Keeping us in suspense...

I think TR:TR being kept secret by PKI is a great idea...it leaves it so that when you ride the ride, and see it for the first time your actually surprised.  Does anyone besides me think maybe they should do this with coasters? Just say what kind it is and not give out statistics? I think it would make the ride better the first time you ride it cause then you wouldn't know where what element is, how big it is, how fast etc.
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"you give me the most gorgeous sleep that i've ever had and when it's really bad i guess it's not that bad" Underneath it all- no doubt

Well, here's the thing about the suspense. On one hand, it does generate a lot of interest, but does it sell season passes? Think about the publicity from construction updates and such. I think it really offers more encouragement to buy season passes.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

I don't know if that would be such a great idea. I think one of the reasons PKI can get away with this is that the ride is fully enclosed, and the themeing will be a major part of this ride.

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Jes
Webmaster, Jes's Roller Coasters
"Thank You Jeff Putz" "My Fellow Americans, Lets Roll!"

I personally don't think construction updates could or do affect season pass sales.  To be honest, the GP or season pass holders couldn't care less about a ride being built.  The fanatics, such as ourselves, are the only ones that follow every step of a ride installation.  We account for a very small single percentage of passholders/ticket buyers.

PKI probably sells about 75% of their season passes for the upcoming season prior to park close.  For example, most people renewed or purchased their passes for 2002 before the 2001 season ended.  That is when the cost is the lowest, there are multiple incentives offered and it is the easiest time to have them processed.

Most of the time a future ride installation has not even begun by the end of a season, thus any construction updates would have little to no affect on their overall season pass totals. During the off season months, amusement parks are the last thing on people's minds.  Out of sight, out of mind.  Except for Christmas gifts, I cannot imagine many people suddenly racing out in the midst of winter to get a PKI pass just because they saw pictures of a metal building being raised on the property.  To be honest, I think the "suspense" aspect of TR:TR was actually a fallout of other things: 

1.  It bought them time to solidify and iron out final details with the ride.

2. It garnered more press and intrigue from the media.

3. It provoked non passholder guests to return again next season. 

And 4.  I think it gives them a chuckle.

Shaggy

*** This post was edited by Shaggy on 12/31/2001. ***

Has the been an opening day, time period released for this ride? Do you think it will be ready by opening day?
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"Time flies...Whether you're having fun or not". -Mary Engelbreit.

To be honest, I have never seen an amusement ride besides Spiderman at IOA ever get as much attention in non-park and coaster news sites and television than TRTR. The ride and PKI were all over gaming magazines and technical magizines when it was announced and it was even mentioned on Entertainment Tonight and other cable entertainment news shows when it came about. All of the connections with video games, entertainment news, and technology is really getting the word out about this ride. They were definitely successful in the advertisement area, most of it free.

Shaggy, while I do agree that construction updates marginally increase season pass sales, they sure do help build up hype for the new ride, and in tern, increase the number of visitors coming from out of state to pay to ride it.

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Jes
Webmaster, Jes's Roller Coasters
"Thank You Jeff Putz" "My Fellow Americans, Lets Roll!"

You can hype a ride however without having daily coverage of construction...if you at least give the name and what type it is the park can go from there saying "Such and Shuch coaster- the best ride yet" or come up with some cheesy slogan like that- they can also take a pic from a similar ride already built and put that  pic on the season pass renewal forms to hype it (for sfdl's pass they put a pic of a chute the chutes at another park on their renewal form, but it still doesn't give the whole ride away.)
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"you give me the most gorgeous sleep that i've ever had and when it's really bad i guess it's not that bad" Underneath it all- no doubt