Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaurant

[JSMarsden]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

You're right- I wonder if after some feed back they'll make some amendments.

I had two days in the park last weekend too, it was so quiet we ventured into the gardens to fill some time!

I thought the park was on good form though. Staff were super enthusiastic and most coasters running multiple trains despite it being really quiet.

Agree with you on that one, Galactca was sent around with empty trains, as was smiler, oblivion ec. Staff all happy and attentative and great few days well spent! Even ventured into the gardens like yourself on both days, one from Forbidden Valley to X Sector, and the other - we followed the bath opposite battle galleons and went past a nice abandoned house, and past a small lake to come up beside the monorail station in FV. (Can't believe I have always walked via katanga kanyon from mutiny bay to get to FV all this time! DOH!)

Ha.. we did the EXACT same routes as you and in the same order.. was a nice change though!

Surprised you managed to understand what I meant, after I named the Path "Bath" and Skyride "Monorail" oops.

Anyways back to Galactica / RC Restaurant TOPIC OOPS :angel:

Galactica also needs the LEDs fixing in the queue, the pictures are a good idea I guess as a picture with a VR on your face wouldn't be great. They look great if you pull a 'screaming' face with your hands on the glass, looks like your trapped inside a space suit then!

 

[zazobo]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

I understood. I don't even call the Skyride by it's proper name anyway. I call it 'SKY TRAIN'.. But I digress..

 

[hamcake]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

Galactica also needs the LEDs fixing in the queue, the pictures are a good idea I guess as a picture with a VR on your face wouldn't be great. They look great if you pull a 'screaming' face with your hands on the glass, looks like your trapped inside a space suit then!

the pictures were cool, although ours didn't come up on our digipass for some reason. Not as big a deal as an actual onride photo missing though.

 

[JSMarsden]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

Galactica also needs the LEDs fixing in the queue, the pictures are a good idea I guess as a picture with a VR on your face wouldn't be great. They look great if you pull a 'screaming' face with your hands on the glass, looks like your trapped inside a space suit then!

the pictures were cool, although ours didn't come up on our digipass for some reason. Not as big a deal as an actual onride photo missing though.

Indeed, glad I didn't get a digipass though, most rides I have my hands up, and unfortunately either covered my face, or the partners on most rides (Can only blame myself!!)

 

[Robbie]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

Another shameless marketing stunt by Merlin!

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest- ... eake-Earth

 

[Ian]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

Bored of Tim Peake - I know more about him than I do members of my own family - and I'm bored of Galactica - and I've never been on it. TBH, I expected this connection. I wouldn't say it's shameless, but unoriginal and predicatble instead.

 

[Robbie]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

Oh yes, agree it's predictable But I also think it's shameless because I'm not even sure Peake himself is aware of it. It's a cheeky cash-in 'cos the guy's stuck in a tin can and can't answer back.

 

[Howie]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

So here's a turn up for the books:

Galactica is quite good.

No, really. I liked it. As a ride experience, I actually think it's better than Air was.
It was only last week, after a day at Thorpe Park, that I was ranting and raving about how VR just doesn't belong in a theme park environment. Well, I'd like to amend that comment slightly. Sure, it certainly has no place as the key element of a brand new, big budget, dark 'ride' where all you're required to do is sit there and look straight ahead... but as a way of bringing a new lease of life to what was a very underwhelming coaster in the first place? Yeah man, I think it can work.
Obviously there's quite a few 'ifs' that come with that, things like;
If the coaster in question is 'suitable'.
If the headsets are reliable.
If the VR storyline is at least kinda relevant.
If the graphics are clear and well rendered,
If the capacity isn't affected too badly.

If all those 'ifs' are ticked off then yeah, you might have a winning attraction on your hands. Thankfully, I reckon GalacticAir fits the bill quite well. Bear in mind that Alton Towers was ridiculously quiet today (we arrived at 9.45am to find about 20 cars on the car park!), so I have no idea what the throughput is like on a busy day, but on all other counts, yep, it scores.
I only expected to try it once, y'know... just to see what it's like, then maybe ride again as 'Air' but no, we had 3 more goes and strapped on the headsets every time! Honestly, it's actually pretty cool. The ride and the visuals are synched quite well, the soundtrack is good (really liked the music!) and it just.... worked.

Yeah if you ask the operator if you can go backwards they will turn the VR so what you see on the VR is you going backwards, it's brilliant because it really does feel like your going backwards even though your not!

Why didn't I know about this?? I'm gutted. That sounds weird... but awesome.


The Roller Coaster Restaurant, on the other hand, is a bit poo.
It's quite a novel idea I suppose, it's mildly good fun to watch your meal do a loop before spiralling down to your table, and the restaurant itself is fairly funky but the bottom line is this; the food is sh*t and it's too expensive.
Every review you'll read says exactly the same thing - it's mass-produced, reheated s**te. The speed in which it arrives is a dead giveaway.
Well, that and the fact that it tastes like s**te.

