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I really enjoyed Dr Archibald, it all synced up really well and was pretty effective in creating fun scares. Ridiculously, while clearly nothing like as technologically advanced it was actually more of an enjoyable experience than the £millions worth of DBGT. Makes you realise DBGT just isn't fun however clever it is, and when you are literally creating a world from scratch in a VR headset why would fun not be your starting point?

My first VR experience at a theme park was in Pleasurewood Hills in about 1991, was a headset, moving chair, and glove to interact in the VR world. So it's been about quite a while! I get what you are saying, and I'm sure improvements will come, but all the time you have to clean headsets between one sweaty punter and the next (and realistically, that will always be the case) VR will forever remain too labour intensive, too low throughput to be a real mainstream part of theme park line ups. What Europa have done with CanCan seems spot on; dedicated station, ride vehicle slips in between the standard ride vehicles, pay per ride, VR experience beyond the actual coaster (getting on the ride vehicle in the VR world ? ), and fun once it's running. They've got it right where DBGT and Galactica got it very wrong in the era of the same technology, as has Dr Archibald. It's going to work much better in a pay per ride situation like this.

I didn't try Dr Archibald, because screw paying £9 for a ride. I felt very aggrieved doing it for Olympia, so it's going to take something special for me to part with that sort of money for one attraction again. Regarding VR though, it's still very much in its infancy as a piece of technology, and even moreso in a theme park setting. Just think, how long was 3D around before it was used in a ride (not a cinema)? How long was interactive shooting technology around before it was used in a ride? These are questions I don't know the answer to, but I've no doubt they were around a lot longer than VR was before theme parks implemented them. That obviously makes a huge difference to the quality, reliability and overall success of that technology. I truly believe VR (and by extension, the lesser known AR) has a place in theme parks, and in maybe 10-15 years times they'll be a part of some of the most well known, well loved attractions in the industry. But right now, it's just too soon.

Haha no offence to out of touch hipsters everywhere, but after going in to DBGT with an open mind and usually loving attractions rides like this, that is exactly how I feel and seemingly anyone Ive chatted to as well (enthusiasts and non enthusiasts). The arrogant attitude Thorpe Park still have about it, like in the recent behind the scenes video ("nowhere else in the world does anything anywhere near the scale of what we do"), is just plain silly. You don't entertain people by forcing this 'impressive soundingness' on them. They know it's their most complained about attraction by a long way, so why don't they dial it back a bit? Hopefully Merlin has learnt from their mistake..! Could have been awesome in different hands.