B&M Dive Machine at Cedar Point?

I'm in agreement with Capitalize somewhat. While I concede it's trivial, unnoticable and meaningless to most (other than us) I think it's kind of bad form. Lets just say if I were the designer of that generic banner it would never have happened.

Plus, if I was Busch I'd be ringing CF up and saying something like "hey, get my coaster offa your websites, there, can ya? Nice try, but it's mine"

Why do we do this every time someone notices an 'out of place' coaster?

It's been done often enough and for long enough that it shouldn't be a surprise, it's accepted practice within the industry and it's a graphic design issue more than anything.

You guys would have a better chance of winning me over with an arguement about something like color scheme or font choice - because those are more meaningful discussions in the context we're talking.

Capitalize said:

Why does it matter so much to you? ...

Whatever, too bad you don't agree that it's a little bit funny.

A) It frankly doesn't matter to me much at all. Most of the time I spend on Coasterbuzz is spent between commercials on tv and design projects on the computer.

B) What I think is a little bit funny is your apparent idea that the point of the banner should have been to promote a Cedar Fair coaster, not to best frame the logo of the various Halloween events. As someone noted, the vast majority of visitors to the assorted Cedar Fair websites pay scant attention to (to them) generic graphics.

Well, I think we do this most often when we see, say, one of KD's rides on KI's websites, or commercials, or billboards. I have to find that ok, as they are rides that are at least in the same company family. Just today I saw a commercial for Cedar Points Halloweekends that showed a couple morphing into zombies aboard a coaster that we would know isn't in CP's particular arsenal. But that same ad runs in every market and we can be sensible enough to know they're not about to shoot separate ads for each park, and those that complain about it should find a real problem.

I also notice a generic, or stock coaster shot in ads that promote leisure activities for a particular vacation region or county. The area might be noted for amusement parks, but the ad company isn't naming a particular park or ride so its ok then too. In that case a coaster is a coaster is a coaster.

But I still think its peculiar for a well known park chain to include in their promotions an image of a ride it doesn't even own. Maybe it's industry standard to disregard it, but in what other industries would they allow something like that? I'm trying hard to think of one where they would get away with promoting another company's product and presenting it as their own.

I know it's just a banner and it isn't about a particular coaster and the error isn't life altering. But like I say, if it was me in charge I wouldn't have it by mere virtue of the fact that someone out there will know better. That's all.

Well, I'm guessing this is something similar to magazines that use generic graphic images on their front cover: The people in charge of selecting the graphic images basically go through a stack of photos pertaining to a certain theme and then pick the ones that best go with the idea being presented. In this case, the advertising designer probably had no idea this wasn't a coaster within the park chain and instead just picked the image that best framed the shot.

RCMAC said:

While I concede it's trivial, unnoticable and meaningless to most (other than us) I think it's kind of bad form. Lets just say if I were the designer of that generic banner it would never have happened.

I interned at an architecture firm where the graphic designers put photos of buildings the firm didn't design on their website. A roller coaster silhouette is not a serious offense to me.

RCMAC said:

But I still think its peculiar for a well known park chain to include in their promotions an image of a ride it doesn't even own. Maybe it's industry standard to disregard it, but in what other industries would they allow something like that? I'm trying hard to think of one where they would get away with promoting another company's product and presenting it as their own.

But they're really not. It's a generic coaster silhouette not meant to represent anything. It's decoration - a design element. It's just that a few of us here are obsessive/nerdy/peculiar enough to know where the silhouette was derived from.

It's really no different than picking a generic piece of roller coaster clip art and sticking it there. Would it be misleading in that the coaster graphic used as a background design element wasn't representative of what the park had to offer?

A good litmus test would be to find someone outside of the bubble with no knowledge/interest in the industry and have this same conversation. (and that applies to all of our enthusiast wackiness)

If it looks insane to that person on the outside, then it probably is. Trust me when I say that this conversation qualifies.

I think the bigger issue here is that the Cedar Fair parks are still using that crappy website for their Halloween events.

It's a chore to navigate, and there is critical information missing. Where is the Halloweekend map so that guests can easily find all this stuff? Where does it mention the limited ride availability on Friday? Why are events like the Overlord Ceremony missing altogether? I could go on...

It looks like all the effort went into making a generic creepy theme rather than providing customers with easily-accessible information about Halloweekends. I didn't even notice the B&M Dive Coaster pictured on the banner. I was probably in the middle of a seizure from all the strobe effects.

^ I wish I could vote up your post twice, because yes, all those things 100%. The HalloWeekends site is terrible. But at least it doesn't scream at you the way Kennywood's Phantom Fright Nights home page used to.

I was disappointed that the site didn't smell like popcorn.

Lord Gonchar said:
A good litmus test would be to find someone outside of the bubble with no knowledge/interest in the industry and have this same conversation. (and that applies to all of our enthusiast wackiness)

I was going to say something to this effect (especially the highlighted key words) as I read through all the responses this morning. This kind of insignificant crap only matters in the tiny bubble we enthusiasts dwell in, and for some reason so many can't seem to place their brains outside of just to try and form an objective opinion.

