Disappointed by ride advertisement?

[DMann1979]

As a child of the 80's (born in 1979) some of my earliest memories were of new ride advertisement for Kings Island, both TV and radio. I disntinctly recall ads in 1985 promoting White Water Canyon, 1986 promoting the flats added to Coney Mall (Skylab, Zephyr and new Dodgems) and 1987 and Vortex. Cut to 1988 and I remember the promotion for the then Amazon Falls. I was thinking it was going to be another rapids type ride like WWC, the ads made it seem like you'd be travelling deep into the "jungle" before the big drop. Imagine my disappointment when I go to the park and see the ride is just go up a hill, turn 180 degrees and then drop down. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Congo Falls for exactly what it is but 9 year old me could only think "That's It!?!"

 

Do you have any memories of rides you thought were going to be way different than they were based on the ads for them?

[King Ding Dong]

Mystic Timbers 

[AnyPancakes]

Just now, King Ding Dong said:

Mystic Timbers 

What’s i the shed?????  Some projectors. Yay. The end of the Adventure Express is way scarier. “You must pay”

[funpark]

1 hour ago, DMann1979 said:

As a child of the 80's (born in 1979) some of my earliest memories were of new ride advertisement for Kings Island, both TV and radio. I disntinctly recall ads in 1985 promoting White Water Canyon, 1986 promoting the flats added to Coney Mall (Skylab, Zephyr and new Dodgems) and 1987 and Vortex. Cut to 1988 and I remember the promotion for the then Amazon Falls. I was thinking it was going to be another rapids type ride like WWC, the ads made it seem like you'd be travelling deep into the "jungle" before the big drop. Imagine my disappointment when I go to the park and see the ride is just go up a hill, turn 180 degrees and then drop down. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Congo Falls for exactly what it is but 9 year old me could only think "That's It!?!"

 

Do you have any memories of rides you thought were going to be way different than they were based on the ads for them?

I had the same reaction when I first saw Amazon Falls. The radio Ad made it sound like a huge water ride.

[silver2005]

Probably Backlot, i.e. Italian Job Stunt Track.  Didn't have a lot of the features it was advertised to have (drifting cars, rumbling down the 'stairs', on-board audio was lackluster, painted black instead of yellow).  

[Honorarius]

What do you expect them to say, 'Come ride this ride, it's not that great???'

[Gannersdaddy]

45 minutes ago, AnyPancakes said:

What’s i the shed?????  Some projectors. Yay. The end of the Adventure Express is way scarier. “You must pay”

As rough as it has been this year, at the end of the ride, I did "pay".  LOL 

 

[King Ding Dong]

41 minutes ago, Honorarius said:

What do you expect them to say, 'Come ride this ride, it's not that great???'

How about: “What’s in the water?”

[DMann1979]

1 hour ago, Honorarius said:

What do you expect them to say, 'Come ride this ride, it's not that great???'

Nah, it's just how our imaginations + clever advertising can sometimes create a ride in our minds that reality doesn't live up to lol.

[Thrill_Biscuit]

The "fly" commercials when X-Flight came to town. Did I say X-Flight? I meant "Firehawk."  "Experience the feel of flying." The experience turned out to be more "feel like you're constantly about to be tossed headlong out of a rubber water bladder!"

[BoddaH1994]

7 hours ago, silver2005 said:

Probably Backlot, i.e. Italian Job Stunt Track.  Didn't have a lot of the features it was advertised to have (drifting cars, rumbling down the 'stairs', on-board audio was lackluster, painted black instead of yellow).  

Backlot turned out nothing like the animation. When it opened it was cool enough to be passable... for a few days.

If you rode it before the park went daily you had the head lights, tail lights, fog, audio, and more. The experience was not what we had been sold, but was still cool and unique.

A few days later none of those features worked. Then we had a weak coaster and no Flying Eagles.

[silver2005]

^I used the gold pass tickets to skip the line on it a TON the year it opened. 

