Alton Towers Marketing/PR Stunts Topic

[James]

Personally I think this is a great stunt, many little jokes in there too.

[quote=""Chris""]

This is the moment a stuntman dangled head-first from the tracks of a roller-coaster in honour of the legendary Harry Houdini, who would have been 137 tomorrow.

Daring Rob Roy Collins, 33, successfully escaped from a straitjacket while suspended 60ft (18.3m) in the air.

Crowds gathered to watch as Mr Collins was suspended by his ankles from the tracks of the RITA roller-coaster at Alton Towers Resort, Staffs. - which reopens for the summer season this Saturday.

Daredevil Mr Collins, who has performed death-defying stunts around the world, even beat Houdini's record after he freed himself in just one minute and 53 seconds.

Speaking after his stunt, Mr Collins said: 'It was a thrilling and terrifying experience - just like the best kind of rollercoaster.

'I've been doing escapology and street-performing for 10 years but I've never done anything as mad as this before.

'To practice, I've been standing upside to get used to the blood rushing to my head. But nothing can prepare you for the real thing.

'After the engineers had set-up the rig at the top of the roller-coaster, I was pulled up by my feet and just watched the onlookers get smaller and smaller.

'By the time I had reached the top, I was thinking, "What am I doing here? This is crazy".'

[/quote]
I've highlighted the jokes that have been made.

- The way they've worded the Harry Houdini sentence, to make it sound serious as if he could have been 137 tomorrow.
- Clearly there are no crowds gathered, yet again another joke.
- The last bit in bold is another crowd joke. "Watched the onlookers get smaller and smaller", as can be seen in the photographs there are no onlookers so that ties in with the joke.

Nice to see the marketing team are getting back into jokes again. Hopefully we'll see a few more of these weird and wonderful stunts throughout the year.

As I've said previously at the end of the day people will not care about what the marketing stunt is about(in this case, a man dangling from a ride). They'll see "Alton Towers" and "Rita rollercoaster" and want to make a trip to Alton. Since Rita is one of the most popular rides with the public it makes sense to use that in the stunt and not Nemesis, as while we still think it's a great coaster the marketing team don't feel the same way.

[captain]

[quote=""James""]I've highlighted the jokes that have been made.

- The way they've worded the Harry Houdini sentence, to make it sound serious as if he could have been 137 tomorrow.
- Clearly there are no crowds gathered, yet again another joke.
- The last bit in bold is another crowd joke. "Watched the onlookers get smaller and smaller", as can be seen in the photographs there are no onlookers so that ties in with the joke.[/quote]
Thanks James. I was having difficulty with the article before, but it's all clear now.

[Wes]

I don't think there is any joke with the crowds comment - Just the journalist writing trying to make it seem more interesting than it actually was.

[SIMR]

There's a video of the [s:2n880s2m]cattlepen[/s:2n880s2m] escapist here: [url=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;][/url]

[Nerdsticks]

I really doubt it's joking, you can hardly tell if theres jokes in that article at all... People saying things like "This is a great stunt it mentions alton towers and the rita roller coaster!". That would be good, if they didn't show the dead cattlepen queueline ( ) for Th13teen and if they made the place look actually foresty.. It makes the place look run down...

Also I like the 'screams' they added in on the video for the cattlepen escapist :P

[siralgenon]

What an awfull photo #-o It looks like a construction site. Sometimes I think we should take over the resort and have a go ourselves

The only reason I can think of them using Rita for is that its the highest ride that goes over pathways.

[Voke]

I did a quick spot check on the video out of curiosity and found that there is infact people on Rita, when it's being filmed. Could this have been a private hire of the ride, just for this stunt, or was it stock footage from the main season?

[djtruefitt]

It could easily have been a few people from the Alton towers staff team or indeed the marketing team. Watching the video it seems so weird with how quiet the park is with just the noise of birds tweeting, so I dont think anyone would have been in the park at the time or hireing rides out.

[Tom G]

There's no jokes in this article, it's just the Daily Mail being spoon fed content without apply common sense to it. I'm surprised they didn't veer off onto how the Lib Dems were to blame for something to do with this.

