CTXRover said:
Merlin, this is a perfect example of the argumentative posting style Steve was referring to and why some members have become annoyed by your repetitive posting of how awful you think Everest is.
At least from my persective, your opinion is welcome. However, when you make statements that belittle the opinions of others as being "dishonest" (vs honest) or "fake" (vs really like), its immature and argumentative. You seem to believe that everyone who believes that Everest is great is wrong. Respect other's opinions and we'll respect yours.
I will admit that in some of my posts, I have implied that a certain level of dishonesty has taken place in some cases. Perhaps that is too harsh, as I will agree that if I were accused of being dishonest, I would take offense. So on that point, I will acquiesce and agree that you are right.
Perhaps how I should have put it was not that people have been blatantly dishonest, but rather that I highly suspect some major exaggeration has taken place. For example, several people have made claims that they've been tremendous amounts of time (hours, days, etc) just "hanging out" outside the exit of Everest to watch guest reactions. They've gone on to claim that "every single guest" was impressed with Everest. They've literally claimed that they've heard "hundreds"...that's right, "HUNDREDS" of different comments that have "ALL been positive" and have given examples like, "That Yeti is AMAZING!!!", etc. Some of these same individuals have gone on to claim that "not one single guest" had a negative impression of Everest (an impossible thing to measure unless you are a mindreader, or you can verify that every single guest was outwardly making positive comments every single time). To me, these types of claims are utterly ridiculous. I've been on some really impressive theme park attractions in my life. I've seen some awesome movies and some incredible stage productions and other forms of entertainment that have personally blown me away. But in none of those cases could I ever make such exaggerated claims that "every single guest" was verbally expressing their amazement with one of these forms of entertainment. That's just not being realistic. So when claims like that are made, a lot of credibility is lost for me. I was reading this stuff before I rode Everest and I would think, "These people seem to really be trying to make this thing into something that it couldn't possibly live up to. Why?" If anyone is trying to do some convincing of opinions, it seems to me that it's them.
Nevertheless, perhaps "dishonest" was the wrong implication to make. I think of a dishonest person as someone who is intentionally trying to lie or mislead. And since I can't say for certain that's what these people are doing (though I suspect that at least in some cases some of them are), I will change my wording to "exaggerating" rather than "dishonest".
Another example of this is when people make the claim that every time the train rolls into the station, the entire trainload of passengers breaks into applause, ...every single time. Is it possible this has been the true experience for some? Perhaps. Was it for me on my two rides? Not quite. A detail they leave out (either intentionally or innocently) is that when the train rolls into the station, there are CMs egging the passengers on to applaud. I do public speaking for a living and I can tell you that getting people to applaud simply by looking at them excitedly and clapping your own hands together is one of the easiest things to do. Even on the Mummy attraction at Universal, they have CMs doing this at the end of the ride. To me, this isn't really a true indicator that people necessarily loved the ride. But it's been presented as a supporting reason to the claim that "everyone" loves this ride.
My point, after this lengthy post, is that I think there may be readers of these forums who will read things like that and take it literally. It seems pretty apparent to me that those of you who love Everest really do want everyone else to love it too. But if so, you're undermining your own goal by setting these huge expectations of what the ride is like. I think it will cause people to ride it and be incredibly disappointed. Why not "just let people ride it and decide for themselves" as many of you have claimed to feel is the right thing to do. Oh I forgot,...you only make that statement after someone has said something negative about Everest.
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