The Walking Dead - The Ride: SPOILERS

[JoshC.]

Tonight is the Media Preview Event for The Walking Dead - The Ride, ahead of Saturday's official opening.  Spoilers will no doubt appear sooner or later, so please post them here!  This thread will also be used going forward to discuss the ride, etc.

 

For anyone interested in following updates tonight, you can get the best from our Facebook page..  

[JoshC.]

No one posted any of our updates here?  Wow, I am disappointed guys. 

 

I am tired so can't be bothered uploading them here now, but a couple of quick words from me:

 

-The queue is very nicely themed.

-The ride has theming and effects dotted throughout.  It varies between real effects, screens, lighting, smoke, etc

-There is a post show, but it's rather lacking in my eyes - it's basically just a loud noise.

-It shouldn't be forgotten that this is just X with a new theme.  Don't go in there expecting some super scary thing.  It is still a low-thrill ride with scary theming around it.  And that's fine, so long as that's what you expect.

 

For anyone who's done them, I'd say this ride takes leaves out of the books of Platform 13 at Walibi Holland and Van Helsing's Factory at Movie Park Germany.  Think of X merged together with those two rides and you've got a good idea of what the experience is like.

[Ringo]

13 minutes ago, BaronC. said:

Don't go in there expecting some super scary thing.  It is still a low-thrill ride with scary theming around it.  And that's fine, so long as that's what you expect.

But Thorpe park have told us this is the scariest ride in the world, a 15 out of 10 on scare scale too. 

 

People will be expecting what they advertised 

[JoshC.]

Yes, there is that.  And that could be a major shot in the foot for themselves if people remember and believe that.

 

From a personal perspective, I know anything like that is pure hyperbole, so I always have my own expectations.  If people at least know / understand this is still the same old X, just with more theming, that'll be half the battle won for getting people to like the ride.

[Coaster]

Does it use the stops again, or just go straight through still?

[alexander]

So, it’s crap then, is what you’re saying?

[MattyMoo]

@BaronC. Did you charge your phone after the ride? 

 

Seemed like a lot of "VIPs" in the queue last night - I understand DBGTROTD broke down last night too, for a change 

[Marc]

2 hours ago, Coaster said:

Does it use the stops again, or just go straight through still?

Straight through the first and 2nd, stops on the 3rd and stops on the one before the offload station even if there’s not a train waiting 

[Marc]

33 minutes ago, MattyMoo said:

@BaronC. Did you charge your phone after the ride? 

 

Seemed like a lot of "VIPs" in the queue last night - I understand DBGTROTD broke down last night too, for a change 

The battery packs were on one train for the phone charging - they are there for a week.

 

Some pictures from queue, station etc here: 

[Ringo]

8 minutes ago, Marc said:

The battery packs were on one train for the phone charging - they are there for a week.

What just a week and then never spoken of again or taken off after a week to provide the “power” to charge phones and then put back on?

[Ryan]

It’s definitely the best version of X I’ve ridden. The theming inside is really great, and there’s a story throughout which explains why you’re getting on a coaster. 

 

The post ride scene could do with some work, there’s a nice set-piece here but you hear some audio and that’s it it’s over. 

 

I hope general public aren’t expecting too much from this and realise that it is just a retheme of X (some people last night were shocked that it’s not a new coaster).

[Ringo]

1 minute ago, Ryan said:

It’s definitely the best version of X I’ve ridden. The theming inside is really great, and there’s a story throughout which explains why you’re getting on a coaster. 

 

The post ride scene could do with some work, there’s a nice set-piece here but you hear some audio and that’s it it’s over. 

 

I hope general public aren’t expecting too much from this and realise that it is just a retheme of X (some people last night were shocked that it’s not a new coaster).

As already posted further up, Thorpe have built the expectations as being right up there. Customers will be expecting what the park have put out there, we shouldn’t have to filter out what’s fake news for PR and what’s reality.

• The PR artwork implies the trains were completely different
• This is the worlds scariest ride
• This is 15 out 10 on the scare scale

[Mark9]

12 minutes ago, Ryan said:

It’s definitely the best version of X I’ve ridden. The theming inside is really great, and there’s a story throughout which explains why you’re getting on a coaster. 

 

That's the best use of faint praise I've ever seen.

[Marc]

7 minutes ago, Ringo said:

What just a week and then never spoken of again or taken off after a week to provide the “power” to charge phones and then put back on?

I think the former - the boxes are pretty big and ugly attached to the train - but they did light up the more vibrations / noise there was.

 

Agree with what Ryan said, it’s important to remember this coaster is X, a couple of the block sections have been re-programmed to sync up with the theming but other than that the ride it’s self is the same.

