Marhelorpe

Very interesting. Maybe this was why Merlin held back on allowing IMA to release Big Top's audio back in October?

Could I be put down please for both the day and meal? Got that Saturday free so should very likely be able to make it for the full day. I'm up for any ride in the park except for the one I constantly bash. No need to explain which one it is!

The problem is, the quality of these graphics is primarily down to a display where the pixel density of each screen covering each eye simply is not high enough to make it visibly sharp. This is not an issue just with the Vive headsets but across all of the popular ones such as Oculus, Gear VR and PlayStation VR. Until one of these headsets has a display rating of 4K or above, this will continue to be a problem the ride will suffer unless further down the line the headsets are updated to newer ones with sharper resolutions. VR headsets will very soon have 4K displays in them and this should hopefully solve part of the problem with the graphics, but knowing Merlin, I doubt this will happen. As for the green mist section, I'm sure the park will be changing this for 2017 to something much more interesting, but the holding issue that scene can be left on will likely never get resolved due to stacking issues of all 3 trains in the circuit. One solution could be to make each half of the VR sections longer which will therefore eliminate the hold entirely, but then the throughput will be reduced further with even slower queues and more waiting to get on and off the trains. Unless all three trains are perfectly synchronised within seconds of each other, this issue will continue to persist and I cannot see any other way this problem will ever get fixed without there being a massive overhaul of the mechanical system.

So this was all for a slight name change then? This really is 2016 marketing hype all over again... Like many, I am reserving full judgement until I've actually ridden it, but considering there were so many issues with it last year which I doubt very much have been fixed or altered, I'm not holding my breath for anything special here. I'm just expecting a change of VR content and a maze at the end, that's it.

Run Off This Dreck?

1) Shambhala. No need for an explanation, most exhilarating coaster ever! 2) Nemesis. Was No. 1 before riding Shambhala. 3) Hex.... when it's open. 4) Dragon Khan. Little rough, but has a very similar feel to Nemesis which I why I like it. 5) The Smiler. Still really enjoy it, even after the accident. 6) Sheikra. Despite queueing hours for this when it has just opened in 2005, it was worth the wait for that single ride! 7) Galactica. Don't shoot me please! The theme works great for me, the VR is far better than it's *ahem*, "psychological" rival, and so's the music. 8) Megafobia. One of the most underestimated and surprisingly forceful wooden coasters I have ridden. 9) Tower of Terror (Hollywood Studios). Different ride every time, scared the life out of me first time. Great! 10) Stealth. Short, simple and fast. It must be said though, positions 1-5 might change entirely for me later this year when getting on Taron and Helix for the first time. I hope so as they both look great! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is a really tricky one because the only VR I have ever experienced was on both DBGT and Galactica this year and I have had mixed opinions for both experiences offered. As it currently stands, the answer is both yes and no. Yes for the following reasons: It offers an entirely new experience for many riders which immerses you into another world. Many people are yet to experience VR and considering the decent headsets out there such as the HTC Vive, PlayStation VR and the Oculus Rift can cost hundreds of pounds, this is an excellent opportunity for people to try it for the first time without forking out lots of money to get your hands on the technology. When audio is added with the visual content, it pretty much shuts you off from the real world and keeps you focused on what is playing, therefore making the experience more enjoyable. An example with Six Flags where you wear the headset but with no audio is not a great introduction to VR for riders in my opinion. If it is optional, this is a huge selling point and advantage for riders because they can still get the same previous experience they were used to before as well as a new one if they wish, which is a big reason why I firmly believe Galactica is better than Air. Over time, the technology will advance and the hardware accompanied with the software will too. So it can only get better, not worse. However, there are some reasons why I believe it doesn't have a place in theme parks: Reliability. This is the biggest problem for me because both Galactica and DBGT fall victim to this where several headsets are broken which can cause issues with the throughput of each ride. In addition, if the VR content is not synchronised properly with the physical movements you experience, it can really mess with your head if you are easily nauseous with motion sickness. Also, the content needs to be consistent and not glitch everywhere similar to Galactica, unlike Ghost Train which only seems to work about 10% of the time. Dependability. Whilst I mentioned as an advantage the VR being optional, when it is mandatory like DBGT, this is where it fails for me. If you need to have a VR headset on to ride an attraction, you've already failed. It eliminates an entire market of people who either do not wish to use the headsets or cannot even use them due to medical conditions such as epilepsy and motion sickness for example. Making it optional is a crucial goal to make it a success. Novelty. Much like most things in technology, once everyone experiences it and have become accustomed, the whole novelty and excitement wears off and the popularity will naturally decrease. This is why I believe Ghost Train will suffer in the long-term starting the end of next year, not just because the ride is absolutely abysmal, but the dependance it has on the headsets as mentioned on the previous point. The novelty will wear off, people won't ride it anymore and therefore it will suffer from popularity. Galactica on the other hand is optional, so many people will still ride it in the future regardless whether the VR is there or not. Ghost Train needs VR to function and that's a huge problem. Quality. It's no lie to say that virtually every single VR headset out there at the moment has displays which when viewed through the lenses looks pixelated and blurry to the viewer, even if the display is classified as high definition. The truth is, until the pixel density of these displays becomes high enough that your eyes cannot discern the individual pixels at such a close proximity, this will always be an issue. When a small display that is 4K in resolution comes along which could be very possible in 2017 with the Samsung Gear VR, the problem will be fixed and the density of those pixels will be enough to make it a sharp and clear image. So to conclude, for me, I would say VR does and can have it's place in theme parks, but only when it works the way it is intended and is optional. Not only do you then sustain interest for riders, but you offer something entirely new to them which was never available before at a theme park.

