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SteveJ

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  1. Like
    SteveJ got a reaction from MattyMoo in Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon   
    Funny how just 1 year later those "early days" were gone and the graphics infinitely improved. Swap out "early days" for "cheapest option" and you'd be more correct
  2. Like
    SteveJ got a reaction from pluk in Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon   
    Funny how just 1 year later those "early days" were gone and the graphics infinitely improved. Swap out "early days" for "cheapest option" and you'd be more correct
  3. Like
    SteveJ got a reaction from PJ. in Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon   
    I can see that leg ticklers wouldn't really work, you'd see them as you board before the lights go out (they're just flexible tubing). The screens, fog and all that are what's interesting,  I wonder how much was actually installed before being removed or just mothballed.

    There must be a solution to using the ride system to its full potential as a simulator ride. It's the designers' job to come up with a solution and make it work as an experience, but it would take money not a quick rehash with some actors. Also as far as I know (might be wrong) Simworx built it without VR in mind to be rolled out to other parks in the future. It would be a shame to waste the  ride system which was by far the best thing about the ride in my opinion.
  4. Like
    SteveJ reacted to JoshC. in Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon   
    Also, speaking of the SImworx website, the page they have dedicated to Ghost Train still has some lovely PS1 graphics...
     

     
    Looking back you do really have to wonder what was going through everyone's minds to sign that off.
  5. Like
    SteveJ reacted to JoshC. in Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon   
    Simworx were the turnkey provider for the experience. My understanding of the situation is that they were approached for the project (after Merlin and Thorpe had a good experience with them with Shrek in London and Angry Birds 4D) and were asked if they felt they could provide what was wanted, since it was a very unique project. I'm sure at the point when Simworx agreed to the project, VR had already been decided / was in the closing stages for been confirmed.
     
    I've heard differing stories about why Severn Lamb were bought in. As Marc says, they designed the trains, but one version of events I heard was they were bought in because they had experience building trains, so were better to provide more realistic-looking carriages. The other version is that, despite saying they would, Simworx didn't want to design enclosed carriages (most of their carriages are open in design) so they sub-contracted Severn Lamb to do it. Similar conflicting stories exist about why Intamin were bought in. 
     
    On top of that, you've then got Figment Productions designing the VR and having their own needs for executing it. They very much worked closely with Merlin/Thorpe and probably had little contact with Simworx/Severn Lamb. So it's not hard to imagine a situation where Figment were telling something to Merlin, who told something to Simwork, who told something to Severn Lamb, and the original message getting muddled along the way. Basically, it's all a mess.
     
    The ride system that Simworx did could still be replicated elsewhere without VR, I guess. At one point during Ghost Train's construction there were murmurs that Merlin wanted a similar experience for Gardaland. The question is why would anyone want it. If you took the generic immersive tunnel set up (ie huge screens outside the carriage) and modified it to Ghost Train's style, it just sounds like a nightmare. And just not an enjoyable experience. It could probably be scaled down with a longer track circuit, but again the question is why.
     
    If you look through Simworx's website, there's not a lot of theme park projects they've worked on, especially recently. A lot of their recent stuff is on a small scale, with a lot of concepts for ideas too. Given how much competition there is for dark rides, cinemas and stuff like that in the theme park industry, it does make you wonder if simply they're not cut out for making large-scale theme park attractions. They certainly had some potential, and parks did go to them at first, but when most aren't, there's surely a reason behind it.
  6. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Marc in Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon   
    Ahh my bad - the windows were initially supposed to mist up I believe during different points so you wouldn’t see what’s behind the scenes if you didn’t have VR on - but the reflections from the windows would mess with the VR so they were in the end just covered up.

    I believe simworx ultimately manages the entire project but the most part of it was built by different manufacturers - probably not helping ultimately in all the problems.
     
    I don’t think the VR was added late as a marketing gimmick - the concept of a train with screens in the window wouldn’t really work on ghost train as you’d be awkwardly looking at a screen somones sat infront of - unless you only had people one side but that would end in a ridiculously poor throughput.
     
    Yeah there was problems with VR contributing to the delay but by no means is VR it’s only issues - it’s a shame really as when the entire experience works as it’s meant to I still do think it’s good, it could have varied a lot more had it been a success to keep it fresh - it’s just so rare the whole thing works as an entire package. 
  7. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Glitch in Chessington General Discussion   
    From reviews it seemed like a generally successful day for Chessington, bar the 1 hour queue for RAP, ironic do people really need these or just see them as a free fast track, same with carer passes, I wonder if people just see that as free entry nowadays.
     
