I know it's been stressed that this is a separate, ring-fenced budget, but why? I think it's ludicrous that if another department needed £8000 they couldn't have it, yet Marketing can give it away on a whim that will generate a gate figure increase of a maximum 3 people.
Does anyone have any idea how much it costs to paint a coaster? I'd hazard a guess that £8000 of industrial paint would probably be enough for Oblivion. Obviously I have no idea and wouldn't know the true cost, including labour etc., but surely it can't be much more than that, and I think that would be an infinitely better use of what is a fairly substantial sum of cash.
I quite enjoyed the super-low-budget video of the cheque's day out, but as a promotion it seems completely useless for boosting guest figures, and I agree with the sentiment that it does destroy the escapism illusion (although this is being rapidly chipped away anyway). It may sound like a relatively small sum, but £8000 could go a long way in a department such as maintenance, or even staffing.