In the event some of us get delayed by the trains, I take it it would be best to wait until everyone has finished inside one of the attractions before joining the rest of the group?

These attractions that have been shipped from Weymouth Sea Life for use at Thorpe Park is a strange one to me. It's almost as if Thorpe Park have finally admitted that alienating your 3-7 year old audience from the park after Octopus Gardens were removed in 2010 was a mistake and are trying once again to attract them. But is it too late and would it be enough to persuade some families to visit Thorpe over Chessington I wonder? One can hope the park will be working on getting Loggers Leap back open in addition to this, but it will never happen. The cheaper route is obviously the better route in the park's eyes, but I am intrigued to know what is happening to Canada Creek right now as that area seriously needed updating. Anything in the park is better than DBGT, so that's not a huge feat!

Sadly it's been boring for me this year: • Thorpe Park - 11 times. • Chessington - once (likely to remain this for a while). • Alton Towers - 6 times. • Legoland Windsor - once. • Paulton's Park - once. I really want to finally make some trips to other European theme parks such as Phantasialand, Liseberg and Heide Park which many praise as being great theme parks all of which I've never visited before, but I've been occupied for the best part of 2016 with uni work and a weekend job sucking all the available free days I had. Fortunately, as I'm now on an industrial placement year until August 2017 getting experience and income, having all weekends free and that we are leaving the EU soon, I finally have some valid excuses to visit all of these places in 2017. So hopefully 2017 will far more interesting than this one has been!

Yeah, I'm good for this. Haven't visited London for a few years so will be good to try the new attractions I haven't done yet, including Winter Wonderland. Just hoping that I can get to Waterloo station on time in the morning, as I have to use Southern to get into the city...

Going way back to 1999, Depth Charge was my first ever ride at the park and I still have the picture to prove it. In terms of hitting that magic 1.4m height mark and being able to get on everything big in the park, it was July 2004 when I was 9 years old and I just scrapped the height restriction where I had to have a band to confirm I'm on the limit. Vortex was the first one I did and it will always be my favourite flat ride, as that was the one that started it all for me.

1) Derren Brown's Ghost Train with a fully working Vive headset. 2) Dragon Khan's zero-g roll. 3) Saw's indoor drop.

