Marhelorpe

Clearly SOMEONE is lucky enough not to have to endure Southern Rail!

After looking through some of the promotional images Thorpe have used for the attraction, it does seem that Jack's theory adds up when you really turn up the contrast and brightness on the following image below. The illusion that the train is suspending in the air does indeed use some giant mirror panels on both sides of the carriage and underneath.

For the side mirror (green highlighted), it looks like four vertical panels are used with specifically shaped edges to create a perfect outline of the victorian carriage shell design. The big hint that massive mirrors are used here is the distorted shape in the reflection which isn't a perfectly formed rectangular shape of the tiled window. Another giveaway is above the outline of the green mirror, you can see the warehouse roof not lining up with the wall which means the mirror doesn't seem to go any higher than the top of the carriage.
 
(The red lines are the panel edges of each mirror.)

As for the yellow mirror however, this is used underneath the carriage in the very middle all along from the front to the back. The brown pipe in view underneath the carriage is actually half the length it appears to look in this photo. With this, it creates the illusion that this pipe is directly underneath the carriage when in fact only part of it is. At the other end of the warehouse where the carriage moves into another section of the warehouse, much like the green mirror, a massive one is used here too to cover up the mechanics behind the wall in addition to the tunnel it travels through. This is why the platform you walk on doesn't lead to this other end of the warehouse - you would see yourself in the mirrors if you did. (I didn't highlight it in this image as it's a difficult perspective to show easily).

So in terms of how the system works, it looks like the entire movement of the carriages work in a clockwise motion where the 1st half of the VR involves the train moving linearly from the victorian shell into the other section of the building, and when it arrives back into the warehouse during the 2nd half of the VR experience it moves horizontally back into position as the carriage rocks and moves to hide this sense of movement for the riders.
 

After riding it again yesterday when it officially opened it seems that there have been some minor changes made to the attraction compared to the technical rehearsals the previous week:

• The intro or pre-show with Derren Brown at the beginning has been shortened slightly and some parts of his speech have been cut out before he appears in front of you. I can only assume that this is to help speed up the groups going inside. As a result, when it skips this section, the rest of what he says afterwards doesn't fit together as well anymore.
• As mentioned previously, when you reach up the flight of stairs into the warehouse with the train carriage you can hear an ambience track of people shouting against fracking which fits with the posters all around the ride.
• Maybe I was lucky both times, but the in the second half of the VR experience the looped scene where the carriage is filled with smoke/dust only lasted about 10-15 seconds instead of the nearly 2 minutes as previously. Maybe it's because they were sending groups around the attraction much faster or used all three trains this time.

However, it's been less than a week since it officially opened and already we are seeing issues visual and audio wise with the headsets. More were unavailable to use than before, both times I rode one of the stereo headphones was dead/broken, and the visuals kept on jumping around (literally) by forgetting which direction I was facing in. Thankfully, the visuals fixed themselves immediately.

Another point of interest is I'm beginning to wonder if these 12 different experiences and 2 different endings that are supposedly offered by the attraction are actually being used. I've ridden this 6 times now and I've had the same first half with only 2 different people and the same ending every time. If you look at the behind the scenes footage broadcast by the BBC a few weeks ago, it showed more characters, different creatures and different speech to before. Have these been scrapped due to technical difficulties with the content during the 8 week delay period or are they not rolling it out just yet?

Without them being used, it's literally the same thing every time you ride now, the only difference is you either get a woman or a man on the train with you in the first half of the VR experience.

After riding it again yesterday when it officially opened it seems that there have been some minor changes made to the attraction compared to the technical rehearsals the previous week:

• The intro or pre-show with Derren Brown at the beginning has been shortened slightly and some parts of his speech have been cut out before he appears in front of you. I can only assume that this is to help speed up the groups going inside. As a result, when it skips this section, the rest of what he says afterwards doesn't fit together as well anymore.
• As mentioned previously, when you reach up the flight of stairs into the warehouse with the train carriage you can hear an ambience track of people shouting against fracking which fits with the posters all around the ride.
• Maybe I was lucky both times, but the in the second half of the VR experience the looped scene where the carriage is filled with smoke/dust only lasted about 10-15 seconds instead of the nearly 2 minutes as previously. Maybe it's because they were sending groups around the attraction much faster or used all three trains this time.

However, it's been less than a week since it officially opened and already we are seeing issues visual and audio wise with the headsets. More were unavailable to use than before, both times I rode one of the stereo headphones was dead/broken, and the visuals kept on jumping around (literally) by forgetting which direction I was facing in. Thankfully, the visuals fixed themselves immediately.

Another point of interest is I'm beginning to wonder if these 12 different experiences and 2 different endings that are supposedly offered by the attraction are actually being used. I've ridden this 6 times now and I've had the same first half with only 2 different people and the same ending every time. If you look at the behind the scenes footage broadcast by the BBC a few weeks ago, it showed more characters, different creatures and different speech to before. Have these been scrapped due to technical difficulties with the content during the 8 week delay period or are they not rolling it out just yet?

