Coaster adverts - CoasterBuzz

I am from England but make regular trips to the U.S. and have noticed that many rollercoasters tend to exaggerate the quality of their rides and at times, downright lie. Adverts for Nemesis Oblivion state its the best ride ever or something as does the recorded spiel for the Irn-bru revolution at Blackpool (but this is in an ironic sense). I know its ok to call your ride the best because it can be judged as an opinion but what about the facts. Pepsi Max: the Big One at Blackpool still has banners and adverts in the park declaring it the world's tallest, fastest etc. Despite Steel Dragon 2000 being nearly 100ft taller and having its record broke 7 years ago! So 7 years later they can still get away with this false advertising. This is just one case. I'd like to know from everyone out there which coasters they've seen to be lying about their credentials or the most exaggerated opinion a park has given.

I was looking through a Cedar Point mag and they were saying it was the tallest, fastest and longest coaster which it clearly isn't.

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-Sean

Parks can get away with that because - unlike us enthusiasts - the non-enthusiast GP doesn't know about coasters 1,000s of miles away.

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"Three simple words: I am gay." - Homer Simpson, giving advice on how to dump a girl.

i have noticed that many parks change this in 1-2 years after their record is broken.

also, at Alton Towers, they are stating that Air is the worlds first flying coaster, yet atleast 3 have been built before it.

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#1-MF #2-S:RoS #3-WT

You haven't seen anything published by CP that makes a false claim because they're too careful about that (though the whole S:TE thing I suppose is open to some debate, for a few more months anyway).

Personally it seems to be a UK phenomenon. What's that Vekoma giant SLC that said it cost some ridiculous amount? Then there's the PepsiMax claim, etc.

We have "journalists" here in the US constantly looking for conspiracy, so the problem isn't as rampant here.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM

Basically go to any Six Flags park and you will find some sort of false advertising.

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The ice age killed the dinosaurs, we killed ourselves.

quote: "also, at Alton Towers, they are stating that Air is the worlds first flying coaster, yet atleast 3 have been built before it."

no they arent, everything published by the park states it as a next generation flying coaster, and the designer has only talked about world firsts to enthusaists who understand the differences between the B&M and vekoma flyers. its only really people who dont really know what they are on about call it a world first (like tv broadcasters etc).

*** This post was edited by laurence on 8/30/2002. ***

Went to a CDC conference a couple years ago, and there was a long session on how to deliver a message to the press...basically, shorter descriptions are better and WAY less likely to get confused...makes me think of BGT's description of Gwazi as "the Southeast's longest dueling double wooden rollercoaster". By the time you've said all that (and taken a breath), half the audience couldn't tell you precisely what was meant by *all that*...I think marketing/advertising, in an all-out effort to get an -EST in there somewhere, sometimes ends up stretching the truth to implausible limits.

Also, I think sometimes in the use of the word "world", the PR department *forgets* that we really don't have an Old World or a New World anymore...;). Pretty sure I recall a U.S. installation not too long ago that was billed as "World's first" where there were operating versions overseas....sometimes it's the PR department, sometimes it's the press, and sometimes there's *an honest mistake*...(well, maybe)....always the cynic...

bill, still a little surprised at how the globalism makes me chuckle when I see the word "advert"...;)

*** This post was edited by rollergator on 8/30/2002. ***

Jeff, what about all the media being told that Power Tower was the tallest drop ride and then Knott's also said they had the tallest, but the record has not been in America since 1997?!!

For once and for all, Phantom Revenge/Steel Phantom never had the largest drop, which is something many will never get out of their head.

One thing is that coasters like Shockwave being once called the fastest when built, which is false.

Stealth had and still has all that "world's first" junk which is a big fat lie.

Cobraroller, you can say the exact same about any Paramount park.

Six Flags continued to roll the "Superman:Ride of Steel, tallest and fastest coaster on the east coast" commercial, long after Nitro, Hypersonic XL, and the othe two S:ROSs opened(which are the same height).

