Mark9 Posted November 15, 2014 Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 Besides, the designers at Merlin are lucky to have a job which allows them to me imaginative. I bet they creamed their pants when they could design a dark ride, whether it's outstanding or not. Oh I envy them. They have a world of potential with a dark ride where literally anything is possible with the right emphasis or effect, animatronic or screen, where a mood can be created from the right lighting or the right viewpoint. I really want this ride to be top of their game stuff and I shall attempt to remain positive despite another abandoned warehouse theme based on the plans. I agree with ElectricBill here, it's a shame the queue isn't more adventurous or interesting but hopefully there will be something to look at or do whilst people are waiting. SteveJ and holtjammy16 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted November 15, 2014 Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 Let's remember, the ride experience starts in the queueline... Let's take Ratatouille and Maus au Chocolat as examples now... Ratatouille's queue starts with a long covered cattlepen outside the main building, it has some posters to look at but on the whole is quite dull, saved by the relative pace of the queue's movement... Inside it's amazing, but is only about 10 minutes worth of actual queue... Tis a weird balance really, and is probably what we'll get here, since Merlin love a large cattlepen of death... Now Maus, it's very akin to classic Tussauds, the entire queue takes place within the bakery, going through many different rooms with tonnes of theming, images of cakes and actual recipes on the walls... Also a video appears about half way through as the ride story and safety info... Here the queue suffers from the slow movement, so the multiple rooms help this slightly, but also the added smell of chocolate makes this the only queue in the world to physically affect me and make me hungry... Indeed, all of Phantasialand's queues (bar Winjas) have a real adventurous feel to them... Merlin's queues lack any form of imagination, even abroad... Whilst some still carry the sense of interacting with the ride, there's nothing in comparison to the likes of Nemesis or even Colossus... It's a shame that queues are seen as something to be ignored in the design process, when they are one of the most important aspects in the ride experience... Things like Fury or Saw are prime examples of awful queuelines... At least Smiler is interactive with the ride, even if it is a dull concrete labyrinth... Kerfuffle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altitude Posted November 15, 2014 Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 I think people have missed my point but I just give up now haha... I agree the queue is important, I just think it's silly to say the entire ride is a failure and "won't be fun" because of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyMoo Posted November 15, 2014 Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 Don't forget when it rains... The Smiler queue turns into a swimming pool! Hate it -.- Just throwing this in there - apparently the concern about poor drainage (or lack of!) in the queueline was raised by the contractors during construction but was chosen to be ignored. On the subject of the dark ride though - I'm intrigued, excited and cautious in equal amounts... I hope Merlin surprise us all and pull it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted November 15, 2014 Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 One thing I can't understand about Merlin's queues is why they have closed off the nice, interesting queueline of Dragon Falls in favour of a new cattlepen! (Unless it's REALLY busy). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paige Posted November 15, 2014 Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 One thing I can't understand about Merlin's queues is why they have closed off the nice, interesting queueline of Dragon Falls in favour of a new cattlepen! (Unless it's REALLY busy). I've only been through Falls' 'nice queue' one time, it was summer 2010 and the park was heaving, like ridecount of 5 heaving. Guess it's used more as an extended queue now... Anyway, I am actually excited to see what Thorpe can and will do with what they've got. But from what we've got so far, it sounds like it will be a bit of a cliché Merlin addition. But I won't be passing any real judgement on it until construction begins/we get an idea of what is happening, as none of us have any real idea of what they're doing really. I just hope the queueline isn't tight or X-like! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraX Posted November 15, 2014 Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 Whilst we're all aware of merlin's rush jobs and budget slashed attractions, it's surprising how this is being bashed so soon. With the exception of the grotty Merlin exterior (YAWN), we don't 'know' anything 'official' about what this is all about. It's safe to say this is going to be a big deal, if only from the potential talk of the BBC DR WHO stuff, which basically screams time travel motion ride. Any talk of roller coasters or sub terra clones is pretty off the mark now, and whilst the exterior queue looks traditionally Merlin ( it sucks), who knows how they introduce us to a story further into the attraction - pre show room... It's a tricky one as all we officially have at the moment, is a rubbish looking exterior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted November 15, 2014 Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 I think it comes with the previous Merlin additions that the optimism for this, something that should be completely kick-starting the UK industry, is sorely lacking... