I know there's been discussions about theme park vloggers on these forums, but I wanted to get peoples' thoughts on the many channels on YouTube that feature facts, stories, and histories of theme parks and attractions. I'm talking channels like Defunctland, Fastpass Facts, TPMVids, etc.
There are some really great channels out there that educate and entertain people on pretty in-depth theme park topics that the average viewer might not know about. Defunctland has some really great documentary-style videos that span from Disney to regional parks, Tony Goldmark has some hilarious attraction reviews with Some Jerk With a Camera, and perhaps the best one out there is @marni1971 's channel, who puts so much detail and care into showing off the entire history of an attraction via vintage footage, diagrams, etc.
However, I feel like in the past couple of years there has been a rise in similar channels that feel more clickbaity. That's not the right word, but I can't think of a better way to describe it. They seem to cover a lot of the same topics and I feel often are not as well put together. For instance, there's tons of videos on YouTube that talk about the history of Alien Encounter or some of the attractions that Disney has abandoned over the years. The videos themselves look nice, but there's a lot of info in them that I feel is not correct. I'm no expert of course, and a lot of theme park history and information is speculation, but these videos will sometimes present rumors or iffy-information as complete fact. The best example I can think about is the EE yeti.
A lot of insiders on this forum believe that the reason the yeti has been in B-mode for so long is not because of foundation issues or the way the mountain was constructed, but because of money. True, there's no solid proof of the theory many of us subscribe to on here, and nothing has been confirmed by Disney, but nearly every video I've seen mentioning the yeti uses the other rumor that's been circulating for years.
I just personally feel that a lot of these theme park channels don't do the best research, or at least don't let on to the audience that all of their info may not be 100% correct. I don't mean to offend any channel-runners on these forums, and the videos aren't bad, but it bothers me a little that a lot of these videos rack up thousands to hundreds of thousands of views, especially if they tout themselves as a channel that is giving an accurate history or accurate facts about an attraction.
What are everyone else's thoughts on the YouTube theme park culture?
There are some really great channels out there that educate and entertain people on pretty in-depth theme park topics that the average viewer might not know about. Defunctland has some really great documentary-style videos that span from Disney to regional parks, Tony Goldmark has some hilarious attraction reviews with Some Jerk With a Camera, and perhaps the best one out there is @marni1971 's channel, who puts so much detail and care into showing off the entire history of an attraction via vintage footage, diagrams, etc.
However, I feel like in the past couple of years there has been a rise in similar channels that feel more clickbaity. That's not the right word, but I can't think of a better way to describe it. They seem to cover a lot of the same topics and I feel often are not as well put together. For instance, there's tons of videos on YouTube that talk about the history of Alien Encounter or some of the attractions that Disney has abandoned over the years. The videos themselves look nice, but there's a lot of info in them that I feel is not correct. I'm no expert of course, and a lot of theme park history and information is speculation, but these videos will sometimes present rumors or iffy-information as complete fact. The best example I can think about is the EE yeti.
A lot of insiders on this forum believe that the reason the yeti has been in B-mode for so long is not because of foundation issues or the way the mountain was constructed, but because of money. True, there's no solid proof of the theory many of us subscribe to on here, and nothing has been confirmed by Disney, but nearly every video I've seen mentioning the yeti uses the other rumor that's been circulating for years.
I just personally feel that a lot of these theme park channels don't do the best research, or at least don't let on to the audience that all of their info may not be 100% correct. I don't mean to offend any channel-runners on these forums, and the videos aren't bad, but it bothers me a little that a lot of these videos rack up thousands to hundreds of thousands of views, especially if they tout themselves as a channel that is giving an accurate history or accurate facts about an attraction.
What are everyone else's thoughts on the YouTube theme park culture?
