News Project 2027/Purple: Delayed “World Record Breaking Coaster" (Phantom Spire?)

[Suspense]

I don't think it's entirely irrelevant to be considering the impact of this new protected class on either the project itself or the wider guest experience. It's pretty telling if the influencer crowd is getting to define any aspect of this project at all

You do realize they aren’t a “protected class”, they are just free advertising. In other professions influencers are paid to advertise products. But coaster enthusiasts love this stuff so much they are showing up to great adventure for tours to advertise to all their followers for free. It’s just good business practices. Six flags has done a poor job marketing for a while now IMO, this just makes sense to do.

One of the videos I watched yesterday even mentioned great adventure did not provide park tickets. However, they did get free fast lane. Which from a marketing perspective also makes sense, get these influencers to vlog their reactions to all of the rides with little to no marketing budget spend.

 

[Zachary]

I don't think it's entirely irrelevant to be considering the impact of this new protected class on either the project itself or the wider guest experience.

The external-facing (?) codename of a coaster pre-announcement has no "impact" on "the wider guest experience" and absolutely minimal impact on "the project itself."

I also think it's a little uncalled for to refer to the people on these tours as a "new protected class." I don't know what the qualifications for admittance to these tours has been, but the net does seem to have been cast very wide. I do think influencers should be disclosing any agreements they've made with the park—such as whether or not they've expressly agreed to the infamous, chain-wide, deeply problematic "Content Creator Guidelines"—but that's on influencers acting ethically, not SFGAdv.

Perhaps some solace can be found in the fact that we have seen a number of influencers who have both previously and have recently continued to flaunt those published "Content Creator Guidelines" on these tours. Hopefully that indicates that, despite corporate's stance, Ryan has been able to sidestep Six Flags' Cedar Point-style insistence on constructing a propaganda machine and punishing anyone who does not wish to participate.

It's pretty telling if the influencer crowd is getting to define any aspect of this project at all

It's 2026. Influencer society has completely warped and distorted the very idea of marketing and corporate communications. Anything that occurs in the year 2026 has been impacted by our current environment.

I'm sure it's in part that Project Purple flows much better than Project 2027, given the number of syllables and word phonetics.

We've been using Project [Debut Year] 'round these parts since like 2010 across the industry to identify pre-announcement, in-development attractions. Unfortunately, the Heritage Foundation/the Republican party has done pretty grave harm to the Project [Debut Year] branding since 2025. The chance that the Project [Year] branding becomes a cyclical political issue is very real and, though I find it a very useful way to refer to projects in our industry, I do get wanting to find alternatives.

Ideally, I wish parks would just include a unique codename on the earliest filings relating to a project and/or file for a trademark early for a name to use during attraction development. Phantom Spire's existence, whether it becomes the final name or not, has been very useful in discussing the attraction and, if it isn't the final name, it will have been an absolutely sick codename for the ride.

 

[Nitro230]

I also think it's a little uncalled for to refer to the people on these tours as a "new protected class." I don't know what the qualifications for admittance to these tours has been, but the net does seem to have been cast very wide. I do think influencers should be disclosing any agreements they've made with the park—such as whether or not they've expressly agreed to the infamous, chain-wide, deeply problematic "Content Creator Guidelines"—but that's on influencers acting ethically, not SFGAdv.

The net has definitely been cast very wide. I mean I appreciate Colin for all the focus he has put on documenting Six Flags Great Adventure these last few years but lets not pretend he's some major influencer. He's a 19 year old kid who goes to Rutgers and just likes to make videos of roller coasters in his free time, and he's probably the content creator with the biggest platform who's been out there so far. I'm sure if like Coaster Studios shows up at Great Adventure they'll also get the tour but let's not pretend that these are only huge channels getting behind the scene tours.

Also what's the alternative? Nobody gets to see the ride up close. I don't understand the problem here. I've really enjoyed getting to see these videos, especially Colin's latest video where he went right under the stall and got to look at the pieces for the new flats.

 

[northdetective]

You do realize they aren’t a “protected class”, they are just free advertising. In other professions influencers are paid to advertise products. But coaster enthusiasts love this stuff so much they are showing up to great adventure for tours to advertise to all their followers for free. It’s just good business practices. Six flags has done a poor job marketing for a while now IMO, this just makes sense to do.

One of the videos I watched yesterday even mentioned great adventure did not provide park tickets. However, they did get free fast lane. Which from a marketing perspective also makes sense, get these influencers to vlog their reactions to all of the rides with little to no marketing budget spend.

???? As if these people don't have season passes already and Fast Lane isn't the larger expense and they're not meeting with the leadership of the park directly

The external-facing (?) codename of a coaster pre-announcement has no "impact" on "the wider guest experience" and absolutely minimal impact on "the project itself."

