The Marketing Failure of Th13teen - Secret Weapon 6 | Expedition Alton Towers

if you go down to the woods today at the back of Alton Towers look secret weapon six on the site of the classic corkscrew sits a roller coaster billed as the scariest roller coaster ever created with a world's first element that was said would require a waiver of liability to even ride a brand new form of attraction called a Sai coaster Alton Towers marketing though had advertised a ride that didn't exist this is the story of 13 on expedition Alton Towers that ride was a bit timid at least it's time now to get off little jolt okay [Music] about a year ago we actually create a mission statement at Alton Towers and it reads why we're here is to create magic for everyone so first of all for our guests we will create magic for all our guests by exciting and entertaining them with an experience which is unique and toka fear there will be eight years between secret weapon five air and secret weapon six after 2004 the Alton Towers Resort was trying to move away from the magic branding of its past that is not to say no roller coasters were a de jure in this time low while spin ball Whizzer was a rather small addition Rita queen of speed was added to Auckland in 2005 cost an eight million pound it was not too much cheaper than the previous secret weapons but it did not feature the codename while many say this is down to them not offering the complete package experience of the well themed secret weapon rides others thought it would be the end of the secret weapon codename completely in 2007 when two swords were bought by Merlin entertainment a aspects of the parks identity returned including the use of in the hall of the Mountain King [Music] stay for days when you escape to Alton Towers Resort the following year in October 2008 it was announced that the corkscrew roller coaster an icon of Alton Towers will be removed from Auckland and replacing it under development will be a new attraction the ride has reached the end really of its natural shelf life we want to do something dramatic in this space in a couple of years and unfortunately when we've looked at all our plans and what we want to put here it's meant that the corkscrews time has come to an end planning permission for this new ride was approved in March 2009 after a short delay due to 39 letters of the objection as always the new ride was expected to cost twelve million pound and attract an extra 100,000 visitors to the park while the plans were easily found and posted online what was going to happen within the enclosed section of the right drew huge speculation was it a backwards loop or more widely speculated a backwards launch construction began throughout summer 2009 and the world's first element was confirmed further information releases stated that you could ride the demon of the dark forest prompting rumors that Auckland could be received where you would ride into the unknown the ride would be manufactured by intamin who also created Rita Queen a speed next door and will be the first secret weapon not created by BLM quickly because I the idea of going backwards I don't know it was first I was probably the first one was was Expedition Everest in animal kingdom and the thing that really disappointed me with Expedition Everest is you come racing up to that dead end the truck is broken ahead of you and in theory you should immediately without pause roll backwards but you don't you you're held on a set of brakes for what seems like an interminable amount of time whilst this gigantic switch track further back behind you lumbers into position it turns out that that switch track cost more the switch track alone on Expedition Everest cost more than the entire budget the track arrived in September 2009 and it fully confirmed it was going to be a family coaster whether it being written on the side of the crates in December the ride was revealed as 13 which carries connotations of bad luck [Applause] [Applause] the coaster and female ended up costing 50 million pound and was announced to open on March 20th 2010 the story was based around the discovery of an unearthed ancient burial site in the area of unexplored woodland known as the dark forest visitors were invited to take a petrifying ride entering into the living and breathing dark forest to face the unknown horror that has been unleashed from this ancient crypt the expected family coaster was being marketed though as a terror through a ride or sigh coaster as they put it a collaboration of the world's leading coaster consultant who combined the Ultima elements of physical and psychological fear hmm Marketing said the element that makes the ride a world's first will potentially make the ride so frightening that the resort is considering introducing an age rating to ride groundbreaking technology that has never been seen before and will open up a whole new concept for theme park rides this is the world's first freefall drop roller coaster every single ride you've ever jumped about all rolled up into one we worked really hard to keep the secret for two years now actually 13 would be the first ride to play on emotional fear and something coaster fans would not be prepared for seriously when Alton Towers wants to hype something up they sure know how to do it even if it's not warranted the idea of a whole chunk of track dropping under freefall seemed possible but if it was going