Theme Park Worldwide

[Drew Peacock]

I really don't see the problem with TPWW.

Personally he comes across as a decent lad whose love for theme parks oozes through the screen.

The content is really informative. No need for personal insults towards the lad. If you don't like it, just don't watch and knock him.

 

[Craig]

Hi all,

I realise we may have a number of new members who perhaps have not read back on discussion in this topic, so just a reminder after I've removed some posts.

We allowed discussion about the allegations related to people who appeared on TPWW for some time when they first cropped up last year. Since then, we have since requested that discussion in this topic is related only to the content TPWW produces rather than going over old ground. As a reminder:

To avoid this topic going round in circles, let's move on from the allegations as everything is either points that have been made again (and again) or pure speculation. We have been very lenient on allowing this topic to be free flowing concerning the allegations, especially considering Shawn does not post on here to defend anything being suggested.

From here on if we can go back to discussing the actual content being produced by TPWW. Thanks.

 

[MaxPower]

I've never really got why TPWW has such a following. From the few videos I've watched they all just seems a bit cringey to me.

 

[Ethan]

I've never really got why TPWW has such a following. From the few videos I've watched they all just seems a bit cringey to me.

Think that's all theme park vloggers tbf

 

[Dave]

Think that's all theme park vloggers tbf

Some are better than others, I personally don’t find TPWW watchable but that’s because I don’t really care for “opinion” based videos or watching the host more than the park. But he has 300,000 plus subscribers so the fact is it’s clearly successful and has its audience who want to watch and that’s fair enough.

 

[Danny]

I've never really got why TPWW has such a following. From the few videos I've watched they all just seems a bit cringey to me.

It's like children's presenters with kid's TV; they're cringey as anything but that's what their audience want. His fanbase is predominantly younger individuals. Plus some of the content he makes will be inevitably helpful to first-timers to certain attractions, particularly travel ones as such.

Not my cup of tea, but I can understand why the following is there. He's a better alternative than a certain Jobb Ralvey.

 

[MaxPower]

It's like children's presenters with kid's TV; they're cringey as anything but that's what their audience want. His fanbase is predominantly younger individuals. Plus some of the content he makes will be inevitably helpful to first-timers to certain attractions, particularly travel ones as such.

Not my cup of tea, but I can understand why the following is there. He's a better alternative than a certain Jobb Ralvey.

I guess you're right. The impression I get is that the cynical old b*$%@#d market isn't exactly who he's trying to appeal to.

There seems to be an unexploited niche on Youtube for a Father Jack type Vlogger that would be more up my street...

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

I have no problem with Shawn and Charlotte and neither have the parks as many other vlogs have had permission to film ride POV’s its good marketing by Drayton Manor to let Shawn film there construction updates as it costs the parks nothing and Shawn earns from the viewings.
I found his queue line and ride updates video very helpful.

 

[monkeyboy]

He seems a nice genuine guy with a passion, good luck to him.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Matt N]

I forgot to mention it at the time, but I spotted Shawn at Alton when I visited on Monday!

We were stood in the Wicker Man queue when I saw a brown-haired man with glasses sat alone on the back row of the train with his hands up and cheering throughout the entire ride. I thought it looked like Shawn, but I wasn’t sure until the train stopped, when I was able to ascertain that it was definitely Shawn! We then saw him again that day walking around The World of David Walliams when we were in line for Gangsta Granny!

That’s my 2nd Sanbrooke sighting; my first Sanbrooke sighting, and by far my closest encounter with Shawn, was at a Late Night Riding event at Blackpool in August 2019, where you could even briefly see us walking by in the Big One queue at the start of his vlog from the day! We were on the train directly after his & Charlotte’s train, and my dad was even stood directly behind him in the airgates!

I’ve always been too shy to talk to him, but that’s 2 close encounters (well, one close encounter and one close-ish encounter) I’ve had with Shawn now!

 

[Mikw]

I can recommend his Scottish road trip (sleeping in the car) on his "Adventure Shaun" channel, really beautiful sceneary, and engaging presentation.

 

[pluk]

This looks genuinely interesting. This is where theme park vloging, and any specialist interest you tube stuff, has some sort if meaning to me. As I've said before I find the whole thing cringy and naff and there's only so many times I can have a child tell me that the latest thing is the best thing ever (that amount of times is zero), but when a chanel gets to the point that they get this kind of access to something a group of people have an interest in, but is too specialised to have a more traditional media programing, it really is worth a watch.

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

I recommend to Shawn about Watermouth Castle when they both did there Devon road trip last year.

They had a very tough time and cause it be 80% indoors they wasn’t allowed to open last year.

