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SteveJ

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  1. Like
    SteveJ reacted to JoshC. in 2020 Season   
    I know you're joking, but I've seen some escape rooms / self-driven story experiences have this exact concept! And it doesn't work, because people respond to and identify different smells in different ways. And a strong concentration of an artificial smell doesn't always smell how it should, especially if it's designed to be filling a room.
     
    Aroma's announcement is clearly just them saying they're working with Thorpe on whatever is happening this year. It'd be no different to a vague announcement from IMASCORE or Scruffy Dog.
     
    My guess is that, once again, it's a small experience which probably only has a short life span, so Thorpe aren't planning on marketing it majorly. But getting companies they're working with to mention it lets those who would dig around online know something is happening.
     
    Arguably it's a lazy tactic. But not as lazy as their current social media competition of 'get enthusiasts to submit their videos to go on the park's website'.
  2. Like
    SteveJ reacted to JoshuaA in 2020 Season   
    I really don't know how scents are going to be a at the forefront of any new addition..
    Usually smell pods are a finishing touch to a dark ride or scare maze- just a icing to a good cake (theming, fog, actors, music).
  3. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Mattgwise in Alton Towers General Discussion   
    To be fair when you say it's always the same people who never plan to visit those days that complain I'd disagree, I have had about two conversations with people over the last year who put off their visit because of the poor opening hours. They were also non enthusiast groups. 
     
    There are also people outside of Cbeebies land as well that would like to visit. If it was purely Cbeebies land open I'd understand. 
     
    It's not a good offering, simples. 
  4. Like
    SteveJ got a reaction from MattyMoo in Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon   
    I still think "It will completely change what theme parks can do" with that smug face is one of the all time classic theme park moments in this country
  5. Like
    SteveJ got a reaction from Coaster in Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon   
    I still think "It will completely change what theme parks can do" with that smug face is one of the all time classic theme park moments in this country
  6. Like
    SteveJ reacted to pluk in Blackpool Pleasure Beach   
    Could      he     speak      any     slower.
     
    Painful listen. So a 20min video to say it's shut next year with an intention to open it the year after having been renovated in some way.
     
    What I don't understand is if the real problem is the running cost, which I primarily take to mean energy consumption, then how can that be meaningfully improved? Pumping that volume of water around will always be expensive and burning that volume of gas each ride cycle will always be expensive. You can't stop pumping the water and if you stop burning the gas you have lost its one real point of interest.
  7. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Martin Doyle in Thorpe Park 2020   
  8. Like
    SteveJ reacted to pluk in Thorpe Park 2020   
    Realistically - the entrance needs sorting out properly. I hate what they've done with it, it is a dreadful way to welcome anyone to anywhere let alone a theme park which should be a place of joy and escapism. 
    It would kind of be OK if it left you feeling safe but security, it's primary aim being to keep out restricted items, is worse than it was previously as so long as you don't have a bag you saunter on through the middle with no checks at all. Yeah, I'm sure everyone keeps their knives, drugs and firearms in a bag! 
    They need to make the entrance welcoming while achieving at least some level of security. I don't really know what the answer is, but the mess we currently have which achieves neither is not it!
     
    Inside the park I'd just like it cleaned. So much of it is so grotty. Ride stations and shops especially are filthy. It's not much to ask and should be a basic but there is clearly no system in place to actually clean things.
  9. Like
    SteveJ got a reaction from 2542464 in Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon   
    How it is today, rushing past the train in a blocky room where you only see the floor beneath you for a few seconds (if you bother to look over the side while you get the chance), is really not the best way the illusion could have been designed. It may not be possible to stand directly underneath, but they designed themselves into a corner with the whole thing really.

    There's always other techniques when it comes to illusion to give the impression there's more than there really is. With DBGT its the other way round,  things are so badly thought through that you actually miss the best bits.

