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Galactica: General Discussion

I would say The Smiler is less hygienic, with those awfully smelly foam pads on the ride of the restraints, though it's not been as bad this season.

Anyway, Galactica's headsets are cleaned by baby wipe and microfibre cloth every ride, which is what causes a lot of the faff!
 
The only concern I had with the headsets was in terms of hair lice and snot!

The bit which goes around your head is velcro.... ideal if someone has lice or eggs to stick to and then transfer on to you.

With snot, I noticed that for some people, particularly kids, the VR mask actually covered part of the bottom bit of their nose. So a nice build up of snot could potentially drain away into the bottom of the mask.
 
Even if you were forced to wear them once you are going up the lift what's stopping you from taking the headset off?
 
Just removed a number of posts relating to discussion of priority passes rather than Galactica, please remember to stay on topic!

Anyway, my thoughts on Galactica!

I've done Alpenexpress VR previously so this was not my first experience of a VR coaster. Overall I would say that I do kinda like Galactica but I don't love it or find it mind blowing. I'll start with what I really like about the ride. The overall theme; be that styling, the portal, music and brand, is fantastic - I don't think they could have done much better. The music has a very Epcot feel to it, as does much of the ride actually. There is clear Helix influence also but that is of course a very good thing. The portal is really well done with the visual and audio effects and makes for great off-ride viewing.

As for the coaster experience. My first ride was on Friday and I found the headset very uncomfortable, far more so than EP's version. So much so that I was left with a head ache for a while after. I was fairly impressed with the VR overall, I'd say it was better than I originally expected but there is room for improvement. Although I managed to get the headset it fit more comfortably when I rode again on Saturday I was still unable to get crystal clear graphics as shown in various videos online; although I am sure there is a reason for this. Many people also said they often saw the 'edge of the screen' where the VR graphics ended and everything past that point was just black.

There were times throughout the ride where I did not know where I was, and on my first ride I'm sure an additional helix came out of nowhere in the end. It is certainly an immersive experience. I did feel the need to hold on to my headset on the section of track where you lie on your back to prevent natural light seeping in through the bottom which wasn't ideal.

Of course the worst aspect of Galactica, unsurprisingly, is the throughputs. They are woeful. It was getting anywhere between 450 and 550 pph over Friday and Saturday. There is just so much faff in the station which is extremely frustrating. I guess as staff become more efficient things may improve over time but you can't ever see it being what is required. Right now for example the park looks dead but Galactica still has a 45 minute queue.

So yes, overall it's not bad but there is room for improvements in terms of throughputs and graphic quality. I cannot see the VR lasting more than 5 years though. Certainly worth a try and if your expectations are very low you may be pleasantly surprised.

:)
 
Been on this today. The messing about for each ride is crazy. This is unsustainable. I found the experience very good once on though particularly the lift hill section and everything before it. Towards the end I had no idea where I was on the ride, it seemed longer. I ended up removing my mask as I started to feel a little sick at the end, and I am not a sickness person.
 
I rode it twice on Saturday, so feel I should put some points in here. Probably going to be some spoilers, so be wary if you want to avoid them. There's three points that I think need looking at -

Queue line/Ride Area

The revamped are looks OK, in particular the area leading up to the queue line, however there are areas that aren't done so well.

I love the brickwork on the floor of the Galactica symbol in the area before you enter the queue line. It's done really well and is a nice hark back to the Air one that was previously near the shop. I also really like the Galactica sign next to the entrance and it looked really good later on in the day when it was lit up and a little darker.

Moving onto the queue, I really like the screens throughout the queue, showing the current "weather" on the planets and systems and also the departure times and gates. The photo point towards the end of the queue is...OK I guess, if you like that kind of thing. I've never been a fan of them and on a ride that has premium faff without it, I don't really think it needs any more. The painted rocks and and other work look OK, but nothing more. Some of the metal work on the outside of the new covering over the station looks really shoddy and cheap and didn't look good at all. Inside the station, I really liked the EVE video and way that played out. It was quite engaging and interesting and I really enjoyed the visuals and impressions of the ride vehicles. However, the signs above each air gate look like they were done on the cheap and the writing looks quite hazy/pixelated and it doesn't look very well done. They also lack numbers, which is a pretty standard thing.

Ride Experience

Onto the ride itself and the VR, I enjoyed it, however the equipment let it down. The headset itself was very heavy and really quite uncomfortable to wear. In particular the headphones really hurt my ears and they put a lot of pressure on the side of my head that was quite painful. I also thought that the audio was far far too quiet. It was OK in the tunnel and on the lift hill, but once the ride got going it was almost impossible to hear.

