Could Steel Vengeance have a media event?

Excellent article Giga. I enjoyed reading his very accurate description of the problems surrounding the enthusiast community.

We are expected to care about the parks from a business standpoint. I for one do not. I don’t own stock and try to be thrifty when visiting parks. I’m a customer who loves their rides, not their business or financials. I realize they need money to continue building new rides, but you lose me at caring about the parks more than their rides and what enjoyment I gain from being their customer.

I’d love to see more enthusiast events but I won’t hold my breath. I’ve already been called a bad enthusiast due to the whole zombie wedding fiasco. I’m not too surprised when a media event isn’t opened to us, but I’d love it if they were more often.

Take movies for example. I love movies but I don’t care what the budget was or how much a movie makes. I also don’t care to spend more money at a snack bar, so I smuggle snacks and drinks in. You can be a fan of something without caring about the business aspect.

There may be another word for that...

coast said:

Excellent article Giga. I enjoyed reading his very accurate description of the problems surrounding the enthusiast community.

We are expected to care about the parks from a business standpoint. I for one do not. I don’t own stock and try to be thrifty when visiting parks. I’m a customer who loves their rides, not their business or financials. I realize they need money to continue building new rides, but you lose me at caring about the parks more than their rides and what enjoyment I gain from being their customer.

I’d love to see more enthusiast events but I won’t hold my breath. I’ve already been called a bad enthusiast due to the whole zombie wedding fiasco. I’m not too surprised when a media event isn’t opened to us, but I’d love it if they were more often.

Take movies for example. I love movies but I don’t care what the budget was or how much a movie makes. I also don’t care to spend more money at a snack bar, so I smuggle snacks and drinks in. You can be a fan of something without caring about the business aspect.

While I think not caring about the business at allies a bit harsh (after all, CP's success brings new rides and improvements), I do agree that the appeal to business (AKA, "Don't talk about what you want to see because enthusiasts don't matter.") is a trope that has created a situation where people believe they can't influence anything or be connected to the industry, which was true to some extent in years past. This means that the enthusiast community, once closely connected with the industry, now has many people that consider their own community a nuisance, who openly welcome and support when parks disconnect themselves from enthusiasts, and appealing to pure "good business" as the reason, as said in the essay.

The notion that there are some in the community that have some kind of desire for parks to completely shut us out is silly. The fact that parks stop doing specific types of events is proof enough that it can be a colossal waste of money and resources to kiss our a$$es with little to no pay off for the park. Coastermania is a prime example of what happens when a good thing gets out of hand. CM, WinterChill Out and events like those are far better opportunities to connect with the community base and not question continuing that event in the future. There may still be some sour grapes at those events but the fact that admission is paid and attendance is limited buffers repercussions in my view.

In the end, it's always a few rotten apples that will spoil a bunch.

^Maybe I did go overboard, sorry.

I've said that CM payment is a step in the right direction. HWN does it too, it's not like it's a bad thing, and it made 2016's ERT feel actually "exclusive" as opposted to the crowded 2015 event. That was a great move and fixed CoasterMania. The problems, IMO, weren't really "bad enthusiasts" per se, but more of just sheer numbers of people.

However, has anybody noticed that many smaller parks like HW and Knoebels succeed while "kissing enthusiasts' a$$es" far more than CP, the crown jewel of a massive theme park chain? HWN in particular manages to attract a lot of enthusiasts to its ERT on the same weekend as CoasterMania despite being at a park 1/4 the size. The way they act shows that they seem to enjoy enthusiasts, and they do things like officially turning off Voyage's trims for ERT and several backstage tours. (From what I've heard, CP kept Magnum's trims on at CM 2017 (they were unofficially off in 2016 if memory serves), though I wasn't there, and there hasn't been a backstage tour in a while, although Coaster Cruise is an amazing replacement.)

But considering how CP's premier enthusiast event has only been "restored" with admission limits for 2 years, we'll have to see what the future holds in terms of events, as the much improved "new" version of CM is quite young. With Steel Vengeance this year, I imagine they'll shake up Coastermania quite a bit (correct me if I'm wrong, but the 2017 event basically had the same highlights as 2016, right?) I'm very excited for what's in store.

Nuance is key with that essay. Big Dipper was an example not the overall point.

coast said:

We are expected to care about the parks from a business standpoint. I for one do not. I don’t own stock and try to be thrifty when visiting parks. I’m a customer who loves their rides, not their business or financials. I realize they need money to continue building new rides, but you lose me at caring about the parks more than their rides and what enjoyment I gain from being their customer.

