July 2, 201510 yr comment_212388 The media really do seem to have it in for Towers - they should be reporting proper news stories not scaremongering dammit
July 2, 201510 yr comment_212389 The next crash in the press will be the Rapids as the car collided into a rock Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
July 2, 201510 yr comment_212391 Couldn't agree more. The media really need to know what harm they're bringing to Merlin and also when enough is enough. This just can't continue. This has got to be the most disgusting bout of activity by the media since the phone hacking scandal. I agree the stories they're "writing" are a load of bull, but the media couldn't care less if they are damaging Merlin (or any company really). As long as the slow people of Britain continue to view online articles or buy newspapers, they will generate profit and they don't care how true or false their data is!
July 2, 201510 yr comment_212394 I went to towers on the 30th and we were stalled on the air lift hill as you come out of the tunnel. We were there for less then 2 minutes. Same thing with nemesis, the train was stopped because someone had a camera out. At air, a woman came along taking pictures with her phone then laughed and said she'd send it to the sun. It made me consider alot of these reports may literally be guests taking the piss and sending the picture to [insert crappy 'news'paper here]. It goes without saying all the problems throughout the day were dealt with extremely swiftly. I consider myself very lucky as the last couple times I've been to towers I've had 3 breakdowns, and one of them included a nice little back stage tour. Before this I'd only ever been on one ride breakdown, so it's been almost a treat to be involved with so many, and as people say they are making up stories out of air. No one cares is the ride stalls for a short period of time, some people might make some distasteful laughs and the group of teenage girls may start giggling but thats it.
July 2, 201510 yr Author comment_212395 Yes it's easier to write a bunch of BS then say 'oh sorry our source was wrong, we just printed what they told us, not our fault' than it is to do proper research.
July 3, 201510 yr comment_212403 Kind of cheeses me off, the amount of comments I've seen on the web about how Alton Towers should be shut down - yes the incident with the Smiler was horrific and shouldn't have happened which Merlin have acknowledged and handled brilliantly. The press are just picking up on the tiniest pointless things which happen and hapoen regularly at theme parks - I've stopped on the lift hill on Air before as well as being evacuated from Rumba Rapids(!), a slight stuck moment on The Vampire ride and had to be released from Smiler by battery pack thing inside the station - I'm a naturally nervous person but none of those things made alarm bells ring - are members of the GP really that daft or maybe I am being harsh. When people say they will never go to a park again I just think - well that's less people in a queue. But I do feel for Alton Towers because they are getting so much grief over recent non newsworthy events (not including Smiler here). And unfortunately it appears a lot of people will buy into the scaremongering
July 3, 201510 yr comment_212404 However there is asilver lining... The more idiots that refuse to visit theme parks due to the media, the less idiots stood before us in queues!
July 3, 201510 yr comment_212405 This is going to roll on for the rest of the season. We all need to decide whether reading the clickbait is worth it or not. I'm choosing not to read because I don't like feeling the mob mentality from keyboard warriors, saying the park should close forever.
July 3, 201510 yr comment_212406 Couldn't agree more. The media really need to know what harm they're bringing to Merlin and also when enough is enough. This just can't continue. This has got to be the most disgusting bout of activity by the media since the phone hacking scandal. I know it's because it's pretty much attacking our hobby/interest and stuff, but even that's a very daft thing to even say... The media have done far, FAR worse than jump on the back of Merlin over this stuff...
July 3, 201510 yr Author comment_212410 Kind of cheeses me off, the amount of comments I've seen on the web about how Alton Towers should be shut down - yes the incident with the Smiler was horrific and shouldn't have happened which Merlin have acknowledged and handled brilliantly. The press are just picking up on the tiniest pointless things which happen and hapoen regularly at theme parks - I've stopped on the lift hill on Air before as well as being evacuated from Rumba Rapids(!), a slight stuck moment on The Vampire ride and had to be released from Smiler by battery pack thing inside the station - I'm a naturally nervous person but none of those things made alarm bells ring - are members of the GP really that daft or maybe I am being harsh. When people say they will never go to a park again I just think - well that's less people in a queue. But I do feel for Alton Towers because they are getting so much grief over recent non newsworthy events (not including Smiler here). And unfortunately it appears a lot of people will buy into the scaremongering No you're not being harsh, I blame the nanny state telling everybody what to do, people then become susceptible to being easily manipulated and tend to over-react to 'small' events (not including smiler here) and as you say buy into scare mongering. I was quiet surprised by who I got grief off the other week for going.
