Rougarou Media Day?

People really act like this? It's a wonder parks still put on these events. I thought I remembered on PointBuzz a while back where Jeff said he had to revoke a club membership for the first time ever because of an incident like that.

Oh that...an enthusiast tore their Hexed ticket in half and threw it at CP staff when they were denied entrance or such. That's the controversial meltdown that people are still talking about? Maybe I didn't hear the whole story...

Extremely rude and embarrassing? Yes. The end of inviting all good members of the community to future media events? I'd hope not. It seemed Gatekeeper and Banshee were extremely successful launches, and I'd think their spread through social media helped.

All I can say is, thank your park folks, especially in the marketing and PR roles, at stuff like this. Seriously, I know most people are grateful, but the crybaby douchebags leave a disproportionate amount of bad karma behind. I feel like I've had to do a lot of damage control over the years for stuff I had nothing to do with.

Not sure if that episode changed the invite list to future media events, but there's no excuse for that kind of behavior at a FREE event. It only takes one to bring the neighborhood down, the enthusiast community. Your not just representing yourself, but the entire group.

People like that should get their club membership revoked and be ejected from the event and possibly the park depending on the extent of the offense. If they are a season passholder, they should get their pass banned for an amount of time.

Thabto said:

People really act like this?

They do. I have endless stories of people behaving in such a way from my box office job.

I remember the douchy behavior of people waiting in line for last year's media event at CP. Yes it was hot, and no they weren't ready to open this free event for you yet. So shut up and wait patiently.

Jeph said:

Extremely rude and embarrassing? Yes. The end of inviting all good members of the community to future media events? I'd hope not. It seemed Gatekeeper and Banshee were extremely successful launches, and I'd think their spread through social media helped.

Eh. Seems dangerously close to the whole self-importance of enthusiasts thing. The parks really need us a lot less than most of us like to think.

Quite frankly, just a thimbleful of douchebaggery easily outweighs any benefits we bring collectively. The standard media day does just fine.

The rest for us was just gravy. *snicker*

Nah, it wasn't my intention to point out the importance of enthusiasts. If you knew me better in person, you'd realize my views on enthusiasts are quite the opposite. I usually go to the events to connect with friends more than anything else.

However, I do feel that social media is an extremely powerful advertising tool, and that hundreds of enthusiasts spreading pictures and reviews definitely helps advertise a new attraction. If the park spends say $10-20 on an enthusiast at a media day, and they spread the word to just 1 person and make them want to go (that wouldn't otherwise go), I'd consider it a good business move.

But the main point of my post was...why must a couple douchebags ruin it for all? I totally agree that it happens, but why can't people focus on the overall picture more often? All of my friends and I were very appreciative to be able to attend such events, and we did thank CP and the PR guys. I saw an outpouring of praise and thank-you's on Pointbuzz and other sites as well. I personally thought Banshee and Gatekeeper's media events went really well.

Yet I keep hearing of two negative incidents...the other being the enthusiast that threw a fit that he couldn't wear his MF t-shirt at KI or something silly. I say we need to move on and look at the bigger picture.

Gatekeeper and Banshee were very successful launches, I think their media days were effective, and enthusiasts being able to attend generally went well.

Did they announce the date for the media event for Fury 325?

Not trying to hijack the thread, but was just wondering.

My understanding is that only people who registered for a particular off-season event at Carowinds got an invitation to Media Day.

The media events were fun, and I would love to attend another one, but I guess it wasn't in the cards for me this year. Aside from trying to get votes for "Best Amusement Park," I'm not sure why Cedar Fair kisses up to enthusiasts so much. Most parks charge admission for various events, and do not give away the type of gifts that are given away by Cedar Point. I understand the importance of marketing, but with enthusiasts making up such a minority of guests, I'm not sure if the expense is worth it.

I look forward to riding Rougamantshee when I come back to Ohio in June, and to Coastermania and Holliwood Nights.

And yes, a certain friend did choose not to attend Banshee media day because he was told he couldn't wear what he wished. I don't agree with that friend's attitude towards the event, but since he didn't go, it doesn't matter.

-Sam

This is just like that old saying: "All it takes is one bad apple to ruin everything for enthusiasts at a media event the host park generously invited them to for free even though they don't really do much positive for the park." Or something like that.

