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Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon


Marc

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Queueline audio was off this morning, also no audio in the transition between pre-show and main showroom.

 

The moving floor in the final scene was broken (already!) and headset was glitchy.  Also I'm sure the second half was shorter than previously, where the woman said "I want to get off" she didn't get dragged off the train.

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13 minutes ago, Coaster said:

Queueline audio was off this morning, also no audio in the transition between pre-show and main showroom.

 

The moving floor in the final scene was broken (already!) and headset was glitchy.  Also I'm sure the second half was shorter than previously, where the woman said "I want to get off" she didn't get dragged off the train. 

 

Regarding the second VR, that's actually some holding content you see. 

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2 hours ago, Coaster said:

Queueline audio was off this morning, also no audio in the transition between pre-show and main showroom.

 

The moving floor in the final scene was broken (already!) and headset was glitchy.  Also I'm sure the second half was shorter than previously, where the woman said "I want to get off" she didn't get dragged off the train.

 

Technically, the second VR story is meant to go from 'shouting I want to get off' to the finale.  Anything after the shouting is all holding sequence (which last year was just the green mist!).  It's been designed so that the holding sequence isn't obvious, but it can be cut into at any time and the story makes sense.

 

So, in one sense, you've experienced the attraction when it has been running very well.  But it does mean you've lost out on some of the best VR sequences.  It's a weird one, as you'll want to be slightly held up!

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  • 3 weeks later...

There have been a few subtle updates and changes made to the operations and efficiency after trying it today, as well as a few new issues. This is what I have seen:

 

• Outdoor queue speakers cutting at random intervals again. Ugh.

 

• In the pre-show room, they have marked on the floor 5 separate rows with dividing lines in-between. The staff allocate you to a row to prevent overcrowding near the front. Much better.

 

• One of the speakers (on the left side) in the pre-show room has either been turned down considerably or there's a fault, because the audio sounds less deep and more flat than before, as well as quieter compared to previous rides.

 

• Again, in the pre-show room, half of the light bulbs above your head are incredibly dimly lit now, so much so that there's almost no point in them being there anymore. To make it worse, these bulbs now emit a bright and cold white light instead of a typical warmish, yellowish halogen bulb, which tells me these are LED bulbs used.

 

• The way they board/un-board you into the carriage in the warehouse has improved. Instead of using one set of doors to load and the other to unload, they use both simultaneously now. This means when you get on the carriage, you are guided by a staff member to use both platform walkways to speed up the whole process and the same applies for getting off again. Liked this approach much better and eliminated waiting on the walkway for the train ahead to unload fully.

 

• On my ride, I would estimate out of 58 headsets, 13-15 were out of use. Not a good situation to be in, especially leading up to the summer holidays and Fright Nights with the queues just weeks away.

 

• Finally, in the shop where you van view your photos, the green jars above were all off and had Windows error messages displayed. Pretty funny seeing this. Plus, some of them now use a red filter instead of a green one, which might indicate different faces will appear in these jars when it works. Head of the monster perhaps? Just a theory.

 

But overall, the ride experience was still in a good condition. All effects were working, most headsets too and the staff operated it very well.

 

Sent from my Samsung S8 using Tapatalk

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Got to the second section today before the ride broke down. The first time I've experienced this on DBGT, and it was quite exciting, though my friend was annoyed because it was her first time trying ROTD. The air con came on really heavy into the carriage, and god, it was nice. Management later boarded the train and very enthusiastically handed us fast tracks while we were evacuated (better than the boredom of some staff members). It was interesting to see the ride with lights on, as it shows the train doesn't move much at all! All very interesting for me (I'm easily pleased) 

I missed that air con when I stepped into the glaring sun for sure!

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Wonder if they considered having 4k screens as the windows, no vr and the scenes played out on screens? There could have been hidden hiding places for actors. Lights go out and they jump in


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Ghost Train seemed to be at its absolute worst today. Three evacs within the space of a couple of hours, two of those myself and friends were on.  According to staff, one of the trains "logged off" hence a reset being required in order for it to be in transit again. Apparently it's quite common, however today was a completely different story..

Got to see a fair bit behind the scenes though, so I can't complain! 

