Wyandot Lake commericials: Lies, lies

A little exaggeration in commercials is OK, but IMO Wyandot Lake's new Fright Fest ads take it too far.

For one, the entire commercial shows several different coasters, of which WL has none of.  There is much POV footage of Arrow looping track and Vekoma SLC, and at the end of the commercial there is a long shot of an SLC in the distance.

In addition, the voice-over says something like, "How do you like your fear?  On steel rails?...." 

For those who don't know, WL's only coaster is a junior (30 ft.) wooden coaster.

What do you think?  Is this taking it a step too far?

It's not just Wyandot Lake.. its EVERY park owned by Six Flags... [well, is 90% of the cases...]

Wow... that's pretty bad. I would agree that's going too far.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"
Watch the grass grow!

I wonder if the ad's include any disclaimers or small print.  Something that says 'rides may not be representative of actual rides at the park' or something silly like that.  Is SF just making one generic comercial and using it for all of the parks?

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Bob M.

the great escapes fright fest commercials havent been that bad, they just feature the nightmare and boomerang. but there haunted house is pathetic

Yeah, it looks pretty exagerated.
I wish they would build a Boomerang!

Well, in reality a wood coaster rides on steel rails but that is a pretty significant exageration.

Of course, the target audience of Wyandotte Lake knows that the park is a water park with some rides, not the other way around.

wahoo skipper beat me to it. I was going to make the steel rail comment, grrrr.

Seriously though, if you owned as many properties as Six Flags does, would you attempt to make that many different commercials for the same event? (fright fest) I know the SFMM (and maybe for SFoG and SFGAm) one is different because it features Deja Vu. (it also shows an SLC and an Impulse on it, but again, who cares?) Non-enthusiasts would never be able to tell if the ride shown on screen is at their local park or not. The rides are only flashed on screen for a few seconds.

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"X" marks the spot in 2001!

A non-enthusisast may not be able to tell the difference between Goliath and Nitro, but they can certainly tell if a park has a looping steel coaster or if it doesn't.  I can accept Six Flags using one steel coaster to represent another, but not showing coaster types that a park doesn't have at all...especially in the case of Wyandot Lake, which is barely a park at all.

I agree. Sure, the local SFWoA spots don't use rides from the park, but who cares? I know they're representative of the kinds of rides I'll find there. In the Wyandot example, this just isn't the case.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"
Watch the grass grow!

Den mentions that WL is "barely a park at all." What better reason to use recycled footage? If a park is barely a park, (Den's words not mine) why go that extra expensive mile to make the custom commercial? You just answered your own question, Den.

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"X" marks the spot in 2001!

Not really...

While the park may not warrant its own specifically-designed commercial, there is such a thing as false advertising.

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Matt Lynch
Co-Webmaster : Kennywood Boulevard

I'm still trying to count "over 60 rides and attractions" that I saw Wyandot Lake advertise once. Even being very generous, I still can't quite make it up to 60.

In all fairness, Wyandot Lake's Fright Fest isn't bad considering the diminutive size of the place. Price isn't too bad either in comparison to other local Halloween attractions.

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everything's better with a banjo

I see that ALL the time here in Columbus. Yeah, they take it to far, Wyandot Lake's Fright Fest is pretty sad IMO.

If you count all the games in the arcade you might come up with "60 rides and attractions". If I recall properly, Wyandot Lake  was previously known as " Gooding's Zoo Amusements". It was near the Gooding Amusement Co.'s winter quarters. They would rotate rides off the various carnival units though the park. (At one time Mr. Gooding had twelve units on the road!) It was a good place to break in a new attraction before hitting the road.

How do we know they don't have an Arrow? Haven't been there in awhile! Let's see, I think I can see it from my window.......nope nothing yet. :(

Oh, and give John Allen's first design some credit! It is 35 feet high!
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Moxie: Not quite Cola, not quite Root Beer, not quite Asphalt!
www.angelfire.com/oh4/tk173

I saw that comercial like 20 mins ago and I was like WTF! That is so weak that they show all that stuff and it's not there. Isn't that like aginst the law? (false advertising)

W.L. is just sad IMO. The coaster there isn't even exciting if your little.

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