The new "YourDay" - gone and replaced by "Resort Box Office"

General discussion regarding the UK's No.1 Theme Park. Talk about anything and everything Alton Towers here.
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Jon
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It was all a bit touch and go with the YourDay product for a while, as the company went bust. For those who don't know, Alton Towers then used the equipment they left behind to sandwich together their own product. Anyway, just looking through YouTube and found a recent upload of what I guess is the latest rehash of the old product.

Click!

A lot of it is the same as the old version, but there has been some updates. Stock footage which is too revealing has been taken out (i.e., the Corkscrew) and bits of new stuff has been added (Skyride, CCL) . In many places this works quite well; they've obviously done quite a lot of footage around Rita and Spinball to make the new look of the rides fit with the old stock footage.

Some things about the video are really strange, however.

- They've taken out the little ride statistics that introduced each video, but kept the audio, so you get a strange frozen effect. They were silly to begin with, but don't just leave the strange sound there!
- The whole transition to the Oblivion video is crazy. Why have they put such an awful logo there?
- Why on earth is there no stock footage of Th13teen, given that they have filmed new stuff around Rita anyway? Surely that would have made sense - it seems so odd that it was omitted when they went to the trouble of rediting it anyway.
- Where are the water rides? They've disappeared!

The video just made me a little confused. I mean, YourDay was massively flawed to begin with, but the product always looked fairly polished. I know Alton have adapted and utilised what they were left with, but they could at least make it look finished. It's a fairly expensive momento, and guests don't want to feel as if they have bought a work-in-progress, surely.

Because there's some really good bits of new editing, the main thing that baffles me is that effort has obviously gone into the video - why then are there still stupid blunders?


Team Edit:

YourDay/Alton Towers Resort DVD has now left the resort and has been replaced by a new retail offering. Discussion about this starts on Page 3.
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Jordan

[quote=""Jon""]It was all a bit touch and go with the YourDay product for a while, as the company went bust. For those who don't know, Alton Towers then used the equipment they left behind to sandwich together their own product.[/quote]

Alton didn't take over the running of YourDay - it looks like the company behind YourDay went insolvent and rebranded under a new company name with the same directors - see the research I did into this a few months ago. :)
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Sam
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My main problem with YourGay is and always has been the TINY amount of footage that it shows of you in the park. Probably less than 1% of the video has you in it, and even then it's just boring footage of you on a lifthill (I hear this is down to a dispute with PicSolve - sort it out!)

To improve it:
  • Night-vision footage inside Th13teen's crypt of the drop
  • Oblivion's on-board cameras to be used for YourGay
  • A couple of cameras around the rapids course, filming your boat on some of the rougher sections
  • A camera somewhere on the Flume and Battle Galleons
  • Many more cameras scattered throughout the park of you walking around
  • Onboard cameras on Ripsaw
  • A couple of cameras on Charlie and Duel
  • Two cameras on Blade in the middle of the boat, filming the two ends
On the Rita footage at 00:52 on the above video, have they photoshopped in extra trees? :?
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James
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The one thing that has never interested me in purchasing YourDay/Alton Towers Resort DVD is the fact that it relies to much on stock footage. Whilst I do love the stock footage(they may as well just make a DVD with the stock footage, there are some great shots there) it's about you being on a DVD showing your day out.

There does seem to be a few editing issues with the new DVDs, but this is most likely due to the way the old videos and pieces of audio were organized on the DVDs. Parts of it gel well brilliantly but other parts seem too sharpe and there seem to be jumps at parts from one clip to another.

I know the system cost a lot to install but it could do with some serious updating to get more footage of a guest on a day out, but then it depends how much Alton make from this system and if it's worth putting money in to update in the first place.
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NickT04
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Poor horse. How many times has it been flogged now?
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Adam
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Worst editing ever!

Whoever edited that piece of crap together should be ashamed! It has no consistency and doesn't seem to follow any strict guide. The old one did!

Very poor show indeed!
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thefatone
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It is an awful system. Wonder how long it'll be until it goes altogether - it's well gone past its sell-by date ;)

If I bought that, oh god.. that's not even worth a fiver in my opinion! The bits which do have you are so poor quality, plus seeing entire train, when i'd rather just see... me..
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dominoes
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They should do the Saw/Oblivion technique on more rides, becuase that would be amazing on Rita, Sonic Spinball and Th13teen...
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NickT04
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The only way on ride videos would be attractive to me was if they were like SAW and how Oblivion was set up on a few shuttles last year. Until then it's just going to continually fall on it's arse.
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ShadowTD
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Hi! *waves*

<- Notice the username ;)

The water rides aren't on the DVD because we didn't go on any. To be honest, I'd never normally bother with a DVD but we had a friend visiting from France and we wanted a special memento of her visit.

Yes, the editing is a bit ropey in places, but I think it's better VFM now than it was (£15 for a full dvd, or a tenner for a single ride). I was really chuffed with the Oblivion footage (you can see most of us with our arms up on the drop).

The shop was quite busy at the end of the day. I reckon they might actually start to make a few quid off it now.

Also, apparently the cameras were removed from Blivvy because people kept kicking them and knocking them out of alignment. Shame :(
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Jon
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Ahh, hello! Hope you don't mind me using your video as an example.

I always thought that, even if you didn't go on a certain ride, the stock footage is there anyway so you can see the whole park? That was all!

It's a nice momento, especially if you are going to share it between the group. I'm considering getting one myself next time I go, as it will be the last time I go for a while before all my friendship group splits off to various unis. I just found it bewildering that they'e gone to the effort to update some bits and make them look really good, and leave other bits looking a bit naff!
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Thom
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Maybe they aren't operating it on the water rides anymore?

