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Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon


Marc

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Maybe it would have been better if you got on the train knowing it is a LU train and don’t see the Victorian carriage and it is only when you get back they say “you think you have been moving on a LU train but as you can see when you get out, not only is it a different train but it has been suspended in this warehouse the whole time”.


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  • 3 weeks later...

Oh man, it appears “future for theme parks” is reaching new levels of low today in the middle of summer.

 

Besides from having an awful run through the attraction this afternoon, with numerous effects, audio, lighting and hardware not working, the cream of the crop goes to this:

 

 

At the end of the experience in the fake gift shop, not only was the floor projection turned off where the demon stands, but this happened......

.....Instead of the demon jumping out from behind the door, we get... Mr. Bronchitis.

All that happened was an actor in a plain white shirt and some trousers stood in the centre, pretending to cough multiple times in all 3 directions at the audience. The poor fella must’ve had a really bad cold today bless him.

But essentially, the demon costume is no more (as of today), so they get an actor coughing his lungs up to replace it...

You couldn’t make this stuff up. :lol: 

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10 minutes ago, Marhelorpe said:

Oh man, it appears “future for theme parks” is reaching new levels of low today in the middle of summer.

 

Besides from having an awful run through the attraction this afternoon, with numerous effects, audio, lighting and hardware not working, the cream of the crop goes to this:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

At the end of the experience in the fake gift shop, not only was the floor projection turned off when’re the demon stands, but this happened......

.....Instead of the demon jumping out from behind the door, we get... Mr. Bronchitis.

All that happened was an actor in a plain white shirt and some trousers stood in the centre, pretending to cough multiple times in all 3 directions at the audience. The poor fella must’ve had a really bad cold today bless him.

But essentially, the demon costume is no more (as of today), so they get an actor coughing his lungs up to replace it...

You couldn’t make this stuff up. :lol: 

 

If that ride was a horse, it would have been put down by now!!

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Couple of my non geek work mates went to Thorpe on Friday not knowing anything much about DBGT. Having ridden they were very annoyed that they had 'wasted' 45 minutes to queue for this.

 

Their reviews to me:

"I've had more fun on the actual underground train playing candy crush on my phone"

"What's the point? It's just shit"

 

Hard to argue with that really!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Was on park yesterday and the shop scene is still not working properly, no projections and no demon, just the same actor with some red paint on her face. Honestly what is going on with this ride now, maybe they have decided not to fix this in anticipation of some changes over the coming closed season? There were no other actors either.

 

Am I right in saying the big room after the tunnel route should have something going on in it? All season I kept thinking I've just missed it as I'm usually towards the back of the group, but yesterday I was towards the front and all that I saw was some smoke and sound effects.

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14 hours ago, coaster38 said:

Am I right in saying the big room after the tunnel route should have something going on in it? All season I kept thinking I've just missed it as I'm usually towards the back of the group, but yesterday I was towards the front and all that I saw was some smoke and sound effects.

It has actors on peak days, which improves it significantly. But on off-peak days it's just smoke and sound effects.

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Went on this for the first time today, I think 'meh' describes it perfectly, had to hold the headset the whole time, I did enjoy the live actors that were scattered around the ride so props to Thorpe for that; and the 'demon' at the end was brilliant, it caught a lot of people out who thought that was actually the gift shop and the actor on stage was brilliant, perhaps they've improved this, or only put an effort to do so over the weekend? It went pitch black, followed by flashing strobe lights every couple seconds where he would walk around the stage trying to touch people with a loud scream over a speaker coming from his direction, if it wasn't for that it would have been a bit naff considering how incredibly slow the queue is for this ride.

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I still think they have got a kernel of an idea and hope they don’t write it off all together. As suggested before, screens as windows instead of VR and more time to look at the train at the start will do it. But would they invest that much?


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Second ever ride on the train for me today, first in its ROTD guise.

 

It's fair to say there have been improvements over the first effort.

- The sound is hugely better and isolating

- The graphics seem smoother, if just as low quality

- The second ride VR section is much better than playstation 1 apocalypse

- The post show incident gives the ride its only opportunity to provide an actual scare, and goes some way to delivering it

 

But it is nowhere near enough to save this utter turkey

- Throughput is minuscule, queuing is ssllllooooowwwww and not close to worth the reward of riding

- The staff approach is all over the place. Real aggressive introduction about phone use, not sure if that is supposed to be a 'character' or just a real obnoxious way to make a point?

- The second room 'pre-show' immediately prior to the train entrance is downright bizarre. A stumbling attempt to be jokey, bring someone from the front to the back, do nothing with them, clap them(?), bang a door, go through the door. WOT? A pre-boarding stall I imagine, but just in every way possible from pacing to storytelling to atmosphere to point, utterly wrong. 