In the Fury thread one of our members stated that there is a media day for Fury, but attendance is by invitation only.

And why must a couple of douchbags ruin all the fun for everyone? I don't know, but it's easy to see how they can. As enthusiasts the bigger picture is not for us to look at while we move on- we have nothing to say about it. If I was running an important event like that and if even one invited guest tried to make me look bad or divert my attention from the job at hand, I'd take a hard look at their group and decide if they're worth it in the end.
Media days where thousands of people are invited are expensive to produce and carry risks. There's additional staff, security, food, and the chance that something or someone will get in the way of the true reason for the day, to promote the product to the media.

If glowing reports about a free day posted to social media is the company's reward for their time and trouble, then maybe they've decided it's not worth it and have determined a blanket invitation is a bad idea. After all, by doing so they can concentrate their time and money that day entertaining the people that really matter and know for sure that the enthusiasts, as actual paying customers will show up a few days later with their cameras and their tweets anyway. Why spend 10-20 bucks a head when they can make fifty and still count on those guys to tell at least one other person? Let's not pretend the reason they did it was for the outpouring of thanks from those of us who do know how to act.

All this may apply to Cedar Fair's decisions in regard to media days and it may not. The turn of this thread indicates we've noticed things aren't the same as they were, for whatever reason. But the notion that a park is making a bad business move by excluding most of us from media days is surely not a sound one.

You're missing the shift in advertising and media of our current generation and into the future. News crews and newspaper reporters were far more valuable in 1990 than they are now. I don't watch the news or read newspapers anymore, so those outlets are no longer going to reach me and many of the newer generations (that are the core demographic of amusement parks).

If one of thousands of potential social media seeds gets in the way of the Sandusky Register for a minute, it's not a huge loss. The rest of the seeds being there will be of greater benefit to the newer generations.

I couldn't be more appreciative of being able to attend, but I think it's foolish to think Cedar Fair is inviting us to these events just because they want to be nice and give us stuff. That'd never be a sound business decision.

They're hoping we'll be appreciative and spread positive social media (pictures, reviews, fan websites, forums, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.). They're hoping we'll make a trip out of the event, stay a few days, and buy stuff. They're hoping we'll spread good word of mouth about the park, which will encourage other customers to visit.

I wouldn't have stayed at Kings Island 3 days on opening weekend if there was no Banshee Media Day; I would have waited to visit on a May weekday, when no one was in the park. I wouldn't have bought Fast Lane, a season dining plan, or too many mixed drinks and beers to remember. I wouldn't have met a new friend on media day that resulted in 5+ future trips where I purchased several Fast Lanes and drinks. Maybe I was the exception, but the park was up several hundred dollars because of my invite. I can't speak for the other couple thousand, but the park reaped more than just a glowing report from me.

I have to say that I was surprised at the reach of the GateKeeper and Banshee media events with enthusiasts. Two coworkers, in Orlando no less, asked me about Banshee last year because they had friends who went to the event (not knowing I was there too). That was really unexpected. So yes, I do think there is some value in these kinds of media-enthusiast hybrid events. I was surprised that Carowinds wasn't doing one, but they've had a lot of turnover there in the last two years, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Jeph said:

Yet I keep hearing of two negative incidents...the other being the enthusiast that threw a fit that he couldn't wear his MF t-shirt at KI or something silly.

Oh, I'm familiar with that one. I don't really know the dude, but he's come to plenty of our events over the years. I called him out on Facebook (his rants were all public) for his entitled douchebaggery. He said I was a tool for Cedar Fair. I've been invited (twice) to interview the CEO and maintain a pretty solid network of people in the industry, so if that makes me a tool, so be it.

Jeph said:

You're missing the shift in advertising and media of our current generation and into the future. News crews and newspaper reporters were far more valuable in 1990 than they are now. I don't watch the news or read newspapers anymore, so those outlets are no longer going to reach me and many of the newer generations (that are the core demographic of amusement parks).

Seems to me the biggest mistake here is assuming the 'media' in media day refers to only old media.

And even if it does include 'old' media, those sources have social media presence as well.

The fact remains that neither Rougarou nor Fury 325 seem to be having the 'open invite' type of media day event. I think that speaks to the value/hassle ratio...regardless of how important any of us think it is.

