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One of the most insightful interview with John Wardley
Rob
TS Team
Alastair said:Rob said:Banshee opening next year at Kings Island. None of them are record breakers, none have technology never seen before.
Well, aside from it being the world's longest and world's fastest (non-launched) invert.![]()
That may be true, but neither of those are gimmicks and they're not evening marketing it as the fastest at the moment, only the longest! And it's only 1mph faster than Alpy!
I think the point was more that the coasters I've mentioned are just good solid coaster that have no gimmicks and aren't going for some overall coaster record.
nickhutson
TS Member
To be fair, a lot of people think BANSHEE is a really boring ride. It's just another - d r a w n o u t - inverted coaster. I'd rather have a company like Merlin make investments into world first coasters, I think, than another inverted coaster. But, that's just me.
However, a woodie would be wonderful. I, personally, think we will see one within 5 years - designed by Wardley. I will keep asking him about it!
However, a woodie would be wonderful. I, personally, think we will see one within 5 years - designed by Wardley. I will keep asking him about it!
Alastair
TS Team
nickhutson said:To be fair, a lot of people think BANSHEE is a really boring ride. It's just another - d r a w n o u t - inverted coaster. I'd rather have a company like Merlin make investments into world first coasters, I think, than another inverted coaster. But, that's just me.
However, a woodie would be wonderful. I, personally, think we will see one within 5 years - designed by Wardley. I will keep asking him about it!![]()
A lot of people, seriously? Inverts are by a long distance (in my opinion) the best and most enjoyable ride type. Banshee looks as though it will be up there with the best of them, especially with it's "won't reach the top speed until halfway through the layout" aspect.
BigAl
TS Member
I haven't seen many have a go at Banshee either. Wold firsts don't necessarily make good rides / ideas, but if it's different you want, Banshee's not exactly your typical invert. Elements might be drawn out but that may not mean the ride itself is boring. It's better to ride the thing first, really.
Also, by the sounds of it, Wardley's sick of people asking him about wooden coasters.
Also, by the sounds of it, Wardley's sick of people asking him about wooden coasters.
Cheese
TS Member
I finally got around to watching this earlier tonight. As others have said, some of the concepts that John mentioned sound absolutely great (particularly the racing woodie with LIMs for Thorpe), and if he believes Towers' new marketing guy is that capable then hopefully it's a very good sign.
We all know that Merlin is a company where those at the top are from a marketing background, but they don't strike me as the sort of people that would ever have been much cop at marketing if they just want to rely on world's first or record-breaking rides to get publicity. How hard can marketing a new rollercoaster at a popular and highly regarded theme park be? I know the actual process could never actually be this simple, but it strikes me that a park like Towers could almost run a campaign that essentially just says to the public, "Next year we're opening a new rollercoaster. It's not a new concept, but it's going to be utterly superb. Come and ride it" and hordes of people would come and see what they've built.
It really sounds from what John said in that session like the unique selling point policy actually hurts both the parks and their guests. Most guests don't know what they specifically want from a ride of course, but they want to go on rides that are as amazing as they can possibly be. Merlin should be encouraging their parks to offer such rides to guests by any means necessary; the last thing they should be doing is potentially preventing the parks from offering straightforward yet incredible rides purely because they want a USP that probably isn't required. If they don't trust the creative people to create stunning experiences and the marketing people to effectively sell these experiences, they either need to have more faith in those people or find suitable replacements. It's as simple as that.
"You want a Compelling Proposition and a Killer Image for this idea? Alright then! The compelling proposition is that this is probably going to be one of the best rides ever built, and the killer image is ANY photo of this ride from any angle!"
We all know that Merlin is a company where those at the top are from a marketing background, but they don't strike me as the sort of people that would ever have been much cop at marketing if they just want to rely on world's first or record-breaking rides to get publicity. How hard can marketing a new rollercoaster at a popular and highly regarded theme park be? I know the actual process could never actually be this simple, but it strikes me that a park like Towers could almost run a campaign that essentially just says to the public, "Next year we're opening a new rollercoaster. It's not a new concept, but it's going to be utterly superb. Come and ride it" and hordes of people would come and see what they've built.
It really sounds from what John said in that session like the unique selling point policy actually hurts both the parks and their guests. Most guests don't know what they specifically want from a ride of course, but they want to go on rides that are as amazing as they can possibly be. Merlin should be encouraging their parks to offer such rides to guests by any means necessary; the last thing they should be doing is potentially preventing the parks from offering straightforward yet incredible rides purely because they want a USP that probably isn't required. If they don't trust the creative people to create stunning experiences and the marketing people to effectively sell these experiences, they either need to have more faith in those people or find suitable replacements. It's as simple as that.
"You want a Compelling Proposition and a Killer Image for this idea? Alright then! The compelling proposition is that this is probably going to be one of the best rides ever built, and the killer image is ANY photo of this ride from any angle!"