I'm going to be the oddball here and put forward the opinion that not only do I believe Galactica is far better than Air, but it also offers a superior virtual reality experience for riders compared to Ghost Train. Haven ridden both Galactica and Ghost Train approximately 10 times each over the course of 2016, there has never been a moment where I am worried or concerned I will get a bad experience with Galactica because it all boils down to two simple words - reliability & re-rideability. To me, I have seen a far more complete and enjoyable experience with Galactica for a few reasons. Not only do I believe the footage used is more fun and even thrilling, but the quality of it too. Far more exciting things happens with Galactica when you fly through the portals to 4 different worlds, the audio is loud enough so you can hear the brilliant music and voiceover in perfect synchronisation with the visual content making it more exciting, and I have had no glitches occur on my screen out of all the 9 times I have ridden it. I don't know if I have been incredibly lucky having no issues, or I'm not seeing the problems other people are having. Compare this to Ghost Train where the content begins well with human characters interacting and talking to you, but it falls flat very quickly in the second half where simply put, a few creatures simply stare at you so you can admire the incredibly low resolution textures used on their faces, aliasing that makes my 14 year old PS2 system look impressive and then some lovely green smoke to fill in the waiting time whilst the system breaks down on a daily basis. And to top it all off, to be thrown into the ground filled with fire and magma which is not convincing one little bit and finishes the ride rather boringly. Not once have I had a single issue that is hardware related to the Samsung Gear VR headsets used for both visual and audio wise on Galactica, mainly because I believe there is only a single cable providing the headsets and headphones power that is not as susceptible to wear and tear compared to Ghost Train. There are no extra cables needed to sync the headsets to the control unit to keep the content in sync with the movement of the train, all of this is done via the units in-between the seats and is communicated to the headsets via Bluetooth. Not only does this ensure there are less cables, but it makes the system more reliable for long-term use. Again, look at Ghost Train. How many cables power these headsets alone? 5 or 6 isn't it? And when you use them, almost every time there is a hardware issue somewhere; whether it's the connection between the headset and the black lighthouse box on the ceiling becoming weak resulting in a glitchy as hell visual signal, audio being too quiet through the headphones, or the left and right channels getting mixed up, or even not working at all and is covered in a bag. Lastly, the biggest advantage with Galactica over Air and Ghost Train is that the VR experience is optional. People who are complaining about wanting Air back and Galactica's VR removed, all I ask is currently, what has been lost or taken away from Air that you want back so badly? Sure, the queues might be slower, there's no longer a single rider queue and the faff involved with the headsets might be a nuisance to some. But honestly, is there anything else that has been taken away? The fact the experience is entirely optional (from June onwards) is a selling point for Galactica. You can still have the same old experience of Air if you choose without the headsets with the same track layout, the same scenery (plus the portal), the same speed, the same beautifully themed concrete tunnel and the same experience if you choose. But for those who want to try something different and immerse themselves in an entirely new environment in space or want to see what VR on a coaster is like, this is the ideal ride that suits both audiences. Ghost Train is entirely dependant on using VR and that's a big problem I see with the experience, because you are forced to wear them which narrows down your market to a selected group of people who will ride it only for the VR experience, nothing else which sadly over time the popularity will diminish for it. So I honestly don't see what the fuss is over with wanting Air back over Galactica except for betting back a slightly quicker queue. To conclude, Galactica is a great example of what VR can be when done (for the most part) correctly and I will stand by this until I am proven otherwise. I'm not saying Galactica is perfect in anyway and it does need some enhancements made to make it even more enjoyable for riders, but it's a vast difference compared to the frankly abysmal experience you could sometimes get with Ghost Train. Also, when you consider Galactica and the Rollercoaster Restaurant combined is an investment that is under £2M with generally quite favourable reviews from riders and guests in comparison to Ghost Train which cost over £13M (projected) that has opened up to generally very negative reviews due to reliability, quality and hardware issues, this is a perfect example of how money is not everything when it comes to who can provide the better experience. As I said at the beginning, Galactica wins hands down as a better experience compared to both its predecessor and its rival and I hope the virtual reality stays with minor enhancements made to make it even better, because feedback has been considerably more favourable compared to it’s “future for theme parks across the world” rival embarrassment and I would recommend Galactica over it to anyone who has never experienced virtual reality before.

A recent trip I've made to Alton Towers again, more specifically for their fireworks spectacular event:

Something that I have recently been intrigued by with the design of the hanging Victorian carriage is where the design of it originated from. A few months ago, I do remember a few posts on the forum showing pictures of what looked similar to the design of the one used on the ride but not quite the same as there were differences with the design and size of the carriage. Turns out after looking into it a bit more that the design of the suspended carriage is based almost identically off of a real one which still exists today as an exhibit located in Stainmore which served under the North Eastern Railway company which lasted between 1854 - 1922: http://www.stainmore150.co.uk/2011_events/clerestory.html Here are some more pictures from the front as well as the sides. It even has the same numbers 818 for the coach number on it as the one on the ride uses: https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6110/6223330249_3aa0ab4834_b.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8310/8024702631_15268a5eaa_b.jpg The fact the one used in the ride has the exact same writing, roof windows, colour scheme and design on all four sides as this one makes it really interesting I think and it just shows the thought that went into the ride to make it all feel genuine. The only difference I can see between the two is the real one does not have an additional blank panel above the writing "NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY" on the sides making it taller, presumably so the underground carriage can fit inside the shell properly with the mechanics beneath the wheels. This may have been posted already a while ago so apologies if it has, this was just something I recently found to be quite interesting, that's all!

If the first scenario is they fix the headset glitches, add more VR content to the ride, sort out the operations and get every effect working in addition to making the ending a little better which is not a scare maze section like Sub Terra, I will welcome this. If however they were to use this space as a cheap scare maze and do not fix the issues present on the ride, sort out the operations and don't add the missing VR footage, it's simply 1 step forward, 2 steps back and problems will still be present with the experience. One can hope the first scenario will happen, but looking at Merlin's track record, I am not going to build up any hopes until I see it for myself this time.

