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Glitch

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Posts posted by Glitch

  1. On 8/14/2021 at 10:00 AM, Matt Creek said:

    Been to the exact same attraction, although that was just before Covid.

     

    The War Of The World’s Experience is certainly a unique yet immersive attraction and thought not (super) cheap does perhaps hold up it’s charging price (which varies depending on peak/low peak times).

     

    I’ve always been on a fence with VR headsets, but unlike some attractions I think the usage here works to an excellent standard and far better implemented. 
     

    This one is very much a combination of immersive theatre and effects really, which could be easily enjoyed by both theme park and theatre fans in this context.

    Did they give you a mask to wear over your eyes. 

  2. So much positivity on this thread!
    Be happy for a new coaster.

    RE the IP, perhaps Jumanji will have a new film coming out in the next few years, apparently the budget is significant so hopefully we will be getting an excellent immersive experience.

    The rollercoaster looks different and I look forward to trying it. * Pending restraints don't discriminate against tall people. 

  3. What do you get if you mix the London Dungeons, Derren Brown's Ghost train and a £70 (average) price per person ticket?

    Glad you asked....

    You get a 2hour, 20 odd scene story rendition of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, an excellent story with a premise of these metal alien human killing robot machines, as seen in Woking. As a fan of the story seeing the arena show and music maybe 3 times now, it was  refreshing to see the concept transformed into an interactive experience promising VR, simulators and live actors. 

     

    But why do I compare to the Ghost train and dungeons?

    Well because many of the scenes were a bit like something I had experienced in the London dungeons before and the attraction relied on using the bulky VR headsets 4 times throughout the attraction including the finale, and as with VR the technology can be very hit and miss.

     

    With a £70 pp price tag this isn't your average MAP holder group attraction, I'm sure they would be complaining about the price alone, but that does mean the groups are smaller around 12 say and are generally engaged with the story rather than focusing on what they can complain about to report back to the 1000's of followers on the MAP group.  

     

    Oh and one last thing before I go into spoiler mode, @Martin Doyle and @Mattgwise would be proud to know that they give you robber style masks to cover around your eye's, for what I can only assume is to block out vision to the unthemed ceilings or perhaps a Covid protocol for VR.

     

    If you do go let me know your thoughts, ok in spoiler mode...

    (I still don't know how to add spoilers so sorry)

     

     

     

    THINGS I LIKED:

    • A really well themed bar greeted you on what looks to be an office block building in the heart of the city of London (Ledinhall Street)
    • The artillery man scene was excellent as a peppers ghost effect somehow transformed a live actor into a ball of fire.
    • Excellent use of mini planetarium style cinemas to project a scene in 360.
    • Props, we used a telescope with projections to look at the planets and see the red mist come in.
    • A slide
    • Isolation booths + VR, now this really did up the scare factor, you started in isolated booths, pretending to be a confessional in a church, the alien then comes and sets fire to the church and starts to probe people, heighten by the litter picker effect of staff prodding you and the scream's around making you know what is coming... I really think Thorpe could do something like this to make DBGT a better attraction.
    • Engaged cast, really passionate about their roles.

     

    THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE SO MUCH:

    • Some scenes were carbon copies of what you would get at the Dungeons for example sitting around a table in the pitch black etc... they could of been a bit more creative.
    • An over reliance on VR including the finale which was a balloon ride / motion simulator, by this point I was getting a bit sick of faffing around with a headset and would of preferred a live action finale.
    • Ended within obligatory green screen photo, that will be another £25 please.... 
    • Price, not worth £70+ 

    So overall is was a bit of an upmarket London dungeons with new technology, hopefully Merlin will go, test it and incorporate it into their concepts or even do one better and buy the place, hopefully making it a bit more affordable.

     

    Tickets and images are available here: https://thewaroftheworldsimmersive.com/

     

    Overall: 7/10

     

     

  4. 3 minutes ago, MattyMoo said:

    Though it hasn't been mentioned at all thus far, do you reckon Tulleys will only allow access with Covid accreditation via the NHS app? Too early to speculate?

    Lets be honest that doesn't really matter.

     

    1) If your double vaxxed, and still have Covid, the pass will let you in no test needed.

    2) They are easy to just screenshot and share. - So no vax required,.

    3) Nowhere I have been yet scans the QR code and thats been about * events so far.

  5. 1 hour ago, JoshC. said:

    Pop up vaccine site inside the Marquee from 2pm today: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-57999680

     

    Doing Pfizer only.

     

    Not sure how big the uptake will be, but they're there after park close too, so might capture a few guests and staff!

    That's the thing, of course its good and a convenience, however I can't imagine the take-up to be worth the time of the people there. Would the resource be better used elsewhere? 

    It's a nice thing but I can just imagine staff sitting around doing nothing all day.

  6. Have TPM considered asking for an easter egg on every new item or attraction placed in the park yet? Its a trend I don't mind for nostalgia or people who have worked on designing the project but really when are we going to stop placing Youtubers names across these things..... 

  7. I personally would get Merlin to either sell Thorpe, which won't happen or reinvent the theme park into a Netflix exclusive IP attractions. IP's work to make money in merch sales etc, perhaps to the enthusiasts hatred, but I'm just wondering when Netflix will truly get into the Themepark space to compete with Disney or Universal, seems like the next step for them. With a solid budget I'm sure something cool could happen to reinvent Thorpe. Although this will never happen, I'm just dreaming.

