Galactica at Alton Towers - Review

Mourning for Air

When you take the monorail from Alton’s carpark to the entrance, the aqua blue track of the original B&M flying coaster is the first attraction you'll catch a glimpse of.

Air was a peculiar roller coaster, marketed so successfully as a gentle ride experience, it even managed to convince my mother to try it. Until then, she could only brave the Runaway Mine Train. Unless aimed at children or families, roller coasters are always supposed to be scary. But here was a major coaster, one with a rider height requirement of 1.4m to match the likes of Nemesis and Oblivion, that did everything to appear gentle. From the colour scheme, audio and environment on park to the TV advertisements, branding and name... Air was calm.

Air's original TV commercial captures the traditional sense of anxiety associated with roller coasters at the start, but as the story progresses, the riders discover Air is a gentle experience.

Derren Brown's Ghost Train at Thorpe Park - Review

Founded Pessimism

Ok, feel free to skip this these first few paragraphs to the Expectations heading if you’re just interested in my critical breakdown of the attraction, but I really need to get this off my chest...

Why does everyone have such a hard time with other people’s prejudgements?

The moment anyone speculates that an upcoming new attraction looks mediocre or less, someone else will jump in to comment “you can’t know until you’ve ridden it!” Notice how no one will do this when your judgements are positive, because it has absolutely nothing to do with having an opinion of something before you’ve tried it, and everything to do with being “negative”.

Following the last post detailing my thoughts on Virtual Reality use in theme park attractions, someone noted that my preconceptions - my negative expectations - were “telling”. They said that if I was determined to dislike something, I would find a reason to dislike it. That misunderstands the entire point I was trying to make and I would hope anyone who read even half of that article would see that. I intentionally started writing it before I tried any VR attraction - or the technology in any other context for that matter - so I could capture what was more important than reception... My opinion, predictions and expectations prior to riding. I was as honest and blatant about that as I always am. It doesn’t matter how good something is if the very idea of it fails to appeal to the audience. Whilst it may seem like sound advice to not knock something until you’ve tried it, it isn’t logically sound. Making judgements based on past experience is realistic, not negative and my entire argument against VR was just that - comparing similar experiences and considering known issues to conclude it was a bad idea in the theme park context.

I had plenty of reasons to believe VR was a write off, but with only DBGT under my belt, I can’t be sure and I never pretended to be. I even stated in the article that I need to try one of the coaster VR experiences (hopefully Galatica at Alton Towers before this year is out!) because - I suspect - they will utilise the technology better. But whilst VR was a large part of my distaste towards Ghost Train, it certainly didn’t account for all my prejudices prior to riding, nor does it account for all my opinions post riding. 

Expectations 

Nothing about DBGT is my cup of tea, so take this as a warning… Even if it were good - which it definitely is not - I probably still wouldn't enjoy it. So if that’s “telling” of my determination to hate Thorpe Park’s newest attraction, cool. Whatever. I cannot be fake. I cannot pretend to be excited for something that sounds like a terrible idea. I tell it how it is here and that involves being honest about the fact that I went into Ghost Train expecting it to be bad and I came out shocked that it was worse than I expected... Spoilers ahead!

Photo by author.

VR is Anti Theme Park and thoughts on VR usage in Derren Brown's Ghost Train

I can’t remember where the murmuring of VR coming to theme parks began; all I recall is that I felt repulsed by the concept from the start...

I’m not really a fan of screen based attractions full stop, to be honest. Only Universal do them well and even there I find their prevalence annoying, having to put on 3D glasses for what feels like every single attraction. I sometimes wonder if my dislike for them is just defiant principle. Somehow, using film cheapens the physical, spacial experience that makes theme parks special. The acclaimed Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man is so good due to the use of projections to do what conventional dark rides cannot - to keep up with an intensely physical, fast-paced experience. The sets are really there; you navigate through real space and interact with real scenery. The screens display the action and interact with surrounding sets and the whole thing is seamless, or… Well, near enough. It would be ridiculous to say that it's difficult to tell where the set ends and screen begins, but that's part of why Spiderman’s cartoon styling makes for a better attraction than Transformers next door. It helps my brain excuse the screens, lending to that “suspension of disbelief”. Of course, both are really outstanding, well made attractions.