 

I’ve always found X pretty fun, even back to X:\ No way Out days, and again this is a fun experience, there’s a complete story throughout and the theming is good, especially in the queue / exit area, really like the amount of Easter eggs too with throw backs to old members of staff, old advertising for X:\ No way out etc. I think it will do pretty well for the park but time will tell!

[Ryan]

2 minutes ago, Mark9 said:

 

That's the best use of faint praise I've ever seen.

I was surprised! 

[Flipper]

I'd like to ask what people's opinion of it is in the stance that this is a retheme blah blah, quality wise. Has it been done well? Yes it's an overlay to X, but is it a good overlay to X. Is it as good as the impact Rise of the Demon changes made? I'm guessing the general consensus of opinion is it is well done, albeit it has been marketed a bit incorrectly? Does that make sense what I'm asking?

 

With regards to the ride, I imagine with it being a small budget year that budget must have spread quite far this year with the entrance improvements also; so to be able to manage everything the park has done this year and give a large theme overhaul to X, well, kudos to them. I look forward to trying it despite not being a Walking Dead fan.

[MattyMoo]

21 hours ago, Ringo said:

As already posted further up, Thorpe have built the expectations as being right up there. Customers will be expecting what the park have put out there, we shouldn’t have to filter out what’s fake news for PR and what’s reality.

• The PR artwork implies the trains were completely different
• This is the worlds scariest ride
• This is 15 out 10 on the scare scale

This 100%. If the PR machine goes into super HYPE mode, and the reality is something very different and the public are disappointed, then that's no-one's fault other than Merlin's.

[yeah]

On 3/30/2018 at 10:35 AM, Marc said:

LOL those are the signs from X with some rust or something on top aren't they?

[Stuntman707]

I saw a POV recently, first half looks kind of boring without any lights or audio.

[JoshC.]

1 hour ago, ChessingtonSam said:

LOL those are the signs from X with some rust or something on top aren't they?

 

I don't get why people are against this?  Yes, they're the same signs X had, but they don't feel out of place, because they've been styled to fit in.  I'd rather that than them spend money on new signs instead of something else..

 

8 minutes ago, Stuntman707 said:

I saw a POV recently, first half looks kind of boring without any lights or audio.

 

I haven't watched any POVs so can't comment on it exactly, but don't use that to judge.  There is audio during the first half (it was quiet and I believe that's one thing they're looking at tweaking to get right), and there are some effects.  

 

However, it is fair to say the second half of the ride has a lot more effects, audio and theming, and is indeed stronger and more exciting.

[Marhelorpe]

Right, I’ve finally ridden it twice now to get a good idea and feel for the ride. Given how against the idea I am for turning X into this, this might be a surprising statement to some I’m about to make but......
 

I liked it. I genuinely liked it. 

For the most part, an awful lot of it remains the same as before such as the corridoors, trains and station area, but the big differences lie inside the pyramid itself. There are plenty of interactions with guests on the brake runs and various turns and corners from beginning to end, mostly just static walkers lit up along with some theming and TV screens present on one brake run, which does incidentally have the random stops put back in place, but for a decent reason this time.

The pre-show room was quite nice and had some relevance to the whole experience this time unlike Wicker Man’s one and it makes good use of the audio and lighting effects present inside. However, the supposed window behind you with a TV screen was poorly done, mostly due to the massive air gap between the filter and the screen, so that ruined the effect slightly. But besides that, this is a nicely done room.

The walks from the entrance to/from the station are the same layout as before, just with added details and a shed load of themed audio and lighting effects. Thankfully, none of it is on an endless loop and changes every few minutes, so there is some variety offered here.

As for the station, the old lifts from the last decade have been demolished and the back of a van with wooden boxes containing supplies has been added here instead. Much better than before and doesn’t feel as cramped in this area to previous. But inside the station? It’s almost identical to before, just with a lot less lighting and added theming and audio on the platforms this time.
 

The ride experience itself is more or less exactly the same, just with some added scenery on two of the brake runs and lift hill, not much else. There was a big TV screen used between the 2nd and 3rd brake runs which shows someone shooting walkers in the head as you travel past at fast speeds and the last turn before the final breaks has a nice smoke effect you pass through lit up in orange before reaching the end of the ride.

So overall, whilst in truth this overlay of X is not amazing or groundbreaking, the park have done for the most part a pretty decent job with what they had and similar to Wicker Man, the best parts are the theatrical side of the experience, mostly down to the various audio and lighting effects used. Some of the theming was quite good too with lots of references to X:\ No Way Out.

But the whole thing wasn’t consistent in this retheme at all and this is present especially with the queue line and coridoors. Whilst the inside looks nicely detailed, the outdoor queue looks horribly cheap with no resurfaced paths, no attempt to remove broken Bose speakers, the watch tower looks nastily cheap up-close, the baggage room has no detail or attempt to be themed at all and the indoor corridoors still have a lot of it’s roof wide open with light leakage everywhere which I was hoping would be refitted finally.

