November 22, 20222 yr comment_286208 47 minutes ago, Benin said: Just bin it already. Someone should've realised it was a misfire when it relied on staff brushing guest's knees to produce any reaction. Oh god, I'd never actually thought about it like that before. £30 million and that's what they have to resort to. I reckon Josh is right - remove VR completely, screens in the windows instead - run it at peak times or time slots only, or an upcharge. Could even then make it "extreme" for Fright Nights and upcharge then. Get another 3-5 years out of it then write it off.
November 22, 20222 yr comment_286333 Might be the VR apologist in me speaking but upgrading from the massively outdated Vive’s would really help the ride. Many VR headsets offer in headset tracking rather the old Lighthouse method which would probably help with a lot of the issues. They’ll never spend the money though so what’s the point, absolute worst company to do an attraction that revolves around constantly evolving technology.
November 22, 20222 yr comment_286336 48 minutes ago, Cornflakes said: Might be the VR apologist in me speaking but upgrading from the massively outdated Vive’s would really help the ride. I see your point.
December 7, 20222 yr comment_286748 For those who might be interested, Derren's holding an auction for some of his weird and wacky artifacts in his possession... one of which being a doll's mask used for DBGT promotion material. To be honest it's a really cool collector's item and if I was in a financial position to bid on it myself I almost certainly would... but at a guide price of £500-£800, plus 30% auction fees... I reckon I'll be giving it a miss. https://www.wimbledonauctions.co.uk/catalogue/lot/e891afaae936fe6ae80d2c43efebbd55/e562cbe2371c9d8503618e869b5c97ef/derren-brown-the-selected-contents-from-illusionist-de-lot-28/
January 7, 20232 yr comment_289634 It would appear as though Derren Brown’s Ghost Train may have reached the end of the line after 6 years of operation, as all references to it have been removed from the Thorpe Park app: I’m quite surprised that DBGT has met its end this early, if it is going, but I guess the signs were there at the end of 2022, what with the construction work happening in the shop and the limited quantity of merchandise left. If the rumoured £30m budget is true, surely that would make it one of the most expensive theme park attractions ever per operating season? Given that it operated for 6 seasons, that would peg its final cost at £5m per season…
January 7, 20232 yr comment_289636 Very sad to see, especially when you observe from a distance and see how much potential it had, but inevitable I suppose. It it doesn’t open again, I’ll be excited to see what’s next. What are we thinking? A retheme or a completely new attraction for a future season?
January 7, 20232 yr comment_289637 I don’t believe it’s gone (not in an upset denial way) but it’s quite common for attractions to come and go from being listed on the app The park also Love messing with people, I think it’s a slight coincidence the Thorpe Park Official facebook group was created and people immediately starting asking about DBGT and next thing it’s gone…
January 7, 20232 yr comment_289638 I know some care but not even done it and my reaction is complete non-caring.
January 7, 20232 yr comment_289639 Still on the website, once it's gone from there that's the final nail in the coffin. Edit to say - looking at the replies to that Twitter post, it really has been an unreliable mess of a ride attraction experience, innit? Shout out to the time we lost an hour and a half to Dezza after queuing and then getting stuck in between stations mid-ride.
January 8, 20232 yr comment_289670 It was never going to last being based on quickly outdated technology. I said many times nothing beats real visceral effects. It would be much better with AR using screens for the train windows instead of VR headsets. I appreciate they did try to blur reality with ROTD but AR could have been done in real-time. It concerns me Europa Park are still invested in VR. It’s always been a gimmick, too expensive for home use and underwhelming as a up-sell experience for commercial use. Thankfully 2023/24 is the start of a new boom of British theme park investment and I feel the most optimistic I’ve been for years; Valhalla, Jumanji, Exodus, Haunted House, Coaster corner Dark ride?, Nemesis retheme, a new CEO at Merlin. Theres a lot to look forward to now.
January 8, 20232 yr comment_289672 Very interesting. I know there are a few who liked it, but ultimately DBGT was a disaster, and enormous waste of money. While the illusions and realistic motion of the train are/were impressive, the rest of the experience was poorly thought out from before it even opened, under-staffed based on what it needed, and really inconsistent. In fact one of the most consistent things about the ride was its inconsistency. It's been unreliable, expensive to staff and run, neglected maintenance-wise (probably due to crippling costs of the headsets etc), and unsuitable during the pandemic. If it's finally gone, good riddance. Time for Merlin to try to put this very public pant-sh**ing episode behind them in my opinion. ☕️💅🏼
January 8, 20232 yr comment_289673 7 hours ago, Stuntman707 said: It concerns me Europa Park are still invested in VR. It’s always been a gimmick, too expensive for home use and underwhelming as a up-sell experience for commercial use. Hardly too expensive for home use when you can pick up an all in one headset for less than a games console. The technology has come a long way since 2016. Mack continuing to take an interest in VR is a good thing as they continue to push the technology forward in its use in visitor attractions. They do more for the technology than Merlin ever did or ever intended to do.
January 9, 20232 yr comment_289694 If DBGT doesn't reopen this season, it'll be converted into a fright nights scare maze at the very least - calling it ahead of time.