Well we've already seen suggestions to keep the name so there's that

I also think it's a little uncalled for to refer to the people on these tours as a "new protected class." I don't know what the qualifications for admittance to these tours has been, but the net does seem to have been cast very wide. I do think influencers should be disclosing any agreements they've made with the park—such as whether or not they've expressly agreed to the infamous, chain-wide, deeply problematic "Content Creator Guidelines"—but that's on influencers acting ethically, not SFGAdv.

Perhaps some solace can be found in the fact that we have seen a number of influencers who have both previously and have recently continued to flaunt those published "Content Creator Guidelines" on these tours. Hopefully that indicates that, despite corporate's stance, Ryan has been able to sidestep Six Flags' Cedar Point-style insistence on constructing a propaganda machine and punishing anyone who does not wish to participate.

The last thing Six Flags needs is more "exceptional" people. Silver passholders, Gold Passholders, Premier passholders, Fast Lane whatever, Fast Lane Reserve, Fast Lane Ultimate, ADA lines, now roaming influencers on backstage tours. Whether they're "offering access to the public" with their "platforms" or not is largely irrelevant to me because I can't get past the intros without wincing, and if there's no transcript I'm out. Passholder tours would be nice because the distinction already exists and it's clearly an "add-on" experience a day ticket holder wouldn't expect, but instead of influencers loudly and publicly proclaiming progress, passholder tours would demonstrate some sort of quiet gratitude to Great Adventure's customer base. It doesn't exclude the influencers, who presumably are almost all passholders, but still somehow that's too much to ask. I'd asked previously about how to get on one of these tours, to which I've received no response. That's because I don't have any platform to offer Great Adventure. That kinda sucks, to me

It's 2026. Influencer society has completely warped and distorted the very idea of marketing and corporate communications. Anything that occurs in the year 2026 has been impacted by our current environment.

True, that doesn't mean I don't personally find it irritating

 

[Zachary]

Passholder tours would be nice because the distinction already exists and it's clearly an "add-on" experience a day ticket holder wouldn't expect, but instead of influencers loudly and publicly proclaiming progress, passholder tours would demonstrate some sort of quiet gratitude to Great Adventure's customer base.

This is obviously impossible. Running these tours with pass-holder-base-sized scale is simply not remotely realistic or reasonable.

Community access by proxy is far better than no community access.

 

[northdetective]

This is obviously impossible from a scale (and likely insurance) perspective.

Is it? Prebooked tours exclusive to passholders at a limited quantity would be absolutely impossible to implement? Or it's just not guaranteed that everybody there is gonna be producing content?

Anybody who has access to the park leadership. Please remind them. The sooner they announce, the sooner northdetective can rest and u can all enjoy ur silence

 

[CoasterMac]

Just a bit of a PSA to adjust your expectations... I did a deep dive last night on trying to ID and match the remaining track sections that are visible on site/staging lot. Let's just say I (unfortunately) believe I've over-predicted how much track would be at the top of the tower. I would expect it to basically be the same as the initial 200ft version, just supersized.

On a positive note, I'm counting at least 3 pieces of track that I believe will be COMPLETELY, 90* banked sideways, so I am hopeful that most of the train will get to experience that. But unless something wild changes, I'm definitely not expecting it to circle the tower multiple times like my latest rendering.

 

[DWNitro]

I’m not sure where the info came from that Great Adventure didn’t offer park passes to those on the tour, they absolutely did (and for any additional members of my party, at least).

 

[northdetective]

I’m not sure where the info came from that Great Adventure didn’t offer park passes to those on the tour, they absolutely did (and for any additional members of my party, at least).

u (non-accusatorially) don't seem to have a large following elsewhere that I can easily find, how did u end up on the list?

 

[Suspense]

Is it? Prebooked tours exclusive to passholders at a limited quantity would be absolutely impossible to implement? Or it's just not guaranteed that everybody there is gonna be producing content?

Anybody who has access to the park leadership. Please remind them. The sooner they announce, the sooner northdetective can rest and u can all enjoy ur silence

Pretty sure ACE is getting another tour this year if I remember correctly. Also the whole point is to advertise the ride, so yes, that’s exactly why they don’t have pass holder previews and are instead inviting influencers who will advertise online for the park. And also because taking random guests into an active construction site constantly is a terrible idea. (To the point where I am honestly surprised it’s happening at all, even if the average influencer is way more knowledgeable about how to conduct themselves in this environment).

I’m not sure where the info came from that Great Adventure didn’t offer park passes to those on the tour, they absolutely did (and for any additional members of my party, at least).

I believe it was the coaster spot video I was watching but maybe they didn’t realize since they have season passes. Sorry for the misinformation there.