    For all that effort and an amazing concept, how it turned out is almost pointless in my opinion. Much like the whole ride.
  10. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Mattgwise in Galactica   
    I thought it was a pile of turd! Good riddance! 
  11. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Glitch in Tulley's Shocktober Fest Scream Park   
    Went today, medium crowd levels, but still loads of time to get through all the attractions.
    Bought tickets at November black Friday sale for £25 each, offering excellent value, I almost think the VIP would be a bit overkill, I feel that once is enough on all 10 attractions.
    Twisted Clowns - Was excellent and a good way to start the evening loved the bungee and the varying levels / floors.
    The Chop Shop - Meh, Creek Freak wins for me.
    Wastlelands - Wins it for me a great maze overall and better than Creek Freak in my opinion, the show was also visually stunning, I wouldn't be surprised to see Glastonbury / Boomtown style festivals copy this style of stage in the near future.
    Wreckoning- Ok, pirate theme was cool, but it went on for a long time with little actors to fill the areas.
    Coven - Loved the white room, may be getting my mazes muddled up here!
    Circus of Horrors- Excellent, Thorpe need something like this back to replace the cinema.
    Creepy Cottage - Was a nice attraction.
    The Cellar - This just blurs with the other attractions can't remember too much.
    Hayride- Queue was about an hour looking at it in the muddy looking queue line, so bought fasttrack for £5, well worth it straight onto the attraction, was very good feel sorry for the actors who must be getting bruised legs from the lack of space onboard, but overall the set design was excellent.
    VIXI - Longest queue of the night at 20mins but I enjoyed the experience, yes it may be seen as weak but the isolation factor was quite cool, I am hoping that next year they retheme and rename Vulcan Peak as a troll to Thorpe.
     
    Overall Tulley's seems to be a well oiled shipped, that knows its operations and how to run them smoothly, the ticketing system works well and is something which I would like Thorpe to introduce for RAP on busy nights, whilst overall with the £25 +£5 fasttrack works out to £3 per attraction which seems like excellent value and has left a smile on my face, as well as I would assume the majority of other guests even on a peak night.
     
    Would I recommend? - Yes.
     
     
     
  12. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Stuntman707 in Hyde Park Winter Wonderland   
    Can't believe the Saudi Arabian Gov wanted to buy Alpen Hotel so badly. Was always a highlight of winter wonderland but damn, they must have really wanted it.
  13. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Hethetheth in Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon   
    To be honest the preshow barely connects to the rest if the ride at all. Frankly, everything before you enter the carriage is essentially unrelated to the preshow and hanging train. 
     
    Derren in the preshow:
    "And after it's all over talk to your friends you may find they perceived things diffferently" (something to that effect).
     
    How? The film on the VR is pretty much identical... 
     
    For a ride supposed to have:
     
    A. Ghosts
    B. Illusions 
    C. Trains 
     
    It has literally only 2 of A and only 1 of B (the hanging carriage is an illusion, the rest is just a video on some goggles). Apart from the name and preshow it has sweet nothing to do with Derren or illusions at a basic level. It succeeds only in having trains, I'll give it that.
     
    I actually prefer the Dungeons.
  14. Like
    SteveJ got a reaction from Rach666 in Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon   
    I don't know, I thought it was rubbish from day 1 and so did most people who went in it apparently.
  15. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Benin in Rainforest Area   
    Just. Why?
     
    Much like with the other cast offs from Weymouth, feels more a forced upon park decision as opposed to something thought out deliberately...
     
    I just don't get these decisions, they could've just removed Toadies and get a REAL investment instead of this...
  16. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Benin in Rainforest Area   
    No one mentioned RMC, especially when a Mack Big Dipper would be a much more suitable choice for Chessie given a lack of space and everything else...
     
    Or a Lech Coaster could be an option? Or maybe if they want another water ride get a Rapids or Supersplash? 
     
    Plenty of options that would suit the park more than 2nd hand log flume (drop tower is a fair enough addition/replacement for Rameses)...
  17. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Hethetheth in Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon   
    I first rode Derren Brown's Ghost Train in 2017. I've made my feelings clear about the very muddled story in this thread before, but I ultimately did find it a flawed but generally enjoyable ride. Not worth a long queue or the money spent on it, but it was fine.
     