[BoddaH1994]

For those too young to remember:

https://youtu.be/MtCEAL8nb5Q

[BeeastFarmer]

The landscaping in the animation is much nicer than what we have with the Junkyard Stunt Coaster.

[MDMC01]

So, I was actually at the announcement for IJ:ST and I was dissapointed when I saw the above video as I wanted the new coaster to be an invert. I remember riding it for the first time and it wasn't terrible. For some reason, I've been riding Backlot more than usual this season...

And more directly related to the OP, Mystic's shed. The ride was (and still is) fantastic, but after the shed, I was like "that's it?" due it not living up to all the hype. 

Finally, do you all think "Ride into the unknown" (a tagline used for Mystic Timbers its opening year) would have been a better hastag than #whatsintheshed? 

 

[silver2005]

I was the one who had to watch Antique Cars get dismantled all season during 2004.  Worked at RT Potato Works that summer, and it was heartbreaking and smelly to watch (one day they hit a sewer line that covered CM, RT and part of IS in a funky smell).  

[Honorarius]

^^^ I bet that was great for business...

[Italian Job 2005]

Oh, 100% agree with the "disappointment" feeling. Especially since graphics have gotten so good. Was especially turned off by this Mystic Timbers advert:

Especially since I had already ridden the ride before I saw it. But then I saw it, and was like "sooo it actually doesn't have working headlights, fog, OR working shed doors, all of which would make the ride 10x more immersive."

 

[PhantomTheater]

On 7/3/2018 at 10:28 PM, BoddaH1994 said:

For those too young to remember:

https://youtu.be/MtCEAL8nb5Q

 

You didn't post the full version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZn6NzQXOJo

 

[teenageninja]

On 7/3/2018 at 10:28 PM, BoddaH1994 said:

For those too young to remember:

https://youtu.be/MtCEAL8nb5Q

I'm not sure what was worse, the actual delivery of the ride, or the fact I had to spend like 4 straight weekends baking in the sun, blocking off the pathway on the West side of the ride telling people they had to go around.

[BeeastFarmer]

9 hours ago, PhantomTheater said:

You didn't post the full version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZn6NzQXOJo

 

This and the TR:TR teasers are an absolute blast.  Might even be considered FUN.

[Gordon Bombay]

On 7/3/2018 at 2:27 PM, silver2005 said:

Probably Backlot, i.e. Italian Job Stunt Track.  Didn't have a lot of the features it was advertised to have (drifting cars, rumbling down the 'stairs', on-board audio was lackluster, painted black instead of yellow).  

The sad thing was... it did have a lot of those features, they were just horribly executed and later "removed." 

• The "stair rumble" never quite got the point across. The section of the ride that is "a stairway" was so brief and so lightly themed, that you hardly have any idea that it's supposed to reflect descending down the subway stairs like in the film. When the "rumble" worked, it was simply just a slight vibration down that particular, small, spot of track. If you had never seen the movie or the ride's conceptual promo video, you'd probably just assume that section of track was "rough." It never translated well. 

• As for the "drifting cars," the infrastructure was there, but the effect you'd always feel was incredibly minimal. For one thing, the ride isn't very long so the section of "drifting" is over rather briefly. The cars also hardly drifted. Shortly after, you could look at the back of the vehicle chasis and see where the springs were and how the car was modified to not sway anymore, not matter how slightly it ever did. 

• The on-board audio: wow, this was always bad. Even on good days when the queue line audio worked and synced up properly with dispatching trains, it played so softly in the cars that you'd hardly hear it. For what seemed like years, the "outside" audio of police sires wailing seemed to switch on and off. Occasionally speakers beneath the cop cars made noise, occasionally they wouldn't. I think the only audio that's worked consistently is the helicopter/explosion scene. If I recall, the on board audio system was supposed to be re-charged during the loading process via a system below the vehicles and on the track. It apparently was troublesome.