One would assume that in addition to this new section the current issues will be fixed and sometimes that can happen in you look at other rides. But this just feels like a quick and cheap solution to a problem that does not exist and is not what people are complaining about. Not jumping to conclusions about this yet as we do not know the full details on what it entails, but if adding a maze section to the end is what the park believes is the solution to people's complaints about the ride, that's just plain lazy. Completely agree that what exists at the moment should be sorted before any additions are made. Whether this will happen or not we don't know yet. Quality should always come before quantity.

They better not be using the space of the existing shop today for a stupid cheap walk-through section with actors jumping out at you just like they did with Sub Terra later down the line back in 2012. The shop and exit is fine as it is, do not fix what ain't broke. This does raise another question though if this was to be the case. Does the baggage hold room close as well? I can't see any other way it can be relocated if the exit is to be re-routed further back from the entrance. In terms of going through the long list of "things to fix" for next year, this would be low on the list for me. Number 1 would be reliability first, followed by operations next. Guess we will find out soon what the park believes should be done to improve the frankly dismal feedback it has received from guests this season.

Granted, if they were to extend the VR scenes' duration deliberately in order to give the other trains behind/ahead more time to be ready for dispatch, this issue can be helped, but still not solved. Even if the scenes are designed to last longer, there is still the possibility of one train in the circuit taking longer than all the others to get ready and if the delay in dispatch was to last longer than that of the VR scenes, you are back to square one again and are held in a looping scene. The point I am making is all 3 trains in sequence need to be consistent and timed accordingly under a certain time limit in order to prevent delays from occurring for passengers. Sure, it will make the experience last longer and the queues will be slower as a result, but that doesn't bother me at all. What does bother me is the fact the current system is too dependant on the other trains ahead/behind to ensure everything runs smoothly. If they were less dependant on each other should the system change for next year, these delays would be either non-existent or very small. Should the scenes be extended, I would like to see more of these characters appear in the carriage, even during the 2nd half of the VR experience. It's obvious that not all of the content is being used currently as evidenced by the behind the scenes clip from the BBC not too long ago, so maybe if these were merged with the existing footage or replaced entirely to extend the duration, this can only mean a good thing. If this occurs and the reliability is improved next year, I might give the ride another chance.

The issue with this green smoke screen that can last anywhere between 30 seconds and several minutes is that the timing of it relies solely on the other train(s) ahead and behind which are still loading/unloading passengers depending on how long it takes. It seems quite obvious, but here lies another issue which is going to make this problem much harder to fix than most of us reckon it will be. Just like any roller coaster that has several trains on the track, if there is a delay in dispatching the current train held in the station, all of the other trains which are running through the circuit behind it will begin to stack. When it used to run 5 trains and was slow at dispatching, this was very noticeable with The Smiler between 2013-15 and partly the reason why there won't be a 5th train again - it added no benefit to the throughput of the ride and kept stacking all the time. The same principle can be applied on any rail line when there is a signal fault and the trains need to stop. In return, it creates stacking behind if there are several trains on the line during rush hour for instance and therefore causes a delay for the passengers. But the problem I am now referring to with Ghost Train is that unless the operations improve whereby there is no long delay anywhere in the clockwise circuit it moves through with the 3 trains (whether it's loading in the victorian carriage, unloading at the tube station or loading again for the 2nd VR section), this fix might be near impossible to accomplish and this is the big design flaw with having the same bay for loading and unloading passengers at the start and end of the experience. I have had instances during the 1st half of the VR sequence where I have sat for up to a minute as soon as the carriage goes black and you hear nothing but screams when the character in front of you disappears. Ideally, this should only last a maximum of 5 seconds and the train moves again to the underground station. But due to the fact the other train ahead is still in the process of moving to the other side of the underground station on the transfer track or unloading guests (especially if 3 trains are running), this also causes a delay. The same process occurs during the 2nd half of the VR experience too and more noticeable this time due to the victorian train carriage ahead being the only place to dock the currently moving train stuck on the green smoke scene. Simply put, this delay issue cannot be fixed unless every dispatch on all 3 trains is perfectly and quickly timed within a very small time tolerance. I understand they can improve the green smoke loop and make much more interesting things happen on-screen, but we have to accept this issue cannot be resolved until the park can get the operations right first. Maybe only using 2 trains maximum in the circuit might reduce this waiting time instead of 3 perhaps?