    Fast forward to Fright Nights 2019, and oh boy have my feelings changed.
     
    The queue for the ride was advertised as a 50 minute wait. Ok, that's fairly long but it was Fright Nights and everything was busy. 60 minutes later we were still not in the batching area. In the 30 minutes that followed, we saw only 3 batch groups enter. One every 10 minutes! Really?! I know this ride isn't great with capacity, but I cannot understand operations being this bad.
     
    The pre show was as boring and disconnected from the experience as usual, but at least it all worked. Once it ended we moved onto the next waiting area and waited. And waited. And waited. We were there for 5 minutes. Worsening the wait was that the room is lightly themed with no music (I thought IMA score made 90 mins of music, and yet it plays only in the queue, why?) and we were waiting with the worst actor / staff member they could find. This preemptively killed any momentum the pre show gave the experience.
     
    Despite the lengthy wait, when we did move into the hanging carriage room we were hurried through to board. This room is probably the only decent bit of the ride and yet we barely got to experience it. Genius move Thorpe. Genius.
     
    Once onboard we had VR segment one. It was fine, but very little happens really on reflection (it occurs to me that the whole VR segments contain 2 'ghosts' in total, which is ridiculously low).
     
    After the VR segment we were asked to wait on the train for a bit. At this point we all sat in the awkward and silent carriage. No music, nothing. People around us muttered "is that it?" and "that was s***". 
     
    We eventually moved into the abysmal middle section. There were no sound effects or music. We all wandered around an empty set of cages and then (would you believe it) we reached the end and waited for ages. In silence....again. 
     
    Eventually we went into the 2nd VR segment and saw the final of the two 'ghosts' of the experience. The segment was fine.
     
    Once over we went into the shop for the fake-out finally. We waited there for ages before anything (what a shocker). When it did begin we merely got a man in a t-shirt rather than a demon. Really?!
     
    This ride was ok at first but now it is utterly abysmal. There is NO sense of theatrics at all anymore. In 2017 there was a serious effort to keep the pace going and maintain some story. There was an energy from the actors and the middle section was seemingly the glue that held it all together. Now there were awkward silences, confusion and waiting it was an embarrassment and I struggle to see how anyone enjoys it in it's current state (if anyone does I'd love to know why). Judging from the people in my train the public seem to hate it.
  18. Like
    SteveJ reacted to JoshC. in Logger's Leap   
    So that Loggers Leap auction was incredible ey guys???
  19. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Marhelorpe in Fright Nights 2019 - Spoilers   
    OK, so I have tried all the horror mazes (just the mazes alone) from this weekend and seen what the first weekend of Fright Nights 2019 had to offer as a regular guest, not as a celeb VIP vlogger who gets offered social media trinkets alongside an upgraded/unrealistic experience of the mazes by the Merlin bobs. 
     
    As a whole, I gotta start saying there is no doubt that compared to last year, there is an overall improvement in the event in terms of how it was delivered, but be under no illusion that the improvements are very, very minimal. I still walked around the park at night getting very similar vibes to the disaster of 2018, from the over-use of too many bright white floodlights, to the inconsistent audio management, lack of proper park-wide theming and still some questionable mazes. It's better than last year, but still riddled with faults and here's what I observed and think of each area of the event.
     
    I stress this is my experience of the night and acknowledge runs through each maze are different for every guest:
     
    --------------------

    Park & Ride Theming:
    I would say the level of theming is pretty much the same as 2018 park-wide, though there were some odd exceptions in place which I liked.
     
    For example, Colossus's station looked fantastic, especially at night where the ceiling lights had all their bulbs changed to a glowing red and the spotlights underneath the train a vidid green, which meant not a single white light was present anywhere inside. To top that, there were plenty of hanging skulls, cobwebs, hand-painted signs everywhere too and there was a really effective smoke machine pumping smoke everywhere in the station underneath the centre of the train. I thought this set a really, really nice atmosphere at night and reminded me of when Colossus' station used to look during Fright Nights pre-2010 and I loved it.
     