January 10, 20232 yr comment_289695 8 hours ago, coasterverse said: If DBGT doesn't reopen this season, it'll be converted into a fright nights scare maze at the very least - calling it ahead of time. 'Here we have this huge warehouse space, right in the centre of the park. Prime real estate. Let's only utilise it for 20 days in the year'
January 10, 20232 yr comment_289696 2 hours ago, Mark9 said: 'Here we have this huge warehouse space, right in the centre of the park. Prime real estate. Let's only utilise it for 20 days in the year' Sounds like perfect Merlin logic to me. Rocky Express confirmed new location - new storyline where you get on the Victorian train, but end up on a tube train, then get off and end up on a wild-west themed train that goes round and round in a circle.
January 10, 20232 yr comment_289698 2 hours ago, Mark9 said: 'Here we have this huge warehouse arena space, right in the centre of the park. Prime real estate. Let's only utilise it for 20 days in the year' This would be a post from 10 years ago. Deja vu esque.
January 10, 20232 yr comment_289701 55 likes on that "You know EXACTLY what is happening" comment on Youtube now 👀 Jokes aside, I do like Jack, Archie & Kieran, they are passionate guys and clearly always have loved the park, and are pretty damn talented with visuals/promos etc. - at almost certainly a far cheaper cost to Thorpe Park vs. an established filmmaker/production company... but there is a genuine issue now where the general public will now continue to call them out for speculation for clicks when they know anyway. There's no guarantee that Jack knows about DBGTROTD of course, but - I'd be pretty certain he does, as the chaps are clearly are well-in with Merlin now in terms of future plans and behind the scenes stuff.... the on-site Exodus updates are very cool and am glad he is able to share those with us mind you!
January 10, 20232 yr comment_289706 4 hours ago, MattyMoo said: 55 likes on that "You know EXACTLY what is happening" comment on Youtube now 👀 Jokes aside, I do like Jack, Archie & Kieran, they are passionate guys and clearly always have loved the park, and are pretty damn talented with visuals/promos etc. - at almost certainly a far cheaper cost to Thorpe Park vs. an established filmmaker/production company... but there is a genuine issue now where the general public will now continue to call them out for speculation for clicks when they know anyway. There's no guarantee that Jack knows about DBGTROTD of course, but - I'd be pretty certain he does, as the chaps are clearly are well-in with Merlin now in terms of future plans and behind the scenes stuff.... the on-site Exodus updates are very cool and am glad he is able to share those with us mind you! I dunno, the fact that he even mentioned something along the lines of "Now that I work closely alongside Thorpe Park I'm unable to speculate" kind of alludes to me that he knows exactly what's going on with it, but doesn't want to miss out on a video enabling a place for people to debate and discuss. I just really, really want to know Thorpe's plans!
January 10, 20232 yr comment_289707 Sounds like every annoying person who plays the "I know something you don't know" card for Internet points.
January 10, 20232 yr comment_289708 They'll most likely use the space as a new FN maze and market it as the worlds first scare maze with a "ride" half way through. Perhaps a year round scare maze, Saw Alive 2.0 anyone?
January 10, 20232 yr comment_289709 3 minutes ago, StevenVig said: They'll most likely use the space as a new FN maze and market it as the worlds first scare maze with a "ride" half way through. Perhaps a year round scare maze, Saw Alive 2.0 anyone? Definitely think that's on the cards, at least just until they figure out what to do with the place and work out a budget for said plan.
January 10, 20232 yr comment_289711 9 hours ago, JoshC. said: This would be a post from 10 years ago. Deja vu esque. Pretty sad really isn’t it…. To be honest they’re probably in a worse position than they were 10 years ago, because since DBGT was build there’s been huge focus on events - something an arena might have been useful for after all 🙄 As for Mr Silkstone - I think he does a great job to be honest. He seems like a very passionate person who has put in a lot of effort, and it’s payed off. Well deserved I think! He’s in a bit of a difficult position, because the content he became known for is now off limits, so really he’s doing what he can, and I think he’s making it work. He’s bringing us better coverage of a new ride than we’ve ever had access to before.
January 11, 20232 yr comment_289749 I mean I known people in situations like that where they have a NDA about future content but simultaneously have to interact and speculate with people about the stuff He could tell us the full plan today, however he would lose the agreement with the park and not gain the info again Its not as bad but seen other fandoms adopt in this situation a "any info known must be told otherwise gatekeeping, screw NDAs" I'm glad it hasn't become that bad just yet The thing about DBGT is even if you remove the VR the ride system itself is complex, unreliable and has a very low throughput and due to making that pretty awesome floating coach illusion, everything is supported off the ground, so a removal of equipment would be complex so you can't just gain a big warehouse easy Its a prime plot with a for all intensive purposes a immovable object, you could turn it into a walk through maze, but you would have to either still run the train system, or install catwalks between the 3 trains and platforms to allow for a full walk through iffy either way at this point either ghost train becomes a de Derren'ed ride, SBNO or somthing random or the CCR trains are being put in the ride to add to the train theme 😜
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