Spiderman's elaborate physical sets.

Photo credit: Heavy Structures

Nemesis at Alton Towers - Review

Last year, I had planned to write a piece for Nemesis’ 21^st birthday. I never got round to it, but decided that this ride was worth writing about regardless. So, happy 22^nd season to Nemesis!

Isn’t it sort of crazy how legendary Alton’s B&M invert is? Few coasters get the kind unanimous praise and fascination amongst enthusiasts as Nemesis. But is Nemesis really as good as people say?

This way...
Photo by author.

Zufari at Chessington World of Adventures - Review

Chessington Zoo was transformed by The Tussauds Group in the late 80’s from a failing wildlife park into the UK’s first true theme park. When Alton Towers was still little more than a collection of amusement rides plonked in a picturesque, yet unthemed, landscape, Chessington World of Adventures were building Disney-like dark rides and highly themed immersive worlds.

It’s thee park I get nostalgic about and the park I know best. I first visited in ‘94, and with a few exceptions in the early 2000s, I’ve visited every season since. Not a whole lot has changed from the Chessington of my childhood. Today the theming may be a little dirty, and the trees have grown… But the core elements are pretty much the same. And yet, it’s a very different place in terms of quality of experience from the 90’s park. The park went through years of stagnation with little to no investment.

The Swarm at Thorpe Park... One Year On

One year ago, I posted my review of Swarm. Despite being 4500 words or so, there was a lot I didn’t cover and, more importantly, an awful lot has changed in a year….

Photo by author.

…Which is a point worth noting in itself. A lot has changed. Literally, in a physical sense. Throughout 2012, theming elements were added to Swarm. Effort was made to improve the already better-than-average presentation, some of which are solutions to previous criticism. The open plaza is now home to an ambulance perched precariously on its rear and telephone box turned on its head, pummeled into the ground. Together, those elements help to combat the open blandness of that area, but they also added audio to Swarm’s already impressively chaotic soundtrack.

General Public Opinion Survey Results

I've been wondering what the general public thinks about parks and their rides for years, they have such different tastes and opinions to enthusiasts. And with my increased interest in attractions from a theoretical design and marketing standpoint, understanding the public has become not just interesting, but important to me.

For obvious reasons, attractions keep their research a closely guarded secret, and so my understanding of their audiences has come from observing them on site by overhearing queue-line chatter and talking to friends not particularly interested in the industry. What little information the parks do release ranges from confusing to unbelievable, such as that whole "the British public sees wooden roller coasters as unsafe" idea that Merlin Entertainments have concluded from their research. It was my belief that they must be pre-empting that with loaded questions and such… How wrong I turned out to be.

So, I decided to conduct a little survey. My audience was primarily contacts on Facebook, I have to admit. Though I was careful to only select people I felt were ignorant of the subject matter and who's relationship with roller coasters was normal. Some friends got their friends and family to fill it out, my mother filled it out and I managed to gain some strangers feedback from the helpful folks over at r/samplesize. The majority of respondents are in their early 20s, but all ages completed the survey. More than half of the respondents were in the UK, with the US coming second. 

It's by no stretch of the imagination flawless. There are fundamental problems with any survey, but the results are none the less interesting and I hope you enjoy reading them. 