    But then, if you look at any other ride or coaster in the park? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not a single other ride was decorated for the event which confused me, as it seemed as though the park went all-in with Colossus but then couldn't be bothered with the rest of their rides after that point and so gave up. It's a real shame because the difference that made to Colossus was substantial and really added to the atmosphere inside. Hopefully the park will do more changes like this as I thought it was really nice and effective.
     
    As for park theming, it's almost non-existent. There's the usual Walking Dead props near the entrance bridge, Swarm's pathway and Old Town, but nothing which stood out. There were also white body bags splattered in blood hanging up in the trees and supports around Saw and Depth Charge, though the illusion was ruined when 20mph gusts of wind were blowing them around everywhere. Also, the Dome at night was filled with smoke and a spotlight moving around the ceiling too. Not quite sure what the purpose of this was, but hey, I liked it.
     
    Overall, whilst there still wasn't that much, I do hope the park in the future will start theming their coasters and rides like Colossus because that was a great move.
     
    Audio Mangement:
    It's pretty much identical to last year - inconsistent, inconsistent, inconsistent.
     
    All the coasters were playing themed audio to Fright Nights in their stations such as Nick Hutson's audio on Colossus, Stealth and Inferno, to Charlie Clouser playing on Stealth's loading, or the FN WWTP playlist again after 3pm (ugh), but amongst all that, once again, the majority of rides were playing their usual themes with Detonator being by far the worst example with it's obnoxious "chirp" noise playing across the park every few minutes, depending on whether the staff member remembers to stop it before it plays as the carriage drops. That eliminated any potential dark or spooky atmosphere across the park, and this mix of FN audio mixed with regular audio sounded really sloppy.

    It's a real shame because some of the audio playing in areas works well and when this is overshadowed by the regular stuff, it kills the atmosphere. Really hope the park can finally get to grips with this system because audio for Fright Nights has been a mess for years now. So overall, it's still a mess with inconsistencies present everywhere left, right and centre still. Still hoping Midnight Syndicate will make a return to the park eventually just like in the good ol' days of this event, but realise it's likely not gonna happen because of licensing costs, or something (apparently).
     
    Lighting and Atmosphere:
    There have been some improvements to the lighting used across the park in places where gone are those disgusting rainbow-changing LED light rigs from 2018 and the randomly placed lights from X on the entrance bridge, so the lighting was overall less jarring, but again, there are so many areas of the park vividly lit in blinding white lights that it feels more like walking on a driving range than an actual theme park. Where are the colour filters? Really hope at one point someone at the park can eliminate all if not most of these white lights, especially the one at Platform 15's entrance where it's too friggin' bright to read the sign at night still, similar to Dead Creek Woods last year with the same lighting problem.
     
    Mazes
    Walking Dead: Do or Die:
    It still baffles me as to why this maze still actually exists given how poor it was last year in my view, because this was by far the weakest maze at the event. It's had a slight re-work on the route whereby you go through more of those shipping containers, and the route winds back and forth more, but it's still the same thing in almost every area.
     
    Some differences noted are the outside walls are both black and white this time with some blood-spattered cloth for decoration, the audio in the maze was consistently louder with rock music playing throughout, and the ending had a new scene with shrines and names written on the flooring and walls (will refer to this scene again in a bit).
     
    The actors themselves? 6 in total were what I encountered from start to end, not the 10+ all the vloggers were capturing in their YouTube videos, so be aware of this false presentation they are giving that there are loads inside. Apart from that, it was very similar to last year - dull, boring, plenty of black walls again and lacking any scares. Weakest maze of the night.
     
    3/10
     
    Walking Dead: Living Nightmare:
    Nothing much to say on this as it's the same as ever. The only real change has been in two areas. The first is when waiting in the tunnel, there is a pre-recorded voice of Negan telling the guests the safety announcements which was a nice touch and the other was the ending, where you walk through some foliage with a few actors hiding behind them jumping out at you. I've not watched the show to know who these characters are, but I've heard they are the 'Whisperers'. Either way, the ending was pretty decent, despite everything else being the same.
     