  8. On 6/20/2021 at 7:25 PM, JoshC. said:

    The Lego Mythica area opened last month. 

     

    I went to Legoland Friday evening for an Annual Passholder event (was very quiet, but largely because of the downpour of rain all day).

    Flight of the Sky Lion was my first flying theatre and it was pretty decent. A very fast paced experience for the film. At times it would have been nice to just take things in a bit more a 'fly' around (which I hear other such rides do a bit more?). I sometimes struggle with a bit of a motion sickness of some motion simulators, but this was fine, though I felt a bit queazy about 3/4 of the way through.

    My biggest pet peeve is the fact you can see the edge of the screen at the top, and the roof as a result. It's particularly jarring given the screen extends to the floor, so looking down to fine, but looking towards to top is a bit awkward. Not sure if this is a common problem with flying theatres though..? The queue line, as already pointed out, is pretty dreadful. I hate to think what it's like on a hot day..

    The Mythica land is solid as well. Well presented and nice theming, plus bringing attention to a previously quieter part of the park. Definitely think it's much better than the originally planned Lego Movie World would have been too.

    All in all, an impressive addition to the park. Would recommend giving a shot.

     

    Sorted it....

    If you keep getting distracted at work, how about wearing this FocusCap? |  Metro News

  9. 12 minutes ago, Coaster said:

    Merlin are objecting to the London Resort planning application;

     

    https://escapismproject.co.uk/news/1623419409?s=04&fbclid=IwAR10_0Tg26gWSoUVxXpB3cw7_nU2mQ7g0jdJK-ou_zD7Za4MVoncCuUaxsE

     

    My thoughts on this?

     

    Merlin need to do one.  They have strangled the life out of the UK theme park industry for years; they own the monopoly yet have such low standards in their parks, with no real drive to improve anything.

     

    The Merlin short-term model of "slap an IP on it" whilst neglecting rides and basic infrastructure has killed the offering at their parks and, if the London Resort was to happen, it would most likely come back to bite them. My view is that they feel threatened by the prospect of a company coming in and doing a really good job with a park, as it would shift the public perception of Merlin being "the expected standard" in the UK.

     

    Merlin are a company that call themselves second only to Disney, yet copy-paste ideas across the world, copy Paultons with Peppa Pig world (albeit not in the UK, as they can't) and they can't even invest satisfactorily in their major parks in the UK. Thorpe hasn't seen solid investment since 2012 despite supposedly being the UK's "thrill capital".  London Resort would challenge Merlin, which they clearly don't want.

     

    In my opinion, London Resort is exactly what the UK industry needs for it to thrive, some healthy competition which would force Merlin to act. Look at America, there's a rivalry between Cedar Fair and Six Flags, or the European parks which are all owned by different companies. It's much healthier and means that parks have to be at the top of their game to stay in competition.

     

    The fact that Merlin are making a fuss over this this says everything about them as a company, second rate and not willing to adjust and improve their offering to compete.

    Yeah, this is sad if true, all I can say is lets hope London resort take a trip to chessington.

  10. 42 minutes ago, d.m.k said:

    The 2021 season so far has been an absolute shambles and it's evident from the comments on social platforms. Seems both Chessington and the Towers are suffering with similar problems. 

     

    We recently visited TP and I got our money back after a terrible day - although it was evident that Guest Services were suffering. 

     

    This is solely based on opinion but I found the main issues were:

    1. Multiple rides down all-day and at least one major attraction "delayed" at any one time. The amount of "technical difficulties" they have with rides at Merlin parks has become evident in recent years. 
    2. Pre-COVID attendance levels but with COVID protocols still in place. The protocol of wiping down the rides every 30mins - 1hr is ridiculous. The staff were half-heartedly spraying the rides, most the time missing seats while chatting away, using the time as an break. Witnessed this multiple times throughout the day. 
    3. Upselling of Fastrack was intense. Staff obviously tasked with hard-selling Fastrack. At the start of the day, staff were repeatedly mentioning they were expecting 90min+ queues. 
    4. General operations were really hit-and-miss. There just doesn't seem to be the desire from staff to get throughput up. 

    Really hoping things improve but we've decided to stay away from the parks for the remainder of the season. 

     

    Ah yes, the classic I went in peak time, when the UK is in a domestic days out boom, however still expected the park to be empty.

    All days this season will be busy as there is demand all year long for domestic activities, so perhaps try mid week instead next time.

     

    Personally I like to get to the parks early so I don't have to deal with the security lines, going to the back of the park I'm then able to knock 4 rides out in the first hour or so.

     

    The rest of the day, I like to take in the atmosphere and go with the flow.

    Rides breakdown, its always is going to happen, and upselling of Fastrack needs to unfortunatly be aggressive due to to the abused RAP product and accompanying carer pass which I'm sure costs the park a pretty penny in lost admissions sales each year.

     

    On another note: Upselling of Fastrack was intense. Staff obviously tasked with hard-selling Fastrack. At the start of the day, staff were repeatedly mentioning they were expecting 90min+ queues. 

     

    Where you not expecting this? A peak day at TP will warrant long lines.

  11. 49 minutes ago, pluk said:

    My first thoughts (from POV, I'm no VIP) is that if this sort of set up was used as the entrance and exit of X, with effects of comparable quality during the ride, that would make one complete, excellent attraction rather than two slightly lacking ones we now have.

    That's a really good way of thinking, perhaps X themed to Black mirror would of been an excellent attraction.

    Although I do hate X due to the size of the cards and 2 per train rules.

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