 

[ChristmasPud]

when a chanel gets to the point that they get this kind of access to something a group of people have an interest in, but is too specialised to have a more traditional media programing, it really is worth a watch.

Do they of all people interested deserve it?

 

[tayspru]

Do they of all people interested deserve it?

Like it or not, they have made theme park enthusiasm palatable to the general family market, especially with their renewed focus on Shawn and Charlotte. They’re a young family friendly couple that have managed to change the conception of enthusiasts being socially awkward nerds in anoraks, something other channels haven’t managed. As much as we all like a moan, being overly critical of new additions isn’t very fun to watch, so Shawn and Charlotte always give praise for positive installations (even if privately they might have their own ideas of what could be done better) . It’s no fun to watch people moan and slate things which is why other channels maybe don’t do as well.

All of this gives them a much larger fan base than others, which means companies find it worthwhile to approach them to film content for maximum reach

 

[ChristmasPud]

What has that got to do with my question?

have managed to change the conception of enthusiasts being socially awkward nerds in anoraks

Into a bigger conception of socially annoying nerds, who can get exclusive treatment through PR power by shouting into a camera?

But my point still wasn’t meant to be about Shawn personally. Do influencers deserve special treatment?

 

[pluk]

Do they of all people interested deserve it?

But my point still wasn’t meant to be about Shawn personally. Do influencers deserve special treatment?

Innthis case, I'd say yes.

It is obviously a form of promotion, they have put themselves in a position of being just about the best placed people in enthusiast circles to promote through. That is their own doing, putting themselves in that position.

 

[ChristmasPud]

It is obviously a form of promotion

Why can't the parks promote themselves, surely theyre the best channels for promotion? Eg offer backstage tours, a backstage insight video, and treat all their fans equal rather than just those holding the biggest power online.

It would be tragic to see more things go that route, shilling out any inch of the park to whatever popular YouTuber for the sake of promo. It should be about real engagement for anyone interested.

 

[pluk]

Why can't the parks promote themselves, surely theyre the best channels for promotion? Eg offer backstage tours, a backstage insight video, and treat all their fans equal rather than just those holding the biggest power online.

This particular one is not even a park, it's the illuminations which I presume are funded through the council by business on in the town? So not particularly relevant to your point.

But even with the parks, what is it you are suggesting? That everyone is afforded backstage access, preview of rides, special events and all the other things vlogers get? That obviously doesn't work for any number of reasons of practicality. And what do you really mean by 'all their fans'? These sorts of things were only ever really available to certain members of certain fan sites, already a pretty exclusive 'club' and certainly not 'all their fans'.

As a previous recipient of such perks at Thorpe, it was great. No one lost anything, the park gained promotion, I (and many others) gained great experiences and access. Those perks are still available to anyone willing to put the time and effort in to a channel, website, forum or whatever else to make themselves an attractive proposition to the parks. It's not a closed shop, it's open to all. Thorpe has moved on and I'm not bitter of others now in that position, even if I don't get the attraction of someone describing everything they see as sick. That's what the kids want apparently.

This is the parks promoting themselves, through he channels of others using their reach and influence. It's a symbiotic relationship that, as long as it's honest, harms no one.

 

[DistortAMG]

Why can't the parks promote themselves, surely theyre the best channels for promotion? Eg offer backstage tours, a backstage insight video, and treat all their fans equal rather than just those holding the biggest power online.

Let's pretend your argument here was about promoting an independent movie you have made. The argument you are essentially putting across is why shouldn't I release and promote the movie through my own website, rather than putting it on Netflix. The answer is pretty obvious.

The same translates across to this, TPWW have a large audience, so it is very easy for companies to promote themselves, to a receptive audience. I would not call it shilling out at all, as by putting content on channels like TPPW, their content has potential to have a much higher reach, to a much bigger number of people, than offering something physical. It would simply be impractical to do some of the things YouTube enable in reality. You are not going to get 100,000 people around a backstage tour of a park, in a week. Probably struggle to do that in 6 months to a year. You can 'virtually' do that through YouTube in less than a day if your audience is large enough. The same goes for all their other promotional stuff. It can reach a huge amount of people, very quickly. Yes, it will never be the same as actually being there, but when done right, it is good entertainment to watch.

This way of marketing is not unique, it is a massive way many companies do stuff now through YouTube with huge amounts of YouTubers doing in in what ever their channel is about. It is a very good way to get stuff to people who might not even know they like that sort of stuff, to get into it and interested in it. People who would have never in a million years, paid for a backstage tour for example.

So in short, yes they do deserve it, because from what they have created themselves, they have to ability to reach a very large audience, very quickly.