Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaurant
- Thread starter Alex23
- Start date
Sandman
Giga Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur
Will never like that portal. Ever.
Also love how the guy is quoting coaster stats, as if it hasn't already been sat there for 14 years :lol:
What concerns me here is that the VR thing is all well and good, but it just doesn't look like much effort has been taken outside of the goggles to really repackage this ride and give it a new identity. Just a bit of new music and station announcements/TV clip.
Will never like that portal. Ever.
Also love how the guy is quoting coaster stats, as if it hasn't already been sat there for 14 years :lol:
What concerns me here is that the VR thing is all well and good, but it just doesn't look like much effort has been taken outside of the goggles to really repackage this ride and give it a new identity. Just a bit of new music and station announcements/TV clip.
Smithy
Strata Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur
Difficult to gauge from a media day where opinions can be taken with a pinch of salt but from what I've seen around the net today the feedback has been hugely positive.
They had a Samsung VR set up at Westfield the other day complete with a roller coaster cart but I never had the time to give it a go.
Difficult to gauge from a media day where opinions can be taken with a pinch of salt but from what I've seen around the net today the feedback has been hugely positive.
They had a Samsung VR set up at Westfield the other day complete with a roller coaster cart but I never had the time to give it a go.
witchfinder
Giga Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur
Good to know it's got springy springs and ear bits. That's technical talk from TechRadar! :lol:
Good to know it's got springy springs and ear bits. That's technical talk from TechRadar! :lol:
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur
Hold the front page! I've found an unbiased, in-depth and balanced review of NuAir!
http://n.mynews.ly/!QB.DmUwJ
Hold the front page! I've found an unbiased, in-depth and balanced review of NuAir!
http://n.mynews.ly/!QB.DmUwJ
SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur
Ian's link won't work for me? Didn't when I tried day before yesterday, either?
A friend of mine who's opinion I trust went today and said this...
"Air queue doesn't seem to be any worse than usual. Nobody screams on it. It goes round in silence. That's a weird effect.
Okay, done it. It's not so good.
The very first bit, tunnel and lift are fine. But the rest is just bland, very basic graphics and not a great sense of depth.
You wanna get here to try it quickly though, because these headsets are REALLY gross. All they do is wetwipe them. In a few months they will be haggard."
Think I'll pass.
Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk
Ian's link won't work for me? Didn't when I tried day before yesterday, either?
A friend of mine who's opinion I trust went today and said this...
"Air queue doesn't seem to be any worse than usual. Nobody screams on it. It goes round in silence. That's a weird effect.
Okay, done it. It's not so good.
The very first bit, tunnel and lift are fine. But the rest is just bland, very basic graphics and not a great sense of depth.
You wanna get here to try it quickly though, because these headsets are REALLY gross. All they do is wetwipe them. In a few months they will be haggard."
Think I'll pass.
Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk
GuyWithAStick
Captain Basic
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur
If Alton is doing that bad of a job with cleaning the VR headsets, I won't bother with Six Flags' VR.
If Alton is doing that bad of a job with cleaning the VR headsets, I won't bother with Six Flags' VR.
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur
We ventured up there today and managed to ride it first thing this morning.
Thought I'd share so observations.
It held a queue of 60-90 minutes all day on a Saturday, but the rest of the park was dead!
The throughput of it is really bad. The queue barely moves anymore.
We were the 3rd train of the day out of the left side of the station and that still took the best part of 40 minutes to get on and off.
The unloading is tedious, even staff seemed fed up of the routine already and it has been open 2 days!
Craft comes in, headset cleaned with disinfectant wet wipe, put back in pouch, move onto the next person. Wait until the whole train has got the headsets away and then release the restraints.
Loading is pretty much the same, pull restraint down, handed headset after being rubbed over with a dry cloth. Try to adjust the strap and focal quality with the bulky restraints and wait! Ride op then resets the headset from a new panel next to each seat.
The actual VR is quite good. Lift hill is great, then as you crest it, it just bounces around with the movement of the coaster so it's quite jumpy.
They seem to have tried to squash as much to see as possible into a short ride time.
Seemed quite a lot of people liked it, but after a couple of rides with the same film, can quite easily see it becoming un-rerideable and people not bothering anymore.
With them literally just putting a wet wipe over the headset and then drying them, it won't be long before they are disgusting!
I worry that as the park approaches the summer season and the initial peak of "new ride experience" as worn off, the queues will be vile with fewer staff maintaining the ride and the hygiene being forgotten about. Hopefully they can keep running it in sync too otherwise there will be a lot of ill guests!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
We ventured up there today and managed to ride it first thing this morning.
Thought I'd share so observations.
It held a queue of 60-90 minutes all day on a Saturday, but the rest of the park was dead!
The throughput of it is really bad. The queue barely moves anymore.
We were the 3rd train of the day out of the left side of the station and that still took the best part of 40 minutes to get on and off.
The unloading is tedious, even staff seemed fed up of the routine already and it has been open 2 days!
Craft comes in, headset cleaned with disinfectant wet wipe, put back in pouch, move onto the next person. Wait until the whole train has got the headsets away and then release the restraints.
Loading is pretty much the same, pull restraint down, handed headset after being rubbed over with a dry cloth. Try to adjust the strap and focal quality with the bulky restraints and wait! Ride op then resets the headset from a new panel next to each seat.