Canobie Lake for once could stop advertising the Boston Tea Party as the westest and wildest ride in New England. Besides old Orchard Beach, Canobie was the last park in New England to get a chute-the-chute and it's nothing we haven't seen before since there are 11 up here, and once bigger than Boston Teaparty

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Lake Compounce-So Fresh and So Clean Clean

The first time I went on Blue Streak was on 6/21/99 (keep in mind I'm 15), and as we were leaving the station, the operator said, "Alright, you guys are on the biggest, baddest, roller coaster in the park...in 1964." In that little ... area I was scared out of my mind. But it was pretty funny.

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You want to know what Millenium Force is on a scale from 1-10? Oh, that's easy. A bajillion out of ten.

Vertigo said:

For once and for all, Phantom Revenge/Steel Phantom never had the largest drop, which is something many will never get out of their head.

What are you talking about?

When Steel Phantom opened in 1991 (May 10th to be exact), it had the longest drop in the world at 225 feet. It held the record untill 1994 when Desperado tied it. They both held the record untill 1996 when Fujiyama broke it.

Atleast that's what I thought?

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1.Phantom's Revenge 2.Thunderbolt 3.Shivering Timbers 4.Montu 5.Mega Zeph

PhantomLost, are you forgeting about a few coasters across the sea? Mainly, the Bandit, which has a 256 foot drop and held the record for largest drop from 1988 till 2001 and until Dodonpa opened, it was the fastest high speed thrill ride in Japan.

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Lake Compounce-So Fresh and So Clean Clean

Boulder Dash-I'm just so happy to have you babe'

Vertigo said:
PhantomLost, are you forgeting about a few coasters across the sea? Mainly, the Bandit, which has a 256 foot drop and held the record for largest drop from 1988 till 2001 and until Dodonpa opened, it was the fastest high speed thrill ride in Japan.

I could not find the drop length but RCDB says the speed of the ride is 68.3 mph. How would a 256 foot drop create a speed of only 68.3 mph?

If it's drop is 256 feet, then I guess Magnum is not the first hypercoaster, although still first coaster over 200 ft.

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1.Phantom's Revenge 2.Thunderbolt 3.Shivering Timbers 4.Montu 5.Mega Zeph

*** This post was edited by PhantomLost on 8/31/2002. ***

PhantomLost, are you forgeting about a few coasters across the sea? Mainly, the Bandit, which has a 256 foot drop and held the record for largest drop from 1988 till 2000 and until Dodonpa opened, it was the fastest high speed thrill ride in Japan.

If Bandit wasn't one of my favorite rides, barely anyone would learn that. Of course, though Yomiuri Land has 3 of the best coasters found on this side of the world(White Canyon, Bandit, and the Sitdown/Standp Up Looping Coaster), it has very little publicity and it not well known.

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Lake Compounce-So Fresh and So Clean Clean

Boulder Dash-I'm just so happy to have you babe'

According to the Yomiuriland website, Bandit's stats has the number 78 metres in it. 78 metres is equal to 256 feet (technically 255.9024 feet).

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I'm still wondering how a 256 foot drop reaches a top speed of only 68.3 mph? Is it heavily braked?

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1.Phantom's Revenge 2.Thunderbolt 3.Shivering Timbers 4.Montu 5.Mega Zeph

*** This post was edited by PhantomLost on 8/31/2002. ***

The 68.3 miles per hour is probably the speed the coaster reaches on the first drop.

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The Other Siebert

Canadas Coaster Drew said:
The 68.3 miles per hour is probably the speed the coaster reaches on the first drop.
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The Other Siebert

But why wouldn't the park list the top speed of the ride?

I'm starting to think that the length of track in the drop is 256 feet, but the actual vertical drop is much lower.

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1.Phantom's Revenge 2.Thunderbolt 3.Shivering Timbers 4.Montu 5.Mega Zeph

I get the impression that the 70m [78m, sources differ] stat is total elevation change. It appears that Bandit is built on a hill or somesuch. I seem to remember that its biggest drop was 165' or something like that, but I want to find that source again.

Wolf said:
I get the impression that the 70m [78m, sources differ] stat is total elevation change. It appears that Bandit is built on a hill or somesuch. I seem to remember that its biggest drop was 165' or something like that, but I want to find that source again.

165 feet sounds accurate for the 68.3mph top speed. I also remember reading somewhere the ride was a mini-hyper.

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1.Phantom's Revenge 2.Thunderbolt 3.Shivering Timbers 4.Montu 5.Mega Zeph