Try it once, just to say that you've done it. Take a selfie, drink an overpriced beer, play with the spinning table, laugh loudly as someone's lunch stalls on a helix and generally make the most of it... just don't expect fine haute cuisine dining or much change out of 25 quid.

 

[gavin]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

^ I said the exact same thing about Food loop at Europa. **** ing awful food.

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

I don't know if it's changed but I really didn't find the food there that bad. Had some kind of casserole hotpot and a nice chocolate pud in a jar thing. I've had a lot worse tbh.

 

[Smithy]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

Europa one was relatively cheap too. Food was alright for what it was, quick and easy. Not seen prices for the Alton one mind.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

I've also just tried Galactica...

I wasn't impressed. But the problem here is that I quite liked Air, whilst everyone I know who likes Galactica thought Air was pants.

What I want to know is, regardless of whether Galactica is better than Air, would a VR experience of similar quality (in all senses) make any coaster better? Would VR on Nemesis, assuming everything was comparable quality wise - assuming no issues Galactica doesn't already have - be welcomed, for example?

But, moving on, my actual opinion...

The throughput damage is real. We walked into an empty queue for Galactica. When we entered the station, we had just missed a train, which already had the restraints down. I checked the time when disembarked, and 20 minutes had past. 20 minutes. Twenty. Minutes.

A headset in the row we picked was out of order. I'm glad they warn you, and they do it sensibly by asking if we all wanted to use the headsets... Because had one of us not, that wouldn't have been an added throughput damage. But the point is, some of the headsets will always be faulty and even having the conversation between staff and guests and guests deciding and moving rows and due to Air's loading set up not always having a group waiting behind to potentially bring forward, etc. is a throughput damaging factor in its own right. I have first hand experience of knowing how silly stuff like this massively compromises throughput, so please don't tell me otherwise, or say this is petty. It's real, it's a problem.

The headset is heavy - way less comfortable than DBGTs and it was too tight at first, then when I adjusted, it was too loose. Staff didn't check we were comfortable before dispatch, so I had to hold it up the whole time.

I didn't have any issues with it being out of focus, but then I don't have **** eyes. Everyone else I was with wears glasses, contacts or knows they should do, and they all said it was out of focus and couldn't get it right with the stupid wheel.

It might not have been out of focus, but I've never realised just how juddery Air was until now. The vibrating of the image was unpleasant.

First thing I did was look underneath me back to my shoes. Cool, this is cool. This is already better than DBGT because there's **** going on around me, but still not enough. Why isn't there a cool easter egg back there? Anyway, we're on the move.

At first I thought it was kinda neat, going up the lift... And prior to riding I was thankful they picked a space theme where the imagery didn't require masses of skill to render. It's just empty space and lights and rocks, ya know? That's all space is. Maybe some space ships. But the point is, no organic creatures to render with authentic looking movement, no detailed plant life to flutter in the wind, etc. Nothing to **** up and make look unrealistic. And that's good, and it all looks good, way better than DBGT's non-live action elements. BUT... But... The thing about open space is there is no sense of speed. My body was telling me I was moving fast, but my eyes were not, and this made me feel sick. There was one awful part near the end in particular, where the visuals slow down to look out over this great expanse, but the ride is actually speeding up... It wasn't in sync. I also found it weird that the inversions were not matched with inversions? Just, turning? Maybe it's just that I know Air's layout, but it really wasn't convincing.

The audio was also really poor. Fuzzy and weird. Is that just my headset or how it is for everyone?

More on the nausea thing... I felt dizzy when I got up until we got to the top of Forbidden Valley. Just slightly car sick and dizzy. Scarlet seemed to feel worse than I did, and yet she never gets car sick and very rarely gets ride sick. I won't ride Enterprise, she did it twice just fine, for comparison. It didn't make the other two with us feel sick at all, but neither of them ever suffer with motion sickness. So that's weird. I bet a lot of it has to do with where you're looking. I consciously tried to follow the action to "make the most" of it, so maybe I made it worse for me, or maybe Scarlet did by not doing that? I've no idea.

Also, in spite of having many staff, efforts are not being made to counter the damage to loading. The cages where you bags go were not being opened and closed and staff stood there watching us struggle until I literally told him, "our bags are THERE". I know one stupid member of staff not paying attention doesn't define them all, but it's **** like this that you CAN control with loading faff that should be priority in dealing with damages you can't control.

Oh and a note on cleanliness. Thankfully it's pretty dark in there. I tried not to look before boarding, but exciting I had a good look. It's grim. Don't look. I also didn't witness them cleaning any headsets.

As for Air being the appropriate coaster for VR - disagree... I mean, I like Air, a lot of people don't and I respect that might stand in the way of me enjoying it fully. But, you can't look around on the flying coasters easily. It's hard enough to even look straight ahead. The main **** gimmick of VR is being able to look around. I really need to try it on a regular seated coaster, only to be further dissopointed by the lack of interesting **** to look at outside of the main pov.