- The 'middle-show' is immeasurably worse. The old concept of being in a tunnel with no obvious way out and simulate a train approaching was actually a really good idea poorly done. Walking into a dark room where nothing happens before being turned round to walk back out of it is a really bad idea poorly done. Getting on and off the train doesn't even make sense in the narrative any more.

- The second VR I can't quite get my head around. Augmented reality would have been hugely better rather than pretend augmented reality, but whatever. This breaks the fourth wall of suspension of belief the ride is asking us to make; the whole point seemed to be that the hyper reality of the simulation of being on a train would be the driver behind messing with your mind in that relate-able, mundane situation. You are now looking at people, like you, who are clearly on a theme park ride of a train, not an actual underground train. What am I supposed to do with this in the context of the narrative? 

- While we are on the second VR, the image quality as a whole is better than it was, but why is the main character we are supposed to scared of so poorly defined? For the most part it is an indistinguishable fuzzy blob floating around the screen about as menacingly as a rain cloud.

- The laboured situation and 'acting' to hold people in the post-show goes a long way to ruining an otherwise decent effect. They may as well put up a big flashing sign saying 'wait a mo, something else is going to happen'. There must be a better, more natural way.

 

Overall, there is no getting away from the fact that the whole thing is an ACTUAL TRAIN SIMULATOR. Not a rocket to the moon. Not a flight on an X wing. Not dive in a submarine. Not a time travelling jump in a Delorean. Why? I can get on a train, I don't need it simulated. I want fantasy. There is nothing fantastical about this Ghost Train.

 

I honestly do not think it is rescuable. It's sad, but the whole concept is so deeply flawed I really feel the best thing to do would be to rip it out and start again. At the moment it is just a very expensive way to damage your brand and reputation.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Went on DBGTROTDWTF on Monday purely because my friend hadn’t ridden it since 2016.  

The batching was so slow it was painful - I still wish they used the 2 holding areas differently - one for people who want to see the pre show and one for people who don’t - the pre show for me is tedious and too long though it was amusing because I couldn’t see Derren Browns feet so he was sort of floating.

 

The bit before you enter the train room - we were right at the back and there was an actor telling us that there is a train suspended and swinging by chains and that we are all going to hell.  No offence to the guy but his acting was terrible - I also suspect he was slightly drunk as he was WAY too happy.  Typically my sodding phone went off - had the volume up to the maximum as I had been expecting a phone call earlier and forgot to turn the volume down - cue everyone turning round and me frantically trying to find my phone in my abyss of a bag - the actor the yells “turn off your phone - this is Victorian London, there are no cell phones” - that was the highlight of the entire experience to be honest.

 

First VR was fine but agree with others about the awkwardness of the headsets - I really struggle to get it to sit on my head properly and inevitably end up just holding it in place.

 

The middle section - awful - no actors just a guy in the London Underground get up frantically pressing buttons on the door to get us out - didn’t even say anything.

 

2nd VR - had a dodgy headset - sound kept cutting off every few seconds and they’ve cut out a part of it (where the passenger says she want to get off) - VR just went dark then into the pit of fire.

 

Left the train thinking I could have spent my time better sat drinking a coffee in the Inferno smoking area but at least the best part of the ride - the exit was to come.

 

What a crock - no projection on the floor - the other effects were working - stood right next to the mini stage thing as I like to get nice and close to Mr Demon - well Mr Demon was clearly on vacation or decided himself that this attraction is a pile of poop and got the first bus out of the resort.

We had a guy come out, dressed normally but walking around like he had soiled himself and had drunk one too many bottles of wine, coughing like he’d been chain smoking since the last group had gone through.  Very odd and nowhere near as good as the demon who I swear once spat at me.

 

So yeah - honestly I loved the ghost train the first time I rode it, with the exception of the initial strange 2nd VR which made little sense to the story.

The new ending and 2nd VR they added in 2017 was a big improvement but the middle section where you get off the train is now naff and I much preferred the lights on a stick thing!

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I know what to do with mid-section:

Increase the tension

Add an alarm system

Fix smoke and strobe lights

Add more actors or announcements

Make horns louder, like at The Walking Dead: The Ride

Make trains light blink, either before, during, or after the horn honks

Add more projections of monsters and zombies

Make it feel like an earthquake

Bring the smell of gas in

Add smoke and strobe lights at the loading side of the station

Make even more panic

Make it even more intense

And finally, SPRUCE IT ALL UP!

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3 hours ago, 08newmanb said:

I know what to do with mid-section:

Increase the tension

Add an alarm system

Fix smoke and strobe lights

Add more actors or announcements

Make horns louder, like at The Walking Dead: The Ride

Make trains light blink, either before, during, or after the horn honks

Add more projections of monsters and zombies

Make it feel like an earthquake

Bring the smell of gas in

Add smoke and strobe lights at the loading side of the station

Make even more panic

Make it even more intense

And finally, SPRUCE IT ALL UP!

I have a simpler solution.

 

...DEMOLITION.

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