ALTON TOWERS RESORT BAFFLES THE NATION IN A BAAAARMY HOAX
Alton Towers Resort stages a hoax as it prepares to launch The Smiler, the brand new coaster for 2013
Today, Alton Towers Resort has admitted responsibility for the mysterious branding of sheep which has swept across the UK. It was all part of an elaborate stunt to reveal the name of its new rollercoaster for 2013, The Smiler. The stunt, which has puzzled the nation for the past week, saw hundreds of sheep across the county emblazoned with a strange symbol. The symbol has been identified as the logo for The Smiler, which will open to the public later this year.
This seemingly mysterious discovery caused bewilderment amongst local residents in Perthshire, North Yorkshire, Middlesborough, Exeter, Melton Mowbray and South Wales and resulted in several pieces of news coverage with one headline from the Mail Online reading Just grin and baaaa it! Mysterious 'smiley face' symbol sparks internet debate after appearing on hundreds of sheep across the country’. TheSun.co.uk also covered the story with the headline Farmers baaa-ffled after hundreds of sheep are branded with smiley face’.
Last week a group of farmers, who were recruited by the Resort, branded their flocks of sheep using black livestock aerosol marker and a stencil of The Smiler symbol. Pictures of the painted sheep were leaked on Twitter after being posted by the farmers involved and bewildered members of the public. The pictures soon went viral as many people re-tweeted the posts and sharing their own thoughts and theories on what the symbol meant. A number of newspapers and websites picked up the story causing widespread confusion across the country.
It has since been revealed that it was all part of a stunt for Alton Towers Resort. Katherine Duckworth from the Resort commented, “We wanted to create some mystery around the name of our new world first rollercoaster, The Smiler. We’ve managed to baffle the nation and hopefully made a few people smile.
The Smiler will be our biggest and most thrilling attraction the Resort has ever seen and we can’t wait for guests to join us in May and experience it for themselves.”
Ros Turner, a farmer from Melton Mowbray said: “Everyone loves a mystery and it was great to be involved in the hoax. It made a nice change from milking cows and ploughing fields!”
The Smiler is the new world-first rollercoaster coming to the Alton Towers Resort in 2013. The Smiler is an all-knowing controlling force that will make riders compliant until they become a smiling advocate.
The ride, which is the Resort’s biggest ever investment, will feature a track the length of ten football fields, gut-wrenching 30-meter drops and hurtling speeds of up to 85km per hour. For more details on the The Smiler, coming to Alton Towers Resort in 2013 visit
www.altontowers.com/thesmiler
Notes to editor:
About The Smiler:
In 2013, Alton Towers Resort will launch its biggest ever rollercoaster – The Smiler (
www.altontowers.com/thesmiler). The first of its kind in the world, The Smiler will be the biggest ever investment for a ride at the Resort. Whilst many of the details are still a closely guarded secret, here are a few exclusive facts:
· Highest drop – 30m
· Maximum speed – approx 85km/hr which is 10km/hr faster than Air
· Track length – 1,170m. This is 3x the length of Oblivion
· Ride time – 165 seconds which is 3x the ride time of Rita
· Passengers per ride train – 16 (4x rows of 4)
· Minimum rider height – 1.4m
· Location – X Sector, on the site of the old Black Hole ride
· Investment for the Resort - £18m
