Do British people still appreciate immersive attractions?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. In the Thorpe Park thread, a rather interesting debate has been going on about whether British people still appreciate immersive attractions or whether they are becoming a dying breed in Britain. I personally think that British people don't really appreciate immersive attractions unless they have an IP attached to them. For example, many British people adore the Harry Potter attractions at IOA, but a member of my group once cited Hex as "boring and pointless". So I've voted for "A bit of both". What do you guys think?

 

[Robert.W]

I've voted for "a bit of both" as well. I think it all depends on the actual attraction. I can completely see why Hex would be boring to some people, in fact, that includes me. It's not so much of a ride really. You're just sitting in a giant barrel, watching it roll around whilst not even moving. If you happen to dislike the decor of the barrel then that may make it even worse for some!

Having said that, a ride with no theming at all has very little appeal to me. I understand why Thorpe Park's guests may not want heavily themed immersive experiences with in an depth back story, but a park like Alton Towers does really well when they offer well themed expereinces, even if they aren't everyone's cup of tea, and that I think is usually down to the ride itself, not the theme.

Ultimately, I think a great ride consists of a good physical experience (the actual ride has to be good on its own), as well as a good level of theming.

 

[Plastic Person]

A week before Wicker Man opens, and unless what we've seen so far is smoke and mirrors, it looks to be a genuinely atmospheric, immersive attraction, and without an IP to shill for too. So for all the understandable criticism Merlin get, it seems that they, as the market leaders in regional parks, are still behind the concept of a ride fulfilling criteria beyond it's physical means. There's not much more commitment to be seen than constructing a sixty-foot Wicker Man to thread a coaster around. Of course, if the ride is itself lacking in substance or physical sensation, the point is moot.

Personally, I much prefer 'immersive' experiences, but they are also much easier to get wrong. I don't mind Thorpe Park being so focused on thrill rides, for example, but I think that focus has been to the detriment of the development of the park in the long-term, hence it's current identity crisis. Also, without throwing young people under the bus, a park with a broader range of audience is generally a more pleasant place to be, where dark rides and theming are more likely to be appreciated.

 

[DiogoJ42]

How can we appriciate what we don't have?

 

[Robert.W]

How can we appriciate what we don't have?

When a British person goes on holiday abroad, they can appreciate immersive attractions can't they?

 

[TPC]

I've been to PortAventura last Summer and it should have been the perfect park for me, as a theme park enthusiast. However, it felt a bit bland and lackluster, theming wise, unlike Thorpe's theming generally which is mode engaging (less is more I guess). DBGT was poorly designed and Hex looks to be maybe too long for its' own good. The reality is you cannot just have something very well themed and expect everybody to love it. You need a lot more like atmosphere and a thrill factor, to make people appreciate the attraction, otherwise they will just go on the phones. Sadly, this has been the case for UK parks.

 

[Funcone]

These things are relative. Compared to Europa Park or Phantasialand our rides aren't very well themed, but compared to a lot of the attractions at Six Flags or Cedar Fair (there are exceptions, including a big chunk of Knott's Berry Farm) they still do pretty well. I'd say that generally theming often is an important part of British rides, at least when they open. Down the road, it often isn't maintained very well and becomes a lot less immersive.

 

[IanSR]

Probably depends on age.

 

[Tim]

I’ve answered no but in truth I think it’s more complicated than a simple answer. For starters I agree with Diogo:

How can we appriciate what we don't have?

Britain doesn’t build immersive rides or especially great theme park shows* anymore. That last word is important because we used to. In the late 80s and early 90s Britain made a push for true theme park experiences. Chessington provided the blueprint for how we could follow the likes of Disney; with rides like the Bubbleworks, 5th Dimension / Terror Tomb being immensely popular. At the time Thorpe Park dabbled in animatronic shows and talking of shows Blackpool had some of the best. Following on from Chessington Tussauds bought Alton Towers with the plan to build Britain’s true answer to Disney. John Broome had already lay the groundwork and The Haunted House marked their first big addition. Then you had Legoland which began construction around this time. On opening day the park only had a handful of rides but I’d argue that it was a better Theme Park than it is today, with 4 shows, 4 Lego driven attractions, 3 mazes and interactive play areas.

