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2016: Air - Re-theme to VR Coaster - Galactica

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It is so experimental and in its infancy, it would be stupid to put VR on Air.

the Europa Park VR is in a word, Awful.

I hope Towers management haven't panicked because of this summer's incident and thought, hmmmm a quick, barely tested, pointless and awful gimmick is just what we need to draw in the crowds.

What sense is there in putting VR headsets on a Rollercoaster anyway? Spend some money on making the theme great and the area beautiful. What more do you need than that?

Sure Air isn't the best coaster on the planet, but it still a fun coaster. It doesn't need a gimmick. It needs a good theme and a cleanup, nothing more.
 
I tried VR on Alpenexpress last month. In terms of likelihood of throwing up, I've no idea how an installation on Air would compare to it of course, but on there it wasn't an issue as the movements on screen were synchronised with the ride very well. It's a good job they were because even though I know that ride well I was losing track of where I was on the ride and which curve was coming next. There are times where the footage doesn't make the route you'll take obvious, so you can't brace as you normally would. The headset is also quite tight when properly fitted. All in all it may not be illness inducing, but it's not exactly comfortable.

The actual VR environment isn't bad. It's a bit low quality, which probably comes down to the phone in the headset's relative lack of processing power. EP use the park mascots to get around this; they're CGI cartoon characters so you don't expect total realism, even if they do look amazing in the 4D shows by comparison. The mascots are used quite well in a similar situation to their first 4D film, and I guess using recognisable characters also means you feel more involved from the outset and don't wonder what's supposed to be going on so much. Towers of course don't have characters to use any more, so would probably look at using an IP. That choice would undoubtedly be very important.

Operations would be a big concern for me with VR on Air, as VR is definitely a recipe for faff. Pre-VR Alpenexpress had an amazing throughput for a powered coaster, thanks mostly to dispatch times averaging about 20 seconds. They're now about 4 times slower, and that's only loading about 5 rows for VR! Even then the hosts didn't spot on my second ride that I was having trouble with fitting the headset before they dispatched (it had rained and a rain cover on the headset was covering a strap adjuster, so I couldn't find it and had to ride holding the headset to my face). If the station modifications on Air were to provide rooms for fitting, calibration etc. before you reached the air gates that would be an improvement over the makeshift implementation on Alpenexpress. I still think it would slow down dispatches however, and we all know Air's queue doesn't move as well as some others at Towers.

Ultimately however I just don't like the concept of giving guests a VR headset to wear while riding a coaster. People like us travel around the world to seek out incredible coasters that are fantastically well presented, and I feel like VR totally flies in the face of parks trying to deliver that kind of ride. On a coaster you see the ride's surroundings rushing past your eyes, and what you see matches up entirely with what you physically feel. That's probably why a traditional simulator ride rocking you about in front of a screen isn't a patch on a coaster. Also, sometimes coasters are put into environments that are intricately themed or landscaped, often at great expense. A virtual environment on a headset loses both the sight and feeling of the real movement and the authenticity of the physical area around the ride which of course actually exists. Put a headset on and you might as well be sat in a seat on the end of a robot arm in a tin shed, as with the range of movement that those can offer they could probably give you 90% or more of the same experience as being on a VR coaster.
 
I wonder if the owner of Battlestar Galactica will have anything to say? Is it closely related enough for them to be able to object?
 
It's not a bad name by any means, so long as we can be rid of the tradition of inserting 'The' in front of coaster names.

I'm unable to envision a more futuristic looking Air plonked at the bottom of a post apocalyptic Forbidden Valley however.
 
Galactica? Please no! The name itself is not bad but Galactica in Forbidden Valley? That works even less than Air does.

I'm getting really annoyed with this project. I actually like Air and think is has a very solid brand - the logo is fantastic! Yet it is being ripped apart. There are so many bigger issues at Alton Towers than Air. Then if this VR stuff materialises it gets even worse; I've never experienced VR on a coaster but to me it comes across as a gimmick that is nice to try once. However with VR you totally lose the social aspect of riding a coaster as I can only assume that you are put into a world of your own rather than being able to see and interact those you are riding with. I personally hope it flops if it happens.

:)
 
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All air merch in towers trading is reduced to 75p :(

At first I thought the merch in the air shop being reduced was so they could make the shop smaller, but why sell it so cheep in TT if a retheme wasn't imminent :(
 
Why is everyone losing their heads over this like theme parks don't copyright loads of words they never use? Didn't they copyright all the proposed Thirteen names before deciding on Thirteen, which wasn't even one of the suggestions?

Air is a solid brand, they won't be changing the name, it'll just be getting a refresh.
 
I don't know what's more scary, the fact we could be losing the Air theme, or that the tunnel could be (at last) getting a theme and that it'll mark the end of an era of moaning for us!:smirk:
 
There's going to be an entirely new bout of moaning regardless of what happens. It could be perfect in every single way and there's still going to be negativity :p
 
Danny said:
There's going to be an entirely new bout of moaning regardless of what happens. It could be perfect in every single way and there's still going to be negativity :p
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And herein lies the problem! People are writing paragraphs of hate about something that doesn't exist. It's astonishing.
 
Rick said:
And herein lies the problem! People are writing paragraphs of hate about something that doesn't exist. It's astonishing.
Click to expand...

I could write paragraphs of love for the fact that we are getting a brand new FoodLoop restaurant at Alton Towers in 2016 also. Is that an astonishing problem as well (seeing as it doesn't exist yet too)? It could turn out that the new Air is fantastic and the FoodLoop is awful proving both of my current expectations wrong. That's the nature of discussion and speculation!

:)
 
If Galactica does turn out to be the new name annoyingly I think it's the best name Alton Towers have come up with in years, but completely misused as a new name of Air. Air does not need a new name (or brand for that matter), just improvement on what is already there.

Plus Rita got to keep its name, when that was a ride desperate for a rebrand.
 
Air is a fantastic name for this ride. I really, really, really hope if it does have VR that its totally optional. Personally, I think the money would be far better spent on themeing the tunnel - put in some proper drainage in there and install some large screens underneath the rides and around them to make them feel like they are in the clouds, and put in the lakes and waterfalls that were originally planned for that ride. I cant think of anything better for Air than skimming over the top of water.
 
Problem of air get a space theme... UNLESS you use VR, then how will it possibly look like space?

Just keep air! Fix the tunnel so that it ADDS to the experience. Put in the waterfalls. Add theming! Make air better, rather than risk making galactica much worse.
 
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