The actual VR is quite good. Lift hill is great, then as you crest it, it just bounces around with the movement of the coaster so it's quite jumpy.
They seem to have tried to squash as much to see as possible into a short ride time.
Seemed quite a lot of people liked it, but after a couple of rides with the same film, can quite easily see it becoming un-rerideable and people not bothering anymore.
With them literally just putting a wet wipe over the headset and then drying them, it won't be long before they are disgusting!
I worry that as the park approaches the summer season and the initial peak of "new ride experience" as worn off, the queues will be vile with fewer staff maintaining the ride and the hygiene being forgotten about. Hopefully they can keep running it in sync too otherwise there will be a lot of ill guests!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Crazycoaster
Giga Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur
What do the 'upgrades' to the station look like? Has it been enclosed like they said? What about the Rollercoaster Restaurant, is it just in the building that the air shop used to be in or has it had a refurb/extension?
The only pictures that seem to get shown are of the new stargate.
What do the 'upgrades' to the station look like? Has it been enclosed like they said? What about the Rollercoaster Restaurant, is it just in the building that the air shop used to be in or has it had a refurb/extension?
The only pictures that seem to get shown are of the new stargate.
Thekingin64
Strata Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur
^Forgot to post them but saw these on Facebook earlier:
From: https://www.facebook.com/Smilercoasters ... 6320791669
Looks quite nice I think.Not the layout of the building I'd imagined though...
^Forgot to post them but saw these on Facebook earlier:
From: https://www.facebook.com/Smilercoasters ... 6320791669
Looks quite nice I think.Not the layout of the building I'd imagined though...
owentaylor121
Giga Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur
Just come back from the park, I have to say I was really surprised at how good this was, I really enjoyed it, however the queue was vile! It just doesn't move, it's horrible, we waited an hour from half way across the bridge by the station, it was just stupid, absolutely fantastic experience though, as long as they sort the throughput out it will be a winner in my eyes!
Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
Just come back from the park, I have to say I was really surprised at how good this was, I really enjoyed it, however the queue was vile! It just doesn't move, it's horrible, we waited an hour from half way across the bridge by the station, it was just stupid, absolutely fantastic experience though, as long as they sort the throughput out it will be a winner in my eyes!
Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur
I'm glad to hear you thought it was good though - can we get a more in depth review?
They can't. There isn't a solution here.
I'm glad to hear you thought it was good though - can we get a more in depth review?
nealbie
CF Legend
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur
Yes there is, and it's a very simple one. Stop being so negative
They need to get hold of medical antibacterial cleaning wipes and they need to offer them to each rider when they sit down to clean them themselves. The guest is within their right to ask that the staff member does it for them, but a great liability get out clause is instructing the customer that the headset needs cleaning.
In the opticians for the pre screening equipment that we use on people, they legally have to be cleaned between every person (like with the headsets on the ride). Because throughput isn't a concern of ours really, we will generally do this ourselves, in front of the patient - but if they do it themselves (sometimes they want to), then that also covers it.
Like I said, riders can refuse if they're tosspots and make the staff do it, but it covers the legality and has the awesome bonus of increasing loading times/throughput. This way staff will only have to make sure headsets are secure and normal ride stuff. Yes it will always be slower than a standard coaster load, but it would help a lot.
Stupidity dictates they won't do it though.
Joey said:
Yes there is, and it's a very simple one. Stop being so negative
They need to get hold of medical antibacterial cleaning wipes and they need to offer them to each rider when they sit down to clean them themselves. The guest is within their right to ask that the staff member does it for them, but a great liability get out clause is instructing the customer that the headset needs cleaning.
In the opticians for the pre screening equipment that we use on people, they legally have to be cleaned between every person (like with the headsets on the ride). Because throughput isn't a concern of ours really, we will generally do this ourselves, in front of the patient - but if they do it themselves (sometimes they want to), then that also covers it.
Like I said, riders can refuse if they're tosspots and make the staff do it, but it covers the legality and has the awesome bonus of increasing loading times/throughput. This way staff will only have to make sure headsets are secure and normal ride stuff. Yes it will always be slower than a standard coaster load, but it would help a lot.
Stupidity dictates they won't do it though.
owentaylor121
Giga Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur
When I first boarded and put the head set on I noticed how heavy It was on my nose, and the speakers did hurt my ears a little but was soon as you go into the flying position you don't notice it, going up the lift hill was awesome it was really well done. Don't want to give away any spoilers! It's strange it doesn't feel like your on a flying coaster, it was a strange feeling but an amazing one, I was completely in shock when flying around at how well synced it all was, no sickness at all. I have to say definitely come and try it, it's so much better than Air, personally! I would have gone straight back onit if it wasn't for the slow moving queue!
Yeah.Joey said:
When I first boarded and put the head set on I noticed how heavy It was on my nose, and the speakers did hurt my ears a little but was soon as you go into the flying position you don't notice it, going up the lift hill was awesome it was really well done. Don't want to give away any spoilers! It's strange it doesn't feel like your on a flying coaster, it was a strange feeling but an amazing one, I was completely in shock when flying around at how well synced it all was, no sickness at all. I have to say definitely come and try it, it's so much better than Air, personally! I would have gone straight back onit if it wasn't for the slow moving queue!