Unfortunately it didn’t last, and I feel that 1994 was the reason why. The creation and success of Nemesis, PMBO and Shockwave fundamentaly changed the direction British Theme Parks were heading. People loved the big rides and they were an almost guaranteed success. The British public demanded more headline rides, and I’ll fully admit so did I at the time. The trouble is this has lead us to the state we are at now where only the biggest and best rides get any attention. And everything else quietly fades away until it’s gone forwever. Credit to Merlin they do try and make their coasters immersive. Sub-Terror and DBGT were genuine attempts at something different. Had they not been seriously flawed they could have had a much bigger impact.

The British public do have a perception problem with what we see a Theme Park to be. Honestly I don’t think any park in Britain except Chessington and Legoland can call themselves Theme Parks. Both Alton Towers and Thorpe Park have themed rides but each are isolated in their own areas (or with another similarly decorated ride) with little to support an overarching Theme. If they want to just be Amusment Parks that’s fine but while we still class them as Theme Parks we’ve just resigned ourselves that this is all a British Theme Park can be.

So to answer the question yes the British people do appreciate immersive attractions... in Florida, but not in the UK. Our parks are for cheap thrills, and unless some big change happens we seem to be content with that.

*sigh*

* I still rate Legoland’s Pirate show but the formula works because it’s very similar to the original version 20 years ago. Lego Friends (also at the lighthouse harbour) doesn’t have the same appeal...

 

[Tuggerz]

I don't think it's a simple yes or no question.

In reality I think you have to divide the General Public more to get your answers.

For example; A bunch of Teens/Young adults in this new breed of Lad Group aren't going to care about the general theme of a ride as they simply want to ride the biggest/fastest that they can get to, this is why parks like Thorpe exist and why Thorpe seemed to have switched off from their Family market push, They realized that their audience is this exact group.

Legoland works well with having decently well themed attractions because Young Children respond well to the multi-sensory and colorful atmosphere of a more immersive Lego attraction, This is why there are Lego Brick pits in many of the ride queue lines (They're being removed bit by bit)

I think Adults past the age of 25 are more hit and miss, they appreciate a well themed and immersive ride, but they don't necessarily care whether they exist or not as it's not the biggest part of going to a Theme Park, this group is the one that suits Chessington & Alton Towers

This all being said, I think the GP would still generally notice if there was zero themeing in a park.

 

[ChristmasPud]

Themed experiences in the UK have never been mainstream and aren't today. They are a surprise, something different, something you can't quite put your finger on but are always enjoyable – if done well. Younger generations in the UK may never know really classic themed attraction today in the UK, they will only find them abroad. Merlin to their credit have attempted them several times recently, but have always lost that basic appeal of a themed attraction in my opinion.

UK parks today are about plots of land with rides on them, not about amazing places to visit on the whole with surprises to be found. You can undeniably see this in the strategy of all Merlin's parks.

It's like saying 'TV show isn't working because more of the people watching arent interested in TV' – so are you going to make a better TV programme to try and engage more people, introduce them to what a good show can be like? Or are you going to give up and make box ticking trite instead, because there's less demand for anything better?

Take the Oblivion queueline full of teenagers in 1998. They have almost nothing to distract them from what is around them, they are glued to the TVs, engaging with the ride experience.

Fast forward two decades and you have many opportunities to be distracted. You can play games, chat to people on the other side of the world and do anything bar be immersed by the experience. Furthermore, there is far more cynicism surrounding far fetched narratives and to things in general.

Oblivion has no actual narrative other than what some fans may impose on it, so that's irrelevant, the preshow videos are just there to have effect. Your reasoning of the queue seems to overlook how the queue has become so worn out during those 20 years, which makes all the difference to how effective it is. Young people in particular are quick to lose interest if something is lame.

The audio is now busted in Oblivion, you can't hear a word being said, the screens are burnt-in and ancient, none of it is engaging anymore (even for me and I love Oblivion). It needs an AV overhaul and repaired buildings to make it engaging again.

Only half the queue is intended to be loud AV space like that, the rest is designed to be more subtle. People will still get be distracted in spots, they're meant to be chatting to each other, not pummeled with screens for the whole queue, which would otherwise get dull quickly (see The Swarm). That's why the screens are only at inside spaces at strategic points around the spiral queue.