Without them being used, it's literally the same thing every time you ride now, the only difference is you either get a woman or a man on the train with you in the first half of the VR experience.

That is exactly what I thought!  Plus they got a lift to the top which is perfect for unfit lazy buggers like myself!
 
When people put "The" in front of rides - it annoys me more than it probably should
 
I'm not sure how anyone could get their leg out in that thing - once those restraints are locked, my legs are not going anywhere.  Either she is an epic contortionist or her leg was out before her restraint was locked (which you would think someone would notice??) - also - WHY would anyone want to go on Colossus  with their leg outside of the train?  It's pretty painful enough as it is.
 
And just to add - when these news articles report and call the trains 'carts' - it annoys me - I think I need to chill out

If we're doing requests, I'd like the Inferno dispatch bass to be loud enough for me to be able to hear it at home in Essex.

Am I allowed permission to create a blog post on the experience containing spoilers?
My review will be very long and I don't want to make a post that will be too long to read on a discussion topic.
I'll put spoilers in capitals in the title if that helps. Currently heading home, so the review will be up later tonight!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Am I allowed permission to create a blog post on the experience containing spoilers?
My review will be very long and I don't want to make a post that will be too long to read on a discussion topic.
I'll put spoilers in capitals in the title if that helps. Currently heading home, so the review will be up later tonight!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Am I allowed permission to create a blog post on the experience containing spoilers?
My review will be very long and I don't want to make a post that will be too long to read on a discussion topic.
I'll put spoilers in capitals in the title if that helps. Currently heading home, so the review will be up later tonight!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'd just like to add that the queue board for quite a while now has said its 150 minutes, but the real waiting time throughout the day has been 30-40 minutes instead. Not sure why it hasn't been updated yet...
Thankfully, it's short enough to manage it 3 times today!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'd just like to add that the queue board for quite a while now has said its 150 minutes, but the real waiting time throughout the day has been 30-40 minutes instead. Not sure why it hasn't been updated yet...
Thankfully, it's short enough to manage it 3 times today!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And I very rarely do visit these days in all honesty, I no longer have a MAP and will only venture in when when it's quiet so my day is not fastracked to death by all around me. But I will always visit to an extent, I can't help enjoying the rides in spite of everything!
 
I find it very difficult to believe someone visiting Chessington for the first time since the late 90s wouldn't be heartbroken.
 
The Smiler may have been popular, but the way it opened late was damaging and badly handled at the time. Although the incident was a failure of operator and not the ride I'm sure the issues it had from the very poor build are what created an environment for that mistake to happen.
The station building is falling apart already with great swathes of light from the gaps in the walls in what is supposed to be the dark section, the effects are persistently broken even though they are new, the queue line is a mess that often floods. It goes on. The fact that such mediocrity in delivery can lead to such perceived 'success' as an attraction says a lot more about the state of our parks than it does about the quality of that ride.
 
Galactica destroying the throughput of an otherwise decent coaster with funding for 2 years for the tonnes of staff needed, while other attractions close because of staff funding,
Zoofari being a joke,
NST being poor, then OK for a bit, then closed,
IAC with its double digit throughput,
Th13teen doing its trick well but everything else poorly,
Storm Surge being a pathetic eyesore,
 
What these have in common is being just about good enough to get the punters in for a couple of seasons with some strong marketing, but nothing that actually has underlying quality to get people returning or to deliver into the future. And all the while the older attractions are simply not cared for.
 
Turn it on its head; when is the last time a park in this country did something and made you go 'oh, wow!'? Truly surprised, amazed or impressed you?
 
This is going off topic. I really do think that DBGT will be good, from what we've seen so far I have faith in the project to deliver in the end, but there should be no surprise that there is scepticism about what is to come and disappointment that a couple of months after advertised opening there is a distinct lack of it being open.
 
 
 
 

As well as providing people with less than a week's notice for a second time, the bigger concern for me is that Thorpe are still using the excuse of "creative reasons" for this delay.
This results in people's expectations coupled with the constant marketing for the ride to be higher than previously, and some people (I'm not) will be expecting an amazing experience that will make it the best ride in the park, when the truth might be that it doesn't add up at all to the hype.
I'm not saying that I'm expecting the experience to be bad, I'm just saying this excuse Thorpe are using currently for the delay will ultimately not sit well with many guests when they come to ride it on opening weekend and many of whom will wonder what caused the postponed date in the first place if they aren't impressed by the experience.
This ride is essentially turning into another version of Th13teen - overhyped, under-delivered.

Happy birthday Thorpe Park and Martin.C!