• The splash down: always loved that the "splash" scene wasn't actually a splash, but two pumps that sprayed water up after absolutely no attempt was made to hide this fact. They worked for awhile, disappeared at some point. In 2009 and 2010 it took months before water was even returned to the "aqueduct."

• Yellow track: I remember the very first KIC event I ever attended was in early 2005 during an IJ:ST construction tour. Jeff Seibert mentioned that they had decided on changing the track from yellow to gray to make it seem like more of a "roadway." Ultimately, it doesn't look great, but imagine that bright yellow track after a few seasons of summer sun with ware and tear.

• Lights on the cars: at one point, probably long gone now, the cars had headlights that made the tunnel look cool. 

• EDIT: I forgot about the fog! Right before you entered the tunnel, one poorly hidden, obvious nozzle would spray fog from the right hand side. It was hardly ever noticed.

Sorry for the rant, Backlot Stunt Coaster was such an interesting ride that never came close to meeting its full potential. It was like an "abstract" themed attraction. Yeah, it had decoration, but everything seemed so cheap and minimal, like a high school art student arguing for using less supplies when really he waited to do his project at the last minute. I was 15 when the announcement video came out and so excited, only to find out that the announcement video had several angles of the same sections of ride that made it appear much bigger and longer than the ride would actually be. I remember trying to create a ride in RCT3 based off that video, so excited for what I thought was coming. 

The final product: ugh. And they built two more!

In the end, Backlot's a good, little ride that works for both kids and adults, a nice intermediate attraction. I had a lot of fun working that ride back in the day, but man it was promised to be so much more. Wasn't worth the removal of the Antique Cars and its a bit of an eyesore in a prominent section of the park. I wonder how much longer its kept around on seemingly valuable real estate, although it's relatively reliable and harmless.

/End Rant

One Last Edit: If you ever get a chance to glance at the ride's blueprints, there was supposed to be a bit more theming such as a fountain that you would've sped around before entering the "subway stairs." The area is shown as a flower garden in the promo video, but was absolutely nothing in reality.

[BoddaH1994]

2 hours ago, Gordon Bombay said:

The sad thing was... it did have a lot of those features, they were just horribly executed and later "removed." 

• The "stair rumble" never quite got the point across. The section of the ride that is "a stairway" was so brief and so lightly themed, that you hardly have any idea that it's supposed to reflect descending down the subway stairs like in the film. When the "rumble" worked, it was simply just a slight vibration down that particular, small, spot of track. If you had never seen the movie or the ride's conceptual promo video, you'd probably just assume that section of track was "rough." It never translated well. 

• As for the "drifting cars," the infrastructure was there, but the effect you'd always feel was incredibly minimal. For one thing, the ride isn't very long so the section of "drifting" is over rather briefly. The cars also hardly drifted. Shortly after, you could look at the back of the vehicle chasis and see where the springs were and how the car was modified to not sway anymore, not matter how slightly it ever did. 

• The on-board audio: wow, this was always bad. Even on good days when the queue line audio worked and synced up properly with dispatching trains, it played so softly in the cars that you'd hardly hear it. For what seemed like years, the "outside" audio of police sires wailing seemed to switch on and off. Occasionally speakers beneath the cop cars made noise, occasionally they wouldn't. I think the only audio that's worked consistently is the helicopter/explosion scene. If I recall, the on board audio system was supposed to be re-charged during the loading process via a system below the vehicles and on the track. It apparently was troublesome.

• The splash down: always loved that the "splash" scene wasn't actually a splash, but two pumps that sprayed water up after absolutely no attempt was made to hide this fact. They worked for awhile, disappeared at some point. In 2009 and 2010 it took months before water was even returned to the "aqueduct."

• Yellow track: I remember the very first KIC event I ever attended was in early 2005 during an IJ:ST construction tour. Jeff Seibert mentioned that they had decided on changing the track from yellow to gray to make it seem like more of a "roadway." Ultimately, it doesn't look great, but imagine that bright yellow track after a few seasons of summer sun with ware and tear.

