Tatsu opens with celebrities at Six Flags Magic Mountain

I'm with RGB, who are these people?

I must be gettin old...;)

So, I'm not the only one that's tired of hearing about what Paris Hilton is doing. You'd never know it by the way they follow her in the gossip rags.

The press force feeds us Paris, probably to try and distract us from the more important things going on in the world.

Paris Hilton

Brad/Angelina/Jennifer

Britney Spears

American Idol

This is our culture now. What the hell has happened?!

Agreed, Word. And here I was thinking I was the only one on here who knew who Taylor Hawkins was! (And you oughta know if you don't already! ;))

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So while some parks open their new rides by auctioning off first rides for charity, this park wines and dines a bunch of people who can afford it and puts them on the ride for free.

Well done, Six Flags. Real classy. That's why I hate Hollywood.

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Ha. It's all about getting the new ride out there in the paper, tabloids, whatever that will generate free press. Magic Mountain is fortunate enough to be in an area where celebrities flourish, and whether you and I like them or not, the fact is that nation is obsessed with them. And for the park to have a photograph of someone like Shannon Elizabeth or Jessica Alba (they attended the event) riding the new roller coaster, paired with all the new radio and TV ads, there's not much more a park could do to boost the word of mouth phenomenon about the ride. No matter how "unclassy" you think of it really has zero importance in it. It's a business move for the benefit of advertisement, I'm sure you know that Jeff.

Parks elsewhere attempt to draw attention to a new ride with these "charity drives," because that's the only news worthy way of making headlines. And really, after so many parks doing this for years, it really doesn't cut it to make the news and draw attention anymore. Sure, you could say that some parks doing these charity things is being really generous and caring, but that's the image they're trying to sell. They're selling empathy, but the core of it is that they're really promoting the new attraction. I'm sure if the opportunity was readily available, some parks out in Ohio, Louiseville, Austell would jump at the opportunity of hosting a celebrity preview event to generate media attention, but honestly, I don't see celebrities being "okay" with flying out to some "random state in the middle of nowhere" (as they would see it) to do that.

*** This post was edited by kRaXLeRidAh 5/15/2006 6:01:50 PM ***

I'm all for having the celebs there... but get their asses to pay up for some kind of worthy cause. If middle class people can spend a couple hundred bucks to ride at a private event a couple of times, then people banking millions should have no problem.

Again, it's the precedent that others in the industry have set, and it's a standard by which they're judged. The Holiday World story was picked up by AP and appeared in papers all over the country, well beyond the park's market.

Google News "tatsu" and "voyage coaster" and you'll see that Paula Werne is more powerful than Hollywood.

The event was actually Joe Francis' birthday celebration. Joe Francis paid for the event, that's what the PRNewswire article failed to mention. Yes, there was a red carpet, good food and drinks, but that came out of Francis' wallet. Like DWeaver said, "Don't think the red carpet was rolled out without some big wig buying out the park." :)

I agree with you Jeff, and in all fairness SFMM has done charity auctions and a number of food drives for charity before. But I think people are getting the wrong impression from this poorly written article. It's not like SF has a bunch of celebs on speed dial and able to invite them to their new coaster opening at will, that's just silly.

There was a private party thrown by the "girls gone wild" guy. It was a birthday party. Other celebs were invited and SFMM's PR used it as an opportunity to get more publicity for the coaster. It's just not that interesting.

I don't blame the park one bit for capitalizing on the event.*** This post was edited by DWeaver 5/15/2006 6:53:05 PM ***

I agree with jeff. But what I want to know is if that talentless skank got off the coaster and said "Thats hot!"

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Google News "tatsu" and "voyage coaster" and you'll see that Paula Werne is more powerful than Hollywood.

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Which Google News search engine were you using Jeff? I actually got the complete opposite results. :)

This is the smartest thing I have seen Six Flags do since they bought the world's first inverted coaster.

Tatsu
voyage coaster

It doesn't really matter to me who paid for the event, as they're still using it to market the ride and the park.

Is this a contest to see who's "right"? Cause we'll get nowhere with that. It's just personal opinions right?

Ultimately, Six Flags should promote their new coaster in any way they see fit. They spent 20 million dollars on the darn thing. For that kind of money, I'd want Oprah's fat ass on my coaster as well...;)

*** This post was edited by DWeaver 5/15/2006 9:09:05 PM ***

If you want free press with results, you are supposed to invite Jerry Springer to the event. Guaranteed positive results. :)

If some poor schlub gets hit in the face with a goose, I feel sorry for him.

When it's Fabio, it raises a chuckle.

Load 'em in the front seat and let it roll. :)

LOL! I forgot about the Fabio thing... Which reminds me, during an early morning front seat ride on the dragon, a bird few right by our car. Talk about the sensation of flying! ;)

Paris Hilton? I thought Six Flags had a rule about loose articles on these flying coasters. Bad taste I know, but worth a good laugh!

Ok that was good... ;)

REAL good!

One of the best I've heard in a long long time! :)