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Media Coverage of Alton Towers

I think Alton need to play them at there own game here. They must make a lot of dough when Merlin do there ticket offers in the papers. Collect ten tokens for free Thorpe park/Alton towers ticket

Perhaps if they pull threaten to pull this partnership then they may force the papers to stop reporting such bull. It's disrespectful to the Park, those that work there and those who were involved in The Smiler incident in anyway. It's old news now let it lie.

Surely Merlin must have a *forgove the pun* leg to stand on here with regards to suing for slander?
 
Yikes they need to sort look at drainage that much water should not get into a building.

Must be a slow news day, the media reporting against towers seems a bit ridiculous at this point I don't get how that is even news. For comparison at Drayton today during the same downpour Buffalo stalled just before it runs out over the lake and ended up being evacuated, not a mention anywhere. (Also not news in my opinion)
 
JB1985 said:
I think Alton need to play them at there own game here. They must make a lot of dough when Merlin do there ticket offers in the papers. Collect ten tokens for free Thorpe park/Alton towers ticket

Perhaps if they pull threaten to pull this partnership then they may force the papers to stop reporting such bull. It's disrespectful to the Park, those that work there and those who were involved in The Smiler incident in anyway. It's old news now let it lie.

Surely Merlin must have a *forgove the pun* leg to stand on here with regards to suing for slander?
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I imagine they have teams of accountants working out how much money they get from these promotions versus how much they lose from the bad press. As long as the first is bigger than the second, they'll maintain the status quo.

Plus, think how vindictive the papers could be if Merlin did pull all advertising!
 
Dar said:
I imagine they have teams of accountants working out how much money they get from these promotions versus how much they lose from the bad press. As long as the first is bigger than the second, they'll maintain the status quo.

Plus, think how vindictive the papers could be if Merlin did pull all advertising!
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True although I am a cost accountant and wouldn't want to even start that calculation. To be honest for me I would be doing more on principal. Sort of you stab me in the back so I will stab you in the back
 
I doubt that they'll be too concerned about stories like this, I doubt people will be put off a visit to the park because a ride stopped for half an hour. At the end of the day they'll milk any Alton Towers story because it gets them clicks on there websites.
 
Someone get a mop from the Air tunnel!

I don't think the water is as deep as it looks. The reflections seem to make it look like a swimming pool. Looking at the people stood around it looks more like a puddle.

Still amusing how a station that is covered far more than it was a year ago can gather up that much water though.

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They didn't tell you but Galactica is not only the first fully dedicated VR roller coaster but it's the new water ride too.
 
Did Air ever have these issues of flooding in the station before it changed to Galactica? Can't see why it happened now and not before.
 
"Tidal wave nearly drowns guests at terror Park"

Or as I see it, Air has finally got the missing Oasis theming 14 years on!

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There are so many inaccuracies in these so called news articles that they must surely have a case for slander (not that I can see Merlin doing anything about it) but "upside down", "dangling" they can't even get the name of bloody ride right! It's such an obvious slanderous campaign against AT since they only report there 'problems'.

If I didn't know much about coasters and I read those articles it would definitely put me of going and make me feel unsafe if I was there which we all know is not true but there are definitely people out there being put off by this.
 
AndrewH said:
If I didn't know much about coasters and I read those articles it would definitely put me of going and make me feel unsafe if I was there which we all know is not true but there are definitely people out there being put off by this.
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It sells papers / drives ad revenue, it's not going to stop for a long time. The people who write the papers don't know much, or anything about coasters either and more to the point, neither do most riders. If something happens 'out of the ordinary' - I think people have a right to feel unsure why something is occurring, the reaction to this scenario on this board is based on people's in depth knowledge of block systems and the like - you have to step back from that.

Pleasure Beach got a similar grilling a few weeks ago when Big One stopped on the mid-course.

Let's not forget Merlin have courted the press like nobody's business for a lot of years and they did it very well. I think the only time I scratched my head was with the limbless dummies on Swarm. You can't have situation whereby the operator want the press to post pages about nothing happening (Sweaty armpits, 14 etc etc) and then have them shut up when something of the smallest significance happens.

I don't want to make it sound like I am unsympathetic of Towers continuing issues, I am - but I am also realistic about the situation. I get why it irks people, but a free press is very important.

25 minutes stuck in that position on the lift is a pretty grim thought, but it's not much longer than the time you sit in the pre-station block these days :)
 
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This is a total non story, with absolutely no negative safety connotations whatsoever, but unfortunately, the comments section of the Dail Mail article is full of mindless sheep calling AT a death trip and for it to be shut down.

I remember when Britain had a stiff upper lip... wish we had it back.
 
Rick said:
It sells papers / drives ad revenue, it's not going to stop for a long time. The people who write the papers don't know much, or anything about coasters either and more to the point, neither do most riders. If something happens 'out of the ordinary' - I think people have a right to feel unsure why something is occurring, the reaction to this scenario on this board is based on people's in depth knowledge of block systems and the like - you have to step back from that.

Pleasure Beach got a similar grilling a few weeks ago when Big One stopped on the mid-course.

Let's not forget Merlin have courted the press like nobody's business for a lot of years and they did it very well. I think the only time I scratched my head was with the limbless dummies on Swarm. You can't have situation whereby the operator want the press to post pages about nothing happening (Sweaty armpits, 14 etc etc) and then have them shut up when something of the smallest significance happens.

I don't want to make it sound like I am unsympathetic of Towers continuing issues, I am - but I am also realistic about the situation. I get why it irks people, but a free press is very important.

25 minutes stuck in that position on the lift is a pretty grim thought, but it's not much longer than the time you sit in the pre-station block these days :)
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I see your point and I agree with you to some extent and it would bother my me if
  1. They weren't being factually inaccurate to make things sound a lot worse than they are like using "upside down" if I had never been on the ride I would (like anyone) think that meant they had there heads 180 degrees from where ther should be.
  2. If they were consistent in what they report. Someone mentioned a stall a Draton that was not reported. A stall is a considerably more dangerous situation (although should never lead to a crash) and a considerably more difficult evacuation yet that doesn't get reported
I don't have an issue with a free press and think it can be great sometimes but this is just a clear and blatant hate campaign against a park which has got a extremely good safety record and procedures and is trying to recover from a horrific accident.
 
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