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WTF Merlin?

Ethan

Strata Poster
An interesting watch for anybody who still believes that vloggers give genuine balanced views, rather than giving mindlessly positive reviews of everything in order to make sure they get invited back (which is clearly what's going on there).
I think it's easy to be overly general with statements like these, as not all vloggers do this. For instance, the TimTracker and Jenn have been offered accommodation and event tickets by Disney/Universal/SDC etc. and they give very honest reviews. I rememeber one video where they left the accommodation they were given for free one night early because of the noise.

With Theme Park Worldwide though, I completely agree with you. It comes across as incredibly transparent and actually pretty frustrating to watch. It's a ****ing shed. I do think that TPW has very low standards though, as this is the man that said nuggets and chips at Phantasialand was 5 star quality food. He is definitely either deluded or just incredibly easy to read. Probably both tbh.

But yeah, as for these "stargazing" pods. Ew, no. I also love that they gave them the name they did, without even building in a window in the ceiling. Amazing tbh.
 

gavin

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Clicked the video, jumped back from the screen in disgust when it started. Didn't watch beyond 5 seconds. No interest at all in what those people have to say.
 

zazobo

Hyper Poster
I quite like TWP but I was really disappointed with the review on the pods. They're ****ing ****e and I cannot see HOW he could endorse them.
 

Dar

Hyper Poster
Every preview article I've seen has looked like it was straight up written by the marketing department. I don't mind so much when they at least make it feel natural, but it smacks of laziness when they just copy paste the press release. Mind you, easy money I guess
 

vaugc002

Mega Poster
Let's be honest, if your primary income stream relates directly to visiting UK theme parks, you're not gonna be critical of the largest theme park group out there :emoji_pensive:. Agreed, there's no way these flimsy sheds can be palmed off as appealing if we're speaking honestly.
 

Fluorineer

Mega Poster
Let's be honest, if your primary income stream relates directly to visiting UK theme parks, you're not gonna be critical of the largest theme park group out there

What are they gonna do though? Sue him? It's not like being one of the early reviewers of the Stargazing Pods is a big deal for his channel or something that viewers are impatiently waiting for. If anything, I could see people wanting to learn more about the Cbeebies-Hotel or the Alton Towers Spa, and that's something he has never covered.
 

Dar

Hyper Poster
What are they gonna do though? Sue him? It's not like being one of the early reviewers of the Stargazing Pods is a big deal for his channel or something that viewers are impatiently waiting for. If anything, I could see people wanting to learn more about the Cbeebies-Hotel or the Alton Towers Spa, and that's something he has never covered.
No, but those parks might not invite them to the next "serious" event and then they wouldn't get that warm feeling of smug superiority that they got to ride before the peasants
 

Jamesss

Hyper Poster
Chessington is so **** now. Everything that made it good seems to be gradually getting removed. It's my home park yet I haven't had any desire to visit there for about 10 years. Shame as it was really nice back in the day.
 

Chris Brown

Mr CoasterForce 2016
Chessington is so :emoji_poop: now. Everything that made it good seems to be gradually getting removed. It's my home park yet I haven't had any desire to visit there for about 10 years. Shame as it was really nice back in the day.

Agreed. This is one of the best Boats in the UK in terms of ride and themeing / scenery. Given the state of the ride line up Chessie I can't quite wrap my head around this if its not being replaced.
 

bob_3_

Giga Poster
Agreed. This is one of the best Boats in the UK in terms of ride and themeing / scenery. Given the state of the ride line up Chessie I can't quite wrap my head around this if its not being replaced.

The Blade at Alton has just gone under a refurbishment and I believe it's a similar age, so maybe they're just doing this at Chessington.
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
Oh cool, it looks just as temporary as it sounded it would be.

Laaaaaame.
 

bladeboy

Roller Poster
In regards to the closure of Black Buccaneer, I wonder if this trend will continue at Alton and Thorpe too. They both have rides that still haven’t opened this year, Quantum and Enterprise, and I wonder if these will be quietly shelved at some point during the season.
 

Fluorineer

Mega Poster

It's actually kinda funny, if you showed that BounceZilla-clip to a person in 1994, it would have made a great example for the dystopian future awaiting us if we let some Blackrock-douchebags take over theme parks. If the "sponsored"-ad was a little bigger and if they advertised the Fasttrack in the same clip, this would tick all the boxes for "dystopian future caricature".

Like, remember those Buy-in-large-ads from the Wall-E Movie? This kind of has that vibe.
 
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