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Ghost Train seemed to be at its absolute worst today. Three evacs within the space of a couple of hours, two of those myself and friends were on.  According to staff, one of the trains "logged off" hence a reset being required in order for it to be in transit again. Apparently it's quite common, however today was a completely different story..
Got to see a fair bit behind the scenes though, so I can't complain! 


What did you see? :)


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  • 2 months later...

FINALLY got to ride Derren Brown  ride Ghost Train today, having read and heard very little since its original construction. Overall it unfortunately seemed like a missed opportunity, but my take-aways were:

  • Even if it's a slow start to the ride, the "illusion" angle of the preshow is infinitely more interesting than the generic horror-fest that the rest of the ride becomes. Brown picking up one of the trains was also the only "how did they do that?" moment of the ride besides the carriage, proving that sometimes the simplest effects and tricks can be as involving as bombastic action, or more so.
  • Interior theming was up to a decent standard.
  • The delivery of information was too delayed. Entering a train station to witness Brown's illusion is fine, as is seeing a suspended Victorian carriage following this, but why are we suddenly in an Underground carriage? And now that I've put on the headset (again, why?), who are "Sub Core", and what do they have to do with anything that has preceded this? All of this is eventually answered but the plot feels irritatingly vague and meandering in the meantime, and not for tension-building reasons.
  • As I previously mentioned, the "horror" didn't work for me at all. There wasn't any subtlety to its use - the only point at which my imagination could have played with my expectations was when the smoke/demons/whatever fill the tunnel, and even then you feel so distant from it thanks to the relatively bright lighting in the room and the actors taking the foreground. I don't feel I need to go into why cartoon demons walking up and down the carriage and a little girl screaming at you lack subtlety, especially when the carriage is so starkly lit in the former case, and the less said about that bonkers, "how do we end this?!" finale the better...
  • The ride gives us another example of VR being used as far too vital a technological component than should be relied upon in a ride. A broken effect means you risk shattering the illusion, broken VR means you've lost the ride. On the second section of my first ride I had to keep wiggling the cable to get (some) audio, and on my second ride I got to experience a set where I had to look away to hear the character and one which didn't stay on my head and kept resetting to the neutral position. VR is an interesting technology, but don't implement it into theme parks until you can guarantee that it won't be a constant problem.
  • The gift shop trick was neat, it reminded me of some kind of Twilight Zone-esque "something's not right" moment the first time, but on repeat rides it loses its novelty. 

On the whole, it's less an attraction that I'd alter to correct, and more one that I'd start from scratch. It's very clear that someone decided Brown's approach to an attraction might be too conservative and that the target audience for the park expect obnoxious scares, and hastily retooled an illusion concept into a bizarre attempt at horror. That being said, it isn't horrendous - a couple of neat illusions, some good theming inside, one or two surprises - but it's unfortunate that so much hype and expenditure went into something that turned out so confused.

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Road DBGT  again yesterday, noticed a few changes

First the VR is breaking again on my first section the volume of the sound kept changing, fell out of the world etc. second was ok just smudged visor from cleaning. 

 

no stacking at all, which was a shame cause the best part of the second VR is a stacking VR clip

 

The mid sequence "crash" effect is broken again :/ but noticed on the floor the ground cracks and the crack glows like a large fire is down there

Though my group got stuck in a corner due to the actors scaring them

 

though biggest change, they now have giant industrial fans blowing air about, same type they put in underground stations to move the heat, it works the ride is more or less normal temperature now.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Went on DBGTROTD last night for the 2nd time ever (my first ever ride was before it got the ROTD)

 

Had a breakdown after 20 seconds in, sat there for 10 minutes or so before it restarted. My headset was glitchy, lots of headsets not working. I liked the dog :P

 

We weren't rushed into the live action scene so were left to casually walk off the train and open the doors ourselves.

The train in tunnel effect still isn't working.

 

2nd bit of VR is a lot better than before (which isn't difficult) but again my headset was glitchy. Final finale was quite clever, but as said elsewhere - the whole ride just doesn't seem to flow or make sense. 

 

Noticed that the hoodies were reduced in the gift shop, £9 down from £20 - there were other reduced items too but we were in a rush as that breakdown had taken up valuable time to ride something decent (Soz Stealth, I missed you)

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