Thinking back to my first time on it, I made sure to go in with an open mind. I had no idea what to expect, the park had done a good job of keeping it all secret and ambiguous, but once we sat on the train things started to go very quickly downhill. I couldnt believe this was actually the ride, with a complete absence of any mystery, suspense (or Derren Brown). Just the same old 'Merlin horror attraction' tropes that reminded me of Saw Alive or the Dungeons, or Sub Terra.
When we got to the scene, I was feeling more excited, the set got large and it felt like we were in for a big moment. But it turned out to be more lame shouty acting and an underwhelming effect. Could have been great, but wasnt timed/lit right, and there wasnt much more to it—I mean we all knew there was gonna be a train crash as soon as it started. Is that really all they could think of?
And then, it was straight back to the VR boredom of the first half. Suddenly it was all over and everyone awkwardly, silently (no spontaneous applause as had been said!) shuffled to the exit.
I wondered if I'd done the same ride as everyone who was raving about it. Was I just being cynical? Id gone in ready to be surprised and would have really enjoyed a good, new dark ride. Very strange experience, that's my personal memory of it all anyway.