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Maybe I’m seeing this all wrong, but what exactly do you mean posting negative, or as I like to call it, “honest” thoughts about something doesn’t get you anywhere? Whilst I understand to a certain degree if someone is in the park’s/company’s good graces they are limited in what they really want to say without making the product look bad, it’s these kind of reviews and thoughts I do not trust one single bit. I’m not picking on anyone here individually, but as a whole, if the reviewer cannot be honest with themselves or the people they share these thoughts with, how can I trust a word I hear from them in the future when their integrity is being put on the line? To me, if you are honest with your readers/viewers and spell out all the good and bad things about an attraction with no filter or restrictions in place, that to me is a proper review that deserves to be respected, especially if you are in a position of influence like Jordan and other bloggers/YouTubers are. A very recent example of where I have an issue with reading/seeing reviews from all these bloggers and YouTubers is from Wicker Man’s media event last Friday. After seeing multiple videos from the lucky few who were there that day, I was getting annoyed by so many making claims I frankly find hard to believe, one being “this is the best ride in the country”. Hey, maybe that is their true opinion, but this goes back to the point I’m making - how am I supposed to know what they are saying is true or not if they are towing the company’s line, hence the invite they got to the event? The same is very likely going to happen here again with WD: The Ride on it’s media night, which is why I’m not buying into any of this marketing guff until I try it myself and will therefore be ignoring all the reviews from everyone that day. To me, I am far more interested in reading and watching opinions from those who: 1) Didn’t get an invite to a fancy press event. 2) Spent their own money and time on the product. 3) Give their opinions in an unfiltered perspective. TLDR - I value honesty and integrity in my reviews above dishonesty and popularity, regardless of how controversial or unpopular it might be at times. That to me is the true mark of a proper and fair review.

Sorry, I didn't word it particularly well, so just to clarify what I was trying to say. There are plenty of places where people can discuss their honest views. Forums, social media, blogs, vlogs, etc all exist, and all have people sharing their honest opinions on various topics. So if you want to find out people's opinions, you visit those places, maybe follow particular people who you're interested in hearing from, and go from there. But if you're trying to set up a small scale blog, how many people are going to be interested in signing up / following for you to just give the same old opinion they can get in bucketloads elsewhere? Unless you've got a very good, persuasive opinion, not many. So if you create a blog which focuses just on the positives, it helps give the blog a bit more purpose (and a break from negative stuff), seperates you from the crowd a bit and helps build relationships with parks. You don't have to lie either. Say you hated a certain ride, you just don't talk about. Say you find a ride boring to ride, but beautiful to look at, focus on the aesthetics and write a blog about rides that look good. It all helps in creating a unique brand for a blog. The minute you start looking at negatives too, you're just another person sharing an opinion on stuff. It gives you less views, less of a following, less park connections, etc. That's why it gets them nowhere. For the record, I totally agree with you about not trusting some blogs' views. Some blogs' are effectively free marketing tools for parks - they say the best things about parks, and all those parks have to do is let them go on a ride a day early and give out some free food. Other blogs and sites are a lot more selective with how they present their opinions (or are like us and just provide news! ), which is fine. It's simply a case of trying to figure out which sites you like best because you feel you can relate to their style! We try our best to just provide facts and unbiased opinions, as well as short reviews on the site. No doubt as people are aware, we go along to some preview events - we never like to base our opinions of attractions on these preview events, as there's always a bit of a buzz around them. Equally, we always give honest feedback to the parks about them, as well as what we'd like to see. I'm sure there's other sites like us too (though obviously not as good as us )

Still don't give a crap about this thing and that teaser is so low budget it's almost funny. A fairly interesting point has been raised with Jordan though. Is it considered selling out when a well travelled theme park "blogger" is now in a job which publicly requires her to up sell Thorpe Park and presumably go against her own opinions in order to keep a job that feeds her ego by giving her inside information? There's no way I'd be able to be like that. When I worked for Merlin before I was very outspoken with my opinions and if that rubbed anyone the wrong way, so be it. Although I did just amuse myself thinking of me sitting in the X car surrounded by zombies, head in hands with disappointment...

Rode this mess yesterday, f**king appalling... The girls behind me were openly mocking how pathetic it was, of course not as creatively as me. As for the staff, I'm almost impressed power can go that far to your head in 2 days but Christ they were disgusting.

Jordan has worked for Merlin, more specifically, Thorpe, since 2015 (she has said so in comments on her blog). That actually predates when her blog really kicked off. As I'm sure many have realised, Merlin, though again more specifically Thorpe, love to do these stories where they give someone a very specific, crazy-sounding job. They did it in 2009, where they gave some bloke a 'sick cleaner for Saw' role, coaster testers in around 2012 for Swarm, etc. Chessington do it with their zoo too. Towers did it when they launched Th13teen too, with another "roller coaster expert turned tester". The stunt with Jordan is no different - they've got someone to pretend they've got this awesome job, so they'll get people talking. Instead of focusing on the ride, they focused on Jordan's expertise, so when people read the article, they think "wow, she's done a lot, and she thinks this new thing is great - let's go". It's as simple as that. It just so happens they had someone who would fit the role of a 'roller coaster expert' working at the park, so it's easier to get her to talk about real things than make something up. It also happens she has a blog on theme parks too. If anyone reads Jordan's blog, you'll realise she rarely posts anything negative about any parks. As is common with many small-scale blogs, they post positive stuff only, and add a personal touch by saying whether they like it or not. They may have plenty of negative thoughts too, but it gets them nowhere posting them, as there's far too many criticism blogs (constructive or otherwise) out there. We at TPM actually had an interview with Jordan back in November if anyone is interested in giving it another read - https://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/articles/27-11-2017/Jordan+Middleton+Q+and+A Tl;dr - People can keep their professional and personal opinions seperate if they choose to. Try not to be so pessimistic guys! Also a gentle mod-type comment: we at TPM love to keep conversation flowing and don't like to discourage people sharing their opinions, but try to keep things not-rude, especially as we're talking about a person within the community who can't really defend themselves. Cheers.

I’m quite disappointed to learn that they’ve added $8 AtmosFX stock moving portraits to the queue line. Something you’d expect to see at a funfair or a small Halloween event not so much Alton Towers. I fear this might turn into another Tomb, really hope not though. https://atmosfx.com/collections/decorations/products/unliving-portraits

Generally I don’t like press events as they usually mis-represent the ride by adding extra effects, entertainers and actors. It’s not how the ride is operated on a standard day. Sure it would be great to ride the Wickerman in the dark with lasers and fire jugglers but if you really want to review a new ride honestly, you have to go on a standard day and queue along with the general public. That to me is the honest experience for the average guest.

If the video is sponsored or they've been invited to an event/test/etc. it's bound to be overwhelmingly positive... Unfortunately if you want the deals (freebies) and monies you gotta go really over the top about these things, which is a shame because it means a reduction in 'true' opinions...

The Tomb ones were just rude and unprofessional, no not your normal early season nerves but on power trips. One of them slagging off their team leader to another member of staff, infront of guests, was grim.

The juxtaposition to this from the General Discussion post is slightly hilarious...

Yeah that’s the problem. Merlin don’t really have any competition with Thorpe so they can be complacent with mediocre investment and maintenance. Sure there are a few other parks nearby but nothing on Thorpes scale. At least at Towers, they have BPB to worry about especially since I think many thrill seekers are going to return there this year instead of Towers for Icon. Hence all the new entrance work and heavy theming on WM. Competition is good and something that’s missing in the south.

'Theme Park Updates' has another update with loads of testing photos. Here's my favourite one: That gap between the the wheel and track on the left hand side