ETA - I slipped this in ahead of Mac's post. His is way more thorough and intelligent than I have the ability to be at 9am. Skip this and read his post.

^^^So you must be Enthusiast of the Year!

It's nice that you were able to visit the park as many times as you did and had the money to spend on passes, hotel nights, meal plans, gasoline, etc. I'm sure there were others at the event who were suddenly prompted into using Kings Island as their number one frequent vacation destination for the rest of the summer. But those people might have numbered, generously, into the teens, not the hundreds and certainly not the thousands.
The reason these couple of Cedar Fair media days were so well attended is because they were free. I can only predict what would happen if the parks opened the events to club members in good standing who were willing to pay 30 bucks to go- I bet we'd see a sharp drop in attendance. And I'd also be curious to know the number of people who, after attending the free event, never bought a pass, never paid for a meal, and never went back.

In my 37 years of being an official enthusiast and attending countless enthusiast events, I've seen it all. Enthusiasts are notoriously cheap, cramming as many as they can into hotel rooms and showing up early for anything and everything that's free, particularly the food. The grand sense of entitlement is not a myth- not only is it evident at events, but in forums like this as well. We've all read the posts from those who raise the question then complain loudly when they discover the entire park won't be open for their enjoyment. Or that the food venues were crowded. Or they missed out on swag. Or that ERT was too short and didn't include the right rides.

I'm more than slightly bemused when I read posts, (entire threads, really) devoted to ways to keep from spending money. There's advice on how to work that meal plan into feeding 4 or 5 people. There's working souvenir cups to everyone's advantage. There's complaints that the free water is in tiny cups, then there's directions to the one stand that doesn't use the tiny cups. Then there's those that expect to share a platinum pass with their friend.

And please, dear CoasterBuzz friends, don't get me wrong. I'm not dogging the entire community and I wouldn't trade my years as a participant for anything. As a result of this hobby and these meetings I've made life long friends and visited places I may not have seen otherwise.

And by the way, I'm not "missing" anything. Any assumption that I'm not personally aware of the power of social media, especially due to some perceived generation gap, is insulting. It's also insulting to the parks and the reporters who I'm very sure not only rely on the archaic print and televised form of communication, but know how to use other forms to reach as many viewers and potential customers as possible. After all, they've been trying to boost (or save) their businesses by conforming to the latest trends for years now.
My point is that the handful of enthusiasts armed with devices are not making or breaking the season for these parks. We can only assume that they know what they're doing, and I suppose there's a slim possibility that they don't, but if we're not invited to the party anymore they've got their good reasons and so be it.

I thought the Gatekeeper media day was ludicrously generous to enthusiasts, to the point of surrealism. It was an amazing thing CP did for us fanboys, and certainly not something I would ever come to expect as some sort of future 'norm'. Those of us who got to go were lucky while it lasted. So it goes.

Absolutely, Mike. Maybe those were the salad days.

And after further consideration I'm going to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and guess the parks have simply decided to save the money. They're keeping these events smaller and focused. They've invited enough non- media participants to keep trains filled with happy, enthusiastic riders when necessary, and that's all that's necessary.

Gone from my head (if it was ever there to begin with) is the unfair notion that the misconduct of a few individuals has led parks everywhere to drop us from the list.

Gatekeeper media day, and also I think Gemini Midway media day, were over the top generous as to what was offered in the way of rides, food and gifts. I'm not at all surprised that after dealing with entitled, ungrateful "enthusiasts" that Cedar Point has decided to make media day for only media. I could never understand how certain people, who supposedly are doing something they love, are so full of complaints and lack of gratitude when they get something special that the majority of guests do not. I wonder how certain people can even have fun at parks when they seem to have so much negativity in them.

It's laughable that some people think they are special because they like riding coasters often and know what a trim brake is. And then they group other guests as the "GP", like they are the elite and the "GP" is somehow inferior. Sorry, put me in with the "GP" any day. The people I hang with all summer buy food and drinks, enjoy cocktails at the bar at sunset, appreciate that the ride operator "stapled" them in to ensure safety and find enjoyment in being at such a beautiful place. Much nicer than nitpicking on everything and spending your day trying to figure out how to get the maximum number of rides in while being as cheap as humanly possible.