As well as providing people with less than a week's notice for a second time, the bigger concern for me is that Thorpe are still using the excuse of "creative reasons" for this delay.
This results in people's expectations coupled with the constant marketing for the ride to be higher than previously, and some people (I'm not) will be expecting an amazing experience that will make it the best ride in the park, when the truth might be that it doesn't add up at all to the hype.
I'm not saying that I'm expecting the experience to be bad, I'm just saying this excuse Thorpe are using currently for the delay will ultimately not sit well with many guests when they come to ride it on opening weekend and many of whom will wonder what caused the postponed date in the first place if they aren't impressed by the experience.
This ride is essentially turning into another version of Th13teen - overhyped, under-delivered.

Yep...
 

As well as providing people with less than a week's notice for a second time, the bigger concern for me is that Thorpe are still using the excuse of "creative reasons" for this delay.
This results in people's expectations coupled with the constant marketing for the ride to be higher than previously, and some people (I'm not) will be expecting an amazing experience that will make it the best ride in the park, when the truth might be that it doesn't add up at all to the hype.
I'm not saying that I'm expecting the experience to be bad, I'm just saying this excuse Thorpe are using currently for the delay will ultimately not sit well with many guests when they come to ride it on opening weekend and many of whom will wonder what caused the postponed date in the first place if they aren't impressed by the experience.
This ride is essentially turning into another version of Th13teen - overhyped, under-delivered.

Wouldn't have been leaked if it wasn't delayed

58 instead of 60...
the driver and conductor have to sit somewhere.

Somewhere beginning with A and ending in rse.

Looking at the image a bit more after turning the brightness and contrast up heavily, those brown pistons look more like they're guide tubes for the chains to pass through to the mechanics underneath the gravel on the floor. There's also one laying flat on the floor directly beneath the carriage. If I were to guess looking at this photo, there might be two possibilities for them being there:

• The chains will move in accordance to the movement of the carriage when it moves vertically upwards/downwards and side-to-side with the black pillar in the middle supporting the weight of the carriage (which brings it to the second guess).
• The noise the chains will make are there for the sound effect only when they move and are not for movement of the carriage.

The carriage doesn't look as though those pistons are holding it in place, it looks as though a black support directly underneath is holding it in place instead, though, I could be wrong.

Looking at the image a bit more after turning the brightness and contrast up heavily, those brown pistons look more like they're guide tubes for the chains to pass through to the mechanics underneath the gravel on the floor. There's also one laying flat on the floor directly beneath the carriage. If I were to guess looking at this photo, there might be two possibilities for them being there:

• The chains will move in accordance to the movement of the carriage when it moves vertically upwards/downwards and side-to-side with the black pillar in the middle supporting the weight of the carriage (which brings it to the second guess).
• The noise the chains will make are there for the sound effect only when they move and are not for movement of the carriage.

The carriage doesn't look as though those pistons are holding it in place, it looks as though a black support directly underneath is holding it in place instead, though, I could be wrong.

For the 12 different experiences offered, this might seem obvious to many already, but it's only just occurred to me.
The ride carriage has 60 seats, right? On each side there are 30 seats facing inwards just like the underground. Now, if you look at the logo for the ride, it is essentially 5 people holding shoulders together.
So with this in mind, there must be 6 rows of 5 seats on both sides of the carriage, all of which together make up the 60 seats. So, for every 5 seats down the carriage on either side, those 5 people will experience the same VR content, but the other 11 remaining groups of 5 experience something different, hence the 12 different experiences offered.
If this is true, I would imagine they organise you into groups of 5 beforehand and when you board the train, you sit into the designated seats they told you to sit in earlier.
That is what significance the logo must have on the ride experience I reckon.

For the 12 different experiences offered, this might seem obvious to many already, but it's only just occurred to me.
The ride carriage has 60 seats, right? On each side there are 30 seats facing inwards just like the underground. Now, if you look at the logo for the ride, it is essentially 5 people holding shoulders together.
So with this in mind, there must be 6 rows of 5 seats on both sides of the carriage, all of which together make up the 60 seats. So, for every 5 seats down the carriage on either side, those 5 people will experience the same VR content, but the other 11 remaining groups of 5 experience something different, hence the 12 different experiences offered.
If this is true, I would imagine they organise you into groups of 5 beforehand and when you board the train, you sit into the designated seats they told you to sit in earlier.
That is what significance the logo must have on the ride experience I reckon.

For the 12 different experiences offered, this might seem obvious to many already, but it's only just occurred to me.
The ride carriage has 60 seats, right? On each side there are 30 seats facing inwards just like the underground. Now, if you look at the logo for the ride, it is essentially 5 people holding shoulders together.
So with this in mind, there must be 6 rows of 5 seats on both sides of the carriage, all of which together make up the 60 seats. So, for every 5 seats down the carriage on either side, those 5 people will experience the same VR content, but the other 11 remaining groups of 5 experience something different, hence the 12 different experiences offered.
If this is true, I would imagine they organise you into groups of 5 beforehand and when you board the train, you sit into the designated seats they told you to sit in earlier.
That is what significance the logo must have on the ride experience I reckon.