I really despise people who think like this, no offense. Yes, there's the obvious "can't make rides if they aren't doing well" thing that you bring up and make zero retorts to, but there's also the hundreds of kids saving for college, the maintenance workers providing what they can for their families, and the awesome family bonding trips that never happen because the park turns to sh**.

Now Kings Dominion is doing an ACE only media event:

https://www.kingsdominion.com/play/events/twisted-timbers-media-day...gistration

Whoopsie! Looks like you have to be a card carrying ACE member as of 12-31-17.
Let the crying begin! Who will make the Virginians whole?

a Kings Dominion team member will verify your ACE Membership and contact you if you are selected to attend.

Just me, or does that imply ACE membership doesn't guarantee a spot, just the option to apply?

Isn't that sort of how Kings Island used to do passholder preview weekends? Seems like at least some years it was only for gold pass and above, and only those that bought or renewed before a given date the prior year.

No, I’d say it’s not just you. Seems pretty clear to me.
The lucky 3 get to go.

I agree. It doesn't sound like all ACE members get to go to the preview. Just the select few.

RCMAC said:

Whoopsie! Looks like you have to be a card carrying ACE member as of 12-31-17.
Let the crying begin! Who will make the Virginians whole?

The "whole" thing needs to die... it'll just end up becoming another way to shut up people who disagree with what parks do.

I'm not an ACE member (GOCC here), so if CP did ACE-only I'd be a little bummed, but I'd also be extremely happy they're doing some media event invite... it'd be a massive, massive step back towards an event like GK's event. (And I'd also probably join ACE considering Mystic Timbers had an ACE-only event as well, so that I could potentially get in on future events.)

IIRC KD has a passholder preview as well, which isn't related to clubs at all.

Or,... maybe what needs to die is your never-ending hope, insistence really, compulsion more like it, that CP should throw an all-invited media event in the future. Seriously. You were the first post and all these posts and pages later you are still saying the same thing. You had a great time at GK’s media day. We get it. We all did. Maybe we’ll have to file that day in the “happy memory” drawer, tho.
And if anybody is disagreeing with the way parks do things, it’s you.

Add me to that list RCMAC. But I take it a step further and work the parks loop holes to save $, score extra rides and make the most of my pass just in case they decide (incorrectly) to not invite us to SteVe’s media day.

And if enough of us “meaningless” enthusiasts ban together and expect to be treated well as their biggest fans, we will win all sorts of perks.

Good luck with that, and enjoy your “perks”, the things that are available to us all. I assume you paid for that pass, so you’re good for business like it or not.

Speaking of “good for business”, I’m pretty sure the company has taken the time to weigh the impact free enthusiast events actually have. If they offer to do something nice, awesome. If they don’t, quitcher cryin’.

Enthusiasts will be invited to media day, 100% guaranteed. The likes of Adam, Jeff, Walt, etc. so why not us? Why not the other enthusiasts who aren’t close friends of Tony? We deserve to be invited as well given our passion for the park. Plus, it is indeed good business for them. Why offend your biggest fans?

Good lord. My wife is a very prominent member of the media and her company does quite a bit of business with CF. She (and I) will not be offended in the slightest if not invited to Media Day. CF can only invite so many people and have a business decision to make over the right mix they want to advance their goals. If invited, she as well will have to decide if attending or allowing any of her employees to attend advances her business goals.

Do you also get offended if you don’t get invited backstage at a concert becuase you are one of the artists “biggest fans”?

coast said:

Enthusiasts will be invited to media day, 100% guaranteed. The likes of Adam, Jeff, Walt, etc. so why not us? Why not the other enthusiasts who aren’t close friends of Tony? We deserve to be invited as well given our passion for the park.

Jeff and Walt are apart of the media so they would be invited as.... the media. Tony has the right to invite any friend he wants and to be honest which friends of his he invites really isn't any of yours or mines business. Having a friend with a cool job has perks but that doesn't mean everyone who also wants that perk is deserving of it just because they are a fan.

coast said:
Enthusiasts will be invited to media day, 100% guaranteed. The likes of Adam, Jeff, Walt, etc. so why not us? Why not the other enthusiasts who aren’t close friends of Tony? We deserve to be invited as well given our passion for the park. Plus, it is indeed good business for them. Why offend your biggest fans?

Have you tried clicking your heels together three times?