Just a bit of a PSA to adjust your expectations... I did a deep dive last night on trying to ID and match the remaining track sections that are visible on site/staging lot. Let's just say I (unfortunately) believe I've over-predicted how much track would be at the top of the tower. I would expect it to basically be the same as the initial 200ft version, just supersized.

On a positive note, I'm counting at least 3 pieces of track that I believe will be COMPLETELY, 90* banked sideways, so I am hopeful that most of the train will get to experience that. But unless something wild changes, I'm definitely not expecting it to circle the tower multiple times like my latest rendering.

Is it possible that not all track pieces are on site yet? It’s hard to remember who at this point since so many people posted videos but definitely remember hearing someone say that there may still be more shipments. Or have you been able to map out all the rotating pieces and how they fit together at this point?

 

[DWNitro]

u (non-accusatorially) don't seem to have a large following elsewhere that I can easily find, how did u end up on the list?

I don’t have a large following but it’s not linked to anything I have on here. I spoke to Ryan at Passholder Preview night and was offered the chance to come out

 

[northdetective]

if the average influencer is way more knowledgeable about how to conduct themselves in this environment

bullshit lol

 

[GASM]

This is obviously impossible. Running these tours with pass-holder-base-sized scale is simply not remotely realistic or reasonable.

Community access by proxy is far better than no community access.

The way I see it, this is still an unprecedented level of visibility on a project of this scale. In all my years going to the park and posting on the GAH forums, the most open I can recall them ever being was with the demolition of Aqua Spectacle and Great Lake Grandstand, and that was simply due to the fact that the park was open while demolition took place.

 

[DWNitro]

I don’t have a large following but it’s not linked to anything I have on here. I spoke to Ryan at Passholder Preview night and was offered the chance to come out

An added note that I don’t ever expect to have a big following because honesty I’m not as tech/edit savvy as alot of the influencers out there I just kinda do it for fun, not really for a following. But I will say that the hospitality provided by the park for the tour was really appreciated by myself, and my dad, who I got to do the tour with. It’s a memory I’ll cherish forever honestly, such a cool thing to be a part of.

 

[Nitro230]

Is it? Prebooked tours exclusive to passholders at a limited quantity would be absolutely impossible to implement? Or it's just not guaranteed that everybody there is gonna be producing content?

Anybody who has access to the park leadership. Please remind them. The sooner they announce, the sooner northdetective can rest and u can all enjoy ur silence

Maybe just maybe they can feasibly make it so the prestige passholders can all go take the tour since thats a much smaller group. But then again I have a very good feeling that you wouldn't like that either.

 

[northdetective]

Maybe just maybe they can feasibly make it so the prestige passholders can all go take the tour since thats a much smaller group. But then again I have a very good feeling that you wouldn't like that either.

Oh I already addressed that in acknowledging passholders are a pre-existing class and that defining more classes is worse. But then again I have a very good feeling that you didn't read that

 

[Nitro230]

I'd asked previously about how to get on one of these tours, to which I've received no response. That's because I don't have any platform to offer Great Adventure. That kinda sucks, to me

Well yeah Six Flags isn't gonna just let every fan boy go on a tour of the construction site for free without getting anything back. The park is actively taking a risk every time they let people go back there, god forbid someone gets hurt out there. I know a bunch of people have said this already but the fact that this is even happening is crazy and unprecedented. I'm sure all of us would love to go back there but it's just not feasible. But getting mad at the fact that content creators like Coliwood, Coaster Spot, and Accelerated Creative (off topic but his photography is chef's kiss) get to go back there is silly. They're gonna make videos no matter what, its just that instead of looking over the fence they're getting much better video of the construction.

 

[RDL]

Crews are working today

 

[Suspense]

bullshit lol

You’re right I’m giving them too much credit. What I meant to say was, the park knows who they are and have vetted them, plus there are tons of cameras everywhere videoing the progress so they are heavily incentivized to be on their best behavior

 

[northdetective]

Well yeah Six Flags isn't gonna just let every fan boy go on a tour of the construction site for free without getting anything back. The park is actively taking a risk every time they let people go back there, god forbid someone gets hurt out there. I know a bunch of people have said this already but the fact that this is even happening is crazy and unprecedented. I'm sure all of us would love to go back there but it's just not feasible. But getting mad at the fact that content creators like Coliwood, Coaster Spot, and Accelerated Creative (off topic but his photography is chef's kiss) get to go back there is silly. They're gonna make videos no matter what, its just that instead of looking over the fence they're getting much better video of the construction.

I'm not mad. Simply observing the disconnect between Great Adventure and the people they intend to market to. Simultaneously I'm constantly told thoosies aren't a market that matters, and now they're the only people getting to see construction up close. Are they the only people who would care? I don't think so personally