
- The imagine a device flying out of someones hand, hitting a spectator in the face, and they lose and eye. Imagine the press, the court case, and the blame being shifted from the person who had the device, to Alton Towers whose operator said it was secure enough for the ride to be sent on its way.
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The Use of Cameras on Rides at Alton Towers
I think @Benzin was referring to the the kind of photos that you will end up with whilst taking an aerial pic of the park whilst riding the Mono rail. Here is one that I took earlier
imanautie
TS Member
That's my point, it's a problem outside of altons monorailsI think @Benzin was referring to the the kind of photos that you will end up with whilst taking an aerial pic of the park whilst riding the Mono rail. Here is one that I took earlier
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Alsty
TS Member
I personally don't see any problem recording on Skyride, Monorail, Hex, The Gardens™, Sealife or (controversially...) the Rapids. I don't even see a problem recording on the coasters with properly secured cameras (chest-mounted GoPros etc).
From the park's perspective, I can see how they might want to take a "no photography on anything, ever" approach simply to keep the rules and staff training simple but I think this is too inflexible. In reality people will want to take photos to remember their day, so if this poses little safety risk I think it should be allowed. To me they simply need to mention the restriction on the ride entrance and train the staff to deliver a consistent message.
From the park's perspective, I can see how they might want to take a "no photography on anything, ever" approach simply to keep the rules and staff training simple but I think this is too inflexible. In reality people will want to take photos to remember their day, so if this poses little safety risk I think it should be allowed. To me they simply need to mention the restriction on the ride entrance and train the staff to deliver a consistent message.
Error
TS Member
Not unless you want a murky mosquito net mesh as your desktop/background.
Skyscraper
TS Member
I know that some parks only allow guests to film with a secure chest-mounted camera which has to be inspected and signed off by management or the like. Oakwood Theme Park in Wales is one such park.
Croftybaby
TS Member
Problem with signing off people to use cameras is that somebody in the queue will see people using cameras and possibly think it's OK to use them also.
It also opens up debate about how well they are secured. Yes you can show them in the Box office (which in its self costs man hours) but once on park the staff have no awareness of how that camera is actually being used and if it's being mounted correctly.
It also opens up debate about how well they are secured. Yes you can show them in the Box office (which in its self costs man hours) but once on park the staff have no awareness of how that camera is actually being used and if it's being mounted correctly.
MakoMania
TS Member
At SeaWorld they just pull on the camera harness before dispatching, if it stays on then you're good, if it comes undone then you're not
Burbs
TS Team
Why do people feel the need to film on rides anyway? Unless you have an amazing camera and are capturing rides other than roller coasters in extremely high quality (such as SoCal Attractions 360) then I see little point - the likelihood is there is going to be a better quality POV already online!
I did it once at EP on a few rides with a GoPro and chest harness - complete waste of time!
I did it once at EP on a few rides with a GoPro and chest harness - complete waste of time!
Because everyone thinks they are a YouTub star vlogger thesedays thats why. Years ago when kids were in school and you ask them what they would like to be when older you would get answers like "airline pilot", "doctor", "engineer"
Ask them now and its "vlogger", "footballer", "someone with an ass as big as Kim Kardashian", "reality tv star" *
*The above is a generalisation I know, but, seems to represent current society!
MakoMania
TS Member
Austin Towers
TS Member
I'm guilty of filming with a chest mounted gopro but only at SWO and BGT where it was permitted. The only reason I filmed was it was my children's first time on big coasters. Their scared but excited faces in the queue, their screams on ride and their adrenaline still pumping when they get off are memories worth filming and we all love watching them now and again. Then there's the squeals of my wife on Sand Serpent which is hilarious and me swearing the whole duration of my first time on Falcons Fury. All great memories that warrant getting recorded.
I haven't filmed or had the want to film anywhere since as I got all that I needed on that holiday. Even if filming was allowed at Alton I wouldn't bother.
I haven't filmed or had the want to film anywhere since as I got all that I needed on that holiday. Even if filming was allowed at Alton I wouldn't bother.
ChristmasPud
TS Member
People shouldn't be filming on dark rides because of the intended element of surprise, though this can never be 100% effective because some people will google out of curiosity anyway, inevitably find a POV and ruin any surprise for themselves.
Filming in a dark ride only really ruins the experience for others if the flash is on, so flash photography is absolutely justified being banned. Therefore it's just easier to say "No mobile phones and cameras".
In principle the 'no filming' rule should apply to dark rides regardless, trust me it makes a big difference to your experience if you've seen nothing of the attraction beforehand and a huge amount of work goes into creating surprise.
A few glimpses inside does no harm but "Ultra HD Super Low Light 360 POV", nahh.
It makes sense that filming is generally discouraged, since it causes much faff, but of course the nitty gritty depends on context.
Also interesting, most parks have a rule in place that media filming is only permitted with permission from the park marketing department. Vloggers get away without this, despite racking up 10000s of views, because it's just impossible to enforce that rule on them. What are you going to do? Monitor every teenager with a mobile phone throughout the day?
