Galactica

[Liam T]

I had the pleasure of experiencing this today... 

 

Full review coming soon but just some points to make about it;

• It's an improvement on Air.
• The music is incredible, works really well in the area.
• The portal element is one of my favourite theming pieces in a UK theme park, the sound effects timed with the ride's dispatch works really well, a new focus point of Forbidden Valley.
• Pringles.
• The VR headsets are HEAVY & very difficult to adjust (especially with no glasses on, I'm blind as it is!).
• It's very immersive maybe one of the most immersive experiences I've ever been on.

[yeah]

From the pics I've seen, the ride looks noticeably improved. There's a new entrance, paving feature and of course the new portal element and lightly rethemed station too.

There's also lots of merch in the new [smaller] shop as well which looks nicely themed again too.

Could you post the pictures on here?

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[Matt 236]

Pictures via Theme Park Guide.

[yeah]

Pictures via Theme Park Guide.

Ooooh

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[Mitchada04]

Right, detailed review in spoiler tag. But to put it simply for those that don't want anything spoiled; throughput is a yoyo, photo point annoying, headsets clunky, music good, plaza and portal good.

 

I preferred it without VR, Celia preferred it with VR. 

The logo in the paving is cool. Entrance sign is good too, lights up and everything.

Portal with sound effects, changing lights and, without the VR a really good element to the ride!

 

Time for le spoiler tag.

 

The area looks much nicer with Rollercoaster Restaraunts exterior, the shop, portal, entrance plaza etc. The music works well in the area, and obviously has an ITHOTMK section. Wouldn't be Towers if it didn't. The crafts flying around don't look any different really, unlike Swarm Backwards which just looked wrong.

Queue line: Same as before, the rocks have been painted, the old Air theming section on the top left extension has been touched up with TV's showing destinations Galactica Tours have departing. The extension down to the last turn and car park has been retarmaced, so they must be expecting some queues. But we'll cover that in a bit with throughput. The shop has had a makeover, the bins have the logo on. Then you hit the photo point. URGH. It's at the old merge point. You enter the little building, put your head in a bowl in front of you (to simulate a helmet) and it takes your picture, prints you a ticket for you to view your confused face in a space helmet with a background. It's a spaceselfie apparently. Really dislike it. Would have taken a greenscreen, at least that way you're with your group! At opening, it was also really slow so to begin with the stations were mostly empty.

Two stations still, both now enclosed with big TV screens telling you about Galactica, how to use the VR etc. The bridge to station 2 has been enclosed as well with some cool little images. One was a planet called Emsis. Nemesis' home? The gates are now "Galactica Gates" without numbers to make it confusing when you're told to go to gate 6 for example. Yeah, we know to count, the GP really don't as we witnessed. You then wait painfully for the craft to arrive.

Cleaning works well, but the whole process needs to be hurried along. On 3 trains it was taking about 45 minutes to get on, from the station split point... Not good. The process goes like this. Loaded craft comes in, lowers into position. Your rows host comes along and cleans your headset, putting it in the pouch. Once the row is done, they stand to the side. Person controlling the panel sees all the staff to the side so unlocks the bar. You can now get off. Gates open, pull down restraints. These are then checked with the whole 3 seat 4, 5 seat 2 issue etc. Once your row is clear, they then take the VR out, wipe with a cloth to dry and put it on. You can adjust the tightness and blur. You then have to look forwards as they press a button to align it. Yay we're ready! But wait! You could be sitting there for a while with your VR on, not knowing what's going on and why you're not leaving if the other station is running slower but due to dispatch first. Fun. Finally, you leave.

The VR. Very compute game like. The little robots as you leave the station remind me of Time Voyagers. You then leave the lift hill and it goes crazy. You fly a bit, a star is born, suddenly it's icy, then there is only one last chance of getting home. A lot happens very fast in a short space of time. It's hard to keep up. The speakers crackle a fair bit under the force of the ride. You can sometimes see the edge of the video as it tries to catch up. It to me also didn't feel like you were on a coaster, maybe because Air wasn't the most intense. It felt like a really tame simulator. Having said that, the quality of the video is good, just not as realistic as I'd have liked. Now for more fun, due to the throughput being ruined, the 3rd train has to sit outside the station for a while. The VR just cuts out and goes blank when you wait. The story ends, Galactica logo reappears and then it just ends. And then you realise you have to remain trapped in your seat until the headset is cleaned.

Without VR, you now have rave lights in the tunnel, the lovely portal, the greenery, the actual feeling of a roller coaster and its elements. For me, I just preferred that.

The shop is good. Has some interesting stuff and cool elements, really looks the part!

Has it improved Air, yes. There is now a clear theme, a story, and for those who don't want VR, the only thing you're going to have to do is wait longer for Air but other than that the ride is improved due to the portal and all.

Amount of staff needed is scary though, I look forward to seeing that survive budget cuts when the VR hype dies down.