So overall, Galactica is certainly not bad... But it's not good either. It's just ok. I have zero interest in doing it again, but would probably force myself to if it's still there next year or whenever I next get to visit.

 

[Ben]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

Nah Galactica is fab.

There isn't any loading damage I was really impressed - we went the same day and they literally weren't even stacking.

I saw them clean every headset each time.

And Air was absolutely dire.

 

[davidm]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

Right but you can't really make any comment on capacity when the park is dead can you ; its when the park is busy that poor operations are a nightmare not when its empty!

 

[SaiyanHajime]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

I was there same day as Ben, though.

It literally took 20 minutes from being next in line to getting off for me. *shrug*

Even if I hadn't seen it functioning in person, or got on instantly because I entered the station later in the faff, I'd still know for 100% certain that capacity on it is worse, because you're adding a process to the loading procedure? It's literally impossible for it not to affect throughput.

I suspect I got unlucky with my loading faff, making it look worse, and Ben got lucky with his, making it look better. But it just isn't possible for it to not affect capacity. You're adding a process to the loading procedure. That's adding time. There is no magical time that can be acquired out of your arse and no where they can shave time elsewhere. If anything, regardless of Galactica, Air would have had a longer loading procedure this season regardless after last year's accident... They all will. I will appreciate it's "not that bad" as a first hand experience, but "There isn't any loading damage" is as incorrect and ludicrous a statement as "the earth is flat".

It's worth noting that when we first got to the park and checked the official queue boards, everything said 5 mins except Galactica, which said 60. And on Monday, when everything except Galactica dropped to one train operation. Nemesis was walk on with one train, whilst Galactica with the regular 3 was 20. I appreciate the accuracy of those boards relies on staff being competent with their guesswork, but still.

Oh I've just realised why I didn't witness any headset cleaning - it's because the train we boarded had no one in those seats on the previous train. So, the 15 or so minutes we queued despite being next in line was without the added faff of cleaning headsets.

I honestly am at a loss how anyone can seriously think that delaying letting guests board whilst they wipe down each headset doesn't affect throughput.

 

[Chris Brown]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

One thing I noticed after riding the other weekend was how lenient the ride ops were with the VR. I always thought it was a compulsory thing as its 'the worlds first fully dedicated VR rollercoaster'. That said I quite enjoyed the experience and found it quite immersive. Perhaps there could be more interaction with stuff as you fly around, for me there wasn't enough going on or to look at to make me want to ride again with the VR. I mean I'll probably ride with VR once per visit but any re rides I'd opt for Air.

 

[Ian]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

You're adding a process to the loading procedure. That's adding time.

I agree with this entirely.

I've done two VR coasters, each time they took longer to dispatch due to the added procedure of VR. Having experienced both of those coasters without VR, loading was quicker. And on one of those occasions, the coaster was full of industry professionals who understand how the tech - and operations - works.

One other example I'll throw in to back up Joey's statement is Wodan at Europa. The Marketing chap who gave us a mini tour informed us that Mack asked GCI to redesign the train seats so they can avoid using seatbelts. Why? Because putting on seatbelts and having ops check them woudl affect throughput, which is akin to putting on a VR headset. I find it rather strange that a company (Mack) who are keen on slick loading times are pushing something like VR!

As for Galatcica itself, I've heard mainly positive (read: better than expected) reviews but I've yet to do it. I've got low expectations so I'll probably end up enjoying it as something different. I'll let you know in November.

 

[Smithy]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

To be fair though, of the two rides that have VR at Europa, one of them appears to be severely impacted by it's addition and the other barely seems affected at all.

With AlpenExpressen, the queue rarely got below 20 minutes when the rest of the coasters were walk-on. Though that's also in part because of it being a single train ride and it's also somewhat difficult to accurately pin the blame on that solely on the VR.

With Pegasus, the queue was again minimal and as there were multiple trains, the queue wasn't noticeably lengthened as a result of VR being an option.

I think this is part in down to the effective way in which it's managed, with a seperate queueline for VR and only a couple of seats reserved for each train for VR users. On Pegasus there was only a few of us waiting to get on, so by the time the ops had seated the front 7 or 8 cars the op at the back with us had sorted out our headsets in time.

 

[Ben]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

Yeah but the solution to the time added is shove on ride ops.

There was never a ride op per row on Air, that's your solution.

Honestly I was so shocked at how good the capacity on Galactica still was so I'm really not sure what you're chatting about since we were there the same day xD Like you say, Air was never the best anyway (not close to Nemesis) but I think it has maintained rather than got worse - and that's because it's being run by an army.

 

[mouse]

Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

Seems like the people who like it claim the throughput is okay and those who don't like it claim it's terrible. Does anyone with a more neutral opinion of the ride have an account of the throughput?