July 3, 201510 yr comment_212416 Maybe we should make them aware of the amount and severity of accidents that have happened in Six Flags parks over the past few decades. It'd be a cheap move passing the buck but would certainly make Merlin look a little better.
July 3, 201510 yr comment_212433 It's easy to ignore online clickbait reports, but when the national news is commenting on how Thirteen broke down today that's a bit harder. Imagine if the news reported on every ride breakdown? On a happier note, looks like Joe, Leah and Vicky are all recovering well from some pictures on Twitter!
July 3, 201510 yr comment_212434 Some TPM members were evacuated from Th13teen in the crypt at the meet, so that's one breakdown they've missed
July 3, 201510 yr comment_212435 Maybe we should make them aware of the amount and severity of accidents that have happened in Six Flags parks over the past few decades. It'd be a cheap move passing the buck but would certainly make Merlin look a little better. Nah they'll just use that as more justification. I actually agree with Ian on this. If they mentioned accidents at Six Flags, the papers (well, the Mail, Sun and Mirror) would say "THEME PARKS ARE DANGEROUS, BOYCOTT ALTON TOWERS AND THE REST OF THEM". I know the law gives papers the right to print what they want, but some of it is just lies. I know it's more complicated than this but I wish there was a law which made journalists back up all information and facts with evidence and real statistics. The point of the press is to bring the news to the people, but now it's all about money (as everything is).
July 3, 201510 yr comment_212437 Is there anything Alton Towers can do? From a legal point of view? I see a 50/50 spilt of people who don't care anymore/say the park needs closing down. It's best not to give THAT newspapers the bullets to fire you with, but unfortunately for Alton Towers it's under the spot light and its ride reliability isn't exactly 100% in the past month... let's just get this season over and done with (after Scarefest & Fireworks of course!) and start afresh in 2016.
July 3, 201510 yr Author comment_212438 Not a lot, if they put up a stink the papers will start screaming freedom of the press blah blah blah and if Alton try and get an injunction or something people will just see it as 'oh Merlin mush have something to hide' rather then 'perhaps the papers are not telling the truth'.
July 3, 201510 yr comment_212439 This is getting beyond a joke now, a powercut has absolutely nothing to do with the terrible incident on The Smiler, so why the hell is it being reported on national news? Breakdowns and lift hill stoppages are regular occurrences in theme parks all over the world so why pick on Alton Towers? It's absolutely disgusting, if there is any new news on The Smiler then yes, report it as news but to be publishing lifthill stoppages and powercuts in national news is absolute craziness and frankly disrespectful to those involved in the incident on The Smiler. I mean are these people so stupid that they don't understand how theme parks work? I've just read a BBC article which stated that "The Thirteen" has a vertical drop and only reaches 21mph, I mean come on, if you are going to do a news report at least do some research! It's not rocket science, but it highlights that these people really haven't got a clue. This hounding is absolutely disgusting and unacceptable, the claims being published are completely wrong, which clearly shows poor research and a lack of care for actually getting the facts correct. This is not news, it is an attack on the park. Furthermore, the attitude of some of the public on social media is a disgrace, I mean can they seriously be thinking that Alton Towers will "shut down" over things like breakdowns? They are being spoon fed absolute garbage by vile people in the media and it has to stop.
July 3, 201510 yr comment_212443 Its the media, it's what they do. It isn't nice but its always been that way and it sure as hell ain't changing just because we think it's unfair.
July 3, 201510 yr Author comment_212445 It's got a lot worse since the internet happened though, I can remember times when some papers wouldn't run stories because sources couldn't be verified.
July 3, 201510 yr comment_212447 Tabloid "news"papers have always been a joke tbh, nothing worthy of reading ever. The problem is people feel the need to buy them in between their lunch at Greggs and their Jobcentre visit, so we'll never see the end of them unfortunately. What I think is weird though is that usually I know the press are lying/exaggerating about every story, but because the theme park industry is relevant to me, suddenly you see the media in it's worse light while others don't. For me, that's the most frustrating part!
July 4, 201510 yr Author comment_212448 Tabloids haven't always been stark raving loony level, that was the Sports remit, perhaps they feel the need to fill the void, bet it won't be long until the mail and co recycle the old WW2 bomber found on moon story on a really slow news day.
July 4, 201510 yr comment_212450 I think it's time for the park to start being a little less corporate in their responses to these none stories that have nothing to do with the original incident and go on the offensive with a bit of public truth telling.
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