They were the last two rides (out of the original 8 ) to be added to the system and even then, from what I heard, they were very unreliable due to the varying times it takes for boats to go round compared to coaster trains and also the longer ride time, making it even harder to guess when to record from a certain camera.

IIRC, for the Rapids they stuck some sort of identification sticker onto each boat for the cameras along the ride to see and identify your boat and record it. I can't imagine they'd ever get that working often.

Regarding the original (2007) stock footage, wasn't it done by a special company other than AT/YourDay? I'm trying to think of their name but can't quite remember it. I'm surprised Alton didn't get them back to update it, they've certainly made good use of their original footage with the Monorail videos.

Thom
djtruefitt

I think the overall idea is great and the general footage is fine, there just needs to be more of "Your day!" More onride videos would be good, but I imagine they would be costly to set up, eg adding loads of cameras on each train on nemesis, air, thirteen, etc wouldnt come cheap, plus like someone mentioned above if people kick them or knock them they wont film correctly.

Hopefully the system is making some money and overtime they will add more rides and more footage of the people who are paying for it. Also some more cameras around the park would be good and surely fairly cheap to install.
Big Dave

Im sticking with my original thoughts on this. The whole idea is flawed and will never ever work right. The timing on air for example has gone out of sync with the ride from that video and some of the stock footage seems rubbish. The actual footage of you is often of very poor quality and only last a few seconds.

Why on earth they didnt just flog the equipment off and get it over with I do not know as Im sorry but its a load of gash that I dont think I have ever thought about buying in all the time its been there.

A product that isnt needed, is poor quality and hard to maintain... YES! I will have two of those at my park! :x :roll:
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NickT04
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Well my mate bought one of these last Friday. Whilst cleaning the car out today I found he had left the DVD in the back of the passenger seat, so I thought I would have a watch before handing it back to him. (Part of me wishes it was still there after watching.)

I've whinged about this without seeing it before, and well I'm glad every bad word I have said about it has been true.

It is awful.

There's an awfully edited piece of stock footage overlooking a lake with the skyride, the end of the opening stock footage just ends apruptly and the POV camera on Nemesis? The lens isn't even clean!

The footage of you walking around the park is neat I have to admit, but the on ride stuff (i.e - the point of the DVD) is a complete waste of time. My mate only had Blivy, Nemmy and The Flume on it but...

Firstly whilst the first bit of you on the lift "flat" on Blivvy is ok, but hardly thrilling footage, I must admit to liking the footage as you hang over the edge, but again it's that far away and hazy it ruins it a tad. And the final footage as you get onto the brakes - if your sat on the far right of the shuttle don't blink as you'll miss your appearance!

Nemesis, again what was the point. Three different views of you going up the lift hill, and then a dirty POV stock footage, and the one view of you on the brakes. Bare in mind my friend only had three rides on.. that cost him £5...

And then the Flume, just how far away is that camera for the final drop?! The first lift hill footage is alright, nothing special and then the final part as you float around to the station - almost close to a decent piece of footage - but they miss the point as you go under the showers... which would surely be better footage! Saying that they probably knew the showers wouldn't work all the time.

To me the actual product they are selling is nothing more than extra footage they could put onto a proper DVD as bonus footage.

It should be like rallying - here's your onboard video with a few extra external shots thrown in for a few quid more.

Full on ride videos in HD and the current offering added as bonus footage for a £5 - then you might have a winner.

As it stands it's woefully executed and overpriced. But then that fits the current park ethos like a glove.
ATJakee96

No offence to Alton but the your day is pretty awful.
If you peel off the alton towers logo on the arm transmitter thing then underneath they have the yourday sticker we found quite amusing. Me and a friend payed for the ATR DVD, my friend payed full price £15 for 5 rides and I payed £5 for the same as him which was good, but once I watched it I was disappointed. Most of the DVD is stock video and it only shows you at the start of attractions and at the end (bear in mind the speed your going at on Nemmie :D) But I would much prefer to pay for a Saw the ride video recording as it shows you the whole ride experience, just seems so much better as a souvenir in my eyes.

Why have they taken the on ride recorder off oblivion? They were on in feb half term , now they seem to have dissapeared STRANGE.
Last edited by ATJakee96 on Tue May 03, 2011 10:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
djtruefitt

Last year I never saw the Oblivion onride video working once. So maybe there was technical problems or people just didnt buy them? I would love onride videos on all the major rides (where its possible), they look so much better than Yourday, seeing the ones on Saw at Thorpe looked really cool.
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twifan
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Hi. what rides are included in the 'YourDay' DVD ?
Last edited by twifan on Fri May 06, 2011 11:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Pennywise
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[quote=""twifan""]hi ... wot rides are included in the 'YOUR DAY' dvd ?[/quote]

Air, Nemesis, Sonic Spinball, Oblivion, Congo River Rapids, The Flume, Rita... and that's all (to my knowledge). There will also be some clips added of you walking around the park, if your wristband activates any of the cameras around the park.

:)
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twifan
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[quote=""D4n""][quote=""twifan""]hi ... wot rides are included in the 'YOUR DAY' dvd ?[/quote]

Air, Nemesis, Sonic Spinball, Oblivion, Congo River Rapids, The Flume, Rita... and that's all (to my knowledge). There will also be some clips added of you walking around the park, if your wristband activates any of the cameras around the park.

:)[/quote]



Thanks. It's been a couple of years since I got the last one (corkscrews last year), just wondered if they had any more on. :D
Last edited by twifan on Fri May 06, 2011 11:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
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