Personally, it's not so much the filming itself that I have a problem with. It's the uploading and the 1000s of people watching that throws away a huge park of what made theme parks work – the surprise!
Filming in a dark ride only really ruins the experience for others if the flash is on, so flash photography is absolutely justified being banned. Therefore it's just easier to say "No mobile phones and cameras".
In principle the 'no filming' rule should apply to dark rides regardless, trust me it makes a big difference to your experience if you've seen nothing of the attraction beforehand and a huge amount of work goes into creating surprise.
A few glimpses inside does no harm but "Ultra HD Super Low Light 360 POV", nahh.
It makes sense that filming is generally discouraged, since it causes much faff, but of course the nitty gritty depends on context.
Also interesting, most parks have a rule in place that media filming is only permitted with permission from the park marketing department. Vloggers get away without this, despite racking up 10000s of views, because it's just impossible to enforce that rule on them. What are you going to do? Monitor every teenager with a mobile phone throughout the day?
Personally, it's not so much the filming itself that I have a problem with. It's the uploading and the 1000s of people watching that throws away a huge park of what made theme parks work – the surprise!
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Sauron97
TS Member
Reading this made me think that in ways that I wish that POVs (and other filming of every aspect of theme parks) never existed. Just imagine how much more wondrous it would actually be to experience all the theme parks in the world without seeing anything beforehand. Even after you've been there loads of times, I think it stimulates the senses more when you can only access it when it's physically in front of you.
The first time I ever visited Towers, I'd never seen or looked at the park before anywhere, and it really was an amazing experience to see everything and be amazed by having the monorail experience and going through all the different areas and taking in all the sights and sounds. I think that experience would of been a lot different had I flicked out my smartphone beforehand and looked through one of the thousands of videos of the rides that now exist.
ChristmasPud
TS Member
Social media and the internet has radically changed how people experience entertainment, to be more accessible, but also far more disposable, flash in the pan and with fewer surprises.
Personally I used to love taking my camera to parks when I was a teenager, but found watching vlogs, reading Wikipedia, etc, to be totally irrelevant to theme parks.
It was far more effective when you could only ever experience the park and attractions when physically at the park, surrounded by the sights and sounds, without being overly familiar with it from web surfing. But that's a different part of the debate I suppose.
Personally I used to love taking my camera to parks when I was a teenager, but found watching vlogs, reading Wikipedia, etc, to be totally irrelevant to theme parks.
It was far more effective when you could only ever experience the park and attractions when physically at the park, surrounded by the sights and sounds, without being overly familiar with it from web surfing. But that's a different part of the debate I suppose.
Alsty
TS Member
I think that's where as the viewer you have to take responsibly, rather than that being a fault of the vlogger.
I consciously avoided videos and spoilers for Wicker Man and Tiger Rock until I rode them, and will continue to avoid videos from parks such as EP until I've visited them
I consciously avoided videos and spoilers for Wicker Man and Tiger Rock until I rode them, and will continue to avoid videos from parks such as EP until I've visited them
Why not? I've taken some nice photos over the years on Dark rides, including the ones at Alton (Toy land tours, around the world in 80 days, haunted house) Efterlin, DLP (its a small world, pirates of the Caribbean) DMP (Pirate adventure)
Most dark rides have strobe lighting in anyway and the flash can't ruin duel, they did that when they fitted the laser guns
Take the occasional souvenir pic/memory, but I don't get the need for people to film and take pics of everything that they do and have to share it all on social media. It's a bit like the end of season fireworks, every one races to be the first to upload the footage of the fireworks as soon as they finish. Why advertise what you are doing and where you are. You are asking for your home to be burgled. I sometimes post pics on social media a day or two (maybe a week or two) later. People don't need to know when they were taken.
ChristmasPud
TS Member
Well if it's a dark ride with random strobes lighting up the room and shoddy lighting showing everything you're not supposed to see, then it's pointless anyway
Obviously no park would create a dark ride like that deliberately, Duel is only like that through poor refits and neglect. A strobe used for an effect isn't meant to show up walls or light scenes brightly with a flash, if it is then it's a shoddy install or a mistake.
Dark rides rely on being dark, and everything you see is through the show lighting, so having some guy in the car with you flashing a camera in every scene detracts the experience for everyone else.
People should not take flash photos in dark rides and ride operators are justified to tell people not to. Same as you shouldn't take flash photos in a theatre.
In all the years that I've been visiting parks, taking photos on dark rides or other guest taking photos on dark rides have never ruin the ride experience for me. Plenty of people were taking pic/filming in the Gruffalo at CWOA on Monday and it never ruin the ride experience for me in any way.
I think the POV footage can be great advertisement for the parks, it can also be great for those that are either unable to visit a certain park or for those that can't ride the rides due to medial reasons, as in the case for my wife. There are also people that can't ride due to being too tall, too short, too big or may suffer from epilepsy and the strobes lighting means that they can ride. So by having access to the footage online is a great thing.
However the footage must be filmed safely and with permission of the park where it needs to be, especially on the big rollercoasters. However once there is a POV footage on the web, there is no need for everyone person to go out and film a POV to upload more, there is no point and no need.