[pluk]

It's an experience then I suppose, but a poorly thought through one. If we have all those staff here funded at the expense of Hex opening then someone somewhere needs a stern talking to and a gentle slap.

How long then before we have two queues, one station with VR the other one without, dispatching 2 trains to each VR one?

[SteveJ]

Galactica's whole operation is funded by Merlin Magic Making for its first season and so is unrelated to Alton Towers' operational budget l where all the cuts have been coming. Still silly to cut Hex though isn't it

[yeah]

Huh?

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[TPJames]

Huh?

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It's such a shame that the social media teams at Merlin parks never actually have a clue at what they are talking about- They'll always give you a really vague response or an incorrect answer about the situation you are inquiring about.

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[yeah]

It's such a shame that the social media teams at Merlin parks never actually have a clue at what they are talking about- They'll always give you a really vague response or an incorrect answer about the situation you are inquiring about.

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They don't even know the names of their own rides

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[CharlieN]

Huh?

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That attempt at mild humour at the end made me feel sick.

Seriously AT, pull yourself together.

[Whiteknuckle]

*Cue major queue at GS*

[Han30]

Gah dammit they should give the option of not having to use VR. I would imagine it could make some people nauseous plus others may just want to ride it as Air. If this info is correct I'm screwed as I have a major phobia of space. Surely one station for VR and one for those that don't want to use it would make sense and keep everyone happy rather than peeing off those that don't want to use the VR. Ah well - goodbye Air

[Marc]

It's such a shame that the social media teams at Merlin parks never actually have a clue at what they are talking about- They'll always give you a really vague response or an incorrect answer about the situation you are inquiring about.

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They do know what they are talking about - you do have to wear the headset to ride, it states this at the entrance too. Somone in our row didn't want VR and were told they cannot ride.

[Mitchada04]

Something has changed on that then as I rode it twice without VR over 23/24th. 

[Ian-S]

Jesus Christ, way to alienate 10% of your potential customer base.

Actually that figures not accurate, it could be higher than that, it's 10% of the population that cannot see 3D, an even greater percentage could suffer from sim sickness, something that is completely unrelated to the usual rollercoaster induced sickness and something you won't know about until you've puked all over the place.

I thought if you didn't want to use the headset you just didn't put them on, oh well I guess my headset will accidentally slip off my face just after I crest the top of the lift hill.

[Han30]

I thought if you didn't want to use the headset you just didn't put them on, oh well I guess my headset will accidentally slip off my face just after I crest the top of the lift hill.

I was pondering that earlier - not a lot they can do once you've left the lift hill - just make sure you wop them back once you hit the brake run

[Mitchada04]

I just don't see why you have to wear them. It worked fine on opening. It meant the staff had one less headset to clean, they have a pouch which they are secured in to stop them flying about and can't fall off anyway as they're also attached to the restraint. Once you hit the brakes most people take them off and let them dangle anyway till you get back into the station. It's just an odd choice to remove the option for those who don't want the VR.

[Marc]

No idea when it changed but you certainly didn't have a choice today.

[L7123456]

Are they out of their minds!? Many people want to ride Galictica just as a Rollercoaster, and not with a headset on, so they decide to make it compulsory to wear it!! Also, many people aren't comfortable with experiencing VR, and would just want to ride the ride like it used to be. But no, let's make it compulsory to wear the headset.

I think that Alton deserves one big round of applause for this move [emoji1376][emoji19]

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[Coaster]

Forcing people to wear the headsets is absolute stupidity.

[Matt 236]

Well that's not good. Making a blanket rule where VR is compulsory otherwise you can't ride.

What about people who suffer from motion sickness or epilepsy or anyone who struggles seeing video?

I'm all for the VR option, but I can't see why not using it is a problem as it's not like it's going to falloff.

[L7123456]

Well that's not good. Making a blanket rule where VR is compulsory otherwise you can't ride.

What about people who suffer from motion sickness or epilepsy or anyone who struggles seeing video?

I'm all for the VR option, but I can't see why not using it is a problem as it's not like it's going to falloff.

Or if there is a small risk that it could fall off, remove it from the pouch until the train returns to the station.

[Mitchada04]

Something must have happened though for this rule to be enforced. As it most definitely wasn't the original aim.

[Ian-S]

I was pondering that earlier - not a lot they can do once you've left the lift hill - just make sure you wop them back once you hit the brake run

Nah, I often have my belts unlatched even before entering the station, usually they just look at me and go 'please unbu... oh never mind'.

Or if there is a small risk that it could fall off, remove it from the pouch until the train returns to the station.

The headset is attached by a tether, from the photos I saw it looked very similar to the ones the wheels are held on by on formula one cars, I suspect, if this is a hard and fast rule, that some health and safety freak has noticed the headset hanging free could smack the person in the face so instead of doing the sensible thing and ensuring it's secured in the pouch, they've decided everybody has to use the headsets or they don't ride.