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Nemesis: Sub-Terra

This area of the park has desperately needed some sort of investment ever since NST, Ripsaw and Dynamo closed.

I say this all the time but the issue isn’t just the fact that you’ve got 2 good attractions (1 next year) and a pirate ship stretched across the largest area of the park, it’s the fact that the park is marketed as appealing to thrill seekers as well as families and the nearest thrill option to FV currently is probably Rita.

What I’m getting at is it’s a long walk to FV and it arguably feels like the you’re a bit short changed when you get there and there’s 2 coasters and nothing else. It’s obviously going to be aided by a rejuvenated Haunted House within a stones throw but that still isn’t going to address the smallish amount of thrill rides at that end of the park (compared with when you had NST and Ripsaw there as well).

It’s the best themed area of the park and I’m hopeful that this Nemesis retrack is the catalyst for adding some new rides and really giving the area what it needs, which is a lot more life and kinetic energy. I’m also hoping that this stuff regarding the Phalanx is the start of Alton making more out of what is essentially their own IP, the area needs probably rejuvenation rather than renovation and hopefully this is now the start of it.
 
Regarding the talk about the drop towers returning in limited capacity, why would that be? Surely they'd want to maximise it as much as possible? Or maybe they've cannibalised one or two towers for parts due to the ride being SBNO for so long? Or maybe that's a bs rumour?
 
ATI said:
Regarding the talk about the drop towers returning in limited capacity, why would that be? Surely they'd want to maximise it as much as possible? Or maybe they've cannibalised one or two towers for parts due to the ride being SBNO for so long? Or maybe that's a bs rumour?
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I have no idea, to tell you the truth.

I did think that it might have something to do with the restraint issues that allegedly caused the ride to close in the first place (from what I can tell, there was a high chance of being rejected on it in the ride's final weeks and days unless you were very small or very thin, and that issue got worse and worse until the ride eventually closed because of it); perhaps lowering the capacity might be a way to give each rider more restraint space, thus making the ride more accommodating?
 
Matt N said:
I have no idea, to tell you the truth.

I did think that it might have something to do with the restraint issues that allegedly caused the ride to close in the first place (from what I can tell, there was a high chance of being rejected on it in the ride's final weeks and days unless you were very small or very thin, and that issue got worse and worse until the ride eventually closed because of it); perhaps lowering the capacity might be a way to give each rider more restraint space, thus making the ride more accommodating?
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Ah so perhaps they are making changes to the seat/restraint system? The towers originally sat 10 riders each so perhaps they will be replaced by 8 seater cars that offer more room?
 
Matt N said:
Sorry to double post, but I have an update... as per TowersStreet Facebook, construction fences have also now been put up around the building:


I don't know about any of you, but to me, this certainly implies that something is happening...
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It does not imply anything Matt. Photos speak a thousand words and you can clearly see in the photos something is happening. When you can see something happening it does not imply it. The question though, is what.
 
Is it possible to get a projection in the lower floor? As it would be much better to use “projection mapping illusion” of the eggs hatching. Make it go wild down there! I also feel for better guest satisfaction of the ride (which was poor before) the ride needs to raise and drop a few times for fun, not just once. Maybe they could speed along the build up to accommodate for this, ummmm but i love the build up to. Actually they can’t win with the capacity issue?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The main guest satisfaction issue was that there was a huge build up, a drop, and then lights and sirens, the whole mess in the elevators, only to be jumped at by the guy in the gas mask and out into the sunlight. There was no clear conclusion as to what happened to the base, the egg, the creature, ETC. The ride had no conclusion, and so guests were left feeling dissapointed as the story just suddenly ended. If nothing else, the damn thing needs an ending and an actual story.
 
immelmanloop said:
The main guest satisfaction issue was that there was a huge build up, a drop, and then lights and sirens, the whole mess in the elevators, only to be jumped at by the guy in the gas mask and out into the sunlight. There was no clear conclusion as to what happened to the base, the egg, the creature, ETC. The ride had no conclusion, and so guests were left feeling dissapointed as the story just suddenly ended. If nothing else, the damn thing needs an ending and an actual story.
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Yeah I think that's fair enough. The idea was there and it's not terrible what they came up with but it just needed a bit more explanation at the end. Something they should easily be able to fix too.
 
immelmanloop said:
The main guest satisfaction issue was that there was a huge build up, a drop, and then lights and sirens, the whole mess in the elevators, only to be jumped at by the guy in the gas mask and out into the sunlight. There was no clear conclusion as to what happened to the base, the egg, the creature, ETC. The ride had no conclusion, and so guests were left feeling dissapointed as the story just suddenly ended. If nothing else, the damn thing needs an ending and an actual story.
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It didn’t actually do that bad with guests after the scare mazes was added to the end. It closed because it was staff heavy and the drop tower restraints where an issue.

