A one day only Wednesday Netflix boat cruise set sail on Wednesday August 20th to commemorate Season 2 of Tim Burton’s gothic series on the streaming platform.
Netflix have gone all out with the promotion of the event with a Wednesday themed beach inspired pop-up in Blackpool only a few weeks ago and now upped the budget even more by commandeering the Dixie Queen boat across the River Thames with some beautiful gothic theming onboard, entertainment and freebies galore!
Tickets for the cruise were sold out in seconds because they were FREE, yes, this entire experience you are about to read about was absolutely free and we were absolutely mortified when the tickets were all gone but there was still hope.
Walk-up queues were available on the day but after waiting for a friend of ours to finish work we had to rely on the last slot of the day, the 8pm one. Three hours in a standby queue not knowing if there would be space for us on the boat was agonising but we were given the good news that 48 people would be allowed onboard (due to no-shows etc) but sadly many behind us were turned away.
I felt bad about that because they really should have organised it much better so that folks couldn’t be turned away but as I found out this week, it’s impossible to reach out to anyone at Netflix, I must have gone through every available channel I could find and didn’t get a single PR email reply so I wasn’t expecting much when it came to organisation at the event but other than the horrendous queue system leaving many standing in the cold for hours, for nothing we got on the boat and everything from then on was superb.
Expectations were already high when a gothic boat cruise was announced themed around Wednesday and having this old river boat floating around the thames with themed entertainment, food and fun was impossible to resist.
What I thought was fantastic was that Tower Bridge raised just for the boat as you passed through it and raised again as you returned the other way.
The bridge lifts twice a day but Netflix pulled some strings and had it lifting up 8 times in one day to fit an onboard group activity where we used our ‘powers’ to raise the bridge. How cool is that?!
Just that alone would have been great but just have a look inside this boat, it’s phenomenal!
There was such a charm to the boat the second you stepped foot inside, the beautiful wooden decor with the set dressing certainly made this boat feel very classy yet there was that unapologetically gothic vibe throughout which was very apparent on the upper deck with a custom-stage set out for some evening entertainment.
Another area that really stood out was the Crypt Creamery which was serving themed ice cream during the evening and let me tell you, it was delicious!
Plush surroundings, gothic charm and staff members who refused to smile (all part of the act although this is also commonplace in London) lent a real ambience to proceedings, we weren’t just riding a PR stunt we were onboard a floating love letter to the series and it was clear just how much effort went into this event.
Little Wednesday logos were littered around the ship, free slushies and drinks were also available and there was even our captain of the evening guiding us around our tour giving us some horrible history information about what we were passing-by on the ship whilst lending a very cooky and spooky twist on your standard London Thames cruise.
Netflix certainly went above and beyond with this one, I don’t think anyone onboard was expecting this level of detail and entertainment for a free experience. The performers on stage were incredible, better than I’ve seen at some paid events, the self playing piano did spooky renditions of chart songs in the intervals and it was all just wonderfully done.
I think it was just missing a cast member or two and not for our sake but for theirs, they’d have bloody loved it too I’m sure!
What I found scratching my head about was just how poorly advertised this cruise was, you do a simple SEO / article search on Google and only two websites that I could find covered this event with one social post made on the NetflixUK instagram page and that was it.
The event was always going to sell out regardless because of the show but I was puzzled as to how poorly it was promoted and with drones in the sky yesterday, photographers and videographers everywhere I’m curious as to if there will be a proper press run AFTER the ship has sailed (pun intended).
I know full well this wasn’t a cheap expense for Netflix, will the second press run be the money maker? Is it simply a marketing expense? I genuinely am curious to know and if someone at Netflix ever replies to their emails then please do get in touch as I’m really interested in this sort of thing.
We had our own little taster of Wednesday Season 2 and you don’t even need to have seen the second series to appreciate and enjoy it, in fact it was very avoidant of spoilers and as someone who has seen the first half of the show already there were only a few crows that linked to the Season 2 storyline but they also fit the gothic aesthetic anyways so it really was fun for everyone.
Decadent, fun and the weather was perfect for it all day but I feel as though we got the best slot of them all as the darkness really added to the atmosphere and made this Wednesday Season 2 Netflix PR stunt all the more spooky and special.
It was utterly incredible and I loved every second. Click the link below to check out our VLOG of the experience over on our attractions / theme park spinoff page Lift Hills and Thrills.
