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Media beatup


Ash
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Here's a breakdown that was much more entertaining news than the two reported from WBMW.

Was at Sea World on Friday, and Storm Coaster was e-stopped and closed for about 10 minutes while I was in the queue. They cycled around some empty boats before coming through the line and telling us that they had stopped the ride because of a "bad smell". Apparently an animal had died in the control booth. Hah. One boatload of passengers was stopped for a few minutes just before the final drop, but no evac.

Still more interesting than AA breakdown.

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I'm only (somewhat) aware of the laws on Defamation in South Australia so I have tried to look at those in QLD. However, surely now reporting (almost) every time a ride breaks down, without full knowledge or even misrepresentation of the events like what happened with TRR cuts into these? 

Edited by bammrwolfe
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^ I doubt it if they report "facts" and speculate. The ride is "stuck" or stopped with passengers on board.

I think it's horrible how the parks continue to be attacked by the media these everyday stops.

Arkham is obviously a rarer occurrence with a lift hill issue.

I received an email from the Daily Mail requesting to use my footage as part of a video on the "Arkham accident", said no. ABC just used it and credited YouTube ?

I also feel VRTP give too much access to the media when they consistently report on issues like this.

Edited by Jordan M.
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This is just absolutely rediculous. What everytime I ride does something that it shouldn't do the news is going to report on it. It's so stupid and not needed what's so ever. If someone is in danger, or the ride does something that hasn't been safe or isn't normal, like an emergency stop, then DONT REPORT ON IT. Pisses me off continually seeing this stuff. People are going to gain less and less faith in the parks, with these reports that make you believe something horrible has happened.

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And there you go. Nine news with breaking news that wwf has broken down. See this shit is getting so bad. They are ruining themeparks in aus. So much bad publicity against them. Most of us have been on rides where they break down. Its just now as soon as it happens some 'smart' rider etc has to share it straight away to a news outlet

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I've mentioned it before, but half the issue is education. Park(s) shouldn't be going "don't wory, don't worry, everything's cool, trust us" and leaving it for the media to speculate, because we all know that with no little to no information mainstream news goes a little crazy. Instead they should be going "this is why it's routine, and this is why it's safe" and treading the line more with being a little more honest in the interest of putting everyone's minds at ease and being proactive in stopping it before it spirals out of control.

If you work in PR, you'd know that 99% of bad situations have a silver lining if you're proactive and not reactive. Scooby Doo's theming (or lack thereof) could be a story of how much VRTP are committed to safety and interested in keeping queues down over summer. When Storm stops on the lift hill, there's an opportunity to educate mainstream news on how sophisticated and proactive safety redundancies are on modern rides.

Edited by Slick
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Yeah you couldn't see the passengers but could see the front of the boat sitting up there. It was just before it would go over the edge. I've got a photo but don't particularly want the media putting it in a panicked article. My partner is a bit put off me taking the kids on rides given that's 3 in the week at just one park but I'm not worried

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In the scheme of things, maybe 3 break downs is probably a little less than normal. You cant really call stoppages breakdowns because some rides require evacuations anytime an emergency stop occurs. They cant just start it up without moving people off the ride. Might be a quick 2 minute fix to actually get going, but moving everyone off turns it into a 30 minute + prospect. 

Prior to arkham asylum, when was the last time something stopped and remained closed for repairs? I remember batwing having issues before christmas, anything else?

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Well... I severely underestimated the mountain the media could make out of this molehill, but the stupidity of the people commenting is even worse.

If I were the parks, or the industry right now, i'd be looking at what legal options there are to get the media to provide some sort of corrections - perhaps running a story on ACA or TT where engineers, safety auditors, ride manufacturers and park operators talk about these sorts of incidents - why it proves they're safe, why it's normal day-to-day stuff.

But - when you see just how fucking pathetic they can be over a white shirt - it's no wonder they're pushing this sensationalistic garbage for ratings and clicks.

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For everyone's information, it is actually 4 rides in 1 week as far as I know. Keep in mind, MW has more chance of being reported in the media than the other VRTPs - SW has only 2 proper rides currently while WNWGC has an extreme unlikelihood of any incident occurring to have a stoppage for - most of their rides are waterslides after all.

Also, given some of the media are referencing the 2004 fire on WWF, can one of the media outlets be kind enough to ask MW what caused the fire so we can solve that mystery once and for all?

3 hours ago, AlexB said:

...helicopter is your only option...

Nine News took your advice:

2 hours ago, bammrwolfe said:

I'm only (somewhat) aware of the laws on Defamation in South Australia so I have tried to look at those in QLD. However, surely now reporting (almost) every time a ride breaks down, without full knowledge or even misrepresentation of the events like what happened with TRR cuts into these? 

Not having full knowledge probably doesn't cut it (unless they deliberately avoided to learn the knowledge or published something that they knew probably might be incorrect due to having no knowledge on the topic) but misrepresentation of events would. It depends on the exact wording. Most reports are probably not defamation but it is the fact that they are suddenly reporting them with greater frequency after the DW incident that is annoying people the most as the media think the heightened 'fear' of theme parks would sell their media products/advertising space more than usual.

2 hours ago, Jordan M. said:

I also feel VRTP give too much access to the media when they consistently report on issues like this.

VRTP haven't - none of the media have been inside the parks. Other than that 1 media statement read outside the park by the General Manager for the AA incident, they have only been releasing brief statements, which is a wise thing to do so it does not give the impression you are 'hiding' something to the media.

2 hours ago, Ash said:

They are ruining themeparks in aus.

It's only the Gold Coast theme parks (and potentially one day, Aussie World) they are reporting on because they are the iconic theme parks and are only kilometres away from DW, where the recent fatal incident occurred. If AW, LPS, LPM, Funfields, Jamberoo or even Wet 'n' Wild Sydney etc. made the news more frequently than usual then you know they are targeting theme parks in Australia overall.

Edited by Jamberoo Fan
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