    On another note I saw a post about allowing a full train of RAP users to drop queue times, is this not theoretically an operations nightmare if something went wrong, I thought you were only allowed 1 RAP holder on any ride at a time for safety and evacuation issues.
     
    Doesn't seem like these issues will go away soon now either with  RAP passes being valid til the end of 2021.
     
  8. Like
    SteveJ reacted to JoshC. in Tomb Blaster   
    If you have to say that, it usually means it is a biased opinion...
     
    Also how in earth you can use a 12 second video of mostly pitch black to judge the quality of the ride's upgrades is beyond me.
  9. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Benin in Tomb Blaster   
    I'm not too sure that there's much competition for "best UK dark ride" these days. Especially when the usual winner is currently closed.
  10. Like
    SteveJ reacted to JoshC. in Chessington General Discussion   
    2020 park map is available here:  https://www.chessington.com/media/msbjs1wa/2020-park-map-theme-park-zoo-sea-life.pdf
     
    It's interest to note that Blue Barnacle, despite being an entirely new piece of ride hardware with a new theme, isn't in any way being marketed as 'new' or even 'returning' for 2020, which is refreshing.
  11. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Kerfuffle in Bubbleworks   
    The fact the focus was on the Imperial Leather Bubbleworks and not Professor Burp only made it more agonising. </3
  12. Like
    SteveJ got a reaction from Exodus Matt in Vampire   
    Hmm I really beg to differ though, I think it had lost all entertainment value by then and doubt any of the public would remember it much. An empty warehouse with an organ setpiece at the end and some B&Q floodlights. You may as well have had the station outside.

    When a day ticket to Phantasialand costs almost the same as Chessington, is there really any excuse for how poor Vampire got? Imagine if Wicker Man ended up like that in the future (and Vampire's preshow was originally better than Wicker Man's too) and people just shrugged. Is that really what guests shell out for at a Merlin park?

    Also, we have so much more opportunity available now than Chessington did in 1990, it's strange that something 30 years ago has not been improved on. But I suppose it's a credit to how good the original music and station were for the time.
  13. Like
    SteveJ got a reaction from Marc in Vampire   
    Just to clarify in that post I meant the ceiling floodlights that were before this, in reply to what Josh was saying about the state it was in before this revamp. The new lighting has had effort put in, actually the positioning is great, but what it's doing.. not so much

    And although the repairs are much appreciated,  those things about syncing the soundtrack & lighting, repairing the animatronic etc, it should never have lost sync in the first place or the organist been left like that so long. Probably been left broken longer than many people on this forum can remember!
  14. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Ringo in Vampire   
    They took over 12 years ago though...
     
    It’s good to finally see work being done though
  15. Like
    SteveJ got a reaction from Coaster in Vampire   
    Hmm I really beg to differ though, I think it had lost all entertainment value by then and doubt any of the public would remember it much. An empty warehouse with an organ setpiece at the end and some B&Q floodlights. You may as well have had the station outside.

    When a day ticket to Phantasialand costs almost the same as Chessington, is there really any excuse for how poor Vampire got? Imagine if Wicker Man ended up like that in the future (and Vampire's preshow was originally better than Wicker Man's too) and people just shrugged. Is that really what guests shell out for at a Merlin park?

    Also, we have so much more opportunity available now than Chessington did in 1990, it's strange that something 30 years ago has not been improved on. But I suppose it's a credit to how good the original music and station were for the time.
  16. Thanks
    SteveJ got a reaction from HermanTheGerman in Vampire   
    Hmm I really beg to differ though, I think it had lost all entertainment value by then and doubt any of the public would remember it much. An empty warehouse with an organ setpiece at the end and some B&Q floodlights. You may as well have had the station outside.

    When a day ticket to Phantasialand costs almost the same as Chessington, is there really any excuse for how poor Vampire got? Imagine if Wicker Man ended up like that in the future (and Vampire's preshow was originally better than Wicker Man's too) and people just shrugged. Is that really what guests shell out for at a Merlin park?