People naturally feel more anticipation the closer they get to the station. If it were an endless switchback queue, there'd be no knowing when you're any nearer the end while you're chatting away. Whereas Oblivion, even if you're not paying any attention, you're conscious that you're constantly moving higher, the vertical drop is purposely framed in the distance.

More queues should be designed like Oblivion's, for the very purpose of engaging guests – but need to be updated and maintained too. What is designed around them needs to be MORE interesting than what is on their phones – some people will never get it and so be it, but fuzzy TVs, broken theming and soft audio will never engage anyone else either.

The argument that younger generations are less culturally interested in entertainment is true I find generally, and I'm of that generation and find many people to have very little of their own imagination (but not everyone). This lessens the draw for theme parks on the whole, to everyone's detriment.

Derren Brown's Ghost Train sounded amazing on paper, but was executed in the wrong way, without hitting all those cues to keep people engaged and be impressive. It speaks more on how Merlin's approach to attractions is so flawed rather than whether people today respond to themed experiences – there were certainly many people ready to like it.

The creation and success of Nemesis, PMBO and Shockwave fundamentaly changed the direction British Theme Parks were heading. People loved the big rides and they were an almost guaranteed success. The British public demanded more headline rides, and I’ll fully admit so did I at the time. The trouble is this has lead us to the state we are at now where only the biggest and best rides get any attention.

I agree with your whole post, although I think your point about the big coasters is probably to do with a different experience on offer. The British public have always loved big coasters too, but they do a compeltely different thing to themed attractions. You can have fantastic themed coasters, like Wickerman, but that's perhaps more for fitting coasters into the theme park experience. You could also have a coaster on its own and it would have a similar draw – the thrill, but even then people love theatrics, with fire on coasters, water effects, etc. But I don't think it lessened the public's demand for themed experiences, it may have changed how the parks spent their money though.

 

[DistortAMG]

I would say without a doubt it would be a bit of both,

Because people, especially the younger generation will never have experienced a fully fledged themed experience therefor do not know what they are missing. However, if they were dropped into an immersive themed experience they would love it.

Everywhere dabbed in themed experiences back in the 90's. Drayton Manor in 1990 debuted Pirate Adventure. While the ride idea was not original. The grand scale of the ride, from physical size, to the number of animatronics and even to the size of the scenes, was far far bigger than anything the UK had seen. Certainly bigger than anything Tussaud's had created at that time dark ride wise, even larger than The Haunted House. Still to this day is probably the biggest dark ride this country has seen, bar Valhalla.

This was from a small family owned park, that had basically no themed experiences before it. Maybe the fact they went for a tried and tested theme allowed them to be more risky in the size of the attraction and it's scenes and also allowed a park with no background in story telling, narratives, or anything like that of any sort, get a heavily themed attraction to the British public. But, it does illustrate how much themed entertainment was valued back in the early 90's, if the small parks were even doing it and doing it well.

The public loved that ride, as much as they loved any themed attraction from any other park. Certainly contributed to Drayton's success in the 90's and allowed them to rebuild and develop the whole park. This shows how well the British public responded to these types of rides, original IP or not. The public loved them. People just like to be taken out of reality, even for a few small minutes. Doesn't matter if the idea was original or not. Most people in the UK had never rode any Pirate boat based attraction, so it was a totally new experience to them. As good as an original IP in the eyes of the public as they knew no different. Even though the Pirate idea was a rip off from Disney, that ride was one of the largest themed attractions in the UK in its heyday and really gave the public that wow factor, because you were transported into a world of Pirates, through giant animated scenes.

 

[Sauron97]

I just wish Drayton had gone through with that 50s theme they'd opted for after installing the Simworx theatre. And hey, now that Ben 10 is Accelerator, they could put it as a Jaguar C type themed ride on a 50s racing track. Jaguar is just down the road by Spitfire island too so a sponsorship deal would make sense (Tata technically I know) .
Pirate Adventure was awesome, and it STILL IS popular! Search up 'pirate adventure draytonmanor' on twitter and you'll see loads of people upset at its fate and wishing it was open!
Props to DM for introducing large scale immersive attractions to the UK. Maybe, just maybe, there's hope yet and a hidden appetite for these kinds of attractions.