My big issue is I still cannot get over the fact the park have turned what was rightfully a popular family coaster between 2013 - 2017 into this. This update just feels needless and for the most part, rushed. Whilst the ride was fun no doubt with the interactions and additional theming added, to see those between 1m - 1.4m no longer ride this coaster after 4 years annoys me greatly as it’s unfair on them in my view. This retheme didn’t need to happen.
 

Ignoring my concerns about this shutting away families, the ride itself is not bad for what it offers and was still enjoyable, though it was nowhere near the absolutely, ludicrously laughable claim of being “15/10 on the scare scale”, not even close. Heck, I find the fastrack queue for I’m a Celeb scarier than this ride.

All I’ll say is give it a chance and see what you think. As a massive skeptic of this update, it was better than what I was expecting. Then again, I had zero expectations for this beforehand anyway, so that’s not saying a lot. 

[MarkC]

As I said on press night. If you polish a sh*t it is still a sh*t.

[ProudToServe]

On 3/30/2018 at 10:52 AM, Ringo said:

As already posted further up, Thorpe have built the expectations as being right up there. Customers will be expecting what the park have put out there, we shouldn’t have to filter out what’s fake news for PR and what’s reality.

• The PR artwork implies the trains were completely different
• This is the worlds scariest ride
• This is 15 out 10 on the scare scale

It sure is a weird way to advertise something. and with all the actors in the PR for it, which you wont get on the day. I was hoping for new train shells sadly not..

On 3/31/2018 at 12:39 PM, ChessingtonSam said:

LOL those are the signs from X with some rust or something on top aren't they?

See, the idea of the safe zone is that they have "taken over X" so the remains of old X being there can work from a story point of view. despite it coming across lazy and cost saving.

 

9 hours ago, Marhelorpe said:

My big issue is I still cannot get over the fact the park have turned what was rightfully a popular family coaster between 2013 - 2017 into this. This update just feels needless and for the most part, rushed. Whilst the ride was fun no doubt with the interactions and additional theming added, to see those between 1m - 1.4m no longer ride this coaster after 4 years annoys me greatly as it’s unfair on them in my view. This retheme didn’t need to happen.
 

Ignoring my concerns about this shutting away families, the ride itself is not bad for what it offers and was still enjoyable, though it was nowhere near the absolutely, ludicrously laughable claim of being “15/10 on the scare scale”, not even close. Heck, I find the fastrack queue for I’m a Celeb scarier than this ride.

All I’ll say is give it a chance and see what you think. As a massive skeptic of this update, it was better than what I was expecting. Then again, I had zero expectations for this beforehand anyway, so that’s not saying a lot. 

I do agree, they could have created their own IP relating to the music and old X, a better music and light show throughout the attraction. Like rockin rollercoaster. done something that was actually pretty neat. some video wall at the blocks. using lights and sound to make the coaster feel faster. With the budget, some pretty neat stuff could have been done! But instead gone for a decreasing in interest IP. god knows what happens in 2 years time when walking dead is dead.

[JoshuaA]

17 minutes ago, ProudToServe said:

god knows what happens in 2 years time when walking dead is dead.

I think we'll see a deja vu of IAC.

It will probably start to open once in a blue moon- rest of the year it will be untouched and abandoned.

 

I'm guessing it'll start to get low-ridership by 2019-2020 too.

XNWO had a similar problem- marketed towards adults but had a layout that was way too tame and boring for that said market.

 

[Flipper]

4 hours ago, ProudToServe said:

I do agree, they could have created their own IP relating to the music and old X, a better music and light show throughout the attraction. Like rockin rollercoaster. done something that was actually pretty neat. some video wall at the blocks. using lights and sound to make the coaster feel faster. With the budget, some pretty neat stuff could have been done! But instead gone for a decreasing in interest IP. god knows what happens in 2 years time when walking dead is dead.

But firstly, we don’t know the exact reasoning behind why The Walking Dead has been pushed onto an attraction. There could be a lot of reasons, such as the cost of the IP rights or the popularity of Fright Nights but truth is we will never have hard evidence proof of what triggered the decision to dedicate an attraction.

 

Equally whilst I love your idea, who is to say X was ever the intended project? There was such a lot of rumour and suggestion around THE SWARM being rebranded with The Walking Dead, pretty much up until the X rebrand plans surfaced. Who’s to say plans weren’t changed during planning to incorporate X over THE SWARM? And equally we don’t know how long this IP is sitting for. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t this a ‘low budget’ year for THORPE? So an overlay for an IP they may only hold for say five years wouldn’t be a big scratch to the park, and could see a quick rebrand of X as a last hurrah to hold it before it bites the dust in a few years?