I'm imagining if I was the banner designer for this Halloweekends site and I happened to stumble upon this thread, I'd be shaking my head, chuckling my ass off right now.

From wha I saw on the site the Dive Machine depicted is Busch Garden's Tampa"s Shrikra.Whoever designed the background art "Imported" this picture for the graphic. I visited Cedar Point in October of 2007 during a Family Reunion held to celebrate my Mother's 80th Birthday. Among the festivities was a "Grown-Ups and Kiddie's" Day. All the Adults except me went on a Fall Color Railroad Tour. Since I was the Coaster Enthusiast of the family I was put in charge of the "Kiddies" (3 of them) and I took them to Cedar Point for the day. CP didn't have any "Haunted Houses" but they had a lot of Actors that would jump in front of you to scare you (I heard A LOT of Chainsaws being revved up along their "Frontier Trail"). The last Halloween themed event I went to was Busch Garden's "Hallowscream" last year (It was a "Last Hurrah" for the Platinum Pass I purchased at the San Antonio Sea World two years earlier). I have a little advice for all of you who plan to attend this event this year. Busch Gardens has a "Special" Dinner for those who wish to pay for it (Last year it was $26.00). You get to eat Dinner at the Beer Garden and see their Halloween-Themed Show. Then, for the next hour you get "Front of the Line" Privilege for all of the Haunted Houses. I visited Busch Gardens on a Friday. Throughout the day the crowds were light, all of their coasters were walk-on or "One Train Wait". When evening descended this changes, the crowds grew EXPONENTIALLY. Those who didn't purchase the Dinner package found themselves in two-hour waits for the Haunted Houses. I was able to do all seven houses in the one hour allotted for us. This was one of the best $26.00 I ever purchased. Consider it to be "Insanity Insurance". ;)

Edit - @#$&!! Fat Fingers!

Vater said:

Lord Gonchar said:
A good litmus test would be to find someone outside of the bubble with no knowledge/interest in the industry and have this same conversation. (and that applies to all of our enthusiast wackiness)

I was going to say something to this effect (especially the highlighted key words) as I read through all the responses this morning. This kind of insignificant crap only matters in the tiny bubble we enthusiasts dwell in, and for some reason so many can't seem to place their brains outside of just to try and form an objective opinion.

I'm imagining if I was the banner designer for this Halloweekends site and I happened to stumble upon this thread, I'd be shaking my head, chuckling my ass off right now.

Aren't all hobbies that way? A big sports fan will dwell on every detail of their favorite team/sports, from every stat line to rule in the rule books. A casual observer couldn't name more than a couple star players and probably couldn't give a good description of the offsides rule. In the end who cares, its just a game. Just like as an enthusiasts of rides and parks we bother to know every element, manufacturer, etc. It doesn't really matter in the real world; but its our hobby and area of interest so it matters to us.

Perhaps the person that designed the graphic in question is an enthusiast that knew throwing that in there would be noticed and commented on. Just sayin...

Maybe Jimmy Kimmel did it.

But more to the point, did you know that Halloween is scary? ;-)

I know we've had this conversation before, and my thoughts are the same. I think details matter. Not in an enthusiass way, but in general. It's admittedly very much inconsequential in this circumstance. No question.

But I get really frustrated by the number of folks in any industry or area that think that crossing "t"s and dotting "i"s doesn't matter. It does. Quality and accuracy matter. They should be the guiding principle no matter where the application.

Halloween is so scary, in fact, that 33% of the time, I vomit out of fright.

Raven-Phile said:

I was disappointed that the site didn't smell like popcorn.

A very Tyler Boes-like comment not meant to add to the conversation at all. I don't like being the butt of your joke over and over.

I already gave you my source for where I got the information, and then I also gave you a source that rebuts the information. It is something I recalled that I once read, and then thought that people here on CoasterBuzz might be interested in once the topic came up.

Putting a chemical in popcorn to make the smell stronger to sell more popcorn doesn't seem so irrational to me. Leaving a long queue line partially unshaded so that people buy a bottle of water while waiting doesn't seem so irrational. It's not evil either. It's business.

I already gave my opinion and explained the reasons. You already gave your opinion and explained the reasons. Shrug it off and move on. Being a jerk is not cool.

Carrie J. said:

I think details matter. Not in an enthusiass way, but in general. It's admittedly very much inconsequential in this circumstance. No question.

But I get really frustrated by the number of folks in any industry or area that think that crossing "t"s and dotting "i"s doesn't matter. It does. Quality and accuracy matter. They should be the guiding principle no matter where the application.

Totally agree. However, as you admitted, in this instance I think that not only is it inconsequential, but the 'details matter' aspect doesn't (or at least in my opinion shouldn't) really apply because these are little graphics of a roller coaster silhouetted against a background of a small banner on an amusement park's website advertising an event that has very little to do with the roller coasters themselves. Like Gonch mentioned, clip art. Only the fanaticalest of the fanatical would even notice, or much less care.

Reminds me of this, which I think illustrates the enthusiast mentality pretty accurately (and humorously).

So, all of a sudden, Tyler is gone and you aren't sticking up for him any more? I don't get it.

Besides, I'm not being a jerk. I'm poking fun and laughing with you, not at you.