to be done it had to be done in darkness surrounded by special effects to really really capitalize on on every single bit of the thrill that we could get the ride itself took two years to design I was tested in Europe before being shipped to the UK taking 9 months to build the team working around the clock were ready to take you inside the unearthed crypt John Wardley said that the initial idea for the secret element came from a previous roller coaster plan that he had designed for Alton Towers where a piece of track tilted back and forth during the ride that plan never came to a fruition but the idea of a move tract was kept during the 2009 Scarefest event hoodie brace was seen roaming around the Oakland area with warning signs up linking them to the next year's new attraction teaser videos were released before the full commercial right before the Wright open the advert had a pre 9 p.m. version and an after 9 p.m. version which was deemed too scary to be shown on TV during the day of publicity stunts also happened in true Alton Towers fashion after the information about a possible age restriction of only 16 to 55 year-olds being able to ride it was also widely covered that a waiver of liability would have to be signed to even ride the attraction this obviously was just a marketing ploy and didn't actually happen that's that's 60 feet about 60 feet that's how it feels like it feels really high it feels like to me top yeah oh and oh dear after the Wright open these stunts continued with Alton Towers announced in the right would be closed on Friday the 13th of 2010 because of superstitious reasons it was later announced that instead of closing the ride it will be renamed 14 for the day included limited edition merchandise what goes on in that dark the marketing efforts for the right day worked extremely well - while in fact they led many to be disappointed with the actual ride experience with a few aspects of FEMEN throughout the queue line the station area steps it up with an eerie beginning to the ride heading up the 60-foot lift hill the trains reach speeds of 41 miles per hour with airtime hills along the way before the second lift Hill enters into the dark crypt where the surprise element takes place inside lighting and air blasters along with creaking wood sound effects go off before the room is plunged into darkness the track drops a few centimetres and pauses before freefall in five metres a ray figure is lit up in front of the Train and it's propelled backwards out to the creek before backwards helix in the tunnel before heading back to the station where the ride ends the ride is the world's first freefall drop roller coaster while it was mostly kept under wraps shortly before opening it was spoiled by being shown on national TV media coverage of the ride was huge and found all across the UK the ultimate roller coaster as Alton Towers dubbed err when the ride open on March 20th 2010 our Glan was no more instead the area was revealed as the dark forest a super natural woodland complete with eerie soundtrack rita was refined and the queen of speed title was drunk that though is for another expedition hi I'm Alex Reid an ultimate fighter and I'm here Alton Towers Resort on the ultimate roller coaster 13 the reception on opening was mostly mixed to negative not because it was a bad ride though in any form for fans look him finally for the next secret weapon and the scariest roller coaster in the world it was miles away from the expectations the park had built up the visual female in the area of the new attraction was the standout offering a perfectly eerie at it was the perfect middle-ground attraction between the mine train and rice such as nemesis or Oblivion it was a shame all of the hype and build-up led to a ride that just did not fit with what the park had advertised 13 was a marketing disaster or was it they promised the most intense and scariest experience ever created what we got was a family coaster that despite all the mixed reviews managed to increase attendance at the park to its highest on record since 1994 with the opening of nemesis and Toyland talks 13 offers a smooth and really enjoyable experience over time the mistakes from how it was marketed have been forgotten and it now sits at the back of the park as a fun attraction that slots Wow into the parks coaster liner further free fall drop coasters would open around the world in the following years with the longer the Bolton or the interactive wander mountains Guardian but if you do go down to the woods today at Alton Towers you can ride the world's first just don't expect too much thank you so much for watching this episode of expedition Alton Towers if you enjoyed it subscribe to join the expedition what do you think of 13 let me know in the comments below follow us on Twitter and Instagram for updates on upcoming expeditions and we will see you next time [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Expedition Theme Park

Views: 614,388

Keywords: expedition theme park, expedition alton towers, alton towers, th13teen, thirteen, 13, secret weapon, secret weapon 6, verbolten, alton towers rollercoasters, alton towers rides, rollercoasters, rides, attractions, theme park, history, alton towers history, air, dark forrest, corkscrew, ug land, rita, rita queen of speed, smiler, uk theme parks

Id: mBe7M5gbyMU

Length: 12min 33sec (753 seconds)

Published: Sun May 12 2019