    4/10
     
    Platform 15:
    I gotta say, despite some reviewers saying this year was so much better than before because of the new ending, I thought this was the weakest run-through I have ever had on Platform 15. The first reason is because when confronted with the Canada Creek Railway train, the fire which shoots from the chimney usually fires up similar to a flame gun for a couple of seconds and looks really effective.
     
    However, the effect only emitted a single, pathetic small puff of fire into the air and that was it, thus not startling guests as much as it used to. There was only one actor in this area too which irritated me, as there's usually at least 3 typically (again, do not think VIP press night videos are accurate to the real thing a guest will experience, as they showed loads in this bit online!)
     
    Anyway, as we approached and walked through the house, one thing stood out to me - where's the audio? The house was dead silent with the speakers turned off, and the unsettling creepy audio used in there in previous years was now gone, along with the incredibly potent smell pods, which really took away the unsettling atmosphere inside. There was only one actor in here also.
     
    Finally, the tunnel at the end. Pretty much identical right until the end, although there was a very serious problem with the light leakage this year, as there were more tears in the roof of the fabric than I have ever seen before, and this was a real tension-killer as the group could see ages ahead any actors hiding. But before long, we approached the exit and new ending, which appeared to look like an old station office I think? We were told a mini backstory and as we walked through, an actor jumped out from the wall with the timing of the sound effects and strobe light starting before walking outside and that was it.
     
    I would say the ending is definitely an improvement on last year's embarrassing version, but the rest of the maze before it fell short in many areas sadly, so the overall package I would say is less compared to 2018, even if it has a new story and better ending.
     
    4/10
     
    Blair Witch:
    I have never been the biggest fan of this maze every time it's been at the park, but holy heck, this year I really thought it was brilliant! The new route it takes through the woods was really effective and nicely routed and is far, far longer compared to 2018 with more confined spaces through the foliage. But the best part for me by far was the use of lighting or lack thereof, because there were only half a dozen of very dim lights in the whole attraction, all of which were coloured blue. In-between these areas, it was pitch black in so many areas when walking through that I had to shield my eyes many times in the fear something was going to grab me out of nowhere, whether it was an actor or more foliage. Seriously, it was very well done at making the guest feel unsettled and on edge whilst walking through.
     
    As for the ending, the same tunnel you had to crawl through was there, followed by the shed at the end, which had been narrowed down with wall either side with hand prints all over them with writing, followed my a much dimmer strobe light hidden with actors in the smoke. This was so much better than last year's embarrassing excuse of a overly-bright techno-rave RGB LED light used.
     
    Overall, it's the same kind of experience as last year, but a lot, lot longer with more confined spaces, a far improved route, much better use of lighting and SFX and an improved finale. Definitely the best outdoor maze experience I have had at any Fright Nights yet.
     
    7/10
     
    Creak Freak Masacre:
    And now, the newest maze everyone is bound to be speaking about this year and after trying it, it is clear this is going to be the standout attraction of 2019 and I thought it was the strongest maze by far at the event, really liked it!
     
    The maze itself is quite noisy inside with rock music playing again similar to Do or Die and once you step foot inside the first room where the pre-show, you know this is going to be such a level-up from all the other mazes at Fright Nights. There was smoke bellowing everywhere inside immediately, you are separated down different routes after being introduced by an actor. In my instance, I had the tunnel which was quite confined and had a slight elevation at the start before lowering back down again, similar to the tunnel Experiment 10 used to have.
     
    Once you leave the tunnel, the route mostly consisted of going up and down where Loggers Leap's old cattlepen queueline used to go, all lit up in red with lots of themed walls and actors hiding behind corners and walls, all with pretty good makeup I thought. Before long, you encounter a few rooms, the first from memory being a scene where someone with a giant electric blade is slicing another person in half who is screaming for help. Quite a nice effect I thought, especially with the interaction of the actors and use of lighting effects. Soon after, you encounter a room with bodies hanging from the ceiling and there was a podium in the middle, presumably for the actors to stand. The yellow lighting in here was nicely with an actor with the first chainsaw and was the first moment where my heart really began to race as I couldn't see them through the hanging body bags.
     