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted November 15, 2014 Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 Exposed metal shed exterior, likely cattle pen queue plus potential IP (rather than an original idea or theme), not the best start so far, but let's hope they can surprise all of us. Oh wait, this is Merlin. AdventureRyan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraX Posted November 15, 2014 Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 I hope they don't repeat the HORRENDOUS Angry Bird signage with this, and plaster lazy, just-fallen-off-the-printers-at-Instant print rubbish all over the run down Merlin-warehouse. (Themed signage that's not flat or a rectangle please) But that's a long way off.... Imagineer and Cal 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted November 15, 2014 Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 Exposed metal shed exterior, likely cattle pen queue plus potential IP (rather than an original idea or theme), not the best start so far, but let's hope they can surprise all of us. Oh wait, this is Merlin. Don't get this whole Merlin hate for this, Merlin have shown they are more than capable in theming their attractions when they want to and the budgets there, for a ride which will be more about theming than any of the others I've no doubt they will theme it well and have the budget to do so. jon81uk, AJ , Kerfuffle and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted November 15, 2014 Report Share Posted November 15, 2014 Whilst we're all aware of merlin's rush jobs and budget slashed attractions, it's surprising how this is being bashed so soon. With the exception of the grotty Merlin exterior (YAWN), we don't 'know' anything 'official' about what this is all about. This just shows how low confidence is in Merlin to be able to deliver fully on an attraction these days. Don't get this whole Merlin hate for this, Merlin have shown they are more than capable in theming their attractions when they want to and the budgets there, for a ride which will be more about theming than any of the others I've no doubt they will theme it well and have the budget to do so. Isn't that kind of the problem. We know they are capable of doing it. Areas like Wild Asia and rides like Raptor prove they have what it takes to make stand out attractions. So when they don't its always down to budget cuts or rushing a project through. Nobody wants to bad mouth Merlin intentionally but have done a few things recently like Angry Birds Land or rushing through The Smiler that knocks confidence. An expensive dark ride like this is the ultimate test. I like Sub Terra but it wasn't well received, lets face it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraX Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 This just shows how low confidence is in Merlin.. Low confidence in Merlin? pluk and Kerfuffle 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HermanTheGerman Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 I'm not too sure how to feel about this really. On the one hand I'm glad we're finally get in a dark ride, but at the same time, I'm frustrated about the lack of effort. There are so many things the Arena could be used for. Whatever happened to tucking away show buildings behind dense trees and heavy scenery? You never know, this could turn out brilliant, but some how I doubt it. paige 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Project LC Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 Why hide a metal building when you have the mother of them all right behind it. It will be just the same as X, it doesnt subtract from the ride but it certiantly doesnt add to it. It would have been nice if they did it properly and hidden it but realistically we were never going to get that from merlin. My current concern isnt the outside but the lack of inside. After the preshow, bag room, control room there isnt much room left inside. So it will be intresting to see what the inside is like. Also what sort of dark ride needs a bag room? It must have some thrilling element otherwise thorpe would save the money, not employ the extra staff and just allow bags on the ride. jon81uk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted November 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 I must admit I was very surprised when I first saw the location. Given that they could have used the Fungle spot (granted, with a bit more work and whatnot), it surely would have made things easier? They could have then just themed one / one and a half of the sides of the building, and then everything else be naturally hidden away (something like Duel for example). But instead they've opted for the arena, where they basically have to theme 3 sides, and be a bit awkward about disguising some bits of it. There must be some long-term reason for it surely - are there long term plans for the Fungle spot? Was the arena decided to be the most likely spot approval would be given? Who knows. But personally, I don't think this is the easiest spot they could have chosen for a dark ride. Here's hoping they can pull off some sort of good exterior and - I guess more importantly - pull of an amazing interior. Speaking of which, I still think people's concerns about the size will be unfounded. A shop, ORP pick up and bag room can take up minimal room. Even with a control room and other staff-only access areas, they can take up a minimal amount of space. And then they can be very clever with the space as well if they want. Of course we won't till it opens how large the ride will be, but personally, I don't think we're gonna end up with a 'small' attraction by any means! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 Also depends on how grand a scale the scenery will be taking... If it ends up being screen based then they don't have to have room for large scale theming/structures... As for bag drop, probably part of their idea that they make it quicker and easier to load/unload attractions, even though you can take your bags on pretty much any other dark ride in the world... Unless the whole actor based rumour means it'll be a little bit like Hobs Pit and combine a horror walkthrough and transit ride... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon81uk Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 Why hide a metal building when you have the mother of them all right behind it. It will be just the same as X, it doesnt subtract from the ride but it certiantly doesnt add to it. It would have been nice if they did it properly and hidden it but realistically we were never going to get that from merlin. My current concern isnt the outside but the lack of inside. After the preshow, bag room, control room there isnt much room left inside. So it will be intresting to see what the inside is like. Also what sort of dark ride needs a bag room? It must have some thrilling element otherwise thorpe would save the money, not employ the extra staff and just allow bags on the ride. Unfortunately Thorpe just doesn't have the space to be able to put show buildings at the edge of the park with trees screening them. Maybe they should have put a dark ride where Inferno is as then it could be on the edge of the park and better screened, but thats hindsight. Also there is already a big ugly building in the centre of the park (X). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander Posted November 18, 2014 Report Share Posted November 18, 2014 Unfortunately Thorpe just doesn't have the space to be able to put show buildings at the edge of the park with trees screening them. Maybe they should have put a dark ride where Inferno is as then it could be on the edge of the park and better screened, but thats hindsight. Also there is already a big ugly building in the centre of the park (X).And an even uglier structure next to it, storm turd HermanTheGerman, Kerfuffle and Matt 236 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holtjammy16 Posted November 19, 2014 Report Share Posted November 19, 2014 I hope we get lots of the Saw the ride type advertising we got throughout the year before it opened, I'm kinda gutted it's an indoor ride as we won't see much construction Hopefully it wont be too long before we got some kind of theme hints Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerfuffle Posted November 19, 2014 Report Share Posted November 19, 2014 I hope we get lots of the Saw the ride type advertising we got throughout the year before it opened If we do, it better not be like Saw's where it started off as a horror mine potentially...to end up as the IP trash we see today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holtjammy16 Posted November 19, 2014 Report Share Posted November 19, 2014 If we do, it better not be like Saw's where it started off as a horror mine potentially...to end up as the IP trash we see today! I forgot about that.. The building in the promo pic looked so good Kerfuffle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glitch Posted November 19, 2014 Report Share Posted November 19, 2014 After reading views on the queue lines, got me thinking don't all the sound stages at universal have a cattle pen round the back like the one in Thorpe plans? As well as how don't we know that the queue goes around the whole building inside like X? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Posted November 20, 2014 Report Share Posted November 20, 2014 Shambhala... Horrific queue line.... Awesome ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluk Posted November 20, 2014 Report Share Posted November 20, 2014 don't all the sound stages at universal have a cattle pen round the back like the one in Thorpe plans? ...don't we know that the queue goes around the whole building inside? That's a fair point, that may well be just an overflow queue. The things that suggest to me that it isn't is that the building isn't actually that large to be able to give much space up for a queue line and isn't that tall and has no fire exits shown from an upper floor if the queue were to be above or bellow the ride. Maybe they are planning for this to never really have a queue and operate a permanent reserve and ride system as the only option? All guess work for now though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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