[fredward]

can I be bold enough to say that video was quite boring... I mean at least add some dramatic music,

[Big Dave]

A little like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PoTHDPMr0A

[PeteB]

I'm quite amused at how many people in this topic are trying to take it seriously. It IS only mean't to be a little bit of light relief, aimed at generating some interest in the park. So it's a load of bollocks, who cares?

[Adam]

At least it's one of their better ones. And at least this one actually took place!

I still don't quite understand why it wasn't done on Th13teen though! If Morwenna was still at the resort, mr magic man would have been dangling from Th13teen not Rita. No doubt!

[AstroDan]

Bah! th13teen queue hasn't yet been painted. More graffiti! I hope they have done it since.

[Big Dave]

Yeah does seem odd, but maybe its to do with access to the ride and general safety.

[Adam]

They could even have done it hanging from the Corkscrews! Yeah it's not as high but would have looked more impressive on film!

[DiogoJ42]

As crap as this is, at least it's a positive press release! They aren't trying to ban something! /

[djtruefitt]

I imagine the only reason Rita was chosen is because its the only coaster you can get under it easily, nemesis would be reall hard to get someone off and hard to film it or/take photos, and the same goes for air as most of it is abover grass, however there is alot of rita above the queue line which makes it easior to lift the person up onto it and to take photos/videos, etc.

[Alton Buzz]

The funny coincidence with this Houdini stunt is when it said it was to commenerate Houdini's 137th birthday I instantly thought thats the random sort of thing Google would would celebrate. And sure enough, they did! I must have had a premonition!

[Sam]

[quote=""Daily Mail"]How do you say 'hold on tight' in Spanish? Katie Price takes Argentinian boyfriend Leandro - and a translator - to theme park

With her speaking no Spanish and him barely managing a few words of English, it's a wonder how Katie Price and her Argentinian lover have managed to communicate.

Until she had the bright idea of hiring a translator, which although not very romantic, is certainly practical for every day conversation.

However, the Spanish lady came in handy today when Katie took her along with her and Leandro on a trip to a theme park this weekend.

Ay dios mio! Katie Price and Leandro scream as they stare down the 80ft drop at the top of the Oblivion ride at Alton Towers today

And so she didn't struggle with phrases such as 'does this ride look to scary/' or 'it's a bit too fast for me', the translator was on hand to help out.

According to onlookers, the Spanish lady Katie had hired was tied to the couple all day.

One said she had clearly trained her against talking to the press because anytime anyone approached the couple, the translator would step in with a firm 'no'.

Katie, Leandro and a couple of her friends arrived at the theme park in Staffordshire on Saturday evening and took over five rooms in the resort's hotel.

They met up with Katie's friend Danielle Lloyd, who was also a guest at the opening weekend along with actress Tina O'Brien.

The next day they hit the theme park as Britain's Greatest Escape opened its gates to the public after the winter break.

The couple went on the Sonic Spinball, the first ride that greets visitors on entering the park, but their bored looks said it all as they headed off for something more thrilling in the shape of Oblivion - the world's first vertical drop roller coaster.

'I wanted to kill myself': Alex Reid says Katie Price made him ponder suicide - as she says he was 'biggest mistake of my life'

The couple and their friends were later seen enjoying themselves on some of the fairground games dotted around the park.

And according to one witness, as Katie tried the Plate Smasher game, her friends egged her on telling her to imagine ex-husband Peter Andre's face was on it.

Katie is a big fan of the theme park and has also been seen there with estranged husband Alex Reid at the height of their romance.

He, however, declined to go on Oblivion and stuck to screaming on Th13teen, a ride which he promoted when it opened last March.

It was little surprise Katie wanted to get away this weekend having found herself the subject of several headlines in regard to her new beau and her divorce battle with Reid.

Today, an ex-girlfriend of Leandro spoke out and said he had left her after she had given birth to their daughter Sophia, now three-years-old.

And Romina Brizzo also warned Katie that the male model was only interested in her for her fame and fortune and is using her to become a celebrity.

Speaking to the News of the World, Brizzo, 25, said: Leo loves to date wealthy girls. Jordan is no different. She is just another stupid rich girl who has fallen for his charms. He looks innocent but he isn't.'

But he hit out at her accusations and told the paper: 'I've no wish to get into a slanging match with the mother of the child I love very much.'[/quote]
Nice to see Alton Towers has got a new ride with massive throughputs for once...