Theme park guests don’t think that deeply about these things. Hex doesn’t exactly come to a conclusion, you spin around a bit, branch sparkles and you walk out of the building.
 
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I think it needed longer to build the fear up personally, I still think it all happened too quickly.

I quite like the idea of taking the alien concept one step further and adding the drop element, but the main point of alien was the build up, the hearing of the noises like the alien was slowly moving around you - all of that was lacking with Sub Terra which just dropped and then it kicked off for a few seconds and then it ended.

I still think it was a decent ride but if they wanted to take it from decent to excellent then I think they needed to play on the psychological aspect far more which far scarier than a brief short drop.

Oh, and ditch the pointless scare maze. They’d be far better off making the finale something like the demon in the gift shop of Derren Brown’s Ghost Train (not a replica obviously,) but batch everyone into a room, say we can’t get the exit door to open, make shaking noises and steam sounds etc, then have some kind of finale with the alien coming into the room before the door opens.

It obviously all costs money but surely it would be well spent if you’re then taking a 15 million attraction and turning it into possibly the best dark ride in the country?
 
Niet Roken said:
It was quite clear that the makers of Sub Terra were banking too much on the Dungeon drop tower format, that a drop tower in the dark would be enough of an experience with a very simple preshow and post show. The theme was an imitation of Alien Encounter very loosely tied into Nemesis.

The drop tower on its own wasnt enough. The mark 2 version tried to add more and made a great difference, but still the building is physically too small to really provide the ideal experience. I hope there is a fresh take on it if it reopens now that its many years later!
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Alien Encounter didn't even have a drop at all and is legitimately one of my all time favourite attractions.

So N-ST can 100% be saved and improved.
 
Josh555 said:
I think it needed longer to build the fear up personally, I still think it all happened too quickly.

I quite like the idea of taking the alien concept one step further and adding the drop element, but the main point of alien was the build up, the hearing of the noises like the alien was slowly moving around you - all of that was lacking with Sub Terra which just dropped and then it kicked off for a few seconds and then it ended.

I still think it was a decent ride but if they wanted to take it from decent to excellent then I think they needed to play on the psychological aspect far more which far scarier than a brief short drop.

Oh, and ditch the pointless scare maze. They’d be far better off making the finale something like the demon in the gift shop of Derren Brown’s Ghost Train (not a replica obviously,) but batch everyone into a room, say we can’t get the exit door to open, make shaking noises and steam sounds etc, then have some kind of finale with the alien coming into the room before the door opens.

It obviously all costs money but surely it would be well spent if you’re then taking a 15 million attraction and turning it into possibly the best dark ride in the country?
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The Ghost train demon finale is terrible, you mill around losing all tension whilst they pack you into a room and then an unconvincing costume appears for 5 seconds.

It would be a terrible idea to add something like that to Sub-Terra
 
Dave said:
The Ghost train demon finale is terrible, you mill around losing all tension whilst they pack you into a room and then an unconvincing costume appears for 5 seconds.

It would be a terrible idea to add something like that to Sub-Terra
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Disagree I really like it but the broader point is that they need something better than a non-sensical scare-maze to provide the finale for the ride.
 
Not sure there even needs to be a finale after you get off the drop towers tbh. There's no finale on Hex after you get off the swing. You just walk out of the attraction.

They just need to tweak the story and have the grand finale on the ride bit itself.
 
Josh555 said:
Disagree I really like it but the broader point is that they need something better than a non-sensical scare-maze to provide the finale for the ride.
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Why?

The point is you are trying to escape and you manage to escape.

More physical theming would be nice, but a staged monster scare will just look a bit naff.
 
Benjsh said:
Not sure there even needs to be a finale after you get off the drop towers tbh. There's no finale on Hex after you get off the swing. You just walk out of the attraction.

They just need to tweak the story and have the grand finale on the ride bit itself.
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That’s how it opened and it was bad.
 
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