• Lights on the cars: at one point, probably long gone now, the cars had headlights that made the tunnel look cool. 

• EDIT: I forgot about the fog! Right before you entered the tunnel, one poorly hidden, obvious nozzle would spray fog from the right hand side. It was hardly ever noticed.

Sorry for the rant, Backlot Stunt Coaster was such an interesting ride that never came close to meeting its full potential. It was like an "abstract" themed attraction. Yeah, it had decoration, but everything seemed so cheap and minimal, like a high school art student arguing for using less supplies when really he waited to do his project at the last minute. I was 15 when the announcement video came out and so excited, only to find out that the announcement video had several angles of the same sections of ride that made it appear much bigger and longer than the ride would actually be. I remember trying to create a ride in RCT3 based off that video, so excited for what I thought was coming. 

The final product: ugh. And they built two more!

In the end, Backlot's a good, little ride that works for both kids and adults, a nice intermediate attraction. I had a lot of fun working that ride back in the day, but man it was promised to be so much more. Wasn't worth the removal of the Antique Cars and its a bit of an eyesore in a prominent section of the park. I wonder how much longer its kept around on seemingly valuable real estate, although it's relatively reliable and harmless.

/End Rant

One Last Edit: If you ever get a chance to glance at the ride's blueprints, there was supposed to be a bit more theming such as a fountain that you would've sped around before entering the "subway stairs." The area is shown as a flower garden in the promo video, but was absolutely nothing in reality.

Are you sure the stairs rumble ever worked? My understanding is that it was based on a subwoofer under the vehicle’s seats, and those were never installed.

[KIBeast]

I'm not exactly sure what to say about the shed on Mystic Timbers. For me, it was on par with what I expected. Mainly because I knew that it wasn't going to be anything out of this world amazing as KI has never built any ride with any great effects. I think the disappointment expressed is really on those disappointed and not on the park. You had built it up inside your head to a point that only something on par with Disney would've satisfied you and that was never going to happen. Of course they were going to build up hype for what's inside the shed. What did you expect them to say? Hope you enjoy sitting in the brake run outside the station instead of baking in the sun. Sorry we didn't bother to theme it at all? 

[Gordon Bombay]

1 hour ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Are you sure the stairs rumble ever worked? My understanding is that it was based on a subwoofer under the vehicle’s seats, and those were never installed.

I’m relatively sure they did early on.

[lifetimecoaster]

On 7/3/2018 at 10:28 PM, BoddaH1994 said:

For those too young to remember:

https://youtu.be/MtCEAL8nb5Q

 That confirmed for me!! I was telling my friend when we were there that I was certain that the end used to be a splash pool under the bridge. I remembered there being water, but then I had convinced myself again that maybe I was wrong. 

[maddox121]

Antique Cars the return, nothing else.

[WhatTheBlazes]

Amazon falls was definitely my first disappointment at the park.  As the OP mentioned, the TV commercials made it look so intriguing.  And then you get to the park and its just up, around and down and splash.  And the line was so long.  It filled the entire que.  PLUS they got rid of my beloved Screamin' Demon for it.  

[Theoutdoorkid107]

Mystic Timbers was interesting when it came to advertisement. The ride itself was great but the shed made the whole thing “eh”. I though the shed was neat the first time I rode it but after that, it was bland. The best part of it is that you get to listen to an 80’s song while you wait. I honestly think that Mystic was very much over hyped. The shed and everything, just overhyped by the enthusiast community and the GP. Advertisements for the ride made it look slightly more intense than it actually was but that’s the norm with ad’s. So I think with a Mystic as a whole it was simply overhyped. The ad’s had nothing to do with it being hyped up. 

[JAHill]

15 hours ago, maddox121 said:

Antique Cars the return, nothing else.

Other than maybe the ride's length, I'm curious to hear why. The attraction delivers on just about every expectation it could possibly have -- an antique cars ride along some nice-looking landscaping.