    After this point, there were a couple more corners before you approach a strobe maze section which had very loud rock music in there again, only this time, an actor pointed me a route through either 'Goodwood' or 'Badwood'. I got Badwood and what I was faced with was what I can only describe as a miniature version of The Asylum's chickenwire fencing strobe maze, rammed with shed loads of smoke. To add to this, there are in fact dead ends in places, just like what The Freezer used to have in it's first couple of years I believe, so this made it quite unnerving for me knowing I had to find my way out through some incredibly disorientating strobes with the familiar sound of a revving chainsaw teasing me in the corners of the room!
     
    And as predicted, whilst still in the strobe maze lost, a guy with another chainsaw appeared out of nowhere and honestly made me leap from my skin because I was so disorientated by the strobe lights that I couldn't see him properly. This was undoubtedly the biggest scare in the entire maze for me and I haven't been on edge that much in a maze since first doing the Chop Shop at Tulleys Farm. Very, very well done!
     
    After you finally make yourself out the strobe section, there is one final scene where another actor with a chainsaw jumps out and chases you from the exit through the flaps and the maze is over.
     
    Overall, this is a really, really nice maze and I don't know if this is true or not, but I've heard the team who designed this were the same ones who work on ScareFest at Alton Towers. But regardless, commendments to the team who created this maze as it was really refreshing to see once again another original idea executed very well, similar to Big Top, Experiment 10 and The Asylum. In terms of ranking, I still prefer Big Top and Asylum to Creak Freak Masacre, but I would put it above Experiment 10, but it isn't their most extreme maze yet to me as the park claim.
     
    So yeah, job well done!
     
    8/10
     
    --------------------
     
    As an event, I will give credit to the teams who pulled off a great new maze and I really hope this one actually lasts a few years and doesn't suffer the same fate as the Big Top. But overall, Fright Nights 2019 as a package still is not there at the moment as being a great event. It's an OK event still in my books. To me, to be a great year, the park needs far more than just a single great maze to save its skin. Besides the Terror at Amity High lot, there were no other roaming actors this night and things such as park-wide theming, atmosphere, lighting and audio matter hugely in my view as there's more to a Halloween event than just horror mazes. If the park can finally get to grips in these areas in addition to giving us more mazes like CFM (indoor ones), they are back in business.
     
    For now though, 2019 is better than 2018, but still not great just yet. We are seeing small improvements in places to bring it back to the golden years of 2007-2009 once more, which fills me with some hope at last. Let's just hope the park can continue on this trajectory.
     
    One last thing I want to add quickly to those thinking of going - if you have been watching videos on YouTube from all these vloggers lately with POVs through all the mazes and them saying how "sick" this year Is when they were at the VIP press night, I warn you now, as a regular guest, a lot of what they experienced that night you will not experience yourself as I had. Whether it's getting shoved into a cubicle on Do or Die or having 10+ actors in every maze. I can't stress enough to be very wary of what you see from that night online and not to be mislead thinking x, y and z will happen in the mazes. These people are clearly in Merlin's good graces (especially when the park put a picture of Sickstone inside Do or Die on one of the shrines in the final scene as a really poor version of an Easter egg...... yes, really) so please treat what you see with some caution.

    Fright Nights 2019 - 5/10
  20. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Jack in Fright Nights 2019 - Spoilers   
    Short Review from Saturday:
     
    Creek freak was very short imo. Great acting and theming nonetheless, definitely better to get sent down the crawling tunnel first as you get a more isolated experience being in a smaller group. Great maze and definitely the best at this years FNs.
     
    Do or die was great but purely because I was alone from the first container. I only had one run thru and can see why some people weren’t rating it as groups were very large.
     
    living nightmare was decent like usual and shortens the other Qs
     
    blair was great and provided consistently effective jump scares. Not sure how it’ll cope on busier days though.
     