The Swarm at Thorpe Park - Review

Introduction

“LC12” quickly became one of, if not thee, most anticipated roller coaster ever to planned for the UK. “Looping Coaster 2012” was initially all we had to go on, and then early marketing imagery suggested a theme of the apocalypse. A character, named Les Coogan - a  crazy conspiracy theorist, homeless and shunned by no one who’ll believe him that “the end is coming”, began wondering around the park. When Raptor was announced at Merlin’s Italian park, Gardaland, we expected to see the same ride type at Thorpe, a B&M Wing Coaster. And then it happened; the plans were put up on the local council site… And we were presented with the confirmation of a 130ft tall B&M monster, with a unique first drop and thematic elements including a full size passenger aircraft.

Whilst B&M coasters are more often than not tame and can even be considered dull, they are of highest build quality and they never fall into the category of bad rides. It’s kind of the best guarantee you can get as an enthusiast that the new ride is going to be good. It’s exciting to see Thorpe go back to them after going for cheaper hardware last time, when they went to Gerstlaurer for the Eurofighter Saw: The Ride. Saw, above all else, is an uncomfortable ride experience, and so to know that this next coaster wasn’t going to hurt brought a huge sigh of relief.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of Swarm. It’s been almost a decade since a B&M was opened in the UK, and… Well, it’s huge by UK standards. Not just in height, but the sheer amount of space it takes up. We just don’t have rides of this size in the UK. As coaster enthusiasm has grown with the internet, the anticipation for a new ride of this importance was long overdue.

Realism of Theming at the Merlin Theme Parks

Realism is a funny term with various meanings. When realism is discussed in artistic theory, it’s not usually looking at the accuracy with which something was visually drawn or painted. It’s not interested in the accuracy of portrayal of perspective, for example. Realism is concerned with objective reality – in portraying the mundane truth, not romanticized ideas. This is usually achieved by exaggerating negative aspects such as ugliness or dirtiness.

With regard to theme parks, there are so many things to consider when exploring “realism”. Typical theme parks are fake by their very nature, removed from site history. They are purpose-built environments, usually trying to emulate some real place elsewhere; think of somewhere like Walt Disney World, built on otherwise useless swampland. There are exceptions, such as theme parks that have long been leisure venues of some kind like Alton Towers, which was once a pleasure garden and holiday home. The oldest amusement park in the world, Bakken in Denmark, started its life as a pleasure site when a natural spring was discovered in 1583. Along the way, it’s evolved into the amusement park of today, acquiring various entertainment venue qualities along the way.  These spaces can feel more genuine because their history is accumulative and feels less purpose-made. But the art of hiding that, and making you feel like the environment has been that way forever with the use of scenery, is another kind of realism altogether - realism in the skill of fakery. How much like a rock does this pretend rock look? It’s very difficult to make an imaginary place seem real, and in complete juxtaposition of the realism which seeks to portray objective reality, making the imaginary look real involves using a lot of romanticized clichés. In trying to communicate to someone what something looks like, it’s easier to conform to stereotypes, which may be less accurate, and so less real. It’s funny how being more realistic in some ways makes something less realistic in others.

True family coasters, trick track and Maurer Sohne

Anyone who lives in Europe will have likely ridden one of Maurer Sohne’s fantastic spinning coasters, but in the US you’re restricted to the off-the-shelf and not particularly exciting Xtended SC 2000 layout. I cannot stress enough how impressive these rides can be, and their skill in entertaining a broad audience is something that should be praised.

Dragon's Fury at Chessington World of Adventures, England

Photo © CoasterForce

Chessington World of Adventures and the desperate search for audience

Chessington is my home park. I’ve been visiting since 1994 yearly at the very least and I have a soft spot for the place. It’s one of the UK’s major parks, and yet around the world not a lot is known about it. For a quick overview, this park started as a zoo and was developed by the Tussauds Group and John Wardley in the late 80’s with nice theming, a suspended Arrow, mine train, dark ride and some other bits and bobs.  The Chessington I grew up with was the only proper theme park in the south east, Legoland never appealed to me as a kid because it’s almost entirely interactives as opposed to rides. Chessington had small rides, big rides, great theming, landscaping and animals.  In ways, a very small and distinctly British version of Busch Gardens.