War of the Worlds Immersive experience

[Glitch]

What do you get if you mix the London Dungeons, Derren Brown's Ghost train and a £70 (average) price per person ticket?

Glad you asked....

You get a 2hour, 20 odd scene story rendition of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, an excellent story with a premise of these metal alien human killing robot machines, as seen in Woking. As a fan of the story seeing the arena show and music maybe 3 times now, it was  refreshing to see the concept transformed into an interactive experience promising VR, simulators and live actors. 

 

But why do I compare to the Ghost train and dungeons?

Well because many of the scenes were a bit like something I had experienced in the London dungeons before and the attraction relied on using the bulky VR headsets 4 times throughout the attraction including the finale, and as with VR the technology can be very hit and miss.

 

With a £70 pp price tag this isn't your average MAP holder group attraction, I'm sure they would be complaining about the price alone, but that does mean the groups are smaller around 12 say and are generally engaged with the story rather than focusing on what they can complain about to report back to the 1000's of followers on the MAP group.  

 

Oh and one last thing before I go into spoiler mode, @Martin Doyle and @Mattgwise would be proud to know that they give you robber style masks to cover around your eye's, for what I can only assume is to block out vision to the unthemed ceilings or perhaps a Covid protocol for VR.

 

If you do go let me know your thoughts, ok in spoiler mode...

(I still don't know how to add spoilers so sorry)

 

 

 

THINGS I LIKED:

• A really well themed bar greeted you on what looks to be an office block building in the heart of the city of London (Ledinhall Street)
• The artillery man scene was excellent as a peppers ghost effect somehow transformed a live actor into a ball of fire.
• Excellent use of mini planetarium style cinemas to project a scene in 360.
• Props, we used a telescope with projections to look at the planets and see the red mist come in.
• A slide
• Isolation booths + VR, now this really did up the scare factor, you started in isolated booths, pretending to be a confessional in a church, the alien then comes and sets fire to the church and starts to probe people, heighten by the litter picker effect of staff prodding you and the scream's around making you know what is coming... I really think Thorpe could do something like this to make DBGT a better attraction.
• Engaged cast, really passionate about their roles.

 

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE SO MUCH:

• Some scenes were carbon copies of what you would get at the Dungeons for example sitting around a table in the pitch black etc... they could of been a bit more creative.
• An over reliance on VR including the finale which was a balloon ride / motion simulator, by this point I was getting a bit sick of faffing around with a headset and would of preferred a live action finale.
• Ended within obligatory green screen photo, that will be another £25 please.... 
• Price, not worth £70+ 

So overall is was a bit of an upmarket London dungeons with new technology, hopefully Merlin will go, test it and incorporate it into their concepts or even do one better and buy the place, hopefully making it a bit more affordable.

 

Tickets and images are available here: https://thewaroftheworldsimmersive.com/

 

Overall: 7/10

 

 

[Mattgwise]

2 hours ago, Glitch said:

Oh and one last thing before I go into spoiler mode, @Martin Doyle and @Mattgwise would be proud to know that they give you robber style masks to cover around your eye's, for what I can only assume is to block out vision to the unthemed ceilings or perhaps a Covid protocol for VR.

Sorry Dom, I'm confused as to why I would like the part you've tagged me in? Very confused?

[Matt 236]

Been to the exact same attraction, although that was just before Covid.

 

The War Of The World’s Experience is certainly a unique yet immersive attraction and thought not (super) cheap does perhaps hold up it’s charging price (which varies depending on peak/low peak times).

 

I’ve always been on a fence with VR headsets, but unlike some attractions I think the usage here works to an excellent standard and far better implemented. 
 

This one is very much a combination of immersive theatre and effects really, which could be easily enjoyed by both theme park and theatre fans in this context.

[Glitch]

On 8/14/2021 at 10:00 AM, Matt Creek said:

Been to the exact same attraction, although that was just before Covid.

 

The War Of The World’s Experience is certainly a unique yet immersive attraction and thought not (super) cheap does perhaps hold up it’s charging price (which varies depending on peak/low peak times).

 

I’ve always been on a fence with VR headsets, but unlike some attractions I think the usage here works to an excellent standard and far better implemented. 
 

This one is very much a combination of immersive theatre and effects really, which could be easily enjoyed by both theme park and theatre fans in this context.

Did they give you a mask to wear over your eyes.