    Also, we have so much more opportunity available now than Chessington did in 1990, it's strange that something 30 years ago has not been improved on. But I suppose it's a credit to how good the original music and station were for the time.
  17. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Benin in Vampire   
    Nice to see people taking constructive criticism well on here as per.
  18. Like
    SteveJ got a reaction from Ringo in Vampire   
    You know that nobody is suggesting only the original team from 1990 are allowed to do it, the original station we mean.

    But putting that aside, the revamp is good, if not as nearly good as it's been originally. It's very DJ, but if youre gonna do that you may as well go all the way with the music as well. The improvements are limited to just the organ area, well that's as much as we're gonna get I guess. The fixed animatronic is the best part, good on them.

    Remember stuff like this is normal in most theme parks, where it would have never gotten into the state it was in these last few years anyway. But enthusiasts are always hungry for some "changes" to get excited about after closed season!
  19. Like
    SteveJ got a reaction from HermanTheGerman in Vampire   
    You know that nobody is suggesting only the original team from 1990 are allowed to do it, the original station we mean.

    But putting that aside, the revamp is good, if not as nearly good as it's been originally. It's very DJ, but if youre gonna do that you may as well go all the way with the music as well. The improvements are limited to just the organ area, well that's as much as we're gonna get I guess. The fixed animatronic is the best part, good on them.

    Remember stuff like this is normal in most theme parks, where it would have never gotten into the state it was in these last few years anyway. But enthusiasts are always hungry for some "changes" to get excited about after closed season!
  20. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Coaster in Blackpool Pleasure Beach   
    Pleasure Beach was awesome this weekend.
     
    Big One open all day yesterday and most of today even with some fairly high winds, 2 trains on some of the coasters and a lovely atmosphere on park.
     
    The service was great, staff were all very friendly and helpful.
     
    Ghost Train has some amazing new scenes and lighting improvements throughout the ride, bringing out some of the UV in detail that it hasn't been seen in for years!
     
    River Caves also has some changes and improvements to the lighting, and looks in pretty good condition inside.  Audio in Angkor Wat keeps cutting out though.
     
    Overall the most enjoyable weekend I've had at Pleasure Beach in a few years.  There's a much nicer atmosphere about the place than it's had for a while.
  21. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Benin in Vampire   
    You mean the shipping container full of black curtains scare maze?
     
    Top tier quality stuff.
  22. Like
    SteveJ got a reaction from JoelAllen in Vampire   
    This year for its 30th anniversary Vampire has new music and a refurbished station. Will it be good and finally restore that atmosphere that was lost years ago? Or will it be another terrible DIY revamp
  23. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Coaster in Merlin Entertainments   
    I disagree, isn't the idea of a fan forum to discuss all aspects of a subject (in this case Thorpe) whether good or bad?
     
    Being a fan of something doesn't mean you have to defend or be positive about everything they do, IMO.
     
    If Thorpe was in a brilliant state I'd be singing their praises, but equally it's just as important to talk about the aspects that aren't good.  And unfortunately, there are IMO quite a lot of those with Thorpe currently!
     
    I won't be a PR machine for the park and say that everything's wonderful, that's for brand advocates and marketeers not fans.
  24. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Coaster in Blackpool Pleasure Beach   
    Arrow track is so cool looking!
     
    I'm glad that The Big One is being looked after to prolong it as it is rather than getting another manufacturer to completely retrack it; I see so many people calling for it to be "RMC'd" or replaced entirely but I'd hate to see either of those things happen.
     
    The Big One is, IMO, such a special coaster.  It has character, I like the unusual layout and it also still has the best first drop I've ever ridden.
     
    Everyone raves about B&M hyper coasters, I rode two in America and found them bland and unremarkable.  Rides like PMBO and Magnum have something different about them - the sound of the lifthill, design of the trains, the random bumps in the track are all part of it!
     
    In my opinion, there is something special about rides from The Big One's era that modern coasters can't match.
  25. Like
    SteveJ reacted to JoshC. in Blackpool Pleasure Beach   
    Not to mention water rides cost a lot to keep the water clean too (especially stuff like Valhalla where so much is dumped on you). Tidal Wave is like the most or second-most expensive ride to run at Thorpe for example.
     
    Actually figures of how much Valhalla costs to run are pretty meaningless as we don't know a scale of the numbers. If £250k per month is accurate, how does that compare to a roller coaster? Or to Tidal Wave? Or anything else? We don't know - it's just a number.
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