    Ummm... let’s not talk about platform this year.
  21. Thanks
    SteveJ reacted to pluk in Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon   
    Second ever ride on the train for me today, first in its ROTD guise.
     
    It's fair to say there have been improvements over the first effort.
    - The sound is hugely better and isolating
    - The graphics seem smoother, if just as low quality
    - The second ride VR section is much better than playstation 1 apocalypse
    - The post show incident gives the ride its only opportunity to provide an actual scare, and goes some way to delivering it
     
    But it is nowhere near enough to save this utter turkey
    - Throughput is minuscule, queuing is ssllllooooowwwww and not close to worth the reward of riding
    - The staff approach is all over the place. Real aggressive introduction about phone use, not sure if that is supposed to be a 'character' or just a real obnoxious way to make a point?
    - The second room 'pre-show' immediately prior to the train entrance is downright bizarre. A stumbling attempt to be jokey, bring someone from the front to the back, do nothing with them, clap them(?), bang a door, go through the door. WOT? A pre-boarding stall I imagine, but just in every way possible from pacing to storytelling to atmosphere to point, utterly wrong. 
    - The 'middle-show' is immeasurably worse. The old concept of being in a tunnel with no obvious way out and simulate a train approaching was actually a really good idea poorly done. Walking into a dark room where nothing happens before being turned round to walk back out of it is a really bad idea poorly done. Getting on and off the train doesn't even make sense in the narrative any more.
    - The second VR I can't quite get my head around. Augmented reality would have been hugely better rather than pretend augmented reality, but whatever. This breaks the fourth wall of suspension of belief the ride is asking us to make; the whole point seemed to be that the hyper reality of the simulation of being on a train would be the driver behind messing with your mind in that relate-able, mundane situation. You are now looking at people, like you, who are clearly on a theme park ride of a train, not an actual underground train. What am I supposed to do with this in the context of the narrative? 
    - While we are on the second VR, the image quality as a whole is better than it was, but why is the main character we are supposed to scared of so poorly defined? For the most part it is an indistinguishable fuzzy blob floating around the screen about as menacingly as a rain cloud.
    - The laboured situation and 'acting' to hold people in the post-show goes a long way to ruining an otherwise decent effect. They may as well put up a big flashing sign saying 'wait a mo, something else is going to happen'. There must be a better, more natural way.
     
    Overall, there is no getting away from the fact that the whole thing is an ACTUAL TRAIN SIMULATOR. Not a rocket to the moon. Not a flight on an X wing. Not dive in a submarine. Not a time travelling jump in a Delorean. Why? I can get on a train, I don't need it simulated. I want fantasy. There is nothing fantastical about this Ghost Train.
     
    I honestly do not think it is rescuable. It's sad, but the whole concept is so deeply flawed I really feel the best thing to do would be to rip it out and start again. At the moment it is just a very expensive way to damage your brand and reputation.
  22. Like
    SteveJ reacted to JoshuaA in Fright Nights 2019 - General Discussion   
    Don't. Filming in the mazes without permission ruins the experience for yourself, the actor, and the rest of your group!
    Go in the mazes and have a laugh, leave your ego in the queue-line, just enjoy the experience like everyone does!
  23. Like
    SteveJ reacted to JoshC. in Fright Nights 2019 - General Discussion   
    Press Night is this Thursday. I believe the event has been made more exclusive this year and there will be significantly less people there - both from fan sites and mainstream media.
     
    TPM will be there - be sure to keep an eye on our social media channels and website for all views and the latest updates.
  24. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Glitch in Fright Nights 2019 - General Discussion   
    Lets just hope that our favourite influencers all got an invite, so that the mazes can all be spoiled with POV's before the GP get a chance to experience them.
  25. Like
    SteveJ reacted to Mark9 in Unpopular Opinions   
    Completely serious. I think The Swarm is very popular with those that haven't ridden a huge amount of stuff. I think that's where the perception of its rating come from as I hardly hear it spoken about at all to be honest.
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