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Cheers for that, can you do it with BIG BIRD and SLKSTN: THE RIDE please?

Jack Silkstone has released the first half of his Fright Nights documentary / BTS, where he details about his involvement with the teaser videos, marketing, etc: I haven't watched it all, nor the second half (which is released tomorrow). But, the amount of work that has gone into the teaser campaign is obscene. And I'm not sure I mean that as a compliment. The park had early ideas for Survival Games, the locksmith character, etc. shortly after last year's event finish. Which is great. And then Jack and Kieran and marketing had ideas for the teaser campaign. Jack and Kieran pushed for the teaser reveal campaign, with videos for each attraction. The corridor of locked doors was a custom-built set from scratch. The sheer number of man hours that went into building it, doing scenic work for it, having staff on hand for the shoot and so forth is insane. On top of that, each video had multiple hours of filming work put into it; prep work would start during the day, filming in the early afternoon and then go past midnight. I don't know how it works in terms of pay, but Thorpe actors tend to be on hourly wages, so just paying them for several hours adds up. Then whatever hours the permanent marketing members put in, plus whatever rate Jack and Kieran command. I absolutely admire Jack and Kieran's creativity, effort and the passion they clearly have for making the content they make for the park as fantastic as possible. But they themselves must have been running themselves into the ground creating this content. It's crazy. And for what? They created some cool videos, which have details and Easter Eggs far beyond noticeable comprehension. The videos created a world-building far beyond what the attractions can tell. Enthusiasts like the videos. But they don't do an accurate job of portraying what the attractions will be like. And they have next-to-no impact on the actual quality of the event. Again, it's very admirable what they have done, the scope given by the park and the preparedness of the park to put in the time and effort to create a high quality teaser campaign for the park's premiere event. And it's great that the park continue to give nods to geeks. But at the same time, one can't help but wonder if this is misplaced time, effort and (most importantly) money from the park. Especially when they could create a much more modest campaign for a significantly less effort and get similar results. And as mentioned, Jack and Kieran especially were putting in tons of hours of work into this. Definitely feels like they ran themselves into the ground a bit doing this. Clearly a labour of love for the cause.

Given that we've now seen (probably) the font that the park will be using for the official branding once the coaster name is revealed - I decided to see how the leaked potential names and therefore coaster branding could look: Hyperia: And lastly... let's take a look at what could've been (if the application wasn't opposed)... Icarus: I don't hate it - definitely fits the vibes they're aiming for - but also looks very early 2000's to me (and not in a 'purposefully nostalgic' sense, but literally looks like it was designed in 2000). If somebody told me this was for a coaster set to open in 2003, I would believe you. Personally still would've preferred a slightly brighter gold (as it pretty much just looks brown to me), but I'm sure it'll grow on me.

The Future of Thrills (in the UK ‘cos we’re so bloody far behind)

Offering it at an "affordable" price is problematic, as what will happen if they get loads doing it? Also lessens the benefits of staying in the hotel. Why stay there when you can in theory save money, stay offsite then buy this? Maybe if the park had built a sensible new area and operated the park sensibly wouldn't need to even offer this to allow a number of guests to actually ride the first new coaster in nearly 20 years. Adds to the general class divide. Can rest assured a number of MAP holders who wear them proudly on lanyards will lap this up.