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Building/Destroying Anticipation

jayjay

jayjay

Giga Poster
I've always found that my enjoyment of a ride will be altered by how well prepared I am for it. Whether through the queueline, the visuals, or just having to wait a little bit for it, I'm put in an immediate good mood before I've stepped into the train.

What makes a good build of anticipation? What can destroy it? Are there any rides whose build-up boost it in your opinion?
 
Music plays a role. Smiler and Helix's tunes do a great job at building anticipation, the catchy **** and I'm now sat humming Helix's score.

I think a queueline that gives you glimpes of the station, interacts well with the ride, does well too
 
A well-designed queue line that gradually reveals bits of the ride, accompanied with a decent soundtrack and well-designed station.

Two that spring to mind are Nemesis (minus the shed/station) and TRON.
 
I think Oblivion when it first opened where it reinforces you're going to die and there is no coming back and you can see the trains plunging into the tunnel and it's all working psychologically on you. It made me chicken out on it years ago, obviously since ridden it many times, but it still scares me to this day!
 
The method of getting closer and revealing more of the ride throughout the queue is definitely a good start. One of my favourite things about Intamin accelerators is watching the launch track, working your way over to the station and then watching the train get pulled out of the station while you stand right next to the gates.

I'm a big fan of well done preshows too. Things like Tower of Terror are perfect, where you're completely immersed in the atmosphere. On a cheaper level, I loved Kärnan's pre-station room, with the sliding doors revealing the empty train, but I've also heard other people complain that it's too faffy and by the time the ride comes round, they've got bored.
 
Oblivion was a masterclass in suspense-building in its heyday. The way the queue circles round the station, that creepy guy on the pre-ride videos, that subtle, turbine-like sound effect that's piped discreetly into the queue line.
"Countdown to Oblivion in T minus 5 minutes" Remember that?
And you'll always see nervous newbies insist on watching it for a bit first, going for a close up look at the hole and watching it go down n stuff. Which of course just makes it ten times worse...
So yeah. Oblivion did it best. For this reason, it's still my favourite dive coaster.



jayjay said:
On a cheaper level, I loved Kärnan's pre-station room, with the sliding doors revealing the empty train, but I've also heard other people complain that it's too faffy and by the time the ride comes round, they've got bored.
Click to expand...

^Ha, that'll be me then!
I think I even used the term 'faffy'!
 
This mostly works only on indoor rides, but not knowing a thing about what the ride will be almost always makes a ride better. This is almost impossible in the internet age, though I did avoid all information on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey before I rode it in 2011, and that made the ride a one of the best experiences ever for me. Boulder Dash is a rare example of this working on an outdoor coaster, as almost all of the "out" leg of the ride is not visible from the park.
 
For me the things that make me the most excited for a ride are a good soundtrack and the ride coming close to the queue. For example on Blue Fire the queue is going parallel to the launch section, and the trains are almost shot towards you.
 
In terms of building anticipation Helix springs to mind. Being enclosed in that building before you even reach the entrance does a great job of hyping up the sense of unknown then seeing the first drop near the end of the queue is a lovely little tease.

Obviously the soundtrack must be mentioned too, especially the contrast between the darker ambient queue music and the euphoric station music, just brilliantly designed to get you nervous then excited.
 
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