Of my two rides, the VR only actually worked once which was a pity. On my second time the screen was frozen and wouldn't move when I moved my head and was going to make me feel queasy so I had to ride without it on. Having said that, the first time I rode it I found it really well done. It was difficult to work out where I was on the ride and I felt immersed in the whole experience. Especially towards the end, after the inline over the break run and the car park turn around, I had no idea where I was. But, as I said previously, it would have been so much better with the audio cranked a little higher so I could have heard the audio. Also, a little more padding around the headphones and more flexibility so they were less painful.

Staff

This is where the ride really really lets itself down. Too many cooks spoil the broth and a lack of communication was evident on a few occasions when we were waiting. For example, on my first ride we were batched into one of the rows towards the back that had three spare seats. Then (for some unknown reason) were told to move down into a row towards the front of the train. When we got there we found that the row was full and were told to wait for the next train. This was due to about 3/4 people not communicating with each other and was pretty shoddy, extending our queue time by a further 5/10 minutes.

The whole cleaning of the goggle seems pretty faffy and unnecessary, doing it whilst people are still sat in their seats. Surely it would make more sense and be a lot quicker to off load the train, and then two people go along each row, one cleaning and one drying/wiping each set of goggles. Rather than have you put them away, then take them out, then clean them, then put them back away, then load the train, then have you take them out, then come along and dry them. A seven step process that can easily be cut down into two/three steps.

I'd like to think that these over the top staffing issues will be looked and and cut down as time goes on, as they really don't need the amount of people that are there at the minute. The amount of people staffing the ride is slowing things down unnecessarily and the throughput is bad enough already without this.



Overall it's an OK ride, and the VR is executed well in terms of graphical finish and content. However it's really let down with the over staffing, lack of communication, faff, equipment wear ability and reliability. These combined really make the ride a bit of a chore to do, and I probably won't rush to ride it if the queue is particularly long.
 
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Burbs said:
IMAScore have uploaded a shortened version of the official Galactica soundtrack. :)

Click to expand...


Lots of people have mentioned the similarities to the Helix soundtrack. The thing that sticks out for me in that clip is the piano part. It reminds me a lot of the American Beauty soundtrack.
 
Having heard the new music in the queue line, yeah I quite like it, but, for me, you cant beat the Air music, especially with the deep bass in it, and I so miss the boom and "prepare for Air". Such a pity they could not have kept that but maybe just changed the wording

  • Enjoy your flight
  • Prepare to fly
  • Prepare to go Galactic
  • Prepare for space departure
Just something, because when your put into the position there is no warning, and you just have the Galactica logo to look at.
 
Looks like Towers have changed their tune on the wearing of the VR headsets. Now compulsory according to their twitter feed with every comment being the same from yesterday onwards:

Alton Towers Resort ‏@altontowers 39m39 minutes ago
@k_elaine_fyson @LozDSpencer Hi, We can confirm that VR headsets must be worn as to ensure that all guests have the same ride interaction.

Alton Towers Resort ‏@altontowers 2h2 hours ago
@LozDSpencer VR Headsets are to be worn by all galactinauts, Loz!

Alton Towers Resort ‏@altontowers 3h3 hours ago
@xtravagxnt Hi Vicky, you are indeed required to wear them during your voyage with Galactica.

Alton Towers Resort ‏@altontowers 4h4 hours ago
@jackandylan123 Hi, For Galactica you must wear the VR headset to ride. Space travel at Alton Towers? What could be more amazing!

etc etc etc..... wonder why this is? Unless people not wanting to wear them was actually slowing ride dispatch down? Dont see how though and there is nothing to stop you taking them off during the ride.
 
@SimonTAtkinson Hi, This is to ensure that all guests have the same fully interactive experience on the ride.

Looks like I'll be taking my headset off after dispatch then... I wonder if they will stop the ride!


Although saying that one of my mates is at the park today and he said a disabled rider didn't have his VR on
 
On Sunday, 2 of our members didn't use the VR. We were on a row where one of the headsets wasn't working and were told by a staff member prior to boarding, however they said that they weren't planning on using the headsets anyway. This was the end of the matter.

Whatever Towers are saying about headsets is clearly not accurate!
 
Perhaps something has happened on the ride which has made them change their minds on this? I did see someone on the front row with the headset in their hands as they'd clearly taken it off mid ride, Surely that's a bit of an issue? If they were to let go of the headset, would it be possible for the headset to injure the rider by it hitting them in the face or something?
 
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