Not even something as basic as the pre-show was working and you just walked straight through?......... No comment.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Merlin have hyped this up so much by claiming stuff such as it being their biggest investment to date, cutting edge technology (which doesn't work properly 70% of the time) and a highly immersive experience that the expectations from guests are naturally going to be high as a result. If this attraction was not hyped as much as it was, I am certain feedback would be considerably higher.

The biggest problem with Ghost Train in my opinion is not the reliability issues it experiences on a daily basis, but the fact it has been overhyped and under-delivered on such a huge scale I have not seen before. Think about this and let's go back to 2009/10 to Alton Towers when Thirteen was being constructed. Who here remembers some of the ridiculous claims and marketing that was used for this attraction? Here are some I can remember to name a few: - World's ultimate roller coaster. - World's first "Psycoaster". - Only 16-55's are allowed to ride due to it being so intense. When it finally opened, public feedback was mixed. Why? Because I distinctly remember there were many who followed this marketing and had expectations that this was going to be the next version of Nemesis and the most intense ride in the park. Instead, they got a family coaster with a lacklustre outdoor section and an indoor vertical drop. As a result, the marketing was very misleading for the public and that is why Thirteen still continues to have mixed feedback to this day, although not as noticeable as it was in 2010. I like Thirteen for what it is, bar the marketing. With Ghost Train, we have seen the exact same thing happen and it just shows you that Merlin's marketing team have not learnt a single lesson since 2010. We have had so many promising claims about this ride before it opened that naturally, people are going to have high expectations when they eventually ride it. Like before, here are some of them which Thorpe Park are still using today, quoted from marketing material and their own website: - The world's only fully immersive psychological attraction designed to manipulate the human mind. - The next generation of theme park experience. - The future for theme parks across the world. - Completely re-writes the rules for what theme parks can do. - Over 1000 specialists collaborated to create this experience. - This attraction is not suitable for guests with psychological or neurological disorders. Naturally, people (including myself) were expecting something truly extraordinary here that will make it a phenomenal experience for riders, but come July 8th 2016 when the ride finally opened, we were treated with something that did not deliver what was promised and the fault is entirely down to the marketing team behind this experience. Where are the 12 experiences? Where is the other ending? What "manipulates" the human mind? So many questions that have not been answered. To tell people before they go on it the first time to have low expectations when this has all been spoon-fed to them over the last 12 months is silly. I must admit that when I first rode this on July 1st during the rehearsal weekend, I did praise the ride a lot saying how well it all worked. Now I look back at the review I made which is still viewable on this forum, I realise how naive I was at the time as I refused to believe the experience was not what is lived up to be. Over time, I now see this attraction as Thirteen V2.0 in terms of marketing, and Nemesis Sub Terra V2.0 in terms of execution (nice idea, poorly executed) primarily because over time when the hype died down, reality sets in. It's clearly obvious something during the construction and implementation stages of this project has gone wrong and it has yet to be resolved. If you saw a 10 minute documentary from the BBC back in May showing the behind the scenes making of the ride, you will notice there are various elements, actors and speeches which have not made any appearance in the attraction, including a quick clip of what I am certain will be the "new destination" next year with these flying creatures with fire. Why have these not been used on the ride? What went wrong? Why was there a 2 month delay? Could this be the reason? So many unanswered questions. Lastly, what irritates me the most is the fact the park seems to be in denial that their latest investment has become a white elephant project. If you look at people's reviews and opinions on the ride from the public (not forum members), you will see the majority of them are far from impressed, whether it's people on Twitter (especially), Facebook or Google Reviews. So what has the park done in response? Instead of taking on their feedback and fixing effects such as the broken tube train which is still present today, they are deleting people's negative opinions on the ride and silencing them for voicing an opinion that does not match what they want to hear. I can't confirm if this is happening or not, but considering I have seen people's posts on their Facebook media page criticising the ride or on Twitter have been occasionally disappearing, it must be happening. Granted, I'm not saying everyone who has ridden Ghost Train hates it as there are some good reviews for it out there, but one thing we can all agree on is the fact this has become the most overhyped product Merlin has made to date, even more so than Thirteen. I want to believe this ride can get better by next year, believe me, I really want to love this attraction. But considering we are seeing so many issues with it at present with feedback, reliability, broken effects and missing elements, I doubt it very much and therefore, I have given up on it. This is the last time I will ever listen to or follow Merlin's marketing again. Ever. (Rant over)

Can't make it now I'm afraid. Must have caught something the other day as it has now come into full effect and I doubt I will be well enough to make it tomorrow.